Karma: She is the unbiased, unapologetic force to be reckoned with. Everybody gets what they deserve in the end; there is no time limit.
Be very careful about how you treat others, because it will always come back to bite you.
In a general sense of the word, it’s safe to say going behind people’s backs, lying to them, and hurting their feelings are the first things that come to mind. We are taught these actions are unacceptable. It’s an unspoken rule not to partake in these types of negative behaviors.
But something that you should be extremely mindful of is how you treat good people—those who are kind and loving towards you.
Some people are brought into your life to teach you lessons and show you empathy, to lift you up when you need it most. Some people are simply meant to be temporary. But this does not mean they are out to hurt you. It simply means the Universe brought them into your life to help you in some way.
You should be asking yourself each day: If somebody treated me the way I treated them, would I still be happy with myself? Empathy truly goes a long way. Put yourself in their shoes. Write your words down and read them back to yourself. Do they seem fair?
Cruelty doesn’t serve a purpose other than attracting exactly that back into your life.
Those who are only trying to help you shouldn’t be treated as disposable. You may have conflicting personalities with somebody or you might have outgrown them—there is nothing wrong with that.
You don’t have to be a perfect human being.
But you need to be mindful of the way your words and actions could affect others and part of this includes a great deal of self-reflection—understanding that every hurtful action you take is one that could come back and hurt you in the exact same way.
And when you begin making kinder choices in life, things will also begin to look up for you.
I hope you find the wisdom to understand why you’re better off without some people and why some people had to leave instead of holding on without really knowing why. I hope you find the strength to let go before you fall. I hope you find the courage to leave before you get lost. I hope you trust the instincts that tell you if something doesn’t feel right or if someone is lying to you. I hope you see people for who they are not who you want them to be.
I hope you know that life is hard but it gets easier when the things that are meant for you fall into place. It gets easier when you don’t try to fight God’s plan or timing. It gets easier when you stop running and stay put. When you learn how to wait because good things take time and good people are hard to find and God won’t make everything easy for you. I hope you know that what’s meant for you will never pass you by.
I hope you understand that if it doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t. That if you have to force things to happen and lie to yourself and go against your beliefs, then it’s not for you. I hope you don’t get attached to wrong things or temporary things. I hope you understand that your journey doesn’t have to be like anyone else. Your timeline doesn’t have to align with your friends. Your age doesn’t define what you should own or how much you should make or how many kids you should have.
I hope you learn how to let go of the life you wanted and live the one that’s meant for you. Live your journey. Live your own story. I hope you learn how to let go of what’s not yours.
I hope you know the difference between what you want and what you need. I hope you put more trust in God and less trust in people. I hope you have faith in his plans and be humble enough to realize that you don’t know everything and you could be wrong.
I hope you learn that no matter how hard you fight, you’re bound to lose the battles that are not meant to be yours.
I hope you wait for your own blessings. I hope you don’t stop believing that your time is coming. I hope you hold your head up high and walk away with pride when you feel unwanted or unappreciated. I hope you know that when you find what’s meant for you, the confusion will go away. The madness will make sense. The pain inside your heart will vanish. And your happy ending will find you.
I don’t know who else can relate to me here, but choosing the high road can get super exhausting after a while. And choosing to constantly put yourself in other people’s shoes so you can love them well takes so much energy. Not throwing your middle finger up at the car who wrongly honked at you, not hurting people back who have hurt you, keeping secrets safe even after someone has tried to ruin you, not immediately running into someone else’s arms when you’ve been dumped.
It can be hard because holding our breath and choosing to do better isn’t what we want to do naturally. We all know that feeling where our hearts are so broken that we don’t know how to breathe anymore. But you should not only keep breathing, you should pray for them as well. When anger strikes or when we’ve been hurt, take a moment and stay calm before responding. Find a reason to be the bigger person. Find a way to defuse conflict with love, because we know hate only fuels the fire.
At least for me, this journey hasn’t been easy. Especially when I used to live on a very unhealthy side of it before I learned how to stand up for myself.
I remember plenty of moments when I was younger where someone would throw their pencil case across the floor and tell me to go get it just for the fun of watching me do it, where people would create messes and tell me to clean them up as they walked away laughing, where I would be left to do all of the work in group projects, and basically I was made into a servant of sorts whenever opportunity arose. I was always too kind to say no. But honestly, I was just too weak. I couldn’t stand being yelled at or ignored even more for not doing the thing they told me to, so I’d do it to avoid being any bigger of a disappointment than I already was.
Now, this isn’t good. No one should be a doormat. If you are, you are just enabling horrible people to keep being horrible with no accountability. And that was what I did for a very long time. But kindness isn’t about being used, it’s about your posture towards others.
I don’t know exactly when I grasped what kindness truly is, but today gave me a fresh perspective on it. In the back of my mind for many years, I believed myself to still be a doormat. I’ve had people tell me I am many times, it always frustrated me to hear, but I didn’t know how to respond and figured it was true if enough people told me it was.
I have completely astounded others by the way I’ve handled conflicts without lashing out, without being hateful or stirring the pot some more. I’ve walked away from situations and been scolded for it because “they deserve to be told how horrible they are” or “they deserve to feel what they put you through.” Yes, maybe. But I’ve found most often that people who are stubborn in their ways will not hear you and that you telling them off or lashing back gives them an excuse to make you the problem, the crazy one, the reason they treated you so horribly. So most of the time, I make a few attempts to communicate and talk things out. If those are denied and I really still have something I’d like to say, I write them a letter. Or sometimes, I will just walk away completely.
What I am trying to say here is this: Kind people are not kind on accident. It is a very purposeful choice to be that way. A hard, painful, tiring choice, but also a very rewarding one on a personal level.
After my experiences, I should’ve been the bully going into high school and college. I should’ve been the one hurting others because I was hurt for so many years. But regardless of it all, I could never even fathom being mean to someone. I found myself on the side of knowing the pain so intimately that I never, ever wanted another soul to feel it. So when I see someone alone in a room, I go talk to them. When someone falls, I’ll ask if they are okay. When someone seems quiet, I check on them. I don’t do this perfectly, but I try to make it a priority for myself.
Because I live my life trying to serve others and love them well, I often end up on the sour end when relationships fall apart. I usually end up the one who is rejected or left or taken advantage of. I end up the one broken and beaten down most of the time. But what people don’t understand is this: I am not a doormat. I am brave. I am intentional. I am strong.
Sometimes, I am the only one who tries to love someone. Even though they may hurt me in the end, I am there to show them what love looks like from beginning to end. So often, hurt people hurt because they don’t believe they are worth sticking around for. They push you out to feel safe again, but by respecting and loving them through it, even from a distance, you can help them to realize their value. To me, love isn’t love if it can expire based on treatment. I respect people even when they haven’t respected me because they are human beings; they are worthy and deserving of love and honor. It doesn’t matter what they do or how much they hurt me.
This doesn’t mean I have to cater to their demands or do everything for them. This also doesn’t mean I need to keep people in my life who are toxic. It just means walking away without starting a fire.
Until today, I thought I was weak and a pushover. But now I see that choosing kindness, maturity, and love makes me who I am. And it is much harder to choose those things in the midst of pain than it is to just lash out or hurt back. We innately want to cause people the hurt they have caused us. It isn’t in our nature to forgive and walk away. But as hard as it is, as miserable and lonely as it feels sometimes, I have found peace unlike anything else I’ve ever known in choosing the latter.
Choosing to love when you are hated, neglected, or hurt is incredibly difficult. I have done it many times. It doesn’t get any easier. So how, then, does that make me weak?
When the easy route is getting back at someone or demeaning them during an argument until you feel better about yourself, why do we look at that like it is a strength? Like confrontation in a negative way proves your dominance or correctness?
See, if you really are right, you won’t need to prove it. Someone could go around and slander your entire person-hood, but you know who you are, and so does anyone who matters.
Kindness is knocked out of us by the time we are adults. Kindness is not a trait anyone practices for the fun of it. Kindness is a way of life that you have to choose to embrace every single day. Kindness is going to leave you disappointed, frustrated, angry, even empty. But we choose it because the world needs balance and there is enough hate going around already. We choose it because it refills our souls. We choose it because we know how it feels to receive the opposite. We choose it because we like the challenge.
When times truly become difficult, I often remind myself of Jesus and his ministry on earth. He is the example I look to when I forget why I love to the point that people on the outside think I am missing a few screws in the head. Jesus loved people who not only hurt and rejected him but hated him to the point that he was murdered. His crime was simply love. And He came knowing full well that this would happen but deemed us worthy anyway.
So, if Jesus loved me enough to die by my own hand in order to offer me a free gift I didn’t deserve, I have no excuse to give up on kindness and love. I have every reason in the world to love with my whole being, even in the midst of rejection and pain. I have every reason to be kind, no matter the circumstance.
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
The known struggle of overwhelming apathy and sadness that comes with depression can disrupt someone’s life by persistently clouding them in negative thoughts. While we know this mental health issue cannot be solved solely by reading depression quotes or anxiety quotes, we know that connecting with others’ words and finding bits of positivity in your day contributes to lifting your spirit. Continue reading below to find some inspirational quotes for depression and anxiety that can hopefully incite a positive attitude or leave you feeling less alone.
Positive Quotes to Live By:
“Don’t let life discourage you; everyone who got where he is had to begin where he was.”
-Richard L. Evans
“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”
-Confucius
“In three words, I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life. It goes on.”
-Robert Frost
“I think that little by little, I’ll be able to solve my problems and survive.”
-Frida Kahlo
“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.”
-Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
“Happiness comes as a result of conflict, resolution, and growth — as the result of having to work at something.”
-Chrissy Stockton
“Even if happiness forgets you a little bit, never completely forget about it.”
–Jacques Prevert
“Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”
–Will Rogers
“I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness for it shows me the stars.”
-Og Mandino
“Good humor is a tonic for mind and body. It is the best antidote for anxiety and depression. It is a business asset. It attracts and keeps friends. It lightens human burdens. It is the direct route to serenity and contentment.”
-Greenville Kleisser
“There are moments when I wish I could roll back the clock and take all the sadness away, but I have the feeling that if I did, the joy would be gone as well.”
-Nicholas Sparks
“In times of pain, when the future is too terrifying to contemplate and the past too painful to remember, I have learned to pay attention to right now. The precise moment I was in was always the only safe place for me.”
-Julia Cameron
“We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.”
-Dolly Parton
“You can’t live the life you owe yourself without living it loudly, boldly, and without apology.”
-Natalia Vela
“I’d rather regret the risks that didn’t work out than the chances I didn’t take at all.”
-Simone Biles
“You don’t just wake up one day and find that everything has worked itself out. You must get out of bed, morning after morning, and make a conscious effort to control the circumstances of that given day.”
–Jordan
“Some days are just bad days, that’s all. You have to experience sadness to know happiness, and I remind myself that not every day is going to be a good day; that’s just the way it is!”
–Dita Von Teese
“A pearl is a beautiful thing that is produced by an injured life. It is the tear from the injury of the oyster. The treasure of our being in this world is also produced by an injured life. If we had not been wounded, if we had not been injured, then we will not produce the pearl.”
–Stephan Hoeller
“If you could only sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to the people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.”
–Fred Rogers
“You are allowed to take your time to grow in your own beautiful way.”
–Dhiman
Bible Quotes to Provoke Inner Tranquility:
“The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged.”
Deuteronomy 31:8
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for peace and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
Jeremiah 29:11
“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
Psalm 34:18
“The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.”
Psalm 9:9
“I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have troubles. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33
“The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles.”
Psalm 34:17
“Then Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.’”
Matthew 11:28
“The Lord will not reject his people; he will not abandon his special possession.”
Psalm 94:14
“But you, oh Lord, are a shield about me, my glory and the lifter of my head.”
Psalm 3:3
“I can do all things through him that strengthens me.”
Phillippians 4:13
“Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.”
Isaiah 41:10
“And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:20
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”
Proverbs 3:5-6
“The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need.”
Psalm 23:1
“I will not abandon you as orphans–I will come to you.”
John 14:18
Inspiring Quotes that Enact Self-Love
“Self-care is never a selfish act—it is simply good stewardship of the only gift I have, the gift I was put on earth to offer to others.”
-Parker Palmer
“You are not a drop in the ocean. You are an entire ocean in a drop.”
–Rumi
“Beauty is how you feel inside, and it reflects in your eyes. It is not something physical.”
-Sophia Loren
“Accept yourself, love yourself, and keep moving forward. If you want to fly, you have to give up what weighs you down.”
-Roy T. Bennett
“Talk to yourself like you would to someone you love.”
-Brené Brown
“Be patient with yourself. Self-growth is tender; it’s holy ground. There’s no greater investment.”
-Stephen Covey
“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”
-Buddha
“Even on your worst days, you are always worth love and respect. Don’t ever settle for anything less.”
-Hannah Irelan
“Self-compassion is simply giving the same kindness to ourselves that we would give to others.”
-Christopher Germer
“Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
“You alone are enough. You have nothing to prove to anybody.”
-Maya Angelou
“Our bodies are our gardens, to the which our wills are gardeners.”
-William Shakespeare
“Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you have an obligation to be one.”
-Eleanor Roosevelt
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The more you love yourself, the less nonsense you’ll tolerate.”
-Anonymous
Hope Quotes to Soothe Your Anxiety & Inspire Positivity:
“There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t.”
-John Green
“You say you’re ‘depressed’ – all I see is resilience. You are allowed to feel messed up and inside out. It doesn’t mean you’re defective – it just means you’re human.”
-David Mitchell
“We have always held to the hope, the belief, the conviction that there is a better life, a better world, beyond the horizon.”
-Franklin D. Roosevelt
“Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh
“Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering ‘it will be happier’…”
-Alfred Lord Tennyson
“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
”It’s always something, to know you’ve done the most you could. But, don’t leave off hoping, or it’s of no use doing anything. Hope, hope to the last.”
-Charles Dickens
“Let your hopes, not your hurts, shape your future.”
-Robert H. Schuller
“Hope fills the holes of my frustration in my heart.”
-Emanuel Cleaver
“Hope is the only bee that makes honey without flowers.”
-Robert Green Ingersoll
“Suffering has been stronger than all other teachings and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but – I hope – into a better shape.”
-Charles Dickens
“Never lose hope. Storms make people stronger and never last forever.”
-Roy T. Bennett
“There is a saying in Tibetan, ‘Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength.’ No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful our experience is, if we lose our hope, that’s our real disaster.”
-Dalai Lama XIV
“Shoot for the moon; even if you fail, you’ll land among the stars.”
-Cecelia Ahern
“Once you choose hope, anything is possible.”
Christopher Reeve
“This new day is too dear, with its hopes and invitations, to waste a moment on the yesterdays.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
Mental Health Quotes to Connect With
“Getting better from depression demands a lifelong commitment. I’ve made that commitment for my life’s sake and for the sake of those who love me.”
-Susan Polis Schutz
“Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not, and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad.”
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“Don’t get frustrated with yourself over how long it’s taking you to heal. It might take months. It might take years. That is okay. Everyone’s timeline is different.”
-Holly Riordan
“I’m tired of people telling me to ‘stop thinking negatively’ and to ‘just let it go’ and ‘stop trying to control everything’ because I can’t. People need to understand that anxiety is a mental health disorder, and it can’t just be turned off.”
-Elizabeth Weinberger
“Keep yourself busy if you want to avoid depression. For me, inactivity is the enemy.”
-Matt Lucas
“But emotional experience is as real and as valid as physical experience.”
-John Green
“Recognize that even though you may feel like you aren’t doing anything, you are fighting an extraordinary battle, and it can be exhausting.”
-Sara Huggins
“You are not your illness. You have an individual story to tell. You have a name, a history, a personality. Staying yourself is part of the battle.”
-Julian Seifter
“I will accept any amount of monsters my mind wants to give to me, but I will not become a monster myself.”
-Marissa Meyer
“We must understand that sadness is an ocean, and sometimes we drown, while other days we are forced to swim.”
-R.M. Drake
“We’re all damaged in our own way. Nobody’s perfect. I think we are all somewhat screwy, every single one of us.”
-Johnny Depp
“I don’t think people understand how stressful it is to explain what’s going on in your head when you don’t even understand it yourself.”
-Sara Quin
“Fear can paralyze you. Or it can fuel you. Let it do the latter, my friends. Good luck and keep at it.”
-Harlan Coben
Motivational Quotes toGet You Through Hard Times:
“Fight for your dreams, and your dreams will fight for you.”
-Paulo Coelho
“Sometimes, you have to choose between planting roots or growing wings.”
-Unknown
“Never let your head hang down. Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way.”
-Leroy Satchel Paige
“Prosperity is a great teacher; adversity is greater. Possession pampers the mind; privation trains and strengthens it.”
-William Hazlitt
“But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars.”
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
“If you don’t like something, change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.”
-Mary Engelbreit
“There is some good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for.”
-J.R.R. Tolkien
“Maybe you have to know the darkness before you can appreciate the light.”
-Madeleine L’Engle
“Even if you fall on your face, you’re still moving forward.”
-Victor Kiam
“I’ve learned that everything happens for a reason, every event has a why and all adversity teaches us a lesson… Never regret your past. Accept it as the teacher that it is.”
-Robin Sharma
“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.”
-Eleanor Roosevelt
“Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.”
-Michael Jordan
“Sadness is but a wall between two gardens.”
-Kahlil Gibran
“You’re going to be so glad that you kept going.”
-Bianca Sparacino
“Yes, you can. End of story.”
-Miss Moore
“You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.”
-Margaret Thatcher
“It is only in our darkest hours that we may discover the true strength of the brilliant light within ourselves that can never, ever, be dimmed.”
-Doe Zantamata
“In times of great stress or adversity, it’s always best to keep busy, to plow your anger and your energy into something positive.”
-Lee Iacocca
“Sadness flies away on the wings of time.”
-Jean de La Fontaine
“Every adversity, every failure, and every heartache carries with it the seed of an equivalent or a greater benefit.”
-Napoleon Hill
“The best way to get rid of the pain is to feel the pain. And when you feel the pain and go beyond it, you’ll see there’s a very intense love that is wanting to awaken itself.”
-Deepak Chopra
“We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey.”
-Kenji Miyazawa
“Rocks in my path, I keep them all. With them, I shall build my castle.”
-Nemo Nox
“Strength doesn’t come from what you can do. It comes from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn’t.”
-Rikki Rogers
“There are far, far better things ahead than anything we leave behind.”
At this moment, as you sit firmly grounded to the Earth, you are also grounded within yourself.
Dedicate this time for yourself and release all external obligations. Your only obligation is to tend to your well-being and to take this time to be fully present.
Take the deepest breath that you have taken all day. Inhale through the nose, and as you exhale out the mouth, allow everything to slide straight off you with an audible sigh.
Let go of your worries, anxiety, friendship problems, relationship quarrels, or work-related tension.
On your next inhale, visualize the walls around you. Their color, where you are situated in the room, and their height. As you exhale, let go of these walls. Allow them to blur into the outside world. Feel yourself open up to endless space.
With every new cycle of breath, allow yourself to detach from your physical surroundings and instead feel the kind of energy pulsating and flowing all around you.
As you begin to focus on the energy outside your body, use your breath to help you focus on the energy that flows within you.
Come to look inwards; be present with yourself. Visualize the kind of energy that flows throughout your body. What does it look like? Does it all have the same color? How bright does it shine?
As you search within yourself, realize that there is untapped energy and power within your soul. You have endless potential within yourself and you are able to overcome any darkness lingering around you.
There is a garden within your soul. Only you are able to tend to it. You decide whether it will flourish or wither away. You can choose which seeds to plant and which weeds have overstayed their welcome.
Let the light into your garden by choosing to be kind to yourself.
Choose love and light.
Choose to love your light.
And with every inhale that you take, visualize the ball of light that is sitting within your heart center growing. Feed more love to that ball of light with every inhale.
And with every exhale, expel any darkness that lingers throughout your body. Release anything that no longer serves you so that your light can shine through every inch of you.
Continue to use your breath to focus on tending to your soul. Stay here until you can feel your inner love and light radiating outwards for the world to be in awe of.
I’ve been thinking about mindfulness quite a bit. I’ve been thinking about what it fully means to be a mindful person. I’ve been connecting the dots on the type of self-awareness it takes to truly be in a mindful state.
So what does it take for us to achieve that sort of self-compassion? For me, it’s finally starting to accept the things I view as weaknesses and turning them into my strengths. I have been told my entire life that I am “too nice” by various people. I have always looked at my overly empathetic, compassionate, and kind nature as a weakness and something for people to take advantage of. And they have. To be frank, I have bashed myself numerous times and have said how much I wish I didn’t feel these emotions.
However, in my adult life so far, I have realized just how necessary empathy, compassion, and kindness are. If I have these compassionate feelings towards everyone else, why don’t I have them towards myself? If anything, empathy, compassion, and kindness are the very things that connect all of us. They’re the very reason we experience love and friendship.
From my experience, being truly mindful is about having enough self-compassion to know that the things you may view as your weaknesses are actually your biggest asset. That sort of self-compassion can help ground you in the present moment instead of telling yourself you are behind on the “timeline.” Every morning, I wake up, look in the mirror, and say, “I am exactly where I’m supposed to be.” The fact of the matter is, what is this “timeline” we have all put ourselves on? Shouldn’t our happiness be the indicator of our success? Why do I have this overwhelming feeling that by age 30 I need to have found my dream job and be married to my soulmate? All I wish to focus on is having a good time. A fun time. So shouldn’t empathy, compassion, and kindness be what humanizes all of us?
No one has any answers on their future. From what I’ve gathered, it seems as if most of us are just trying to survive and maybe be a bit less freaked out than we were yesterday. Some of us are trying to just find contentment with where we are in life. Contentment can be the very thing that balances what we view as our inadequacies. With finding contentment, maybe we’ll be less concerned about what happens tomorrow and more okay with wherever today takes us. Today, the things I have previously viewed as my weaknesses are now my strengths. I am just now learning to embrace my empathy, compassion, and kindness. I am exactly where I’m supposed to be. You are exactly where you’re supposed to be.
When we think of kindness, we often confuse it for niceness, and the two are not the same.
When we are being nice, we are being placid and non-responsive. We are not aggravating, we are not triggering, we are not pointing out anything important, we are not addressing what needs to be said. We are washing over our natural and essential reactions for the sake of not disrupting someone else’s waters, even if in all honesty, that’s exactly what they need.
We behave this way because it’s not always our place to tell someone what they need to hear.
It is always our place to maintain that type of honesty with ourselves.
Being kind to yourself is often doing the thing you least want to do.
It is very often prioritizing your future needs over your current wants. It is awakening yourself to your destructive habits, it is recognizing your self-defeating patterns, it is learning how to self-heal, it is setting boundaries first with ourselves and then with others, it is recognizing our power and remembering how we have neglected to use it.
That is kindness.
Everything else is a distraction.
The kindest thing to do is not always the easiest thing to do.
It doesn’t always come with a sweet smile and a comforting hand. It doesn’t always soothe us to sleep. True kindness is a fire that wakes you in the night. It’s a calling that you can’t ignore. It’s tough love, it’s seeing reality for what it is. It is acceptance, it is choice, it is reclamation.
When we are truly being kind to ourselves, we are actually in a process of reparenting ourselves.
We are doing for ourselves what we always relied on others to do — and we are doing it for the sake of our long-term and overall wellbeing.
We are taking ourselves up on an opportunity to do what is right as opposed to what is easy. We are choosing to do what is important over what is yet another way to numb and cope with the discomfort.
When we start solving problems, the discomfort goes away.
Kindness is loving ourselves enough to do that.
It is believing in our potential enough to choose better. It is caring enough about ourselves that we decide we’re going to stop accepting a life that’s less than what we deserve. It is fighting for who we are, and who we might one day be.
There is nobody in the world who can show you the type of kindness that you can show yourself.
Yes, through understanding and empathy and compassion, and then through the unending commitment to see yourself to a type of life in which you can do what you were born to do, be who you were born to be, and create what it is your ultimate destiny to create.
You are meant for that.
The only thing you have to do now is decide whether you’re going to choose it.
