"It's wonderful to have a psychologist such as Dr. Crawford on contract through Harris County's Risk Management program. I've attended several of his seminars and hold him in the highest regard. In addition, his weekly "Quotes and Comments" are consistently excellent, and, in my opinion, the BEST! Powerful, enlightening, and even liberating. Many thanks to Dr. Bill!"
Welcome to my page of "favorite quotes!"
- If you would like to join my Quotes and Comments service, whereby each week I email you one of my favorite quotes along with some thoughts about how to apply the quote to our lives, simply drop me an email using the following link: Subscribe to Dr. Bill's Quotes and Wisdom from the Top of the Mind.
This service began mid-March of 2000 and each quote that has been featured has been added to these archives. This page has been organized with the quote topics listed alphabetically. Clicking on the blue "quote topic link" will take you to the quote and some thoughts on how we might apply the wisdom of the quote to our lives.
"Shame must be accepted to be effective."
~ Seth Godin
Achievement "Everyone wants to live on the top of the mountain,
but happiness and growth are mostly found in the climb."
~ Adapted from Andy Rooney
Adversity "People are like tea bags, sometimes what gets them in "hot water" can also bring out their true nature and make them stronger."
~ Unknown
Agreements "You cannot make a bad deal with a good person, or a good deal with a bad person."
~ Harry Beckwith
Ambition"If you are not playing a big enough game, you will screw up the game you are playing just to give yourself something to do."
~ John-Roger & Peter McWilliams
Anger"Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal while blaming our misery on the person who started the fire."
~ Bill Crawford
Anger #2"Those who are constantly at war with others are seldom at peace with themselves."
~ Unknown
Anger #3"Anger is never without a reason, but it is rarely reasonable."
~ Adapted from Benjamin Franklin
Anger and Fear"Under all anger is fear, and under all fear is fear of loss."
~ Unknown
Anger and Justification"Physiologically, it simply doesn't matter whether your anger is justified or not. The body doesn't make moral judgments about feelings... it just responds."
~ Doc Childre
Answers"The simplest questions are often the most profound - Who are you? Where are you going? What are you doing? Ask yourself these often and watch the answers change."
~ Richard Bach
Anxiety"Anxiety is experiencing failure in advance. Worry is not preparation. We can't access our best by fearing the worst."
and,
"That the birds of worry and anxiety fly over our heads, this you cannot change, but that they build nests in your hair, this you can prevent."
~ Seth Godin/Bill Crawford and Chinese Proverb (respectively)
Anxiety #2"When life has tied us in 'nots,' courage, hope, and optimism can be our 'undoing."
and,
"If fear or concern about a problem is what is causing our stress, fearing the stress won't solve the problem."
~ Mike Darley and Bill Crawford (respectively)
Anxiety #3Is My Anxiety Making Me Anxious?
- or -
The problem with anxiety is that its main byproduct is more anxiety.
~ Bill Crawford
Arguments"You don't have to attend every argument to which you are invited."
~ Unknown
Arguments #2"You can not have an argument with a fully conscious person."
~ Eckhart Tolle
Arguments #3"Success in this world depends not on just knowing where we stand, but also in what direction we are moving."
~ Adapted from Oliver Wendell Holmes
Attitude"Often it's not our position, but our disposition that determines our experience of life."
~ Adapted from J. E. Dinge
Attraction"Whatever we plant in our subconscious mind and nourish with repetition and emotion will one day become a reality."
~ Earl Nightingale
Avoidance"When our purpose becomes avoidance, our life becomes a void."
~ Bill Crawford
Awareness"The first rule of holes: If you are in one, stop digging."
"The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth of the hole."
~ Unknown (both quotes)"What we should learn before we die is what we're running from, and to, and why."
~ Adapted from James Thurber
Being Rushed"When 'Being Rushed' is the problem . . . Rushing is never the solution."
~ Bill Crawford
Being Rushed #2"We suffer from the illusion that the faster we run, the more likely we are to grasp happiness. The truth is that the velocity necessary for success rarely exceeds the rate of reflection."
~ Adapted from Sam Keen
Beliefs"If you don't change your beliefs, your life will be like this forever. Is this the good news?"
~ William Somerset Maugham and/or Robert Anthony
Beliefs #2"Intense desire often exerts a strong gravitational pull on belief. When we really want it to be true, we often make it so." (and this, of course, is both the problem and the solution)
~ Adapted from Robert Ludlum
Beliefs #3"We are either creating new beliefs or reacting to old ones, depending on where we invest our attention. Creating keeps us from reacting because it is impossible to do both at the same time."
~ Adapted from Printer Bowler
Best Gift EverNik's Letter
~ Nicholas Crawford
Birth and Death"When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life in such a way that when you die the world cries and you rejoice."
~ Native American Proverb
Bitterness"Bitterness does more harm to the vessel in which it is stored . . . than the vessel on which it is poured."
~ Unknown
Blame"The only time a mistake becomes a failure is when we look for someone to blame."
~ Bill Crawford
Blind Faith"Blind faith does not require that you close your eyes to reality . . . It only asks that you open your heart to possibilities."
~ Steve Butler
Career"In choosing what to do next, don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do that. For what the world needs is more people who have come alive."
~ Adapted from Howard Thurman
Cause and EffectThe Natural Law of Cycles...
"All of life presents itself as a cycle of cause and effect. When this cycle is negative, there are three ways to change. You can change the cause, change the effect, or choose the most powerful option... become the cause!"
~ Bill Crawford"When deciding what to do next, we can always ask: Does this thought, emotion, or behavior bring me closer to or take me further away from my center?"
~ Adapted from Stephen Gilligan, Ph.D.
Change"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete."
~ R. Buckminster Fuller
Change #2"Change isn't the problem. People can deal with change, they just can't deal with being changed."
~ Adapted from Jerry Harvey
Change #3"Some people will never change until the misery of the known becomes greater than the mystery of the unknown."
~ Adapted from Printer Bowler
Change #4"We cannot discover new lands until we first have the courage to lose sight of the shore."
~~~~
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So, throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
~ Adapted from Andre Gide & Mark Twain (respectively)
Change #5"You don't have to become something that you aren't to become better than you are."
~ Sidney Poitier
Change #6"You can't 'cope with' change anymore than you can 'manage' stress."
~ Bill Crawford
Character"As we interact with others, we can either be a person who is bringing out their best or pointing out their worst. Regardless, however, our choice is always more information about us than them."
~ Bill Crawford
Character #2"Character isn't simply inherited. We build it daily by the way we think and act, thought by thought, action by action. If we let fear, anger, or resentment take possession of our mind, these thoughts and actions become self-forged chains. . . chains of habit that are often too light to be felt until they feel too heavy to be broken."
~ Adapted from Helen Douglas and Warren Buffet
Children"Our children...don't make them grow up in our shadow...let them grow up in our light."
~ Adapted from Guy Angelou
Children #2"Do not train children to learn by force and harshness, but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each."
~ Plato
Choice"We can't always choose how we feel. We can, however, choose what we do about it, which ironically can change how we feel!"
~ Bill Crawford
Choice #2"Everything that happens in our lives is "good information" about the degree to which our choices are working for us. We can, however, choose to believe that we are a victim of the world we see, and have no choices. And, of course, we will receive "good information" about this belief as well."
~ Bill Crawford
Choice #3"All of life is an announcement of who we are. The only question is whether this proclamation will be made by choice or by chance."
~ Adapted from Neale Donald Walsch
Choices"It is our choices that show who we truly are, far more than our abilities."
~ "Professor Dumbledore"
A character from "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"
(author: J. K. Rowling)
Choices #2"Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of nonessentials."
~ Lin Yutang
Choices #3"In choosing what to do next, don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do that. For what the world needs is more people who have come alive."
~ Adapted from Howard Thurman
Choices #4Demonizing the opposition only leaves us with a mind full of Demons. Maybe we should be mindful of something more constructive.
~ Bill Crawford
Communication"Most of the time we don't communicate, we just take turns talking."
~ Robert Anthony
Communication #2"Words are the ambassadors of our intentions. How we say what we say makes a statement about who we are."
~ Adapted from Susan Harrow
Communication #3"The most successful form of correction is when the "other" feels informed versus chastised."
~ Bill Crawford
Communication #4"The basic building block of good communications is the feeling that every human being is unique and of value."
~ Unknown
Compassion"Compassion is the antitoxin of the soul: where there is compassion, even the most poisonous impulses remain relatively harmless"
~ Eric Hoffer
Confidence"Live never to be ashamed if anything you do or say is published around the world ...
even if what is published is not true."
~ Richard Bach
Confidence #2"Confidence is the ability to listen to almost anyone or anything without losing your temper or your perspective."
~ Bill Crawford
Conflict Resolution"You can't always stay in your corner of the forest waiting for others to come to you. Sometimes, you have to go to them."
~ Adapted from Winnie the Pooh
Conflict with Coworkers or Family"You never change people by fighting their existing reality."
~ Adapted from Buckminster Fuller
Courage"Courage isn't the absence of fear, but a decision that what we want is more important than what we are afraid of."
~ Bill Crawford
Criticism"Constructive Criticism" = An Oxymoron
"Criticism can be effective when there is something that must be destroyed or dissolved, but it is capable only of harm when there is something to be built."
~ Adapted from Carl Jung
Criticism #2"To 'belittle' is to be little."
~ Unknown
Decision Making"Living exclusively in the land of the head or the heart will always be a limiting, limited experience. The most successful among us have dual citizenship."
~ Bill Crawford
Decision Making #2"The key to success isn't just thinking about what we are doing but doing something about what we are thinking."
~ Adapted from Peter Senge
Decision Making #3"Live so that when your children think of fairness, caring, and integrity, they think of you."
~ H. Jackson Brown
Difficult People"Regardless of the problem, as long as our solution requires someone else to change, we will never know the power and promise of self-determination."
~ Bill Crawford
Disagreement"A discussion becomes destructive when it begins to generate more heat than light."
~ Adapted from M. Scott Peck
Diversity"Diversity, or the state of being different, isn't the same as inclusion. One is a description of what is, while the other describes a style of interaction essential to effective teams and organizations."
~ Bill Crawford
Dreams"Many people have the right aim in life, they just never get around to pulling the trigger. The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps -- we must step up the stairs."
~ Adapted from Vance Havner
Dreams/Fears"Too many of us are trapped between wanting to live our dreams, but afraid that we are stuck living our fears."
~ Adapted from Les Brown
Enemies"If you learn to know your enemy before you hate him, you may learn to not have an enemy."
~ Mogwat the Magpie
Enlightenment"In our lives, we can either be a reflection of the world around us . . . or a beam that enlightens the lives of others."
~ Bill Crawford
Excellence"Excellence is the result of:
Caring more than others think is wise...
Risking more than others think is safe...
Dreaming more than others think is practical, and
Expecting more than others think is possible."
~ Mac Anderson
Excellence #2"We are what we repeatedly do... excellence, therefore, isn't just an act, but a habit and life isn't just a series of events, but an ongoing process of self-definition."
~ Adapted from Aristotle
Excuses"When all is said and done, our lives will either be a collection of experiences or excuses. Unfortunately, most people wait until all is said and done to decide what they want to collect."
~ inspired by John Roger and Peter McWilliams
Failure"What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?"
~ Unknown
Failures"True failures are divided into two classes ... those who thought and never did, and those who did and never thought."
~ Adapted from John Charles Salak
Faith"When you come to the edge of all you know,
and are about to step off into the darkness of the unknown,
Faith is knowing one of two things will happen:
There will be something solid to stand on
or you will be taught how to fly."
~ Adapted from Dr. Patrick Overton
Family"The bond that links one's true family is not necessarily one of blood but of respect and joy in each other's life."
~ Richard Bach
Fate"What is not brought to consciousness, comes to us as fate."
~ Carl Jung
Fear"Those who love to be feared and fear to be loved, they themselves are more frightened than any one."
~ Saint Francis de Sales
Fear #2"Fear is that little darkroom where negatives are developed."
~ Michael Pritchard
Fear #3"Hiding our fears with the hope that they will go away rarely works. Unlike most organic substance, fear doesn't decompose when it's buried."
~ Adapted from Claire Otoms (Dame Edna) on the show, "Ally McBeal"
Fear #4"Every moment of our lives begins with one of two phrases: "I'm afraid that . . ." or "I would love to . . . ." Our choice of phrases determines our experience of life."
~ Bill Crawford
Fear #5"Each day befriend a single fear, and the miscellaneous terrors of being human will never join together to form such a morass of vague anxiety that it rules your life from the shadows of the unconscious. We learn to fly not by being fearless, but by the daily practice of courage."
~ Sam Keen
Fear #6"Fear of feeling bad rarely makes one feel good."
~ Bill Crawford
Fear #7"You can't fight fire with fire, or fear with fear."
~ Bill Crawford
Fear #8"Nothing will sabotage our happiness and success more thoroughly than the fear that we are not enough."
~ Bill Crawford
Fear of Communication"What we are afraid to communicate runs our life."
~ Adapted from Robert Anthony
Flexibility"Blessed are the flexible for they will not allow themselves to become bent out of shape!"
~ Adapted from Robert Ludlum
Flexibility #2"The bend in the road is not the end of the road unless we fail to make the turn."
~ Unknown
Follow Your Dream"Any dream is possible, if you have courage." ~ Walt Disney
"The possible's slow fuse is lit by the imagination." ~ Emily Dickinson
"Nothing is impossible, the word itself says 'I'm possible'!" ~ Audrey Hepburn.
~
Forgiveness"Forgiveness is the realization that you are no longer harmed."
~ Unknown
Forgiveness #2"When we open up a quarrel
Between the present and the past
We only sacrifice the future
It's the bitterness that lasts.
So, don't yield to the fortunes
You sometimes see as fate
You may have a new perspective
On a different day
And if you don't give up,
and don't give in
You may just be okay"
~ Mike Rutherford of Mike and the Mechanics - "The Living Years"
Freedom"Freedom is one thing we cannot have unless we are willing to give it to others."
~ Adapted from William Allen White
Freedom #2"Our ultimate freedom is the right and power to decide how anybody or anything outside ourselves will affect us."
~ Stephen Covey
Friction"Why waste our life in friction when the same effort can be turned into momentum?"
~ Adapted from Frances Willard
Friendship"A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words."
~ Unknown
Future"The future is not just a series of choices among alternative paths offered by the present, but a place that is created--created first in the mind and will, and then realized next in activity."
~ Adapted from John Schaar
Generosity"True generosity is when you give your all and yet feel as if it cost you nothing."
~ Adapted from Simone De Beauvoir
Giving"The act of giving is simply a behavior, and the gift merely a symbol. It is the energy behind both that will determine their impact on our lives."
~ Bill Crawford
Giving & Receiving"We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give."
~ Winston Churchill
God"A process for discernment: God is my ultimate source of truth and wisdom, and dwells forever at the center of my being. Therefore, any thought, emotion, or action that takes me further from my center can be neither truthful, nor wise."
~ Bill Crawford
Good Information"How we experience life is always "good information" about the degree to which our beliefs and choices are working for us. We can, however, choose to believe that we are a victim of the world we see, and have no choices. And, of course, we will receive "good information" about this belief as well."
~ Bill Crawford
Grief (Part I)"All connections are infused with dreams of what is possible in the future. Thus, when we lose something or someone important to us, we aren't just grieving the loss, we are grieving the shattered dream."
~ Bill Crawford
Grief (Part II)"Grieving is not the problem, it's part of the solution. It is an unlearned, self-sufficient process that helps us to move from the past to the future, from inaction to action... from shattered dreams to more purposeful dreams based upon who we really are and what we can create."
~ Adapted from Ken Moses
Growth"You can change without growing, but you cannot grow without changing. Focus on the growth, and change becomes the "good news."
~ Unknown
Growth #2"Live so that the child that you were would be proud of the adult you are becoming."
~ Unknown
Growth & Change"Seek to create change in your life not because something is 'wrong' ? but because it no longer makes an accurate statement
of 'who you are'."
~ Adapted from Neale Donald Walsch
Grudges"Carrying a grudge is like being stung to death by just one bee."
~ William H. Walton
Guidance"There's a thread you follow. It goes among things that change, but it doesn't change. People wonder about what you are pursuing. You have to explain about the thread. But it is harder for others to see. While you hold it, you can't get lost. Tragedies happen, people get hurt or die, and you grow old and die. Nothing you do can stop time's unfolding. You don't ever let go of the thread!"
~ William Stafford
Guidance #2"The universe guides and nurtures those who sincerely strive to understand and follow its laws - It relentlessly frustrates, meticulously unravels, and ultimately educates those who don't. (Nothing personal)"
~ Printer Bowler
Guilt"One key to successful relationships is learning to say "no" without guilt, so that you can say "yes" without resentment."
~ Bill Crawford
Guilt Trips"The journey of life is both too short and too precious to be sidetracked by guilt trips."
~ Bill Crawford
Habits"The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth of the hole."
~ and ~
"The first rule of holes...if you are in one, stop digging."
~ Unknown
Habits #2"Habit is either the best of servants, or the worst of masters."
~ Nathaniel Emmons
Habits #3If we let fear, anger, or resentment take possession of our mind, these thoughts and actions become self-forged chains… chains of habit that are often too light to be felt until they feel too heavy to be broken."
~ Adapted from Warren Buffet
Happiness"In the path of your true happiness lie the lessons you have chosen this lifetime to learn."
~ Richard Bach
Happiness #2"Happiness is not a reward -- it is a consequence.
Suffering is not a punishment -- it is a result."
~ Robert Green Ingersoll
Happiness #3"What if happiness was our default position?"
~ Adapted from Toby Ziegler
television character on "The West Wing"
Happiness #4"A happy life is just a string of happy moments, but most people don't create the happy moments because they're so busy chasing a happy life."
~ Adapted from Esther Hicks
Happiness #5"The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is, and the future less resolved than it will be."
~ Marcel Pagnol
Helping Others"Success, happiness, peace of mind, and fulfillment ? the most priceless of human treasures ? are available to all who make 'good' things happen in the world around them."
~ Joe Klock
Honesty"There is brutality and there is honesty. There is no such thing as brutal honesty."
~ Robert Anthony
Honesty #2"Honesty isn't always just saying the truth, sometimes it's about facing the truth. A life of confusion can often be a form of self-delusion. . .
What are you pretending not to know?"
~ Ken Frogley
Hope"Hope and optimism aren't just attitudes, they are life strategies."
~ Adapted from Thomas Friedman
Hopes"Until we have named our ghosts and blessed our hopes... we will forever remain someone else's creation."
~ Adapted from Minard Craighead
Ideas"Any powerful idea is absolutely fascinating, and absolutely useless until we call on it to inform our choices."
~ Adapted from Richard Bach
Imagination"Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night."
~ Edgar Allan Poe
Imagination #2"Let's use our imagination not to scare ourselves to death, but to bring ourselves to life."
~ Adapted from Adele Brookman
Inadequacy"Nothing destroys a relationship quicker than our fears of inadequacy and loss."
~ Bill Crawford
Incompatibility"One aspect of a successful relationship is not just how compatible you are, but how you deal with your incompatibility."
~ Adapted from Daniel Goleman, Ph.D.
Influence"There are two ways to make someone important in our lives ... we can either love them or hate them."
~ Bill Crawford
Influence #2"We can live in fear of influence, or create a sphere of influence...
Our choice will define our life!"
~ Adapted from Steve Butler
Insight"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Inspiration"When we are inspired, our thoughts break their bonds, our mind
transcends limitations, and our consciousness expands
in every direction. Dormant forces, faculties, and
talents become alive, and we discover ourselves
to be greater by far than we have
ever dreamed ourselves to be."
~ Adapted from Patanjali (1st to 3rd century BC)
Intent"Misunderstandings often arise when we judge others' intent by their behavior, while judging our behavior by our intent."
~ Bill Crawford
Interpersonal Interactions"Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them to become what they are capable of being."
~ Goethe
Intimidation"If people can get you to answer the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answer."
~ Adapted from Thomas Pynchon
Intuition"Stress is what happens when your gut says 'no way,'
but your mouth says "no problem."
~ Unknown
Intuition #2"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift."
~ Albert Einstein
Iraq: dialogue vs. debate"A discussion becomes destructive when it begins to generate more heat than light."
~ Adapted from M. Scott Peck
Issues and interactions"Regardless of what is being discussed . . . the issue is never more important than the quality of the interaction."
~ Bill Crawford
Jerks"How do you keep people from jerking your chain?
Don’t give your chain to jerks!"
~ Bill Crawford
Joy"It's not the person that has the most toys, but the person that creates the most joy that is truly wealthy."
~ Unknown
Knowledge"Some people drink deeply from the fountain of knowledge ... others just gargle and spit."
~ Adapted from Robert Anthony
Leadership"The mark of a true leader is not how many followers they have, but how many leaders they produce."
~ Adapted from Neale Donald Walsch
Leadership #2"Those that look to us for leadership will always be more motivated by the power of our example than an example of our power."
~ Adapted from Bill Clinton
Leadership #3"Leaders should interact with everyone in their organization as if the interaction is being recorded and will be used as a training film on how to treat colleagues, coworkers, and customers."
~ Bill Crawford
Learning"We are not merely what we know,
we are what we are willing to learn."
~ The Gihon Foundation
Lethargy and Fear"The problem with lethargy is that doing nothing validates the fear that nothing can be done."
~ Bill Crawford
Letting Go of Fear"Letting go" of fear and worry will never work, primarily because the motivation to "let go" is generally fear and worry about what will happen if we don't."
~ Bill Crawford
Life"Your life is not about what you are doing. Yet, it is true that what you are doing is often a reflection of what your life is about."
~ Adapted from Neale Donald Walsch
Life #2"Life is like a grindstone, whether it grinds us down or polishes us up, however, depends on us."
~ Adapted from L. Thomas Holdcroft
Life As A Stage"What if all the world is indeed a stage . . . and what if Love wrote the play? "
~ Adapted from William Shakespeare and David Wilcox
Life Lessons"In school you get the lesson and then take the test ... in life you take the test and then get the lesson."
~ Unknown
Limitations"Argue for your limitations, and sure enough they're yours"
~ Richard Bach
Limits of Perception"We limit our success when we mistake the limits of our perception for reality."
~ Bill Crawford
Listening"No one ever 'listened' themselves into trouble."
~ Unknown
Listening #2"Wisdom is the reward for our willingness to have listened ... all of those times when we would have preferred to talk."
~ Adapted from D.J. Kaufman
Love"Love is the productive form of relatedness to others and to oneself. It implies responsibility, care, respect. If it isn't productive and respectful, it isn't love, but only fear masquerading as love."
~ Adapted from Erich Fromm
Love #2"Love is most successful when expressed in this order...
... love of who you are
... what you do
... who you do it for, &
... who you do it with"
~ Bill Crawford
Magic"True 'magic' is simply the ability to transcend what seems to be and, thus, transform one's experience. Maybe we could all use a little 'Harry Potter' in our lives."
~ Bill Crawford
Mastering the Art of Living"Masters in the art of living draw no sharp distinction between their work and their play, their labor and their leisure, their mind and their body, their education and their recreation. They simply pursue their vision of excellence through whatever they are doing, and leave others to determine whether they are working or playing. To themselves, they always seem to be doing both."
~ Adapted from Michael Rogge
Meaning"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."
~ George Carlin
Meaningful Life"A meaningful life is composed of a series of meaningful moments. If this is what we want, then the ability to infuse each moment with meaning would seem to be a skill worth practicing."
~ Bill Crawford
Miracles"There are only two ways to live your life.
One is as though nothing is a miracle.
The other is as if everything is."
~ Albert Einstein
Misery and Strength"We can either make ourselves miserable, or make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same."
~ Carlos Castaneda
Mistakes"Growth isn't about counting the number of times we fall down, but the lightness with which we pick ourselves back up."
and/or
"A mistake is just a "take" or an action that we took, that missed."
~ Steven Levine and Robert Pennington (respectively)
Mistakes #2"Making a mistake and then judging ourselves harshly is like paying compound interest on a bad investment."
~ Doc Childre and Howard Martin
Negative Self-Talk"Beating ourselves up is really beating ourselves down!
If "down" isn't where we're wanting to go,
then maybe "beating on ourselves" isn't
the best path to take."
~ Bill Crawford
Optimism"Optimism allows us to face the music, even when we don't like the tune."
~ Adapted from Vern McLellan's "The Complete Book of Practical Proverbs and Wacky Wit"
(original author not specified)
Optimism #2"The road to success is not paved with stones of avoidance. The ability to optimize our potential is dependent on our willingness to engage the world optimistically."
~ Bill Crawford
Our Past"Sometimes we stay in Hell a long time because we have learned the names of the streets."
~ Michael Levine
Parenting"Having a baby no more makes one a parent than having a baby grand piano makes one a pianist."
~ Adapted from Michael Levine
Passion"To the degree that I cease to pursue my deepest passions, I will gradually be controlled by my deepest fears."
~ Sam Keen - "Learning to Fly"
Past, Present, and Future"The present is the past rolled out for understanding, and the future rolled up for action."
~ Adapted from Will Durant
Patience"If we can be patient in one moment of anger, we can escape a hundred days of sorrow."
~ Adapted from a Chinese Proverb
Peace of Mind"Peace of Mind? Don't leave home (or go home) without it."
~ Bill Crawford
Perseverance"The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is that one comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won't."
~ Henry Ward Beecher
Persistence"The empty experience of an unfulfilled life lies down the path of least persistence."
~ Adapted from Vern McLellan's "The Complete Book of Practical Proverbs and Wacky Wit" (original author not specified)
Perspective"Perspective... Use it or lose it!"
~ Richard Bach
Perspective #2"Perspective is what allows us to step back and see the entire forest instead of just the same old tree we keep running into again and again."
~ Bill Crawford
Perspective #3"Today I can cry because roses have thorns, or I can celebrate that thorns have roses."
~ Unknown
Perspective #4"We've all heard that in life, when one door is closed, another is opened. Unfortunately, many of us are so focused on the darkness left by what has been lost, we never see the light coming through the newly opened door."
~ Bill Crawford
Perspective #5"True vision is the ability to see in another more than they are showing you."
~ Neale Donald Walsch
Pessimism"A pessimist is one who burns his bridges before he gets to them."
~ Sidney Ascher
Plato on Fear"We can easily forgive the child who is afraid of the dark... the real tragedy is the adult who is afraid of the light."
~ Adapted from Plato
Pleasure"True 'joy' is the difference between just amusing ourselves to death and creating 'meaningful' pleasure."
~ Adapted from Sidney Poitier
Power of Patience"Patience serves as a protection against wrongs as clothes do against the cold. For as we put on more clothes as the cold increases, it will diminish its power to harm. In like manner, as we grow in patience when we meet with great wrongs, they too can become powerless as well."
~ Adapted from Leonardo Da Vinci
Priorities"Making changes isn't about stopping the problem, it's about starting the solution."
~ Bill Crawford
Priorities"Things that matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least."
~ Bill Crawford
Problem Solving"Problems cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that created them."
~ Albert Einstein
Problems"As long as we define ourselves in terms of our pain and our problems, we will never be free from either."
~ Adapted from Eckhart Tolle
Purpose"Every thought, emotion, and action is a statement about who we are, and who we are becoming. Why not make this statement 'On Purpose'?"
~ Adapted from Neale Donald Walsch
Purpose #2"Life is not a means to an end but a series of experiences. Are you creating your series 'on purpose' ?"
~ Bill Crawford
Purpose #3The Four-Fold Way: A Guide to Creating a Life Worth Living
1. Show up
2. Pay attention to the meaningful
3. Say your truth, without judgment
4. Be open to, but not attached to the outcome
~ Adapted from Angeles Arrien
Questions"Behind every great answer is a greater question.
The challenge in life is having the patience to ask the most purposeful questions, and the courage to listen to, and act upon the answers."
~ Steve Butler
Raising Kids"One barrier to being a great parent is the mistaken belief that we are raising kids."
~ Bill Crawford
Reactions"There are two ways to respond to the trials and tribulations of our present and past . . . 'Ain't it awful?' . . . or . . . 'Good information!' Our choice of responses will determine our experience of life."
~ Bill Crawford
Realistic Optimism"Realistic optimism allows us to experience the best until we have to deal with the worst ... which often, never comes."
~ Bill Crawford
Relationships"The biggest mistake we make in creating successful relationships is that we seek to experience who we are through others rather than allowing others to experience who they are through us."
~ Adapted from Neale Donald Walsch
Relationships #2"Just because you have a history with someone ... doesn't mean that you need to keep repeating it."
~ Debbie Mandel
Relationships #3"We get treated in life the way we teach others to treat us."
~ Dr. Wayne Dyer
Relationships #4"Never make a person a priority to whom you are an option."
~ Unknown
Relationships #5"A relationship is like life. It isn't a process of preservation, but of change and growth. Unless you grow and change together, you will change ... and grow apart."
~ Bill Crawford
Relationships #6"How long will we give up the days and weeks of our lives addicted to someone else's drama?"
~ Unknown
Relaxation"Our ability to relax is in direct proportion to our ability to trust ourselves and life."
~ Adapted from Robert Anthony
Resentment"Resentment is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die."
~ Malachy McCourt
Resentment and Guilt"Resentment is anger directed toward others - Guilt is resentment directed toward ourselves."
~ Robert Anthony
Resolutions"I will" is a statement that merely speaks to some possibility in the future ... to influence your life in the most powerful way, begin with the words "I am."
~ Bill Crawford
Responsibility"We have some role in almost everything that happens in our lives. When "bad" things happen, the mistake is not in the role, but in calling them bad. For in calling them bad, we call ourselves bad, since we had a role in their creation. We then have only two choices: blame ourselves, or disown our creative power, neither of which is congruent with our highest purpose."
~ Adapted from Neale Donald Walsch
Responsibility #2"When we take no responsibility for any aspect of our past, we limit our ability to respond in the present and the future."
~ Bill Crawford
Rest"Rest does not need to hold hands with guilt."
~ Kathy Wilkins and Melody Ross
Revenge"Images of resentment and revenge only have us spending the precious moments of our lives imagining the 'other' as both dangerous and important!"
~ Bill Crawford
Right"Sometimes there is a big difference between what we have the right to do, and what is right to do."
~ Justice Potter Stewart
Rudeness"Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength."
~ Eric Hoffer
Self"How many cares one loses when we decide not to be something, but someone."
~ Coco Chanel
Self-Care"Selfish is caring for ourselves at others' expense ... Self-care is taking care of ourselves so that we can be there for others."
~ Bill Crawford
Self-Confidence"The difference between self-confidence and conceit is as simple as love and fear. Jesus was self-confident ... Hitler was afraid."
~ Bill Crawford
Self-Definition"Every moment is an opportunity to imagine and act out a fresh version of "How do I want to define myself, or who do I want to be now?"
~ Adapted from Printer Bowler
Selfishness"Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live."
~ Oscar Wilde
September 11"Every thought, emotion, and action, is a statement about who we are, and who we are becoming . . . . Why not make this statement 'On Purpose'? "
~ Adapted from Neale Donald Walsch
Service"To truly be of service to others, we must first serve the server. The ability to bring an enlightened presence to those in need is the ability to light a candle without burning ourselves out."
~ Bill Crawford
Shame"Creating a meaningful life has less to do with how we feel about our past than what we do about our future."
~ Bill Crawford
Steve Jobs"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."
~ Steve Jobs
Stimulus and Response"Between stimulus and response, there is a space.
In that space lies our freedom and power to choose our response.
And in this choice lies our freedom and power to grow."
~ Adapted from Victor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning
Stress"Stress is an indicator of our belief in the value and validity of our worries and fears."
~ Bill Crawford
Stress #2"Stress is what happens when your gut says 'no way,' but your mouth says 'no problem'."
~ Unknown
Stress #4"As long as we define stress as how some person or situation is making us feel, we will have to change the world around us to find peace of mind."
~ Bill Crawford
Stress as a Signal"Stress is a signal that something needs to change. Suffering, is when we don't make the change!"
~ Bill Crawford
Success"If you're looking for the key to the Universe, I have some bad news and some good news. The bad news is ... there is no key to the Universe. The good news is... it has been left unlocked."
~ Swami Beyondananda
Tact"Tact is the art of making a point without inflicting a wound."
~ Georgia Crawford
Teaching"Learning is remembering what you already know, doing is demonstrating that you know it, teaching is reminding others that they know it just as well as you . . . we are all learners, doers, and teachers."
~ Richard Bach
The Destination"What you get by reaching your destination is not as important as who you become along the way."
~ Adapted from Robert Anthony
The Paradox of Family"Family is the place where acceptance and validation are most needed, but often the hardest to find."
~ Bill Crawford
The Past"Holding on to painful images of the past in order to avoid painful experiences in the future serves only to color the present with pain."
~ Bill Crawford
The Past #2"Remembering the past should help you create a purposeful future, not cause you to be afraid of it."
~ Bill Crawford
The Power of our Past"Our past is not, as some fear, a series of events carved in stone that we must carry around for the rest of our lives... but a kaleidoscope of experiences that, when viewed through different lenses, can 'color' (change) how we see our present and future."
~ Bill Crawford
The Power to Grow"Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space lies our freedom and power to choose our response. And in this choice lies our freedom and power to grow."
~ Adapted from Victor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning
The Present"You cannot find yourself by going into the past.
You find yourself by coming into the present."
~ Eckhart Tolle
The Soul"The best way to create a purposeful life is to allow the soul's decision to precede the body's action. One does not do something in order to be compassionate, one is compassionate and, therefore, does certain things in certain ways. The actions of the body were meant to be reflections of a state of being, not attempts to attain a state of being."
~ Adapted from Neale Donald Walsch
The Value of Happiness"What if happiness was our default position?"
~ adapted from Toby Ziegler, television character on "The West Wing"
Thoughts"By the thoughts we choose to allow in our hearts, we thereby choose the kind of life we experience. We always, always have a choice."
~ Printer Bowler
Transformation"When dealing with problems, seek not to "change" some aspect of your life but instead, choose who you want to become as a path to what you want. Transformation and healing then take place as a process of becoming versus avoiding."
~ Bill Crawford
Transitions"It is the time between times, or life's transitions that give us the opportunity and the power to choose again."
~ Bill Crawford
Trust Love Over Fear"When a loving, meaningful experience is our goal, we must trust an energy that is congruent with that goal as our guide along the way. Bottom line, trust love over fear if love is what you're after."
~ Bill Crawford
Truth"Lying makes a problem part of the future; truth makes a problem part of the past.
~ Rick Pitino," Lead to Succeed"
Truth #2"Truth is often painful to speak, but soothing to live."
~ Mogwat the Magpie
Trying"Trying" is an attitude option that says your time for success is not now, but in the future, or maybe never."
~ Printer Bowler
Unhappiness"Unconsciousness and unhappiness comes from our compulsion to live almost exclusively through memory and anticipation."
~ Adapted from Eckhart Tolle
Validity"We are not responsible for every thought that goes wandering through our mind. We are, however, responsible for the ones we bestow with value and validity."
~ Adapted from Peter McWilliams
Value of a Gift"Anything that is of value in life only multiplies when given."
~ Deepak Chopra
Values"The true measure of our belief in the validity of our values is our willingness to act upon them."
~ Bill Crawford
Vision"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes."
~ Marcel Proust
Waiting"Waiting is a state of mind that says we want what we don't have. Therefore, with every kind of waiting we produce an inner conflict between now and the projected future. This greatly reduces the quality of our life. Are you a 'habitual waiter'?"
~ Adapted from Eckhart Tolle
What to Leave Behind"One key to moving forward is knowing what to leave behind."
~ Adapted from Seth Godin
Wisdom"One key to success is knowing the difference between knowledge and wisdom. One is information from the past while the other is the key to the future."
~ Bill Crawford
Wisdom of Life"Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of nonessentials."
~ Lin Yutang
With Whom We Spend Time"If we are to find our way across troubled waters, we are better served by the company of those who build bridges than those who burn them."
~ Adapted from Marilyn Ferguson
Work"The problem with always keeping your nose to the grindstone is that pretty soon, all you smell is grind."
~ Steve Butler
Work as Art"Someone can always do your job a little better or faster or cheaper than you can." ~ Seth Godin
"But if your work is your art, a personal reflection of who you are, the only person who can do that better than you, is a future you." ~ Bill Crawford
~
Worry"Worrying does not empty tomorrow of its troubles, it empties today of its strength."
~ Unknown
Worry #2"Worrying about the future is like trying to eat the hole in a doughnut. It's munching on what isn't."
~ Barry Neil Kaufman
Worry #3"To invest our worries and anxiety with value and validity is to place our faith in fear."
~ Bill Crawford
Worry and Fear"Worry is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained."
~ Arthur Somers Roche
Zen"To do a certain kind of thing you have to be a certain kind of person."
~ Zen Saying
