Chicken Soup for the Recovering Soul Daily Inspirations (Chicken Soup for the Soul) (24 page)

Today is the time to love, laugh, encourage, smile and to cheer the faint-hearted. It’s the time to leave a good memory, to say, “I love you,” and to forgive a wrong. This very day is the day to give appreciation to someone you have long admired. Today is the time of your life!

Joan Clayton

Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves.

Rainer Maria Rilke

Footnotes for Life

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restling with your mind weakens you. When negative thoughts grab hold of you, observe them without judgment and they will loosen their grip. To remain cheerful, learn how to cordon off areas of weakness. Once you refuse them entry into the rest of your mind, they can no longer influence you. Then you can work on them safely.

Brahma Kumaris
World Spiritual University

The secret of success lies in the balance of remaining firm in the goals you set, but flexible in the process of realizing them.

Brahma Kumaris

Footnotes for Life

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aughter reveals a childlike trust that all will eventually be well. All may not seem well at the present moment. Things may not line up in as orderly a fashion as I would prefer, but believing that my Higher Power is at the helm, I can ease my heart with the healing nourishment of laughter as I set my hand to doing whatever can be done.

Rhonda Brunea

With the fearful strain that is on me day and night, if I did not laugh I should die.

Abraham Lincoln

Footnotes for Life

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n this new morning shed your anxiety and fears; treat this day as a new adventure. Streamline your daily routine and leave more time for you. Pace your wants and needs and let yourself be less than perfect. The major roadblock in your life has been cleared and you need to establish those new boundaries. Remember to look within yourself and revitalize your thinking. Take a moment for quiet reflection. Once you’re confident and motivated you’ll empower your survivor qualities. They were always there, but now they need to be recharged. Congratulate yourself and breathe in your tranquil state of mind.

Suzanne Baginskie

Most true happiness comes from one’s inner life. It takes reflection and contemplation and self-discipline.

William L Shirer

Footnotes for Life

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choose not to let myself become a victim of circumstance. I refuse to let fear stop me from taking a chance. I understand time and persistence is the pathway to my goal and although I will encounter obstacles, I’ll not let go of my dream.

I know that faith in God will give me strength from within and I accept that I may sometimes need help from others. If there is a day I fall short of the finish line I’ll remind myself that I have tomorrow to make it in record time. I know that in every field, the expert was once a beginner and I recognize within myself and others the potential of being a winner!

Teri Mitchell

Have confidence that if you have done a little thing well, you can do a bigger thing well, too.

Joseph Storey

Footnotes for Life

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ne cold icy night my life changed forever. I was sitting in the car with the motor running waiting for my son to finish a court-ordered A.A. meeting when a young woman knocked on my window. “Why don’t you come in and share a cup of coffee with us?” I climbed out and we hurried inside. The topic was detachment. I didn’t have a clue what that meant, but as I listened an overwhelming sense of belonging washed over me. I was not alone. I was not crazy. My son’s grown now and sober but I still attend Al-Anon. It’s not about him, it’s about me and sometimes I get the two mixed up and I need the wisdom to know the difference.

Carol Davis Gustke

Convincing yourself does not win the argument.

Robert Half

Footnotes for Life

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he gift of friendship can be hard to accept. I wonder, “Is there a string attached? What is that person’s motive?” I need to learn to be a gracious acceptor of what is offered to me. I can analyze the person, the friendship and the words. Accepting the friendship slowly and cautiously can help me begin to trust others. There are those who might attempt to take advantage of me, but I still need to take the time to examine the offer. Caution and time can be my friends.

Linda Myers-Sowell

It is more shameful to distrust our friends than to be deceived by them.

La Rochefoucauld

Footnotes for Life

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have grown beyond the need to prove to anyone that I am a good girl. I am not waiting to be rescued or saved. I do not require anyone’s permission to be who I am. I am learning not to experience myself as a child. The source of my approval resides within me and not at the mercy of others. I have the ability to see the normal frictions of everyday life in a realistic perspective and not translate them into evidence of rejection or of my not really being loved. Along with my autonomy, I am respecting other people’s needs to follow their own destinies, to be alone sometimes, to be preoccupied with issues not involved with me. I have matured and embrace my independence.