Catalyst Quotes

“Don’t Shrink From the Immensity of Your Purpose”

“The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it.”   (Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose)

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“You don’t need anyone’s affection or approval in order to be good enough.  When someone rejects or abandons or judges you, it isn’t actually about you.  It’s about them and their own insecurities, limitations, and needs, and you don’t have to internalize that.  Your worth isn’t contingent upon other people’s acceptance of you — it’s something inherent.  You exist, and therefore, you matter.  You’re allowed to voice your thoughts and feelings.  You’re allowed to assert your needs and take up space. You’re allowed to hold onto the truth that who you are is exactly enough.   (Daneill Koepke)

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“Be aware, when you change, evolve or try something new you will make people very uncomfortable for 2 reasons.

First, they will have to adjust how they are with you.  Most people are fearful and lazy so they will resent you for this.

Secondly, by you changing, especially for what you believe is ‘the better’, you force others to take a look at themselves and the things they would like to change… but change is tough, so they will resent you for making it obvious that they are responsible for their circumstances.

Ignore them, and keep growing stronger!  In time they will either adjust to the new you, choose to grow stronger themselves, or simply disappear.”   (Elliot Hulse)

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“I don’t think life is absurd.  I think we are all here for a huge purpose.  I think we shrink from the immensity of the purpose we are here for.”   (Norman Mailer)

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“The word courage comes from the same stem as the French word Coeur, meaning ‘heart.’ Thus just as one’s heart, by pumping blood to one’s arms, legs, and brain enables all the other physical organs to function, so courage makes possible all the psychological virtues.  Without courage other values wither away into mere facsimiles of virtue.”   (Rollo May, The Courage to Create)

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“Appreciation can make a day, even change a life.  Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary.”   (Margaret Cousins)

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“Do What Matters Most”

“You have to begin to tell the story of your life as you now want it to be and discontinue the tales of how it has been or of how it is.”   (Esther & Jerry Hicks, Money, and the Law of Attraction)

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“As the physically weak man can make himself strong by careful and patient training, so the man of weak thoughts can make them strong by exercising himself in right thinking.”   (James Allen,  As a Man Thinketh)

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“What holds most people back isn’t the quality of their ideas, but their lack of faith in themselves.  You have to live your life as if you are already where you want to be.”   (Russell Simmons, Do You!)

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“So what is the difference between “power thinking” and “positive” thinking?  The distinction is slight but profound.  To me, people use positive thinking to pretend that everything is rosy, when they really believe that it’s not.  With power thinking, we understand that everything is neutral, that nothing has meaning except for the meaning we give it, and that we are going to make up a story and give something it’s meaning.”   (T. Harv Eker, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind)

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“When nobody else celebrates you, learn to celebrate yourself.  When nobody else compliments you, then compliment yourself.  It’s not up to other people to keep you encouraged.  It’s up to you. Encouragement should come from the inside.”   (Joel Osteen)

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“’But what if I fail?’

You will. The answer to the ‘what if’ question is, you will.

A better question might be, ‘After I fail, what then?’

Well, if you’ve chosen well, after you fail you will be one step closer to succeeding, you will be wiser and stronger and you almost certainly will be more respected by all of those that are afraid to try.”   (Seth Godin)

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“Each morning we are born again.  What we do today is what matters most.”   (Bhudda)

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“If You Remain Stuck, You Learn Nothing”

“If You Remain Stuck, You Learn Nothing”.

“If You Remain Stuck, You Learn Nothing”

“It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life — daily and hourly.  Our answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct.  Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual.”   (Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning)

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“Doubt yourself and you doubt everything you see.  Judge yourself and you see judges everywhere.  But if you listen to the sound of your own voice, you can rise above doubt and judgment.  And you can see forever.”   (Nancy Kerrigan)

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“If we did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.”  (Albert Einstein)

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“If you walk on sunlight, bathe in moonlight, breathe in a golden air and exhale a Midas’ touch; mark my words, those who exist in the shadows will try to pull you into the darkness with them. The last thing that they want is for you to see the wonder of your life because they can’t see theirs.”   (C. JoyBell C.)

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“Do not accept the roles that society foists on you.  Re-create yourself by forging a new identity, one that commands attention and never bores the audience.  Be the master of your own image rather than letting others define if for you. Incorporate dramatic devices into your public gestures and actions – your power will be enhanced and your character will seem larger than life.”   (Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power)

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“I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts.”   (John Locke)

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“Any action is often better than no action, especially if you have been stuck in an unhappy situation for a long time. If it is a mistake, at least you learn something, in which case it’s no longer a mistake. If you remain stuck, you learn nothing.”   (Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment)

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“Politeness, Manners, Hot Air, Dogs, Philosophy and Self-Help”

“I’m making a list

I’m making a list of things I must say

For politeness,

And goodness and kindness and gentleness

Sweetness and rightness:

Hello

Pardon me

How are you?

Excuse me

Bless you

May I?

Thank you

Goodbye

If you know some that I’ve forgot,

Please stick them in your eye!”    (Shel Silverstein, Where the Sidewalk Ends)

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“’Oh Tigger, where are your manners?’ 

“I don’t know, but I bet they’re having more fun than I am.’”   (A. A. Milne)

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“The master was certainly not a stickler for etiquette and good manners but there was always a natural courtesy and grace in his dealings with others.

A young disciple once was very rude to a toll collector as he drove the Master home one night.  In self-defense he said, ‘I’d rather be myself and let people know exactly how I feel.  Politeness is nothing but a lot of hot air anyway.’

‘True enough,’ replied the Master pleasantly, ‘but that’s what we have in our automobile tires and see how it eases the bumps.’”   (Anthony de Mello, SJ)

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“Look at children.  Of course they may quarrel, but generally speaking they do not harbor ill feelings as much or as long as adults do.  Most adults have the advantage of education over children, but what is the use of an education if they show a big smile while hiding negative feelings deep inside?  Children don’t usually act in such a manner.  If they feel angry with someone, they express it, and then it is finished.  They can still play with that person the following day.”  (Dalai Lama XIV)

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“A dog has no use for fancy cars or big homes or designer clothes.  Status symbol means nothing to him. A waterlogged stick will do just fine.  A dog judges others not by their color or creed or class but by who they are inside.  A dog doesn’t care if you are rich or poor, educated or illiterate, clever or dull. Give him your heart and he will give you his.  It was really quite simple, and yet we humans, so much wiser and more sophisticated, have always had trouble figuring out what really counts and what does not.  As I wrote that farewell column to Marley, I realized it was all right there in front of us, if only we opened our eyes.  Sometimes it took a dog with bad breath, worse manners, and pure intentions to help us see.”   (John Grogan)

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“Several years back there was a terrific scene in Jeff MacNelly’s comic strip ‘Shoe.’  The main character is a frazzled ‘Perfesser’ sitting in his usual spot in Roz’s Diner.  He seems hard at work on his latest writing.

Roz stands behind the counter and asks the ‘Perfesser’ what he’s writing this time.  ‘I’m writing the definitive self-help book based on my personal philosophy,’ he explains.

‘Your philosophy?’ Roz chuckles.

The ‘Perfesser’ indignantly looks up and says, ‘Yes. I’m calling my book The Three Ups: Shut Up, Grow Up and Listen Up.’”   (Apple Seeds)

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“I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, ‘Where’s the self-help section?’ She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.”   (George Carlin)

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“Here’s Some Advice and Other Things for You”

“’I’m bored’ is a useless thing to say.  I mean, you live in a great, big, vast world that you’ve seen none percent of.  Even the inside of your own mind is endless; it goes on forever, inwardly, do you understand?  The fact that you’re alive is amazing, so you don’t get to say ‘I’m bored.’”  (Louis C.K)

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“Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten.  Then when you hit puberty they take the crayons away and replace them with dry, uninspiring books on algebra, history, etc.  Being suddenly hit years later with the ‘creative bug’ is just a wee voice telling you, ‘I’d like my crayons back, please.’”    (Hugh MacLeod, Ignore Everybody:  and 39 Other Keys to Creativity)

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A wise older woman once told me that humans are victims of time.  We fall prey to the illusion that there is always tomorrow while missing today.  And in that way, we only have yesterday.

And so this year, I only have one resolution.

To not stand in the quicksand.  To not let wistful turn to longing and longing to regret and regret to disappointment.  To turn longing to this moment.  To be wistful for today.  To not wish.  To just do.

To live for today.”    (Nayia Moysidis)

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“One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out.  Be as I am – a reluctant enthusiast…. a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic.  Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure.  It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it.  While you can. While it’s still here.  So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space.  Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators.  I promise you this; you will outlive the bastards.”   (Edward Abbey)

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“As the saying goes, you might as well be yourself; everyone else is taken.”   (Robert Bly)

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“When one man, for whatever reason, has the opportunity to lead an extraordinary life, he has no right to keep it to himself.”   (Jacques-Yves Cousteau)

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“Always & Never:  Two words you should ALWAYS remember NEVER to use.”  (Wendall Johnson)

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“Absolute Cooperation with the Inevitable”

“Part of the problem with the word ‘disabilities’ is that it immediately suggests an inability to see or hear or walk or do other things that many of us take for granted.  But what of people who can’t feel?  Or talk about their feelings?  Or manage their feelings in constructive ways? What of people who aren’t able to form close and strong relationships?  And people who cannot find fulfillment in their lives or those who have lost hope, who live in disappointment and bitterness and find in life no joy, no love?  These, it seems to me, are the real disabilities.”   (Fred Rogers, The World According to Mister Rogers)

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“Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself.  And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams.”   (Paulo Coelho)

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“Refuse to fall down.  If you cannot refuse to fall down, refuse to stay down, lift your heart toward heaven like a hungry beggar, ask that it be filled and it will be filled.  You may be pushed down.  You may be kept from rising.  But no one can keep you from lifting your heart toward heaven – only you.  It is in the middle of misery that so much becomes clear.  The one who says nothing good came of this is not yet listening.”   (Clarissa Pinkola Estés)

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“I think the highest forgiveness is to accept that creation is thoroughly tangled, with every possible quality given outlet for expression.  People need to accept once and for all that there is only one life and each of us is free to shape it through the choices we make.

Seeking can’t get anyone out of the tangle because everything is tangled up… it’s much easier to keep up the fight between good and evil, holy and profane, us and them.  But as awareness grows, these opposites begin to calm down in their clashes, and something else emerges – a world you feel at home in.”    (Deepak Chopra, The Book of Secrets)

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“Enlightenment is:  absolute cooperation with the inevitable.”   (Anthony de Mello)

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