Kathzoofus

"Physical exertion is mostly an act of mental strength." ~Ed Latimore

"Raise your words, not your voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder." ~Rumi

"Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone." ~Alan Watts

"[Love] is a verb. It’s an active engagement with all kinds of feelings—positive ones and primitive ones and loathsome ones. But it’s a very active verb. And it’s often surprising how it can kind of ebb and flow. It’s like the moon. We think it’s disappeared, and suddenly it shows up again. It’s not a permanent state of enthusiasm." ~Esther Perel

"Needless commitments are more wasteful than needless possessions. Possessions can be ignored, but commitments are a recurring debt that must be paid for with your time and attention." ~James Clear

"Our brains are wired for connection, but trauma rewires them for protection. That's why healthy relationships are difficult for wounded people." ~Ryan North

"Optimism is not about providing a recipe for self-deception. The world can be a horrible, cruel place, and at the same time it can be wonderful and abundant. These are both truths. There is not a halfway point; there is only choosing which truth to put in your personal foreground." -- Lee Ross, as quoted by Sonja Lyubormirsky in "The How of Happiness".

"At the higher levels of competitive swimming, something like an inversion of attitude takes place. The very features of the sport that the 'C' swimmer finds unpleasant, the top level swimmer enjoys. What others see as boring—swimming back and forth over a black line for two hours, say—they find peaceful, even meditative, often challenging, or therapeutic. They enjoy hard practices, look forward to difficult competitions, try to set difficult goals. Coming into the 5:30 A.M. practices at Mission Viejo, many of the swimmers were lively, laughing, talking, enjoying themselves, perhaps appreciating the fact that most people would positively hate doing it. It is incorrect to believe that top athletes suffer great sacrifices to achieve their goals. Often, they don’t see what they do as sacrificial at all. They like it.” ~Daniel Chambliss

"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 non-essentials." ~Lin Yutang

"We do not have to improve ourselves; we just have to let go of what blocks our heart." ~Jack Kornfield

"If you are irritated by every rub, how will your mirror be polished?" ~Rumi

"All men should strive to learn before they die what they are running from, and to, and why." ~James Thurber

"It is only when we silent the blaring sounds of our daily existence that we can finally hear the whispers of truth that life reveals to us, as it stands knocking on the doorsteps of our hearts." ~ K.T. Jong

“How noble and good everyone could be if, every evening before falling asleep, they were to recall to mind the events of the whole day and consider exactly what has been good and bad. Then, without realizing it, you try to improve yourself at the start of each new day; of course, you achieve quite a lot in the course of time." ~Anne Frank

"Always remember that to argue, and win, is to break down the reality of the person you are arguing against. It is painful to lose your reality, so be kind, even if you are right." ~Haruki Murakami

"Hope and fear are both phantoms" Tao Te Ching, by Stephen Mitchell

"Confront the difficult while it is still easy." Tao Te Ching, by Stephen Mitchell

"...nothing delights the mind so much as fond and loyal friendship. What a blessing it is to have hearts that are ready and willing to receive all your secrets in safety, with whom you are less afraid to share knowledge of something than keep it to yourself, whose conversation soothes your distress, whose advice helps you make up your mind, whose cheerfulness dissolves your sorrow, whose very appearance cheers you up!" Source: On the Shortness of Life by Seneca

"People who describe the glass as half full are not delusional optimists. In fact, they are more based in reality because they are describing a substance that is actually in the glass. They are describing reality as it is. The cynic who describes the glass as half empty is focusing their energy on something that is not actually there." The Art of Possibility, by Rosamund Stone Zander & Benjamin Zander

"Every time you wake up and ask yourself, 'What good things am I going to do today?' remember that, when the sun goes down at sunset, it will take a part of your life with it."