“Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won't either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself you tasted as many as you could.”
― Louise Erdrich, The Painted Drum LP

"....Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure..."

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

― Marianne Williamson, Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"

Reasons to Succeed

Surround yourself with reminders of the reasons you have chosen to do the work you do. Keep the thoughts of those reasons foremost in your mind.

Achievement never happens for its own sake. Achievement is built when there are solid, meaningful reasons behind it.

The only enduring impediment to success is the lack of a reason for that success. Connect with a good reason, keep that connection strong, and you will find your way through whatever challenges you encounter.

When you have a reason, you have a stake in the outcome. When you have a reason, you're able to summon the discipline, commitment, persistence and creativity necessary to get the job done.

The best motivation is not to be found in some sophisticated secret techniques or procedures. The best motivation is to constantly keep yourself in contact with your reason.

Give yourself plenty of reasons to succeed. And you most assuredly will.

Ralph Marston