Obedience
Obedience is the key to all doors; feelings come (or don’t come) and go as God pleases.
— C. S. Lewis, Letters, 7 December 1950
Your Own Story
I am telling you your story, not hers. I tell no-one any story but his own.
— Aslan, in The Horse and His Boy, by C. S. Lewis
Self-Love Is a Brave Step.
What if someone asked, “Are you dating anyone?” and you answered, “I’m really involved in loving myself right now.
— SARK, Prosperity Pie, p. 85
Practice Messiness.
There is no control and perfection is arrogant. Practice messiness, letting go, and doing things badly.
— SARK, Prosperity Pie, p. 78
Living More Fully
The point of reading is not reading but living. Reading helps you live with greater appreciation, keener insight and heightened emotional awareness. For proof, look to the innumerable great readers who have been great doers, from John Adams to Teddy Roosevelt to Paul Theroux to George Plimpton. Reading and action reinforce each other in an ever-escalating manner.
Your well-read life is a path for living more fully.
— Steve Leveen, The Little Guide to Your Well-Read Life, p. 31
A Single Purpose
We are all here for a single purpose: to grow in wisdom and to learn to love better. We can do this through losing as well as through winning, by having and by not having, by succeeding or by failing. All we need to do is to show up openhearted for class.
— Rachel Naomi Remen, MD, Kitchen Table Wisdom, p. 80
Validation from God
No man can tell you who you are as a woman. No man is the verdict on your soul…. Only God can tell you who you are. Only God can speak the answer you need to hear. That is why we spoke of the Romance with him first. It comes first. It must. It has to. Adam is a far too unreliable source — amen!
Now, yes, in a loving relationship, we are meant to speak to one another’s wounds. In love we can bring such deep joy and healing as we offer to one another our strength and beauty…. But our core validation, our primary validation has to come from God. And until it does, until we look to him for the healing of our souls, our relationships are really hurt by this looking-to-each-other for something only God can give.
— Stasi and John Eldredge, Captivating, p. 152-153
Enjoy What’s Good.
I have learned that, if we set our mind to it, we have an incredible, almost awesome ability to find misery in any situation, even the most wonderful of circumstances.
Shoulders bent, head down, we shuffle through life taking our blows.
Be done with it. Take off the gray cloak of despair, negativity, and victimization. Hurl it; let it blow away in the wind….
We can stand in our power. We do not have to allow ourselves to be victimized. We do not have to let others victimize us. We do not have to seek out misery in either the most miserable or the best situations.
We are free to stand in the glow of self-responsibility.
Set a boundary! Deal with the anger! Tell someone no, or stop that! Walk away from a relationship! Ask for what you need! Make choices and take responsibility for them. Explore options. Give yourself what you need! Stand up straight, head up, and claim your power. Claim responsibility for yourself!
And learn to enjoy what’s good.
— Melody Beattie, The Language of Letting Go, p. 282-283
Shining My Brightest
Being happy by shining my brightest inspires others to do the same, if they choose.
— Christel Nani, Sacred Choices, p. 155
Changed by Reading
A book on virtually any subject, when written well and falling into the right hands, can produce a transcendent emotional response. And one such experience can lead to another and another, in a delightfully unpredictable way that is different for each person.
It is said that no love is sincerer than the love of food. Perhaps no love is vaster in its particulars than the love of books.
As adults, we can use the power of book love not only to entertain us, but also to inspire us to do new things, and to make significant changes in our lives. We can even use our love of books to help others, and maybe save a bit of the world.
That’s what reading is all about — the pure pleasure of it, how it changes you, how you live your life differently because of what you read.
— Steve Leveen, The Little Guide to Your Well-Read Life, p. 8