What I Know For Sure

My highest achievement: never shutting down my heart. Even in my darkest moments—through sexual abuse, a pregnancy at 14, lies and betrayals—I remained faithful, hopeful, and willing to see the best in people, regardless of whether they were showing me their worst. I continued to believe that no matter how hard the climb, there is always a way to let in a sliver of light to illuminate the path forward.

Our beliefs can move us forward in life - or they can hold us back.

Your base level of pleasure is determined by how you view your whole life.

There are three words that convey the secret of the art of living, the secret of all success and happiness: One With Life. Being one with life is being one with Now. You then realize that you don’t live your life, but life lives you. Life is the dancer, and you are the dance.

Happiness is never something you get from other people. The happiness you feel is in direct proportion to the love you are able to give. If you think something is missing in your life or you’re not getting what you deserve, remember that there’s no Yellow Brick Road. You lead life; it doesn’t lead you. See what comes into your life when you spend extra time with your children. Let go of your anger with your boss or coworker and see what gets returned. Be loving to yourself and others and see that love reciprocated. This rule works every time, whether or not you are aware of it. It occurs in little things, big things, and the biggest things. Today I try to do well and be well with everyone I encounter. I make sure to use my life for goodwill. Because I know for sure that what I think, what I say, what I do—everything will be returned to me. And the same is true for you.

Gratitude can transform any situation. It alters your vibration, moving you from negative energy to positive. It’s the quickest, easiest, most powerful way to effect change in your life—this I know.

It can upset people when you exceed the limited expectations they’ve always had for you.

If you want the best the world has to offer, offer the world your best.

Who you're meant to evolve from where you are right now.

Maya Angelou was so right. Whatever you’re going through, you will do just that: go through it. It will pass. So say thank-you now. Because you know the rainbow is coming.

The true measure of your courage is not whether you reach your goal—it’s whether you decide to get back on your feet no matter how many times you’ve failed.

Whether you flounder or flourish is always in your hands—you are the single biggest influence in your life.

I know for sure that when you remove the fear, the answer you've been searching for comes into focus. And as you walk into what you fear, you should know for sure that your deepest struggle can, if you're willing and open, produce your greatest strength.

what you focus on expands. When you focus on the goodness in your life, you create more of it.

Look inward—the loving begins with you.

I know for sure that only by owning who and what you are can you step into the fullness of life.

In Don Miguel Ruiz’s book The Four Agreements, the final agreement is just that: Always do your best. I know for sure that this is the most fulfilling path to personal freedom. Your best varies from day to day, Ruiz says, depending on how you’re feeling. No matter. Give your best in every circumstance so that you have no reason to judge yourself and create guilt and shame. Live so that at the end of each day, you can say, “I did my very best.” That’s what it means to excel at the great work of living your best life. My father raised me to believe that being in debt was a terrible thing.

The thing you fear most has no power - it is what has the power.

You’re saying thank-you,” Maya said, “because your faith is so strong that you don’t doubt that whatever the problem, you’ll get through it. You’re saying thank-you because you know that even in the eye of the storm, God has put a rainbow in the clouds. You’re saying thank-you because you know there’s no problem created that can compare to the Creator of all things. Say thank-you!

Some Me of Beauty.

When I accepted that I was a decent, kind, and giving person—whether I said yes or no—I no longer had anything to prove. I was once afraid of people saying, “Who does she think she is?” Now I have the courage to stand and say, “This is who I am.

As women we’ve been programmed to sacrifice everything in the name of what is good and right for everyone else. Then if there’s an inch left over, maybe we can have a piece of that. We need to deprogram ourselves.