Inspirational quotes for a better life

Most of us live our lives reacting to stuff that is happening to us, stuff that is coming from outside of OUR-SELVES. And while this seems to be ‘normal’ for us, it is the opposite of what great minds throughout history have been telling us about how to get the most out of our experience of being alive.

I would like to share this selection of ‘Inspirational quotes for a better life’ to offer some insight into the way that other people have learned to have wonderful life experiences. Through their wisdom, it becomes evident that the difference between living a great life and mundane or stressful life is to be found in THE WAY THAT WE VIEW EVENTS AND CIRCUMSTANCES- rather than the actual content of the events and circumstances themselves.

If we take a moment to consider our own lives, we will begin to understand that it is the thoughts we have that generate our feelings. And our feelings are the prominent indicator of our satisfaction, or not, with our lives. Therefore, it seems that the biggest secret to having a ‘better’ life is to have generated better quality thoughts from within own minds.

With this in mind, let’s consider the first quote:

“Unsuccessful people make their decisions based on their current situations. Successful people make their decisions based on where they want to be.”
– Benjamin Hardy

Better quality thoughts are difficult to cultivate within us when we are looking at our current situation. This is because it is the quality/vibration of all of our previous thoughts that have got us to where we are now. As Benjamin Hardy said, unsuccessful people are making decisions based on where they are now. The secret to growing, expanding, and achieving more is to focus the majority of our thoughts and actions on where we want to be going….. Because if we don’t, we will never get there! We will instead just continue to get more of the same content we have now.

Our thoughts are vitally important as they create our moods and inspire our actions. And thinking negative, sorrowful, defeating thoughts can never inspire anyone to achieve any more than they currently have.

Therefore, we should turn the focus of our magnificent minds towards what we want to achieve, and how we want to be feeling when our goals and dreams are realized and this will motivate us and drive us towards the life we want!

“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together”
– Vincent Van Gogh

We don’t need to wake up one day and change the whole world to be more successful than we are now. BUT WE DO NEED TO DO SOMETHING. With what I understand now, I wish I had begun the process of change and achievement twenty years ago. If I did, I would be twenty years ahead of where I am now. Logical really, but how many of us think this and apply it to actually achieve our goals?

What about you? Is there something that you want to achieve for yourself that you may have been putting off for any number of reasons/excuses?

I’ve heard it said that the best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, and the second-best time to plant a tree is now! Now is the best time, because the present moment is all we ever have….. The past is gone and no matter how much we think about it and wish things happened differently, our past will never change. Our thoughts are better placed towards the wonderful, satisfying, abundant future we wish to create for ourselves.

Da Vinci expresses this beautifully by suggesting that if we want to achieve stuff, we are the ones that need to go out and make it happen.

“It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.”
– Leonardo Da Vinci

Sure, sounds great, sounds easy, sounds exciting… or does it sound scary? If it was that simple, wouldn’t we have gone out and done it already?

There are many reasons why we haven’t already achieved the things we are currently only dreaming of. They may include fear of failure, lack of knowledge and resources, not enough time, lack of support, etc, etc, etc.

But know this about our fear and inaction:

“We generate fears while we sit. We overcome them by action.” – Dr. Henry Link

Nothing will begin to change for us unless we change ourselves first. It’s been my experience and the experience of so many other successful people that I have talked to and read about that we can overcome just about any obstacle. And, it can be as easy as just beginning to take action and persevering with a single-minded focus to achieve our goals.

The beginning is often the hardest part of anything new that we wish to achieve.

However:

“Eventually all things fall into place. Until then, laugh at the confusion, live for the moments, and know everything happens for a reason.” – Albert Schweitzer

We grow up believing that we need to control external circumstances so that we can get the things we want. But the reality is that life does not revolve around what we want. LIFE IS AN ONGOING PROCESS THAT HAS BEEN HAPPENING FOR BILLIONS OF YEARS, AND THE RULES OF CREATION WERE IN PLACE LONG BEFORE WE GOT HERE!

Therefore it is we who need to learn the rules so that we CAN achieve all of our goals and dreams. Learning the rules, like The Universal Law of Vibration (Attraction) makes it easy for us to achieve. These laws are not something we can go to school to learn about and master in a single afternoon. They are laws that we progressively learn to use to our advantage through personal experience.

So, if we are not currently living the lives of our dreams, know that we are still in school and well on our way to becoming the magnificent creators we were born to be. And until then, I suggest we do as Albert Schweitzer suggests: laugh and live for the good moments and know that we are on the right path and that eventually, everything will work out for the best!

“Happiness is not achieved by the conscious pursuit of happiness; it is generally the by-product of other activities.” – Aldous Huxley

Life is a process and as such is not about arriving anywhere. This means that once we achieve our current goals, we will have a new perspective to desire from. Therefore, we will again be inspired to ask for more…..

It’s the journey that’s important, and the destination is forever evolving into something better. If we ever decide that we have had enough and stop moving forward, it’s game over. So, for now, we would do well to enjoy the continuous journey and appreciate all that life puts before us, as it is all for our growth and benefit.

And if we can do what we love, and love what we are doing, our journey will be so fulfilling and satisfying that we will never want it to end!

I hear many of you say, life is not a bed of roses. Sometimes it just sucks! And yes it does. I can vouch for that! But consider this: Imagine if you got to eat your favorite food every day. How long would it be before you got sick of it, and never wanted to eat it again? But if you have it sometimes and then eat other stuff that is ‘not so good,’ don’t you appreciate it more when you get to eat your favorite foods again?

Life is like that. Too much of a good thing all the time makes us lose sight of its worth. There is a lot to be learned by being exposed to diversity that we would never learn if we were not confronted with stuff we didn’t like.

Carl Jung proposed this in the following quote, and recommended that we just get on with life without being upset when things are not working out as we hoped…. It’s important to remember that we cannot control circumstances outside of us, however, we can control how we respond to them.

“Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word happy
would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. It is far better to take things as they come along with patience and equanimity.” – Carl Jung

So how do we come to love our journey when at the moment we’re not enjoying it so much?

“One way to open your eyes is to ask yourself, ‘What if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again?” – Rachel Carson

Would this change your busy morning routine? Do you think you may take more time to listen to your kids at breakfast if your thought it was possibly going to be the last time you saw them? Would you look longer at the sunset if you thought it will be the last one you will ever see?

And another thought about appreciating the current moment:

“Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it.” — Charles Swindoll

Most of us think we are pretty much in control of our lives. However, psychologists tell us that for most of our waking lives (up to ninety percent of the time we are awake) our subconscious minds are determining our thoughts, actions, and reactions, and therefore the way we end up feeling. Our subconscious minds are made up of programs that we have acquired throughout our lives and come into play whenever we are not consciously thinking.

So, who programmed you when you were young, and with what information…… This is important to consider because if your life is not currently working out the way you want it’s because your subconscious programs are not aligned with your current goals and dreams.

Maybe it’s time to take a look at your subconscious programs and change them to accurately reflect the life outcomes you wish to achieve?

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” – George Bernard Shaw

We are powerful creators, and we have many choices presented to us each and every day. Each choice we make will either take us closer to living the lives we want or further away from our dreams. So, stop looking for yourself because the truth is that you are right here. This, you, here and now, this is what you have to work with….. AND THAT’S FANTASTIC. It’s really good news because YOU CAN GET TO ANYWHERE YOU WANT TO BE FROM WHERE YOU ARE RIGHT NOW!

So what are you going to do about it, about your life I mean? Maybe it’s already great….. Congratulations, I applaud you. However, if it’s not yet where you want it to be, maybe you need to play a while and remember what it is to be young and free. Some good advice from one of my favorite authors is sure to resonate with you:

“And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.” – Kahlil Gibran

So have fun today and tomorrow and every other day and don’t forget to share your joy and happiness with others, because:

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou

Shared with love and respect for all souls who choose to play the game of life,

Andrew