Tag: Life

Wisdom for the Week

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For a long time it seemed to me that life was about to begin — real life, but there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. This perspective has helped me to see there is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way. So treasure every moment you have and remember that time waits for no one.  -Souza

When, at some point in our lives, we meet a real tragedy — which could happen to any one of us — we can react in two ways. Obviously, we can lose hope, let ourselves slip into discouragement, into alcohol, drugs, and unending sadness. Or else we can wake ourselves up, discover in ourselves an energy that was hidden there, and act with more clarity, more force.  -The Dalai Lama

When we are willing, we are able to change our minds, see another’s opinion, find understanding when all seems stuck, lost or forgotten. When we are willing, we are given the gift of openheartedness that sets us free from the chains of our past. When we are willing, we are willing to change.  -Rhonda Britten

Live Fearlessly & Love Generously

Susie Lee2 Comments

May we live with our hearts wide open to embrace all the goodness life has to offer, and to live fearlessly and love generously.  -Susie Lee

Quotes of the Week | Embrace It

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When we are no longer able to change a situation,
we are challenged to change ourselves.
Viktor Frankl

Change is inevitable. Progress is optional.
Tony Robbins.

Be smart enough to hold on, be brave enough to let go. Sometimes, we need to hold onto faith while letting go of the outcome. Open your hand and hold your dreams gently, don’t try to grab them.
Anonymous

If there is anything that we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves.
Carl Jung.

The harder you fall, the higher you bounce.
Unknown.

I may not have gone where I intended to go,
but I think I’ve ended up where I needed to be.
Douglas Adams.

The best way to predict the future is to create it.
Anonymous

People will hate you, rate you, shake you, and break you.
But how strong you stand is what makes you.
Unknown.

You are who you are and what you are because of what has gone into your mind. You can change who you are and what you are by changing what goes into your mind.
Zig Ziglar

Quotes of the Week | Let’s Grow

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Every day do something that will inch you closer to a better tomorrow.
Doug Firebaugh

Be not afraid of growing slowly; be afraid only of standing still.
Chinese Proverb

Everybody wants to be somebody; nobody wants to grow.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Your real influence is measured by your treatment of yourself.
A. Bronson Alcott

If we all did the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves.
Thomas Edison

A man who finds no satisfaction in himself will seek for it in vain elsewhere.
La Rochefoucauld

Fear less, hope more, eat less, chew more, whine less, breathe more, talk less, say more, hate less, love more, and good things will be yours.
Swedish Proverb

Make it thy business to know thyself, which is the most difficult lesson in the world.
Miguel de Cervantes

Quotes of the Week | Pursuit of Happiness

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When in doubt, choose Love.
– Anonymous

Your task is not to seek love, but to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.
– Rumi

Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host.
But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean.
– Maya Angelou

The minute I heard my first love story, I started looking for you, not knowing how blind that was. Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere. They’re in each other all along.
– Rumi

Being happy doesn’t mean that everything is perfect.
It means that you’ve decided to look beyond the imperfections.
– Anonymous

The appearance of things change according to the emotions and thus we see magic and beauty in them, while the magic and beauty really are in ourselves.
– Kahlil Gibran

Find the guy who calls you beautiful instead of hot, who calls you back when you hang up on him, who will lie under the stars and listen to your heartbeat, or stay awake just to watch you sleep. The one who turns to his friends and says, “thats her”.
– Anonymous

Quotes of the Week | Just for Laughs

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”I haven’t failed.
I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
– Thomas Edison

”It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.”
– Howard Ruff

”The quickest way to double your money is to
fold it over and put it back in your pocket.”
– Will Rogers

”When you come to the end of your rope,
tie a knot and hang on.”
– Franklin D. Roosevelt

”Age is an issue of mind over matter.
If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.”
– Mark Twain

“If you want to test your memory,
try to recall what you were worrying about one year ago today.”
– E. Joseph Cossman

”Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.”
– Henry Ford

”If you keep saying things are going to be bad,
you have a chance of being a prophet.”
– Isaac B. Singer

”A mind is like a parachute,
it doesn’t work if it isn’t open.”
– Frank Zappa

“If you want to make your dreams come true,
the first thing you have to do is wake up.”
– J.M. Power

“Luck is a dividend of sweat.
The more you sweat, the luckier you get.”
– Ray Kroc

“People often say that motivation doesn’t last.
Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.”
– Zig Ziglar

“The elevator to success is out of order.
You’ll have to use the stairs… one step at a time.”
– Joe Girard

“I don’t know the key to success
but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.”
– Bill Cosby

Quotes of the Week | Nothing is Impossible

Susie Lee1 Comment

If what you’re doing is not your passion, you have nothing to lose.
– Anonymous

The person who says something is impossible should not interrupt the person who is doing it.
– Anonymous

It is never too late to be what you might have been.
– George Eliot

All our dreams can come true – if we have the courage to pursue them.
– Walt Disney

What the mind can conceive, it can achieve.
– Napoleon Hill

If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.
-Milton Berle

The sky has never been the limit. We are our own limits. It’s then about breaking our personal limits and outgrowing ourselves to live our best lives.
– Anonymous

Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresea, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.
– Life’s Little Instruction Book, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Everything you want should be yours: the type of work you want; the relationships you need; the social, mental, and aesthetic stimulation that will make you happy and fulfilled; the money you require for the lifestyle that is appropriate to you; and any requirement that you may (or may not) have for achievement or service to others. If you don’t aim for it all, you’ll never get it all. To aim for it requires that you know what you want.
-Richard Koch

Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living the result of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinion drowned your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition, they somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
– Steve Jobs

Proactively Being Happy

Susie Lee3 Comments

Sometimes, the harsh realities of life can weigh us down with doubt, confusion, depression, and anxiety.  Overtime, these patterns of thoughts and feelings will have a negative impact on our health and well-being.  To combat this, I want to give you 10 simple steps that will transform your outlook in life.

1.     Count your blessings. Name 3 things that went well today.
2.     Consider what you have. List 3 things that you appreciate about your life.
3.     Express thanks.  Write a letter to someone who made an impact on your life.
4.     Play to your strengths.  List your top 3 strengths.
5.     Make love count.  Set aside time to spend with your partner.
6.     Look on the bright side. Write a story about your ‘best future self.’
7.     Find meaning in your work.  List 3 reasons you feel passionate about your work, or how your work contributes to the greater good.
8.     Do a good deed. Practice acts of kindness to those you care about as well as to strangers.
9.     Make positive connections. Smile at someone you pass on the street or in the elevator.
10.  Do what you love. When you do something you enjoy, you will naturally drift into a satisfying ‘sense of flow.’

Take your time with this list.  I encourage you to focus on one or two of these steps of a day.  And work your way through all of them over the next few weeks.  After you’ve completed the list, repeat the steps, cycling it over again in the coming months.  Eventually, your positive outlook will become second nature as you see the brighter side of things, in people and in life.  It’s not to say the dark realities will vanish from our lives but we’re choosing to see the better side of things, which puts it into perspective.  Here’s to a happier you and a brighter world.

© Susie Lee 2012

To insure good health:  eat lightly, breathe deeply, live moderately, cultivate cheerfulness, and maintain an interest in life.
– William Londen

*10 Steps to a Happier Life was written by Michele Cohen Marill (From Pink Magazine 2008)

Quotes of the Week | Words to Live By

Susie Lee2 Comments

The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is, and the future less resolved than it will be.
– Marcel Pagnol

Too many people spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want, to impress people they don’t like.
– Will Rogers

Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.
– Anonymous

You are not in this world to live up to other people’s expectations,
nor should you feel the world must live up to yours.
– F Perl

Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim.
Accept no one’s definition of your life; define yourself.
– Harvey Fierstein

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.
– John Wooden

The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love,
and let it come in.
– Morrie Schwartz

Happiness is like a butterfly. The more you chase it, the more it eludes you.
But if you turn your attention to other things, It comes and sits softly on your shoulder.
– Henry David Thoreau

It’s impossible” said pride.
“It’s risky” said experience.
“It’s pointless” said reason.
“Give it a try” whispered the heart.
– Anonymous

Your task is not to seek love, but to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.
– Rumi

Being happy doesn’t mean that everything is perfect.
It means that you’ve decided to look beyond the imperfections.
-Anonymous

10 Habits of a Happy Couple

Susie Lee5 Comments

As life gets busier, sometimes it’s easy for couples to unconsciously let their relationships slip to the wayside.  But it’s possible to keep it strong even in the midst of busyness.  Here are 10 simple ways:

  1. Talk
  2. Date
  3. Spend time apart
  4. Let small things slide
  5. Touch
  6. Fight fair
  7. Stay intimate
  8. Say thank you (and please)
  9. Keep it surprising
  10. Make the effort

It’s helpful to write these down where you can see them; post-it on your computer, fridge, bathroom mirror, dining room table, kitchen sink – somewhere where you’ll see it as a daily reminder.  Of course, this is in no way an exhaustive list but it’s a simple and practical list that will get you back on track towards intimacy.

Have fun and enjoy each other. Always. Love and laugh lots.

© 2012 Susie Lee

*10 simple ways were taken from Today’s Parent February 2006.
To read the full article:  click here