Going numb

“Abuse manipulates and twists a child’s natural sense of trust and love.

Her innocent feelings are belittled or mocked and she learns to ignore her feelings.

She can’t afford to feel the full range of feelings in her body while she’s being abused—

pain, outrage, hate, vengeance, confusion. So she short-circuits them and goes numb.

For many children, expression of feelings, even a single tear, is cause for more abuse.

Again, the only recourse is to shut down. Feelings go underground.”  

 

― Laura Davis

 

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Nothing happens by chance

 

“Everything that happens to you

is a reflection of what you believe about yourself. 

We cannot outperform our level of self-esteem. 

We cannot draw to ourselves more

than we think we are worth.”  

― Iyanla Vanzant

 

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Living with passion and purpose

 

“There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love.

When we are afraid, we pull back from life.

When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer

with passion, excitement, and acceptance.

We need to learn to love ourselves first,

in all our glory and our imperfections.

If we cannot love ourselves,

we cannot fully open to our ability to love others or our potential to create.

Evolution and all hopes for a better world rest in the fearlessness

 and open-hearted vision of people who embrace life.”  

― John Lennon

 

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A soft heart

 

Forgiveness is not a moral issue.
It is an energy dynamic...
Forgiveness means that you do not carry the baggage of an experience.
When you choose not to forgive,
the experience that you do not forgive sticks with you.
When you choose not to forgive,
it is like agreeing to wear dark, gruesome sunglasses that distort everything,
and it is you who are forced every day
to look at life through those contaminated lenses
because you have chosen to keep them.

~ Gary Zukav

 

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Gratitude

Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything that is beautiful;
for beauty is God's handwriting ~ a wayside sacrament.
Welcome it in every fair face, in every fair sky, in every fair flower,
and thank God for it as a cup of blessing.

 

Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

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A safe place to share

“Our stories are not meant for everyone. Hearing them is a privilege, and we should always ask ourselves this before we share: "Who has earned the right to hear my story?" If we have one or two people in our lives who can sit with us and hold space for our shame stories, and love us for our strengths and struggles, we are incredibly lucky.
If we have a friend, or small group of friends, or family who embraces our imperfections, vulnerabilities, and power, and fills us with a sense of belonging, we are incredibly lucky.”  

― Brené Brown

 

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Forming deep friendships

We cultivate love when we allow our most vulnerable and powerful selves to be deeply seen and known, and when we honor the spiritual connection that grows from that offering with trust, respect, kindness and affection.

Love is not something we give or get; it is something that we nurture and grow, a connection that can only be cultivated between two people when it exists within each one of them – we can only love others as much as we love ourselves.

Shame, blame, disrespect, betrayal, and the withholding of affection damage the roots from which love grows. Love can only survive these injuries if they are acknowledged, healed and rare.”  

― Brené Brown

 

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Courage

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience

in which you really stop to look fear in the face.
You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.

~ Eleanor Roosevelt ~

 

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Living fully

"Do you really want to look back on your life
and see how wonderful it could have been
had you not been afraid to live it."
~ Caroline Myss

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A bit of wisdom

 

Sorrow prepares you for joy.
It violently sweeps everything out of your house,
so that new joy can find space to enter.
It shakes the yellow leaves from the bough of your heart,
so that fresh, green leaves can grow in their place.
It pulls up the rotten roots,
so that new roots hidden beneath have room to grow.
Whatever sorrow shakes from your heart,
far better things will take their place.”
― Rumi

 

 

“You wander from room to room
Hunting for the diamond necklace
That is already around your neck!”
― Rumi

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Being all that you can

“A queen is wise. 
 She has earned her serenity, not having had it bestowed on her
but having passer her tests.
She has suffered and grown more beautiful because of it.
She has proved she can hold her kingdom together.
She has become its vision.
She cares deeply about something bigger than herself.
She rules with authentic power.”  
 

― Marianne Williamson

 

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Saying goodbye to yesterday

 

“Release and detach from every person,
every circumstance, every condition, and every situation
that no longer serves a divine purpose in your life.
All things have a season,
and all seasons must come to an end.
Choose a new season,
filled with purposeful thoughts and activities.” 
 
― Iyanla Vanzant

 

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Living from the soul

I believe we are all born with a purpose in life.

I used to think my purpose was to have a perfect life:
a perfect job, husband, children, house....,
because as a child,
I was conditioned to believe that was the goal.

I spent a lot of years buying into this belief.
I had long periods of time where...
 I had everything I thought was suppose to bring happiness,
but couldn't escape the aching, empty, unfulfilled place in me...
 that longer for something more.
I had a lot of wonderful years where I should have had contentment and peace,
but I didn't.

Today I am fulfilling my purpose.
As a result, I feel a deep sense of peace and joy...
because I am connected to what feels really true for me.
I listen to my gut and follow where it leads me.
It leads me further and further away from...
 the fairy tale story I once bought into.

 

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A joyful life

 

Every morning as we wake up,

we can bless the world.

We can pray to be servants today...

 to something holy and true.

We can take a deep breath and...

 surrender ourselves to God's plan for our lives.

And when we do,

we will experience miracles.

Marianne Williamson

 

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Letting love in

Love is all around us,
but we're in the mental and emotional habit of deflecting it.

With every attitude of attack or defense,
we send love away.

With every perception of anyone's guilt,
we tell love to leave.

With every thought of limited possibility,

we tell miracles we don't want them.

And then we wonder why we're depressed.

 

Marianne Williamson

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