Top 213 Quotes & Sayings by Sarah Ban Breathnach - Page 4

Gail Sheehy tells us that "the delights of self-discovery are always available." All Fools' Day is the perfect day to engrave this wisdom in our hearts.

Success doesn't have to pull, tug, or chafe if we wear our real size.

We are far betting dealing with the big losses-death, divorce, debt, and debilitating illness-than with the daily onslaught of little losses.

Joy is your birthright.

Every morning when we wake up we've been given a wonderful gift-another day of life-so let's make the most of it. No one can do it for us. . . . Genuine happiness can only be realized once we commit to making it a personal priority in our lives. This may be a new behavior for some of us and a bit intimidating. Be gentle with yourself. It will all unfold. Like any new behavior, happiness can be learned.

Both abundance and lack exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend.

I truly believe that we each have a House of Belonging waiting for us. Waiting to be found, waiting to be built, waiting to be renovated, waiting to be cleaned up. Waiting to rescue us. Waiting for the real thing: a grown-up, romantic, reciprocal relationship.

No matter what our decorating style - realized or aspired to the essential spiritual grace our home should possess is the solace of comfort.

...start thinking of yourself as an artist and your life as a work-in-progress. Works-in-progress are never perfect. But changes can be made...Art evolves. So does life. Art is never stagnant. Neither is life. The beautiful, authentic life you are creating for yourself is your art. It's the highest art.

Sometimes when we awaken from the bad dream of disowning ourselves, we think that the sojourn to self-discovery is a new one. But it is an ancient quest.

Don't wish today away. Don't waste it. Redeem one hour to be grateful. Let your thanksgiving rise above the din of disappointment - opportunities lost, mistakes made, the clamor of all that has not yet come.

As we become curators of our own contentment on the Simple Abundance path... we learn to savor the small with a grateful heart.

Many of us squander precious natural resources -time, creative energy, emotion- comparing our talents to those of others. Today ask Spirit to call forth your authentic gifts, so that you might know them, acknowledge them, and own them.

Often writers cast their words out prophetically, as a sorceress might cast a spell, and many times when the words return to you, enclosed between covers, your phantom is so fully fleshed out in its own persona, you don't recognize your own creation.

It is difficult to experience moments of happiness if we are not aware of what it is we genuinely love.

We can learn to be the catalysts for our own change.

Solvency feels better than anything you can spend money on.

We can then offer the universe the gift of our grateful hearts.

A nap is not to be confused with sleeping. We sleep to recharge our bodies. We nap to care for our souls. When we nap, we are resting our eyes while our imaginations soar. Getting ready for the next round. Sorting, sifting, separating the profound from the profane, the possible from the improbable. Rehearsing our acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize, our surprise on receiving the MacArthur genius award. This requires a prone position. If we're lucky, we might drift off, but we won't drift far. Just far enough to ransom our creativity from chaos.

How many of us go through our days parched and empty, thirsting after happiness, when we're really standing knee-deep in the river of abundance?

Deliberately seeking solitude-quality time spent away from family and friends-may seem selfish. It is not. Solitude is as necessary for our creative spirits to develop and flourish as are sleep and food for our bodies to survive.

Soul-directed events defy logic and ridicule reason.

Conscious choice is creative. Unconscious choice is destructive. That is how we end up living other people's lives.

It's hard to tell our bad luck from our good luck sometimes. And most of us have wept copious tears over someone or something when if we'd understood the situation better we might have celebrated our good fortune instead.

Start moving, a step at a time, step after step. The positive momentum will take you from there.

This is how women self-sabotage and self-destruct. Unless we have constant witnesses to our hard work, we are convinced we pull off every day of our lives through smoke and mirrors. (27)

I approach my work with a passionate intensity, acting as if its success depends entirely on me. "But once I've done my best, I try to let go as much as possible and have no expectations about how my work will be received by the world."

Let passion be your muse. Let her guide and teach you to trust your instincts.

As the season of believing seems to wind down let me gently remind you that many dreams still wait in the wings. Many authentic sparks must be fanned before passion performs her perfect work in you. Throw another log on the fire.

The greatest secret to living a happy, fulfilled life is the realization that everything is created in our minds before it manifests itself in the outer world. We must believe it before we can see it.

Consider the track record of your naysayers. How many dreams have they successfully brought into this world?

Not having money to spend doesn’t mean we can’t have well-spent moments every day. (42)

Trust that through the balm of simplicity your frazzled and weary soul can discover the place where you ought to be. Every day offers us simple gifts when we are willing to search our hearts for the place that's right for each of us.