A collection of quotes can provide sage life advice
“Where’s your sense of adventure?” my mother asked when I was a teen and waffling over going on my first wilderness trek.
Her words have resonated with me ever since, often serving as a navigational aid, so to speak. Whenever I find myself overly cautious, this quote pops into my head. And, yes, I did go on that trek and many since.
“Trust your feelings,” my grandmother told me, meaning my intuition. At her urging, I’ve learned to listen closely to that quieter voice many refer to as “gut feelings.”
“Remember to live your own life,” a mentor reminded me when I was about to make a life decision on the basis of what others wanted, not what I preferred. This has proven a harder lesson, but his words help me claw my way forward.
“Life’s too short to waste it fighting,” my father often said. He wasn’t merely referring to family relationships, but applied this principle generally. Sure, there are battles worth fighting, but far fewer than we imagine. Doing better with this one lately.
Hopefully, each of you has a mental book of quotes in your head, and that an appropriate one emerges when you need it in a particular situation, rather than after the fact. Some, like me, are fortunate to have had people in their lives who offered up these gems at just the right moments. When in need of guidance, some of us find them in literature, speeches or even movies.
Wise quotations stick with us because they connect directly to one’s felt-sense of what matters or is pressing in one’s life. It’s almost as if there is a mental receptor in one’s psyche primed to hear a certain message. Once an applicable phrase emerges, it locks on to this receptor, becoming a permanent part of one’s mindset.
Why do salient quotes have the power to imprint on one’s psyche? They distill sometimes complex ideas or values into a shorthand that one can understand, and often rapidly, at both an intuitive and rational level. And when we feel flummoxed or distressed in our lives, the simplicity and clarity afforded by “speaks to me” quotations are welcome.
Regardless of the process, an instructive quotation provides a valuable point of reference in taxing circumstances, particularly when one feels befuddled in one manner or another. So much so that I sometimes encourage clients to assemble what I call their “quotes to live by” in a small journal, one they can take with them just about anywhere. Some even start the day by opening their quotes journal and reading one or two, just to create a positive mindset.
Often, their journals of quotes contain pithy remarks from family members, teachers and friends combined with those from famous sources, literary or otherwise. And some folks come up with their own quotable phrases, ones that percolate from their intuition.
So, consider compiling your own “quotes to live by.” Doing so not only provides points of reference during life’s challenging moments, but also illuminates one’s core values.
Because in today’s helter-skelter world, we need all the illumination we can muster.
Philip Chard is a psychotherapist, author and trainer. Email Chard at outofmymind@philipchard.com or visit philipchard.com.