The Top 20 INSPIRATIONAL and MOTIVATIONAL Quotes that Changed My Life
When I was at my lowest, quotes helped me to get perspective and inspire me to look forward to a future where I was happy, healthy, connected, living purposefully and THRIVING.
At my lowest, I was suffering. Suffering with physical and mental pain and anguish.
I knew that something needed to change.
I lay in bed, which is where I spent most of my time. I stared blankly and sorrowfully at the equally blank and dull wardrobe opposite my bed. Even the furniture was depressing. A bland wood, uninspired and tired.
In a moment that was not particularly special, after countless minutes staring vacantly at the walls but with my mind whirling a million miles an hour, I had a FLASH of INSPIRATION.
Suddenly, I realised. It was now or never.
I could keep staring motionless at the blank walls and live in anger, upset and depression OR I could make a change.
I decided I would inject colour and motivation into my life.
I decorated the wardrobe.
I smothered and layered the most INSPIRATIONAL and MOTIVATIONAL QUOTES that I could find on the internet onto the doors of my wardrobe.
I peppered the quotes with pictures of my friends and family to remind myself I was not alone. I may be feeling lonely and dejected, but I was not alone.
I searched the internet for quotes that brought me hope.
I took my time, savouring as I cut out the colourful squares and marvelled at the life-saving, life-giving, life-changing ink on the paper. I organised them into how I wanted to view them; the most salient at eye level. I stuck them proudly to my wardrobe and there they remained for years. Every time I lay in bed; I may still have spent many more months in chronic pain. But they were always a reminder of the choice I made that moment to LIVE, and eventually to THRIVE.
I put together 20 of my most FAVOURITE quotations.
These served me at the lowest time in my life. I hope they offer a similar service for you.
Let me know your favourite quotes, either from this list or your own.
(Author’s note! You will notice there is few quotes from Buddhism and Gandhi; Buddhist and Eastern psychology and philosophy has always resonated with me, however, I was creating this ‘quote wall’ after returning from a nine-month trip to Nepal and India. I had read the Dalai Lama’s ‘The Art of Happiness’ and Gandhi’s autobiography whilst travelling in India, and these two books resonated with me deeply)
Self-Reflection Questions:
- Who has inspired me most in life? (Someone you know or someone you do not!)
- What is the most inspirational thing I have ever heard?
- What motivates me the most when I am feeling low?
- How could motivational quotes serve to inspire me in my current life?
- Which quotes resonate most with me and why?
- What has motivated or inspired me in the past?
- Where could I inject some inspiration and motivation by making some of my favourite quotes available to view in my space? (Work/ home?)
You must be the change you wish to see in the world
-Mahatma Gandhi
2. Gratitude is a practice. Make it a priority
-Author Unknown
3. No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.
-Heraclitus
4. The danger of adventure is worth a thousand days of ease and comfort
-Paulo Coelho
5. The mind is everything. What you think, you become.
—Buddha
6. If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.
-Dalai Lama
7. Be kind where ever possible. It’s always possible.
-Dalai Lama
8. There is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way
-Thích Nhất Hạnh
9. Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.
-Oscar Wilde
10. Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.
-Mahatma Gandhi
11. Twenty Years From Now You Will Be More Disappointed By The Things You Didn’t Do Than By The Ones You Did Do
-Mark Twain
12. Do what you can, with what you've got, where you are.
-Theodore Roosevelt
13. If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always gotten.
-Tony Robbins
14. Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.
-Desmond Tutu
15. It's not the years in your life that count; it's the life in your years.
-Abraham Lincoln
16. Before you speak, let your words pass through three gates: Is it true? Is it necessary? Is it kind?
- Rumi.
17. Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.
-Carl Jung
18. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.
-Albert Einstein
19. Every moment is a fresh beginning.
-T.S. Elliott
20. The key to adaptive coping. The key to coping adaptively with stress is learning to tell the difference between the stressors you can control from those you cannot control. There are different stress management techniques for these two different types of stressors. Stressors do not cause stress. The stress response is the result of how you interpret the stressor.
***BONUS QUOTES FOR YOU!!***
I hope these quotes have inspired you as they did for me.
They supported me through a tough time and reading them helped me see the light.
If you are going through a tough time and need a little more support than putting quotes on your wall…get in touch to see how Positive Psychology Coaching can support you.
Yours in exploration and with love,
Emma