QUOTOPIA, or a post in which I share some of the wise words written by people much smarter and more talented than myself that I have been pouring over the last few weeks.
Human relationships are strange. I mean, you are with one person a while, eating and sleeping and living with them, loving them, talking to them, going places together, and then it stops - Charles Bukowski
The hardest part of losing someone, isn’t having to say goodbye, but rather learning to live without them. Always trying to fill the void, the emptiness that’s left inside your heart when they go. - unknown
Love is so short, forgetting is so long. - Pablo Neruda, “Tonight I Can Write The Saddest Lines”
The most intimate thing we can do is to allow people we love most see us at our worst. At our lowest. At our weakest. True intimacy happens when nothing is perfect. - Amy Harmon, The Song of David
We know what we are now, but know not what we may be. - Hamlet (Act 4, Scene V) by William Shakespeare
I love you and I always will and I am sorry. What a useless word. -- Ernest Hemingway, The Garden of Eden
The truth is, I pretend to be a cynic, but I am really a dreamer who is terrified of wanting something she may never get. - Joanna Hoffman
Never give up on a dream because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway. - Earl Nightingale
Earl Nightingale was a noted motivational speaker, writer, publisher, and radio host for nearly four decades. The above quote was the first time I can ever recall being made aware of him or his work. A bout of insomnia led me to falling into a deep internet research hole learning about him and his philosophies. I was struck by his main ideology of "we become what we think about" and furthermore how that is just the first step into taking action based on train of thoughts propelling you forward to a goal. He was born poor, like most during the great depression, then joined the Marines and survived the attack on Pearl Harbor bombing in 1941. In a post-war America that so many romanticize ad nauseam he studied how economic disparity had already become entrenched in the pscyhe of most Americans, even people who thought they were doing well. People that did not even think about or question how they could be doing better or preparing themselves better for their future and the future of their of the family.
Now I don't want to get to caught up in the socioeconomic jargon, because while money and financial security has always been and remains an issue for me, what resonates most about Mr. Nightingale's work is the focus on thinking that leads to action. A popular message about depression these days is the phrase "depression lies" which is absolutely true. It's not bad luck or unfortunate circumstances that generally prevent me from thinking ahead, planning, or taking action toward bettering my life, my health and happiness. It's almost always my own cycle of negativity, lack of self-confidence, and dismissal of the value of my own hopes and dreams.
That is also not to say that this some cure-all or magic mantra to flip a switch and send me down a path of riches, romance and happily ever after. But there is no way I will ever be able to pull myself out this mind trap of cynicism unless I allow myself the chance to just take one step towards something. Just one step. Thinking about what is possible and what I want. Taking action based on those thoughts and whether or not I succeed or fail right away is not the point. It might take years. It might take my whole life. But I've only got this one life that I know of. I can ride it out in the same cesspool of mediocrity and self-destruction or I can take a chance on something better. And working toward whatever that is has got to be better than not working toward anything.
Human relationships are strange. I mean, you are with one person a while, eating and sleeping and living with them, loving them, talking to them, going places together, and then it stops - Charles Bukowski
The hardest part of losing someone, isn’t having to say goodbye, but rather learning to live without them. Always trying to fill the void, the emptiness that’s left inside your heart when they go. - unknown
Love is so short, forgetting is so long. - Pablo Neruda, “Tonight I Can Write The Saddest Lines”
The most intimate thing we can do is to allow people we love most see us at our worst. At our lowest. At our weakest. True intimacy happens when nothing is perfect. - Amy Harmon, The Song of David
We know what we are now, but know not what we may be. - Hamlet (Act 4, Scene V) by William Shakespeare
I love you and I always will and I am sorry. What a useless word. -- Ernest Hemingway, The Garden of Eden
The truth is, I pretend to be a cynic, but I am really a dreamer who is terrified of wanting something she may never get. - Joanna Hoffman
Never give up on a dream because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway. - Earl Nightingale
Earl Nightingale was a noted motivational speaker, writer, publisher, and radio host for nearly four decades. The above quote was the first time I can ever recall being made aware of him or his work. A bout of insomnia led me to falling into a deep internet research hole learning about him and his philosophies. I was struck by his main ideology of "we become what we think about" and furthermore how that is just the first step into taking action based on train of thoughts propelling you forward to a goal. He was born poor, like most during the great depression, then joined the Marines and survived the attack on Pearl Harbor bombing in 1941. In a post-war America that so many romanticize ad nauseam he studied how economic disparity had already become entrenched in the pscyhe of most Americans, even people who thought they were doing well. People that did not even think about or question how they could be doing better or preparing themselves better for their future and the future of their of the family.
Now I don't want to get to caught up in the socioeconomic jargon, because while money and financial security has always been and remains an issue for me, what resonates most about Mr. Nightingale's work is the focus on thinking that leads to action. A popular message about depression these days is the phrase "depression lies" which is absolutely true. It's not bad luck or unfortunate circumstances that generally prevent me from thinking ahead, planning, or taking action toward bettering my life, my health and happiness. It's almost always my own cycle of negativity, lack of self-confidence, and dismissal of the value of my own hopes and dreams.
That is also not to say that this some cure-all or magic mantra to flip a switch and send me down a path of riches, romance and happily ever after. But there is no way I will ever be able to pull myself out this mind trap of cynicism unless I allow myself the chance to just take one step towards something. Just one step. Thinking about what is possible and what I want. Taking action based on those thoughts and whether or not I succeed or fail right away is not the point. It might take years. It might take my whole life. But I've only got this one life that I know of. I can ride it out in the same cesspool of mediocrity and self-destruction or I can take a chance on something better. And working toward whatever that is has got to be better than not working toward anything.
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