Words of Wisdom: Words to Live By

Monday Author:  Susanne Skinner

When I have the time has officially become I have the time. The list of things waiting for me is a long one but I look forward to each day as I cross a few things off and celebrate the freedom to add a few as well.

Words of Wisdom, Family Circle, Susanne SkinnerOne of my immediate tasks, now that my full-time job has ended, is sorting through saved documents relating to work. I did not save a lot, but what I kept had meaning enough to make me hold on to it.

I anticipated a walk down memory lane and was not disappointed. It was much more than paper, it was work I truly loved. There were reminders of events, mentors and managers, presentations, conferences and even some printed email.

Among them was a plastic folder filled with magazine pages I saved from Family Circle magazine.The subscription was a Christmas gift from my mom and I continued it for many years.The last page in each issue was titled Words to Live By.

I cut out that page and each month tacked the newest one on my office bulletin board. The thumbtack holes and yellowed scotch tape remind me that I looked at them every day. I’d like to think these words of wisdom shaped some of my thinking and influenced my behavior.

Finding Inspiration

There are many ways to be inspired; in fact, the best examples often come from unexpected places. Modest reminders encourage us to speak think and act differently; empowering others with acts of kindness, compassion, forgiveness and appreciation.

The oldest page I saved is dated 2005, so it’s safe to say I haven’t looked at them in at least 13 years. I didn’t renew the subscription and the pages were filed away and forgotten.

Words to Live ByReading through them now takes me back in time. I think of my mom, an incredibly resilient woman, who passed away in 2001. She was a giver of practical things; magazines were typical of her thrift and common sense approach to gift giving.

I see myself as I was then, optimistic about most things. As I go through them I realize I am less optimistic now and decide to create a collage of these sayings to reconnect with the person who put them up years ago. I am going to inspire myself—again.

They are simple affirmations; reminders that we choose what we think, say and do.  There is nothing revolutionary about them but embracing a few would create a ripple effect in offices, neighborhoods or just about anywhere.

Many of the sayings relate to a theme or topic so I decided to share a few on today’s blog. Because we can all benefit from optimism and inspiration and I don’t have any cat videos to show you.

Words To Live By

Courage

  • How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world ~ Anne Frank
  • No one can make you feel inferior without your consent ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Love:

  • Love lights more fires than hate can extinguish ~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox
  • If you judge people, you have no time to love them ~ Mother Theresa

Simplicity: 

  • In the end, what affects your life most deeply are things too simple to talk about ~ Neil Blaine
  • An unhurried sense of time is in itself a form of wealth ~ Bonnie Friedman

Gratitude:

  • Two kinds of gratitude:  the sudden kind we feel for what we take, the larger kind we feel for what we give ~ Edwin Robinson
  • You will never be happy with more until you are happy with what you’ve got ~ Viki King

Attitude

  • You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm ~ Collette
  •  Make the most of all that comes, and the least of all that goes ~ Sara Teasdale
  • Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future ~ Paul Coese

Education

  • Those who have been required to memorize the world as it is will never create the world as it might be ~ Judith Groch
  • Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.  ~   Margaret Mead

Success: 

  • Don’t confuse fame with success.  Madonna is one, Helen Keller is the other ~ Erma Bombeck
  • The world is round, and the place which may seem like the end may also be the beginning ~ Ivy Baker

What the World Needs Now

In a world where you can be anything, be kind., words of wisdomCynicism is undermining optimism. Recent events have created a culture of meanness and narcissism; bringing out the worst in people instead of their best.

America needs to return to civility; not just in politics but in how we think, feel and interact with others on this journey. We need more kindness, compassion and joy; less judgement, name calling and shaming. In a world where you can be anything, be kind. It will not necessarily change the circumstances but it will change you.

Random acts of kindness have a powerful effect on our ability to lift others up, doing good in spite of challenging and difficult circumstances.  Not everyone has deep pockets but each of us can contribute by representing kindness and living with a generous heart.

Out of Many, One

E Pluribus Unum is our nation’s motto; chosen when the United States became a single nation as the result of the thirteen colonies joining together. These words inspire us to remember who we were, who we have become and who we must become again.

Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes to us at midnight very clean.
It’s perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands.
It hopes we’ve learned something from yesterday
~ John Wayne