"Lighten Up" Sayings for the Darker Days Ahead

In a civilization when love is
gone we turn to justice and when
justice is gone we turn to power
and  when power is gone we
turn to violence.

Failure is no more fatal
than success is permanent.

Opportunity is often inconvenient.

Some people control by defining
the rules of the relationship.
You can choose to define the rules
of how you will relate.

Being defined by others
gives them control.
Defining yourself
gives you choices.

Power resides not in
aggressiveness but
in conscious choice.

You can't empower or
disempower someone else.

As you fix the problem,
you won't have to
fix the blame.

Holding onto your anger is like
clutching a vibrating pole. 
The harder you clench, the more
every part of your being
vibrates in reaction.

Strengths spread
just as fears do.

The stronger the signal
you send  yourself of your
highest purpose, the higher
the priority you assign to that area.

Think well of yourself.
The subconscious
can't take a joke.

We do not see things as they are. 
We see them as we are.

Beliefs shape your experience,
not the other way around.

You eyes see what
they are trained to see.

Your body speaks to you constantly,
telling you what your own needs are.

Problems seldom exist
on the level at which
they are expressed.

It is easier to act your way
into a more positive feeling
than to feel your way into
a positive way of acting.

You can't raise
positive people on
negative feedback.

What you praise you'll encourage to flourish.

Praise actions you respect,
offering that praise to
someone  who matters to them.

Unflinching kindness in
the face of cruelty  is
your strongest protection.

Quiet the chattering mind
promotes directed action.

Point out to someone that
She is acting like a jerk
and she will go out of her way
to prove it to you some more.

People like people who like them.

All that we are is the result
of what we think. All that we will
be is based on our ability to
feel and to think with warmth.

Our emotions fuel our energy.

Resenting someone is
a way of never leaving that person.

Look to their positive intent,
especially when they
appear to have none.

Act as if the world is
going to treat you well.

What you do not say
often says it all.

If I say you are a bad person
I can almost see you worsen. 
Funny how my words for you
have a way of becoming
true in my mind.

You can disagree with an argument,
but not with a personal experience. 
You cannot defect from an insight.
You cannot unsee what you have seen.

Better to see something once than
to hear it a hundred times. 
That's why actions are often 
more powerful than  words.

A personal experience shapes
your opinions without
your conscious willing.

Whoever most vividly
characterizes a situation
usually determines how
others see it, talk about it, and
make decisions about it.

Speak English like it tastes good.

Offer verbal snapshots that
penetrate the mind and the gut
in an instant then linger, leaving
a bright after image.

If you are arguing for more
than ten minutes, you are probably
not be arguing about the true
conflict.

How we do our tasks
may  have more impact
than the tasks themselves.

Whatever you press against
will press back.  However hard you
press against it, it will press back
at least equally hard.

Shut people out
and they shut up.
Bring people in
and they open up.

In most cases stress
is caused not by the event itself
but rather by our response
to the event.

Forgive all who have
offended you, not for them,
but for yourself.

Act genially in the
face of rancor.
You may be the only
angel in that person’s life.

Happiness is a state
of minimum regret.

You only and always
have three choices
in any situation: 
change, accept or leave.

Take each step with reverence
as if it is the axis on which
the whole earth revolves,
slowly, evenly, without rushing
toward the future.  Only this
actual moment is life.

The sweetest revenge
is a well - lived life.

Love is not always power; that
may be as good a description of the
human predicament as we are
likely to get.

Walk with the light.

Remember the many
compartments of the heart,
the seed of what is
possible.  So much of who
we are is defined by
the places we hold for each
other.  For it is not our ingenuity
that sets us apart, but our
capacity for love, the
possibility our way will
be lit by grace.  Our hearts
prisms, chiseling out the
colors of pure light.