The Purpose of Life

“The biggest breakthroughs in consciousness occur when things are difficult; when we have a choice to fall to the worst of ourselves or rise to the best of ourselves.”

“Darkness is the only path to light. It is not our wonderful gifts that make us closer to God: it’s using our garbage to transform ourselves. This is the key that unlocks the door that opens to God.”

“Unfortunately, it is human nature for us to only learn and grow from a place of emptiness. It’s hard to learn when we are winning and on top of the world.”

“God never answers prayers. It is people who answer their own prayers by knowing how to connect and utilize the divine energy of the Creator and the God-like force in their own souls.”

“If I said it once, I’ll say it again: ‘We have the power to change everything.'”

“The whole point of all of this – why we are here, why the world is here, and why we have the political system and leaders that we do – is to achieve change. This is the purpose of life.”

All quotes by Yehuda Berg

Taste It, Enjoy It — Find Out

“Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor.”

“Your problem is how you are going to spend this one odd and precious life you have been issued. Whether you’re going to spend it trying to look good and creating the illusion that you have power over people and circumstances, or whether you are going to taste it, enjoy it and find out the truth about who you are.”

“I do not at all understand the mystery of grace – only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us.”

“Everyone is flailing through this life without an owner’s manual, with whatever modicum of grace and good humor we can manage.”

“I am going to notice the lights of the earth, the sun and the moon and the stars, the lights of our candles as we march, the lights with which spring teases us, the light that is already present.”

“These days cry out, as never before, for us to pay attention, so we can move through them and get our joy and pride back.”

“Pay attention to the beauty surrounding you.”

All quotes by Anne Lamott

Accept the Path

“The underlying cause of most unfulfilled lives is that we are simply too close to ourselves to see clearly enough to get out of our own way.”

“I used to think that intelligence came from books and knowledge and rational thought. But that’s not intelligence: It’s just information and interpretation. Real intelligence is when your mind and your heart connect. That’s when you see the truth so clearly and unmistakably that you don’t have to think about it.”

“If I want true freedom, I need to accept that the path leading there is going to be one of discomfort and vulnerability.”

All quotes by Neil Strauss

Photo by Amanda Demme

There is a Voice

“Wherever you stand, be the soul of that place.”

“Everyone has been made for some particular work, and the desire for that work has been put in every heart.”

“And You? When will you begin that long journey into yourself?”

“Something opens our wings. Something makes boredom and hurt disappear. Someone fills the cup in front of us: We taste only sacredness.”

“There is a voice that doesn’t use words. Listen.”

“When you let go of who you are, you become who you might be.”

“You wander from room to room, hunting for the diamond necklace
that is already around your neck!”

“Everything in the universe is within you. Ask all of yourself.”

“Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames.”

All quotes by Rumi

Completely Unencumbered

“It’s dark because you are trying too hard. Lightly child, lightly. Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them. Throw away your baggage and go forward. There are quicksands all about you. Trying to suck you down into fear and self-pity and despair. That’s why you must walk so lightly, on tiptoes and no luggage, completely unencumbered.”

Quote by Aldous Huxley

The Great Power

“To free us from the expectations of others, to give us back to ourselves – there lies the great, singular power of self-respect.”

“Self-respect is a question of recognizing that anything worth having has a price.”

“Character — the willingness to accept responsibility for one’s own life — is the source from which self-respect springs.”

All quotes by Joan Didion

What You Bring To It

“What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us.”

“Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.”

“Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence.”

“Do what nobody else can do for you. Omit to do anything else.”

“We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal, and then leap in the dark to our success.”

“As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.”

“There is no value in life except what you choose to place upon it and no happiness in any place except what you bring to it yourself.”

“Live your beliefs and you can turn the world around.”

All quotes by Henry David Thoreau