Heart Full Moments December 2017
Bits of Wisdom
A monthly feature of “Listening with Heart”, sharing wise words, meaningful things read or good things found, to help warm your heart.
As this year draws to a close, I offer you my latest collection of wise words, good things read, and gentle thoughts to help bring depth and meaning to your life. May your new year be graced with many blessings, inside and out, and may you be present to each and every moment before you.
- Marriage is not about marrying the right person, it’s about being the right partner.
“I have no way of knowing whether or not you married the wrong person, but I do know that many people have a lot of wrong ideas about marriage and what it takes to make that marriage happy and successful. I’ll be the first to admit that it’s possible that you did marry the wrong person. However, if you treat the wrong person like the right person, you could well end up having married the right person after all. On the other hand, if you marry the right person, and treat that person wrong, you certainly will have ended up marrying the wrong person. I also know that it is far more important to be the right kind of person than it is to marry the right person. In short, whether you married the right or wrong person is primarily up to you.” – Zig Ziglar
- The Monitoring the Future survey, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and designed to be nationally representative, has asked 12th- graders more than 1,000 questions every year since 1975 and queried eighth- and 10th-graders since 1991. The survey asks teens how happy they are and also how much of their leisure time they spend on various activities, including non-screen activities such as in-person social interaction and exercise, and, in recent years, screen activities such as using social media, texting, and browsing the web. The results could not be clearer: Teens who spend more time than average on screen activities are more likely to be unhappy, and those who spend more time than average on non-screen activities are more likely to be happy.
- “I do not at all understand the mystery of grace–only that it meets us where we are but doesn’t leave us where it found us.” – Anne Lamott
- “Balance is not about giving the same amount of energy to all areas of your life simultaneously. It’s more about being aware of what needs your focus at any given time and recognising the symptoms of feeling out of balance before things get out of hand.”- Kelly Pietrangeli
- “Longing, felt fully, carries us to belonging.” – Tara Brach
- “There is greater hunger in the world for appreciation than for bread.” – Mother Teresa
- “Caregiving often calls us to lean into love we didn’t know possible.” – Tia Walker
- Karen Salmonson has said, “One of the ugliest things in the world is a human without compassion.”
- “Heartbreak is your clue into what’s next.” Glennon
- Nestle Tollhouse says the worst Christmas gift ever is oatmeal raisin cookies(!) 🙂
- Rumi said, “Try something different. Surrender.”
- “There are many tenets of Wholeheartedness, but at its very core is vulnerability and worthiness; facing uncertainty, exposure, and emotional risks, and knowing that I am enough.” – Brene Brown
- Himalayan sherpas have a saying: “There are two great sins in the world: threatening little children and picking wildflowers.”
- “Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light; I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.” – Author unknown
- “Life runs in cycles.
The wheel never stops turning.
No matter how dark the night, morning comes.
No matter how cold the winter, spring comes.
When you feel despair, know that the wheel is turning. Joy will come.”
- “Carefully watch your thoughts for they become your words.
Manage and watch your words, for they will become your actions.
Consider and judge your actions, for they have become your habits. Acknowledge and watch your habits, for they shall become your values. Understand and embrace your values for they shall become your destiny.” – Mahatma Gandhi - “No matter your race, whatever the case may be, this is a beautiful country and we’re never going to let one person dictate how beautiful and how powerful we are.” – LeBron James
- “…Ultimately, we are small living things awakened in the stream, not gods who carve out rivers. We cannot eliminate hunger, but we can feed each other. We cannot eliminate pain, but we can live a life of compassion.” – Mark Nepo
- “Judgement wouldn’t be present if you weren’t in some way calling out for love.” – Gabby Bernstein
- “I wish I could show you, when you are lonely or in darkness, the astonishing light of your own being.” – HAFIZ
- ”I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness for it shows me the stars.” – OG Mandino
- “Be joyful, though you have considered all the facts.” – Wendell Berry
- “In positive psychology, we define optimism as the belief that your behavior matters.” -Blankson
Happy New Year!
For more ideas on how to bring more calm and less worry into your life, click here for a free email course on Mindfulness.
Listening with Heart
Cindi Rivera, MFT
Marriage, Family Therapist
www.cindiriveratherapy.com
[email protected]
(510) 482-4445