inspirational quotes - Lynette M. Burrows

Welcome Joy Into Your LIfe

If you’ve been following the past few posts on the gift of joy, steps to your more joyful life, and creating your joy toolbox you have been practicing at least a few of the steps mentioned in those posts. Congratulations. Your life is more joyful already, isn’t it? Continue to welcome joy into your life with some of these thoughts.

Make Joy a Priority

Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it.
Greg Anderson

We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy.
Joseph Campbell

Find joy in everything you choose to do. Every job, relationship, home… it’s your responsibility to love it, or change it.
Chuck Palahniuk

Perhaps most important, being in a state of joy is a learned skill,
not an innate ability.
Donald Altman, The Joy Compass

Choose Joy

Photo of two green plants on a trunk, one with large fat leaves the other with tall spiky leaves, welcome joy into your life even small joys are joy

Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.
Henri Nouwen

Joy is the simplest form of gratitude.
Karl Barth

Let your joy be in your journey – not in some distant goal.
Tim Cook

Joy must be developed from the inside. If we cannot find happiness within ourselves we will not be able to find happiness anywhere.
Allan Lokos, Patience: The Art of Peaceful Living

Every single second is an opportunity to change your life, because in any moment you can change the way you feel.
Rhonda Byrne

Go find your joy. Whatever that is, go find your joy. Are you going to have a good day or are you going to have a great day?
Because it’s completely up to you.
Sandra Bullock

Fill Your Pockets with Joy

A joyful life is made up of joyful moments gracefully strung together.
Brene Brown

Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.
Nhat Hanh

Life doesn’t have to be perfect to be filled with joy.
Anonymous

To have joy in your heart, one must know how to appreciate
the small things in life.
Anonymous

Joy; the kind of happiness that doesn’t depend on what happens.
David Steindl-Rast

When you recover or discover something that nourishes your soul and brings joy, care enough about yourself to make room for it in your life.
Jean Shinoda Bolen

Welcome Joy Into Your Life

There are pockets of frustration and pain and sorrow in every life. Some struggle with depression. There are chemical and physical reasons the struggle toward joy is more difficult for some. If that’s you, please give yourself a chance, seek professional help.

The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives.
Russel M. Nelson

The shame of it all is that many of us don’t even know we are missing out on joy. Even if you don’t love yourself at the moment, even if you can’t see the path to joy, look for your joy.

If you can’t find joy in the path you are on and what you are working toward now, how do you expect to find joy once you get there?
Anonymous

Give yourself permission not to be perfect. Your life doesn’t have to be perfect to be joyful. Joy doesn’t have to be big and loud. It’s in the quiet moments too. It’s in a single breath. Take a breath. Welcome joy into your life. You deserve it.

Discover Hope in Science Fiction and Fantasy Novels

Reading can be escape and inspiration. Sometimes reading is difficult. Other times it’s easy. Reading can open our eyes and minds and hearts to different ways to think, a new world, or to life, love, and maybe death. One of the greatest things reading can give us is hope. Hope grew scarce during 2020. Now, the glimmer of hope taunts us while we must continue fighting a pandemic and the capriciousness of life. Discover hope in science fiction and fantasy novels. May these quotes give you respite from whatever troubles you.

Even when the world throws it worst and then turns its back, there is still always hope.
Pittacus Lore, The Power of Six

Stuff your eyes with wonder, he said, live as if you’d drop dead in 10 seconds. See the world. It’s more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories.
Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

Kindness eases change.
Love quiets fear.
And a sweet and powerful
Positive obsession
Blunts pain,
Diverts rage,
And engages each of us
In the greatest,
The most intense
Of our chosen struggles.

Octavia E. Butler, Parable of Talents

Image of a dock reaching out into a lake reflecting the morning sunrise

Each day means a new twenty-four hours. Each day means everything’s possible again. You live in the moment, you die in the moment, you take it all one day at a time.
Marie Lu, Legend

Know yourself. You are worth knowing. Examine your life. The unexamined life is not worth living. Be aware that other people have equal significance. Give them the space to make their own choices, and let their choices count as you want them to let your choices count. Remember that excellence has no stopping point and keep on pursuing it. Make art that can last and that says something nobody else can say. Live the best life you can, and become the best self you can. You cannot know which of your actions is the lever that will move worlds. Not even Necessity knows all ends. Know yourself.
Jo Walton, The Just City

My Personal Favorite

It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, its only a passing thing this shadow. Even darkness must pass.
J. R. R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings

Conclusion

A profound phrase, “Even the darkness must pass.” Be assured, no matter the darkness and pain you face, it will pass. Discover Hope in science fiction and fantasy novels or any books you read. It’s the miracle respite for whatever troubles you. What inspirational quotes have you discovered while reading?

Nourish Your Soul

Have you grown weary of the pandemic? It’s going on and on and on. Dirty politics is everywhere. And bad people, angry people are showing their ugly everywhere. People suffering injustices and hatred are trying to make their voices heard—everywhere. How do you hang on in such trying times? You nourish your soul a little or a lot every-single-day.

Outline of a person's head with a radiance around it from he sun shining over a forest in the background perhaps it looks something like this when you nourish your soul

Society tells us that women suffer the emotional arrows of life more acutely. But your gender or the gender you choose, the color of your skin, your religious or ethnic or cultural lives—none of that means you don’t suffer. We are all hurting one way or another. Please read these quotes with your own pronouns of choice, your own gender, your own self in mind. I hope this collection of quotes can help nourish your soul a little today.

No Matter How Dark it Seems

There is some good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for.
J. R. R. Tolkien

A lesson for all of us is that for every loss, there is victory, for every sadness, there is joy, and when you think you’ve lost everything, there is hope.
Geraldine Solon

You Can’t Control it All

You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.
Maya Angelou, Letter to My Daughter

When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.
Henry Ford

See the Good

image of wisteria flowers in the foreground with a bridge over a creek in the background.

Lighten up on yourself. No one is perfect. Gently accept your humanness.
Deborah Day

You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.
Buddha

If only you could sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.
Fred Rogers

The very least you can do in your life is figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance, but live right in it, under its roof.
Barbara Kingsolver

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Make Time for Self-Care

Keep taking time for yourself until you are you again.
Lalah Delia

There are days I drop words of comfort on myself like falling leaves and remember that it is enough to be taken care of by myself.
Brian Andreas

Self-care is never a selfish act—it is simply good stewardship of the only gift I have, the gift I was put on earth to offer to others.
Parker Palmer

As the quotes have said, self-care isn’t selfish. Self-care can be a ritual or any of 21 ways to be kind to yourself.

Remember Hope

image of a rainbow in a blue sky with white clouds--a symbol of hope to nourish your soul

Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.
Desmond Tutu

Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today.
Thich Nhat Hanh

Just as despair can come to one only from other human beings, hope, too, can be given to one only by other human beings.
Elie Weisel

Nourish Your Soul

Food for the body is not enough. There must be food for the soul.
Dorothy Day

Don’t ask yourself what the world needs, ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.
Howard Washington Thurman

When you recover or discover something that nourishes your soul and brings joy, care enough about yourself to make room for it in your life.
Jean Shinoda Bolen

Remember Love

Love is the capacity to take care, to protect, to nourish. Thich Nhat Hanh

It seems simplistic. And maybe it is. But when the situation becomes too much love yourself enough to nourish your soul. Do it every day, but especially during when life is hard. Make room for those activities that feed your soul. That self-nourishment will get you through whatever difficulties you face.

Are You Suffering from Stress Fatigue?

As the pandemic and political strife continue, many of you may feel that the situation is hopeless. Maybe instead of hopeless, you’re suffering from stress fatigue. Ongoing stress can do that.

the word stress scatted across the scree and covering this woman's face symbolic of stress fatigue

Life is tough, my darling, but so are you.
—Stephanie Bennett-Henry

What is Stress Fatigue?

Fatigue is a “weariness or exhaustion from labor, exertion, or stress.”

This weariness is constant and lingering. It’s so great it affects your daily life. You may feel as if you didn’t sleep. Getting up out of bed may be difficult. Normal activities and / or job performance are too much. Moreover, you feel exhausted all the time.

You don’t always need a plan. Sometimes you just need to breathe, trust, let go, and see what happens.
—Mandy Hale

Don’t Assume

Recognize your symptoms of stress and self-self treat if your symptoms are minor. But if your symptoms have increased to where they interfere with your ability to get things done, it’s time to seek help.

No blog post has enough information for you to diagnose yourself. You may have a reasonable idea, but you probably have overlooked one or two things.

Web MD points out that different illness cause fatigue including heart disease.So please, call a medical professional to discuss your symptoms. Rule out the physical illnesses while they are treatable.

The first problem for all of us, men and women, is not to learn, but to unlearn.
—Gloria Steinem

Quotes to Remember

painted with multiple colors, girl holding her face, pinkies on each side of her nose symbolic of stress fatigue hitting anyone regardless of skin color

Exhaustion is real. But sometimes, all you need is a reminder of how strong you are.

A woman is the full circle. Within her is the power to create, nurture and transform.
—Diane Mariechild

Despite the forecast, live like it’s spring.
—Lilly Pulitzer

The best protection any woman can have… is courage
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton

We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated.
—Maya Angelou

Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will.
—Suzy Kassem

Nothing is impossible. The word itself says, ‘I’m possible!’
—Audrey Hepburn

Taking joy in living is a woman’s best cosmetic.
—Rosalind Russell

I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life’s a bitch. You’ve got to go out and kick ass.
—Maya Angelou

I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day, and I believe in miracles.
—Audrey Hepburn

With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.
–Eleanor Roosevelt

Be strong enough to stand alone, smart enough to know when you need help, and brave enough to ask for it.
—Ziad K. Abdelnour

Honor Yourself

women joining hands symbolic of helping each other will help relieve stress fatigue

The world is a dumpster fire. You may have Stress Fatigue, but you are strong and smart and brave. You know you. You’ll get help when you need it. What do you do that helps you remember you are enough?

Are You Failing the Altruism Test?

Our world is suffering. These unsettling times of pandemic, racial inequities, economic upheaval, and political lies and manipulations sweep through and relentlessly causes death and destruction. People respond to each problem as if it’s a hoax, or the acts of madmen and mass murderers, or as if it’s the end of the world. It is an apocalypse of sorts. Or perhaps more accurately, it’s a test. Sadly, we are failing the altruism test. Not all of us, but many of us.

image of the globe as a heart with two hands clasped--we are all failing the altruism test in some ways

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.
–Leo Buscaglia

What is Altruism

According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, there are two definitions.

1: unselfish regard for or devotion to the welfare of others, charitable acts motivated purely by altruism

2: behavior by an animal that is not beneficial to or may be harmful to itself but that benefits others of its species

Most people, it seems like they’ve only got one part of the equation down. Caring for themselves, or caring for someone else. And I’ve learned how important it is to have both.
– Deb Caletti

There are people who exhibit extraordinary acts of altruism. Heroic acts that many of us both admire and cannot see ourselves doing.

The Study of Extreme Altruism

Abigail Marsh is a psychologist, neuroscientist, and a professor. At Georgetown University’s Department of Psychology and the Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program, she is the director of the Laboratory on Social and Affective Neuroscience. Her studies are among the first that focus on extreme altruism.

In her TED talk, Why Some people Are More Altruistic Than Others, she reveals some of what she’s learned.

People who perform extreme acts of altruism may have brain difference that are the exact opposite of psychopaths. Which can also mean that they represent as a small portion of the population as psychopaths.

Everyday Altruism

The existence of people with extreme altruism doesn’t mean that others have none or have some kind of inferior altruism. There are the everyday acts of altruism. The ones where a person responds to the needs of another—holding a door open, leaving groceries for someone, doing chores, or wearing a mask. The people who pass the test do their acts of kindness and caring anonymously. The act is its own reward.

Ms Marsh believes that most people have the capacity for everyday altruism.

You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.–
Gandhi

Fatigue

Nurturing is not complex. It’s simply being tuned in to the thing or person before you and offering small gestures toward what it needs at that time.
– Mary Anne Radmacher

Are you failing the altruism test? You are if you are angry all the time, if you vilify the other for not wearing a mask or for not caring about the world’s problems or the political situation in the same way you do. It’s not that you have no more compassion or altruism. You’re tired and afraid. And in your fear you lash out. And your fear and anger is all that the other feels from you.

Why should I care when no one else does? For the simple reason that the most critical time to care is when no one else does.
–Craig D. Lounsbrough

Do Better

We’re all tired and afraid. But now is not the time to give in to those negative feelings.

Love isn’t a perfect state of caring. It’s an active noun, like ‘struggle.’
—Fred Rogers

Image of multiple silhouettes of all races, genders, ages with a rainbow heart superimposed over them--you can do better than failing the alteruism test

You can accomplish by kindness what you cannot by force.
–Publilius Syrus

Are you failing the Altruism test? Like when the oxygen masks drop on a depressurized airplane, take care of yourself first. Give yourself the self-nurturing you need. Then, extend that nurturing, that caring, that altruistic attitude to other. If you set the example, you will inspire change. And your world—our world—will be better for it.