Tag: Quote Inspired

On Feeling Empty Inside

Published on May 25, 2024

I finished uploading quotes from The Prophet today (you can read my 18 favorites here).

My overall favorite is one that echoes an idea I got tattooed on my arm—which is of a majestic exposed roots tree that reminds me that the branches of happiness can only go as high as the roots of sadness go deep. The line from The Prophet goes:

“The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.”
Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet (Page 27)

…Which, I found to be another powerful, analogous way to look at and move through sorrow. Because it really does feel like a carving away at your being… which I think is where the descriptions of feeling “empty” or “hollow” or “dead” inside might come from.

But, with that emptiness… with that space… comes a future opportunity.

And it may not happen that day nor may it happen a week or a month after. But, eventually, that space that was carved from sorrow can become precisely the vessel needed to contain more of the opposite… more joy… more wonder… more love… and quite possibly even more than you had room to carry (or could fully appreciate) before.

Where Inconvenience and Love Cross

Published on May 19, 2024

This quote has been running through my mind over the past few days—especially as I reflected on that last night with Stella:

“…I talked about how love was an action, an instinct, a response roused by unplanned moments and small gestures, an inconvenience in someone else’s favor.”
Michelle Zauner, Crying in H Mart (Page 143)

I’ve thought about love a lot and have tried to define it before.

But, when it comes to love that is pointed towards another or love that is shared… I think those six words sum it up beautifully: “…An inconvenience in someone else’s favor.”

Remember this the next time your loved ones ask you for a favor that’s inconvenient with your schedule… or when you’re feeling “too busy” to plan your next outing or date… or when they’re going through a hard time and you’re traveling or away…

…It’s precisely the inconvenience that makes a task or act special.

…An action, instinctual response, or small gesture that would’ve been easier for you not to do because of the other things you’ve gotta do (for you), but did anyway because of what it meant to the other person (which shows what the other person means to you).

P.s. In case you missed it, you can read the best of what I posted to MoveMe Quotes last week here.

When Life Is Fair

Published on April 30, 2024

“If life is fair, and it will be, it will serve you immeasurable beauties, joys and pleasures—you will feel at times that you do not have the capacity to take them in. You will. Our hearts they are boundless. If life is fair, and it will be, it will bring you huge, merciless sorrows. Devastations of your boundless heart. I wish for you the grace to persevere and accept them across time, for that is the only way these kinds of things can be taken in.”
Dan Weiss

While it is undeniably true that life is unfair in the circumstances into which we are born (i.e. socioeconomic status, parents, access to resources, etc), and in how some people are born into and taken from this world without a fighting chance, it’s also true that for most of us, life is fair in how we’re all going to feel the entire spectrum of human emotions.

…We’re each going to feel joy and pleasure just as we’re each going to feel sorrow and devastation. We’re each going to feel the mesmerizing beauty of love just as we’re each going to feel the heart-wrenching pain of loss. We’re each going to feel grateful and sentimental; nervous and insecure; jealous and enraged; lonely and shameful; amazed and confused; euphoric and peaceful…

…Not at the same times and not in equal proportions, but in full nonetheless. So when you’re thriving, soak it all the way in. And when you’re struggling, remember, you’re never alone. And just because you’re feeling something different than us, doesn’t mean we won’t or don’t feel that, too. Be patient and be kind…

…Because on this front—life is fair.

Love That Rises Above Blame

Published on April 29, 2024

“Please love your community enough to repair what we broke.”
Kiese Laymon

It can be tempting to say, “Not my fault; not my problem.”

And it can be even more tempting to point fingers at who’s fault it is and talk endlessly about who caused what problems in our community.

Enter mainstream media.

But, it takes real maturity… real character… real strength… to rise above finger pointing, gossip, and blame—and actually do something about the problems at hand.

…Which isn’t to say those at fault shouldn’t be held responsible.

It’s simply to say, don’t waste your time merely talking and pointing.

If it isn’t your job to investigate fault or decide convictions… then don’t. Or at least don’t spend all of your time on it (for those who decide the ones whose job it is to do those things aren’t doing them).

As Kiese says above, choose love instead.

Love your community and the people in it so much that your convictions to change what’s broken rises above the fingers, gossip, and blame.

Love your community and the people in it so much that you volunteer some of your free time from your crazy schedule to help with its improvement.

Love your community and the people in it so much that your focus on it and them drowns out what the finger points, gossipers, and blame-gamers have to say…

…And things actually get better as a result.

P.s. 23 Quotes on Changing the World and How To Start Making a Difference

This Life Is Enough

Published on April 6, 2024

“Love and laughter and fear and pain are universal currencies. We just have to close our eyes and savour the taste of the drink in front of us and listen to the song as it plays. We are as completely and utterly alive as we are in any other life and have access to the same emotional spectrum. We only need to be one person. We only need to feel one existence. We don’t have to do everything in order to be everything, because we are already infinite. While we are alive we always contain a future of multifarious possibility.”
Matt Haig, The Midnight Library (Page 277)

How much unhappiness has been generated in our modern world by the constant comparisonism exacerbated by social media?

…Young kids (and adults) with nothing BUT potential and time and unique aptitudes beating themselves up… counting themselves out… sabotaging their futures because of what they see other people doing with their lives… thinking to themselves, “I wish I was them…” “I want THAT life…” “My life sucks compared to…”

When really, if we subtracted all the comparisons, turned off and forget about all the media posts, and grounded ourselves back into reality—our reality—the truth is as clear as the smile that fills a baby’s face… or the laugh your best friend makes… or the tears that stream down your lover’s face…

…The reality is “Love and laughter and fear and pain are universal currencies.” And this life, filled with all of that and more, is as enough as any other life we might be living. Happiness is happiness is happiness… we just have to open our senses (once again) to experience it.

Every Day Before And After Election Day

Published on February 19, 2024

Jon Stewart returned to The Daily Show this past week.

And in the midst of a grim upcoming U.S. Presidential Election delivered a timely message that, at least for me, shined a light back to where the light should always be shined—especially during times when you can be made to feel small and powerless.

And it’s that very message that I felt compelled to share with you today.

“[Marketing for the U.S. Presidential Election] is going to make you feel like Tuesday, November 5, is the only day that matters. And that day does matter. But, man, November 6 ain’t nothing to sneeze at—or November 7. If your guy loses, bad things might happen. But the country is not over. And if your guy wins, the country is in no way saved. I’ve learned one thing over these last nine years. And I was glib at best and probably dismissive at worst about this. The work of making this world resemble one that you would prefer to live in is a lunch pail [bleep] job, day in and day out, where thousands of committed, anonymous, smart, and dedicated people bang on closed doors and pick up those that are fallen and grind away on issues till they get a positive result. And even then, have to stay on to make sure that result holds. So the good news is I’m not saying you don’t have to worry about who wins the election. I’m saying you have to worry about every day before it and every day after—forever.”
Jon Stewart, The Daily Show

P.s. You can watch his full 20 minute monologue here.

Questions To Snap You Back To Happiness

Published on November 6, 2023

The following was inspired by Claudia Dawson and a Duke University study on Happiness via Recommendo.

First, here’s the Duke University study findings:

(Click here if you can’t see the above infographic).

Next, here’s what Claudia Dawson so brilliantly recommended based on these findings…

“I’ve found the quickest way to dispel unhappiness is to ask myself introspective questions to find the source. Based on these 8 factors of happiness, I would ask myself:

Am I feeling suspicion and resentment?
Am I living in the past (or in the future)?
Am I wasting time and energy fighting conditions I can’t change?
Am I isolating myself or withdrawing from the world?
Am I indulging in self-pity?
Am I expecting too much of myself?

…I then continue the line of questioning to gain more self-awareness or I pivot to an easy gratitude practice, like listing 10 things that make me happy on my fingers. This usually gets me out of my head and back to the present moment, as well as in alignment with the values and experiences that make me happy.”

Finally, here’s my take:

The thing about thinking is that so much of it is done unconsciously (like 99%?). As in, we have no idea that we’re bathing in self-pity, replaying the past, cancelling plans so we can “introvert,” comparing ourselves to the greats, nurturing suspicion, etc…

Don’t take the above insights or questions lightly—this is life-changing stuff. Print / write it all down and display it in a place where you’ll see it regularly.

This way, it’ll snap you out of undesirable (unconscious) thought patterns and back to the place where happiness is much more likely to be found.