There are no real start-overs, only start-from-heres.
Father always said that money doesn’t grow on trees. Well, time doesn’t grow on trees either.
I wear my wrinkles like battle scars, having earned every last one slaying life’s dragons. They boast of my victories and some defeats while their beauty is a wealth of wisdom gained.
People will insist on building high and wide barriers directly in your path, often with the intent of closing you in. If you treat these obstacles like fencing walls, they will prove mightily so. I choose to see them as grand towers meant to be scaled and conquered, providing an added victory as well as a great view of the journey ahead.
Beauty isn’t visible; I don’t know why people think it is. Perhaps because at times there are physical manifestations suggesting beauty exists in a person, but don’t be fooled. Beauty isn’t the packaging, it’s the treasure wrapped up inside.
I am accountable for every lie that I tell, but I am also accountable for the effects of every harsh truth I deliver.
Sail through the good days, and on bad days pick a spot of blue sky to steer toward.
For things I am not thankful for – experiences I would never volunteer to relive – I recognize how they have changed me. My depth of compassion and humility, the sincerity of my empathy and understanding, and the duration of my patience have all been refined by bitter suffering. I thank God for the lessons learned. I am a better person for it, but I still abhor those awful trials.
If there weren’t so many interesting conversations taking place inside my head, I might venture to speak out loud.
Why is the eye considered a reliable judge when it knows nothing of love or intelligence?
It is easy to say I am thankful for the sweet and beautiful things in life: flower gardens, ice cream cones, diamond rings, dances under moonlight, children’s laughter, birdsongs, and the like. The challenge is recognizing things of value in the dark, sour, uglier parts of life. But if you look hard enough, you will find that even tough times offer pearls worthy of gratitude.
Believing in yourself means more than simply believing in your own ultimate success; it means believing you will survive failures, disappointments, rejections, and criticism but still persist.
A great many problems could be solved by nothing more than a change in thinking.
There are hundreds of reasons to be kind, but only one that matters – because it’s who you are.
Thousands of hopeful days came to naught before this one. This was a golden day. Never give up.
It is my belief that almost anyone can be had with breadcrumbs. For if you leave a trail of the right variety, your prey will come straight to you.
Dress the part! Invent and pretend to your heart’s content! Act, sing, and dance while everyone’s watching! The world’s a stage, remember?
Be careful what you wish for. It may turn out that making the wish was the only good part.
If God were to make a million lovely flowers in your image and plant them in a garden with you among them, I would still know you by your scent and by the feel of your petals and by the crazy way you lean towards my light whenever I draw near.
I’ve yet to find another soul who believes in me with the same fervency as my mother.