Love is something we nurture and grow

“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.” – Brene’ Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are

Writing to Heal

“Since the mid-1980’s an increasing number of studies have focused on the value of expressive writing as a way to bring about healing. The evidence is mounting that the act of writing about traumatic experience for as little as fifteen or twenty minutes a day for three or four days can produce measurable changes in physical and mental health. Emotional writing can also affect people’s sleep habits, work efficiency, and how they connect with others.” – James Pennebaker, Writing to Heal: A guided journal for recovering from trauma & emotional upheaval

(this book is out of print; check your public library)

Feeling Wounded

“You hold a contraction in your body, as do most people, that comes from early shocks and disappointments about the extent to which fear makes people cold and hard. By holding it, you unknowingly create a false meaning, or identity, for yourself. There is a part of the mind that likes to stay in darkness, the clutches at these shocks and holds onto them tightly to keep its small identity alive. The last of this clutching is to be released now. You are to take no more identity from being a wounded person.”
– Penney Peirce,
The Intuitive Way: The Definitive Guide to Increasing Your Awareness

Compassion

Sympathy sees and says, “I’m sorry”.
Compassion feels and whispers, “I’ll help”.

When one of us tells the truth …

“When one of us tells the truth, he makes it easier for all of us to open our hearts to our pain and to the pain of others.” – Mary Pipher, in reference to the book ~ Beautiful Boy by David Sheff

Build an Altar

“Suffering is like a pile of rocks. You can choose to carry the load, throw them at someone, just let them lay there, or you can build an altar.”
– Chad Arnold re: the death of his brother, Ryan
in a Journal entry entitled, “Steppingstones”

Extract the Precious from the Worthless

“The great danger of our age is to be lulled to sleep by the anesthesia of abundance. To have so much yet mean so little. To move so fast that we have no time to savor life’s sweet and simple pleasures. To let things temporal crowd out things eternal. To be too busy for those we love so that someday we are gone, or they are, before we acquire the good sense to slow down and extract the precious from the worthless.” – Steve Forbes quoted in My America: What My Country Means to Me

Thoughts Have Power

“She came to see the difference between a frightening reality and a frightening thought, and she realized that the latter, though genuinely unnerving, could not hurt her. A scary thought has no power to hurt you unless you believe it.” – Martha Beck, The Four Day Win

Sit still

“Why is ‘not doing’ so hard?” – Sue Bender,
Everyday Sacred: A Woman’s Journey Home

It Shouldn’t Have Happened

“We have to look at our childhood and its effect on our mind as it is. Our childhood is over. Our mind is now our responsibility. It only delays our mental freedom to say ‘it shouldn’t have happened’. Of course it shouldn’t have. But it did.” – Hugh Prather, The Little Book of Letting Go: A Revolutionary 30-Day Program to Cleanse Your Mind, Lift Your Spirit and Replenish Your Soul