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Inspirational Quotes

October 13, 2014 313 comments

Many of us draw great comfort and strength from inspirational quotes and sayings. Please share here if you have a favourite saying that lifts your spirits or know some motivational words that offer encouragement and support.

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313 comments

  2. “One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.
    He said, ‘My son, the battle is between two ‘wolves’ inside us all.
    One is EVIL – it is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride superiority, and ego.
    The other is GOOD – it is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.’
    The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather ‘which wolf wins?’
    The old Cherokee simply replied, ‘The one you feed’.

    Reply
    ▲ 62 ▼

  4. Just want to share this today….

    A 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud lady, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o’clock, with her hair fashionably coifed and makeup perfectly applied, even though she is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today. Her husband of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary.

    After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, she smiled sweetly when told her room was ready. As she maneuvered her walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of her tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on her window. “I love it,” she stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy.

    “Mrs. Jones, you haven’t seen the room …. just wait.”

    “That doesn’t have anything to do with it,” she replied. “Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn’t depend on how the furniture is arranged, it’s how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it. It’s a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do. Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open I’ll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I’ve stored away, just for this time in my life.”

    She went on to explain, “Old age is like a bank account, you withdraw from what you’ve put in. So, my advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories Thank you for your part in filling my Memory bank. I am still depositing.”

    And with a smile, she said: “Remember the five simple rules to be happy:

    1. Free your heart from hatred.
    2. Free your mind from worries.
    3. Live simply.
    4. Give more.
    5. Expect less

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    ▲ 27 ▼

  5. I would rather go through life sober, believing I am an alcoholic, than go through life drunk, trying to convince myself I’m not.

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    ▲ 24 ▼

    1. Rock on!! This one really resonates with me, because everyone in my life wants to see me as having quit drinking because it didn’t agree with me, or it was just a bad habit, or as though I finally lost those 5 pounds: I’ve kept the magnitude of my sobriety to myself for four years and I want to kind of scream: I HAVE TO BE SOBER. SOBER IS WHAT I AM. IT’S NOT LIKE GIVING UP SALT OR STOPPING BITING MY NAILS. MY SOBRIETY IS SO BIG THAT I ACTUALLY WANT TO CALL MYSELF AN ALCOHOLIC, TO GET ACROSS THE VASTNESS OF HOW IT FEELS TO GO TO SLEEP AND WAKE UP SOBER EVERY DAY!!!
      Ok, thanks, I needed to get that off my chest.

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      ▲ 1 ▼

  6. When asked on a talk show how he, a recovering alcoholic, handled the pressure of creating the hugely popular US TV show House of Cards, the creator Beau Willimon laughed and told the interviewer, “What you don’t realize is being an alcoholic is a full-time job!” He went on to say that now that he was freed of the burden of drinking/lying/being hung over/covering for his behavior (my paraphrase), he had energy to create something.

    This quote had a big impact–now sober for 7 months I found the first 3 exhilarating–it felt so good to feel good! But now that phase I is over I am restless, plateau’d, looking for what comes next. This comment made me realize why: now that closets are cleaned, bills are paid, and I’ve got my evenings back, I need an outlet for energy I used to devote to drinking. Wish me luck.

    Reply
    ▲ 22 ▼

    1. Set goals for yourself. Ones that you would never say out loud because they scare you. Go accomplish them and make new ones. Never get too comfortable, continue to challenge yourself daily! :)

      Reply
      ▲ 7 ▼

    2. Macklemore has a great line in a lyric from his song Neon Cathedral in which he refers to his addiction as the “thief at night.” So much time in my life was stolen by my own thief at night.

      Reply
      ▲ 6 ▼

    3. o yeah I heard that interview and was struck by that as well. It is like a 2nd job – with all the hours spent drinking and recovering

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      ▲ 4 ▼

  7. “You only have control over 3 things in your life:
    1. The thoughts you think
    2. The images you visualize
    3. And the actions you take.”

    Change your thoughts = change your life.

    Reply
    ▲ 20 ▼

  8. Well I made it through day one , didn’t realise how long an evening was without wine . Feels really good to wake up rested & ready for another wine free day , well done me , feeling proud of myself !!!!

    Reply
    ▲ 18 ▼

  12. “Breathe.
    Breathe and remember that you’ve been in this place before.
    You’ve been this uncomfortable, anxious and scared and you have survived.
    Breathe and know that you can survive this too.
    These feelings can’t break you. They are painful and debilitating, but you can sit with them and eventually they will pass.
    Maybe not immediately, but sometime soon they are going to fade and when they do you will look on this moment and laugh for having doubted your resilience.
    I know it feels unbearable right now, but keep breathing, again and again.
    This will pass. I promise you, this will pass.”

    Reply
    ▲ 16 ▼

  15. Found this in an article written by someone who had been sober for two years – for those LS members who have struggled, are struggling or might struggle in the future. x “But change is not a bolt of lightning that arrives with a zap. It is a bridge built brick by brick, every day, with sweat and humility and slips. It is hard work, and slow work, but it can be thrilling to watch it take shape. I believed I could not quit drinking, that people would not like me sober, that life would be drained of its color — but every ounce of that was untrue. Which made me wonder what else I believed that was untrue. What other impossible feats were within my grasp.” LOVE being sober (that last bit was me, Switchedon :-) ) x

    Reply
    ▲ 15 ▼

    1. Thank you for posting this. What a wonderful analogy building a bridge brick by brick! I was scared life would loose colour and I would no longer be fun! Brought a bright shirt and laughed with friends today…. So maybe sobriety will be ok just like you say :)

      Reply
      ▲ 2 ▼

  19. Today is a new day. Hiding from your history only shackles you to it. We can’t undo a single thing we have ever done, but we can make decisions today that propel us to the life we want and towards the healing that we need.

    Reply
    ▲ 13 ▼

    1. In some strange way, being utterly transparent about behaviour from the past contributes to healing ability, and is integral to lasting wellness, in my opinion. Maybe it has to do with the fact many alcoholics and drug abusers are dishonest when using substances. Thank you for sharing this. It’s helping me, today :)

      Reply
      ▲ 2 ▼

  22. “Religion is for those who don’t want to go to hell, and spirituality is for those who have already been there.”

    ― Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

    Reply
    ▲ 12 ▼

  28. This is not my work. It’s just something I really liked so I want 2 share it with ya’ll.
    I drank for joy and became miserable.

    I drank to be outgoing and became self centered.

    I drank to be sociable and became lonely.

    I drank for friendship and made enemies.

    I drank to soften sorrow and wallowed in self-pity.

    I drank for sleep and awakened without rest.

    I drank for strength and felt weak.

    I drank for relaxation and got the shakes.

    I drank for confidence and felt unsure

    I drank for courage and became afraid

    I drank for assurance and became doubtful

    I drank to forget thoughts and had blackouts

    I drank for conversation and tied my tongue

    I drank to be in heaven and I came to know hell

    I drank to forget and became haunted

    I drank for freedom and became a slave (of alcohol)

    I drank to ease problems and saw them multiply

    I drank to cope with life and invited death.

    I drank because I had the ‘right’ to and everything turned out wrong.

    Said this fellow, ‘It must have taken a bunch of booze to get you in this shape?

    I said, ‘Just one. For me one is too many and a thousand isn’t enough.’

    by Ruby Mae Heard

    Reply
    ▲ 9 ▼

  29. “Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”
    ― A.A. Milne

    Reply
    ▲ 9 ▼

  30. My mantra lately “worst things first” (my take on “first things first”) I tell myself this when I start worrying about things I need to “fix”… less sugar, more exercise, blah blah blah… I read an article the other day advising people to stop drinking fruity teas because they erode the enamel on your teeth, and I thought ” Oh FFS!!! Am I meant to live on kale and dust now?!?!” But then I figured, fruity herb teas may not be the best for my teeth, but certainly are a helluva lot better for my body and mind than friggin’ alcohol!!! Bring on the fruity teas!!! By far the lesser evil!!!

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    ▲ 8 ▼