If you go to a tree with an ax and take five whacks at the tree every day, it doesn’t matter if it’s an oak or a redwood; eventually the tree has to fall down.
Successful people maintain a positive focus in life no matter what is going on around them.
Her essay about the wedding ring was short. Kerr wrote: “Things are just things – they have no power to hurt or to heal. Only people can do that. And we can all choose whether to be hurt or healed by the people who love us.” That was all. And that was everything.
Remember, what you continually talk about, comes about.
Every single cell in your body is affected by every single thought that you have.
Everything is energy. All matter is energy. Energy cannot be created or destroyed. It is the cause and affect of itself. It is evenly present in all places, at all times. Energy is in constant motion and never rests. It is forever moving from one form to another. Energy follows thought.
If you are going to be successful, you have to start hanging out with the successful people.
I started out as a high school teacher in inner-city Chicago and realized quite quickly that my students weren’t that motivated.
I wanted to be a Teacher with a big T, teach the whole planet. It led me into writing and speaking to large groups.
What we have to get straight in our heads is that owning the money doesn’t mean ANYTHING. “It’s the DOING with money that develops us – it’s not in the having. And when you have more, you’re enabled to DO more.”
Greater self-esteem produces greater success, and greater success produces more high self-esteem, so it keeps on spiraling up.
High self-esteem isn’t a luxury. It’s a necessity for anyone who has important goals to achieve.
When you’re connected to a source and to each other through conversation, through making love, through meditation, playing games with your kids, all that stuff, then your self-esteem’s going to go up.
Never quit. My book, Chicken Soup for the Soul, was turned down by 33 publishers. It’s since sold millions of copies.
When you really need help, people will respond. Sincerity means dropping the image facade and showing a willingness to be vulnerable. Tell it the way it is, lumps and all. Don’t worry if your presentation isn’t perfect; ask from your heart. Keep it simple, and people will open up to you.
Don’t kid yourself. Be honest with yourself. Take your own inventory.
Trust your gut feeling about things, listen to what others are saying, and look at the results of your actions. Once you know the truth, you can set about taking action to improve. Everyone will be better for it.
What if you, too, were to greet every interaction in your life with the question ‘What’s the potential opportunity that this is?’
Love and fear are the two opposite ends of the continuum, as far as I’m concerned. When we are not in love, we are in fear.
You can’t change anyone else but people do change in relationship to your change. All relationships are a system, and when any one part of a system changes, it affects the other part.