What I Know For Sure

There is no need to struggle with your body when you can make peace with it.

To know that people care about how you’re doing when the doing isn’t so good, that’s what love is.

If you’re holding anyone else accountable for your happiness, you’re wasting your time.

But there’s a thin line between pride and ego.

It’s the airplane oxygen-mask theory: If you don’t put on your mask first, you won’t be able to save anyone else.

What I know for sure is that the only way to endure the quake is to adjust your stance.

...and I believe that education is the door to freedom.

Hurtful words send the message—both to ourselves and to those with whom we share them—that we can’t be trusted. If someone is willing to tear down one “friend,” why wouldn’t she be willing to disparage another? Gossip means we haven’t emboldened ourselves to talk directly to the people we take issue with, so we belittle them. Playwright Jules Feiffer calls it committing little murders: Gossip is an assassination attempt by a coward.

When you nurture and support your body, it reciprocates. The basis of that support is exercise, like it or not. The most essential benefit is more energy; weight control is a bonus. I know for sure that taking care of your body, no matter what, is an investment, and the return is priceless.

Gossip...reflects the insecurity of those who initiate it.

For most of us who overeat, extra pounds correspond to unresolved anxieties, frustrations, and depressions, which all come down to fear we haven’t worked through.

When you know better, you do better.

Every action, thought and feeling is motivated by an intention, and that intention is a cause that exists as one with an effect. If we participate in the cause, it is not possible for us not to participate in the effect. In this most profound way, we are held responsible for our every action, thought, and feeling which is to say, for our every intention…it is therefore, wise for us to become aware of the many intentions that inform our experience, to sort out which intentions produce which effects, and to choose our intentions according to the effects that we desire to produce.

The happiness you feel is in direct proportion to the love you are able to give.

The key to any relationship is communication. And I’ve always thought that communication is like a dance. One person takes a step forward, the other takes a step back. Even a single misstep can land both people on the floor in a tangle of confusion.

The gift of deciding to face your mortality without turning away or flinching is the gift of recognizing that because you will die, you must live now. Whether you flounder or flourish is always in your hands—you are the single biggest influence in your life.

What I know for sure is that there is no strength without challenge, adversity, resistance, and often pain.

If I knew then what I know now, I would never have wasted even a single minute doubting my path.

I believe everything that happens in our lives has meaning, that each experience brings a message, if we’re willing to hear it.

The truth is that the naysayers in your life can never be fully satisfied. Whether you hide or shine, they’ll always feel threatened because they don’t believe they are enough.

You are built not to shrink down to less but to blossom into more. To be more splendid. To be more extraordinary. To use every moment to fill yourself up.

Yet when I’d let some man use me, she’d often say, “He’s just chipping away at your spirit. One day I hope he chips deep enough for you to see who you really are - someone who deserves to be happy.”

I know for sure that healing the wounds of the past is one of the biggest and most worthwhile challenges of life.

When you get the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance.

First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.

We all get the opportunity to feel wonder every day, but we’ve been lulled into numbness. Have you ever driven home from work, opened your front door, and asked yourself how you got there? I know for sure that I don’t want to live a shut-down life—desensitized to feeling and seeing. I want every day to be a fresh start on expanding what is possible. On experiencing joy on every level.

When you know something, really know something, it tends to stand the test of time.

Nothing happens until you decide.

Who you’re meant to be evolves from where you are right now. So learning to appreciate your lessons, mistakes, and setbacks as stepping-stones to the future is a clear sign you’re moving in the right direction.

you must remember that while the canvas of your life is painted with daily experiences, behaviors, reactions, and emotions, you’re the one controlling the brush.