Scott Stabile

I__ trusting that the pain of letting go will be eclipsed by the relief of moving on.

Um, enough apologies, okay?Just get on with being your badass self.

I know it__ hard sometimes to recognize how truly beautiful you are, and how truly worthy of love you have always been and will always be. It__ hard sometimes to see the truth of your divinity amidst the closed, judgmental opinions of the outside world, and of your own critical mind. But your beauty and your worthiness have nothing to do with anyone__ opinions, or anyone__ mind, not even your own. Your real truth lives in the heart, and your heart, as big and open and generous as it is, will never stop marveling at your stunning existence.

Compassion grows in the recognition that we are all the same.If you can__ see some part of yourself in every single person you encounter, then you__e not looking closely enough, at the person or at yourself.

Option A:Spend your life trying to get others to accept you.Option B:Accept yourself, and spend your life with others who recognize what a beauty you are.

Listen to me, you__e got this. Seriously, you__e got this.

Isn__ it time to start giving yourself the great gift of your own love?

It's easy to waste too many words__nd too much energy__n nonsense we don't even care about. What a relief it is to start giving time and energy to what matters most (whatever that is for you). We choose what gets our attention. Why not choose things that are worthy of it?When he chose only to speak about things he absolutely believed, knew to be true, or really cared about, he was delighted by how much less talking he needed to do.

You can__ do everything for everyone, not even for yourself. It__ okay to ask for help when you need it.

i__ afraid i__l lose you if i share all that__ real.i__ afraid i__l lose myself if i don__.

You don__ have to do the same things you__e always done, if it no longer feels good to do them. Give yourself permission to try something different, something new. Give yourself permission to break away from routine and obligation. Permission to explore, and to soar.

you get to a point when you just don__ want to be pushed anymore. pushed to pretend you__e okay with condescending behavior and disrespectful attitudes. pushed to ignore the determined yearnings of your clearest truth. pushed to engage in conversations and situations that in no way serve your state of peace. pushed to act a bogus part and clap for those who are acting theirs. pushed to be quiet and to stay small. pushed to exist rather than live. you get to a point when it__ all too much, too exhausting, too false. something must change. then you realize that the changes you crave have always been within your power to create. you realize that no one has the might to push you into anything when you are unwilling to be pushed. you realize that you, more effectively than any outside influence, have been your biggest pusher all along. so you stop__ushing and pretending and acting and shrinking. you stop it all, because you can. and you don__ waste too much time regretting that you didn__ do it sooner. you__e suddenly much too busy living your life for such silly regrets.

Maybe you__e not breaking down.Maybe you__e breaking through.

Today, I choose not to take my life for granted.I choose not to look upon the fact that I am healthy, have food in my refrigerator and have clean water to drink as givens. They are not givens for so many people in our world. The fact that I am safe and (relatively) sane are not givens. That I was born into a family who loves me and into a country not ravaged by war are not givens. It is impossible to name all of the circumstances in my life I've taken for granted. All of the basic needs I've had met, all of the friendships and job opportunities and financial blessings and the list, truly, is endless. The fact that I am breathing is a miracle, one I too rarely stop to appreciate.I'm stopping, right now, to be grateful for everything I am and everything I've been given. I'm stopping, right now, to be grateful for every pleasure and every pain that has contributed to the me who sits here and writes these words.I am thankful for my life. This moment is a blessing. Each breath a gift. That I've been able to take so much for granted is a gift, too. But it's not how I want to live__ot when gratitude is an option, not when wonder and awe are choices.I choose gratitude. I choose wonder. I choose awe. I choose everything that suggests I'm opening myself to the miraculous reality of simply being alive for one moment more.

You are not your mind. You don__ have to believe the lies it tells you about yourself.

If you__e given your all, and it's still not working, it's likely time to move on.

She felt likee doing her part to change the world, so she started by giving thanks for all the blessings of her life, rather than bemoaning all that was missing from it. Then she complimented her reflection in the mirror, instead of criticizing it as she usually did. Next she walked into her neighborhood and offered her smile to everyone she passed, whether or not they offered theirs to her. Each day she did these things, and soon they became habit. Each day she lived with more gratitude, more acceptance, more kindnesss. And sure enough, the world around her began to change. Because she had decided so, she was single-handedly doing her part to change it

When our desire for truth outweighs our fear of change, we make choices that serve an open heart rather than a closed mind.