Is your cape dragging on the ground? Are your boots a little less shiny than usual? Has saving the world depleted your resources? Well then, it's time to recharge! Below are some inspirational words to get you back on track.
If you are feeling low, unsure of yourself, uncreative or just plain not good enough, then some words from Martha Graham may strengthen your resolve.
“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy. A quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost. The world will not have it.
It is not your business to determine how good it is, nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly... to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work... you have to keep open and aware.”
If you're feeling different, discouraged, out of sync or out of place, e.e.cummings has wonderful words to bolster your spirit.
“To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else - means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.”
If you are feeling down or ordinary, then Fred Rogers has something to tell you.
“You are a very special person. There is only one like you in the whole world. There's never been anyone exactly like you before, and there will never be again. Only you. And people can like you exactly as you are.”
If you are faced with an uphill battle, Joseph Campbell's words can be empowering.
“Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seems most challenging.”
If you are surrounded by adversity, the Dalai Lama suggests two possibilities.
“When we meet real tragedy in life, we can react in two ways--either by losing hope and falling into self-destructive habits, or by using the challenge to find our inner strength.”
If you are feeling rigid and defensive, or uptight and overly righteous, read what Oscar Wilde has to say about unselfishness.
“Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live. And unselfishness is letting other people's lives alone, not interfering with them. Selfishness always aims at creating around it an absolute uniformity of type. Unselfishness recognizes infinite variety of type as a delightful thing, accepts it, acquiesces in it, enjoys it.
It is not selfish to think for oneself. A man who does not think for himself does not think at all. It is grossly selfish to require of one's neighbor that he should think in the same way, and hold the same opinions. Why should he? If he can think, he will probably think differently. If he cannot think, it is monstrous to require thought of any kind from him.
A red rose is not selfish because it wants to be a red rose. It would be horribly selfish if it wanted all the other flowers in the garden to be both red and roses.”
