Chicken Soup for the Recovering Soul Daily Inspirations (Chicken Soup for the Soul) (18 page)

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P
aint it all. Not just the sunshine and the rainbows, but also the floods and the storms. Write it all. Not just about laughter and cheers, celebrations and victories, but also write about pains and tears, failures and fears. Because as the years go by and you go over your life, you will not want to miss out on anything. For even the faintest smile, even the smallest teardrop has made your life as it is.

Maria Isabel A.Arellano

Imagination disposes of everything; it creates beauty, justice, happiness, which is everything in the world.

Blaise Pascal

Footnotes for Life

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I
accept that each time I grow or change, somewhere pain will be present. Issues that I may have accumulated over a period of decades I am dealing with in a much shorter time frame. The pain of confronting myself in these ways will be present alongside the joy that I feel. The easiest way to have the joy rests in not denying the pain, which is also a natural part of the process. All change requires a giving up, and this in itself is cause for mourning. It is this giving up, however, that clears the path for change. I know today that I am going through a purification process and though it is not easy, it is deeply worthwhile.

Tian Dayton

In order to unify ourselves we must change, renounce, give ourselves; and this violence to ourselves partakes of pain.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Footnotes for Life

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W
hen our last child left home I had “empty nest” syndrome big time. “Let’s get in the pickup and go for a drive,” my husband said, brushing away my tears. After a few miles I saw it. A large piece of gnarled white driftwood had been discarded by a country road. The white wood glistened in the sunlight. We put this treasure in our front yard. After many years it still stands, sharing its beauty while reminding me the best things in life are free. Letting go of my children was hard, but like my driftwood, they glisten with beauty in their freedom too.

Joan Clayton

It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new.

Alan Cohen

Footnotes for Life

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H
ow many times did our mother talk to us about keys? The key to happiness was trust. The key to a decent meal was practice. Being prepared was the key to end all keys. Save three months’ pay (in case you lose your job). Keep a canned hamin the pantry (for unexpected company). Have clean underwear (in case you have to go to the hospital). But I wasn’t prepared for her to die. I wasn’t prepared for a tomorrow without her. Not until our four-year-old granddaughter Amy leaned over Mom’s coffin and shook her sleeve and whispered, “When you get to Heaven, say hello to my other grandma, okay?” A child passed us the key.

Mary Lee Moynan

To live fully is to let go and die with each passing moment, and to be reborn in each new one.

Jack Kornfield

Footnotes for Life

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L
ife is fair because everything balances out; tears are eventually replaced with laughter, loneliness with companionship, fear with bravery, and pain with strength.

Today I embrace this adventure called life—taking it all in. I am able to accept what comes my way even if it’s a deep valley because I know there’s a mountaintop to come.

Brenda Nixon

Life is not so much a matter of position as of disposition.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Footnotes for Life

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G
limpses of divine guidance do not usually appear to me as flashes of inspiration or overwhelming feelings of spiritual bliss. Often they arrive more subtly, as in a magazine article someone sends to me, or a book I happen to pick up without knowing why. I find my answers in the everyday moments as often as I do in the breathtaking cathedrals or quiet times of prayer. When I am too busy looking for the grand gesture, I often miss the soft whisper. Today I will keep my mind open to the tiny messages that appear to me throughout the day. I have faith that they are there; it is up to me to be open to receiving them.

Amy Ellis

Start by doing what is necessary then do what is possible. And suddenly, you are doing the impossible.

St. Francis of Assisi

Footnotes for Life

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W
e often grasp the stem of a rose precariously, fearing the pain of getting pricked. Just as sometimes, in a difficult situation, we tend to dance around the real problem in hopes of not getting hurt. We make excuses for unseemly actions committed by a loved one or ourselves. We refuse to discuss an issue that may force us to change our familiar lifestyle. We convince ourselves that a difficult task is probably not necessary after all. In avoiding the problem we lose the opportunity to correct it. We remain fearful and out of control. The fact is that by grasping the stem of a rose firmly one does not feel the prick of the thorns.

Kay Conner Pliszka

Only by facing fears can we defuse them and put ourselves back in control.

Hugh Delehanty

Footnotes for Life