Create YOUR OWN Inspirational and Motivational Quotes Here!
I love quotes, especially the ones who can lift me up! Inspirational quotes and motivational sayings have an amazing ability to change the way we feel about life. Just as positive words can make someone smile or well-timed jokes can make someone laugh, our thoughts react to the world in real-time.
I have been having this idea of making my own quote, but it's not easy. Today I saw @ASilentObserver wrote his own quote in one of his forum posts and I felt great when reading it. Actually, his quote reinforces my idea to make this forum thread about creating our own motivational quotes as a powerful reminder to ourselves and to motivate others.
So, do you have your own quote? Care to share? Post them here!
@UndomesticGoddess
Oh, I forgot to post Obs' quote at the Group Support Forum:
"To beat all the odds, you have to make attempts. And to make every attempt, every step and try counts. Go for it!" -- Obs
What a powerful quote, right? Please post some more here @ASilentObserver! 
Thanks in advance and God bless!
The following quote is something I came up with that was responsible for getting me out of a pretty nasty depression about 10 years ago:
"When words stop working, I am free to drop them and create my own."
The ideas embedded in this aren't original/unique to me. The initial groundwork was laid by me reading a bunch of Buddhist/Zen stuff, and then the major breakthrough came from reading some stuff by Ludwig Wittgenstein. Here is an explanation of the significance/relevance:
1) Thought/effort has a breaking point
There are some types of problems that are paradoxical in that they can't be solved through normal thought/effort. These problems have the quality that the very act of trying to solve them is itself a new instance/example of the original problem. Therefore, normal problem-solving effectively creates a feedback loop where the problem feeds on itself. The harder you try to fix it, the worse the problem becomes.
2) This has significant implications in a mental health context
This phenomenon is very relevant to mental health issues. What's interesting is how many seemingly positive/healthy things can be put to destructive purposes. 
Some examples that have been problematic for me personally:
- Trying to be non-judgmental
- Trying to be honest
- Trying to be natural
- Trying to be relaxed
- Trying to worry less
- Trying to be positive
- Etc.
An illustration of this in action, using "positivity" as an example:
- Let's say someone has an ideal that goes something along the lines of "Being a positive person is a good/valuable thing. I want to try to be more positive".
- Let's also imagine that this person experiences some initial thought T0 that involves noticing some very minor/trivial experience of suffering that maybe contradicts their personal ideal of positivity
- Upon noticing T0, the person has a new thought T1 that involves a negative reaction to the presence of T0: "Ugh, I'm supposed to be positive, but look at me feeling this way"
- Shortly after, the person has a new thought T2 that likewise involves a negative reaction to the presence of T1: "Ugh, but there I go again being so critical of myself. Why am I so negative?"
- This continues in a loop (i.e. new thought T3 reacting to T2, new thought T4 reacting to T3, etc.) until either the person's attention gets distracted or they exhaust the energy/willpower required to sustain the self-torture.
One irony is that I think the people who are most passionate about things like personal growth or self-awareness would likely persevere the longest and cause themselves the greatest amount of suffering.
3) It is acceptable to abandon thought/effort
For the longest time, I felt like I had an obligation to continue struggling with thoughts in this way and trying to solve unsolvable problems. Otherwise, my thinking was that it would amount to me running away from reality, failing to take responsibility, being intellectually dishonest, giving up on myself, etc.
The insight that I got from reading Wittgenstein that helped me feel comfortable dropping my thoughts was the idea that language is a human invention. Words aren't identical to the reality that they aim to describe. ("The map is not the territory" -Alfred Korzybski) And in other contexts, if an invention stops working, then well... you just get rid of it and come up with something else that works better.
Words cut up reality into parts like someone taking a pizza and cutting it into slices. There might be some ways of cutting the pizza that are more common or practical than others. But in actuality, there's really nothing stopping you from cutting the pizza into some other different arrangement... like octagons, dozens of thin strips, hundreds of tiny squares, or getting rid of the cutting tool entirely and ripping it apart your bare hands into misshapen chunks... The decision to cut a pizza into normal-looking slices is just a somewhat arbitrary convention that has the appearance of being a hard rule when it's actually a voluntary choice. What matters about this is that sometimes the usual way of cutting the pizza isn't optimal or doesn't work for what you need to be able to do.
So, my conclusion is that if I try to think about a problem in a "normal" way and find myself getting stuck/lost/miserable, there's nothing requiring me to continue. If my usual thinking stops being helpful, sometimes I can find more benefit through all kinds of other alternative methods that either don't involve words, distort words beyond recognition, or utilize lots of irrational/intuitive elements that might seem ridiculous/irrelevant to someone who is operating strictly from a cognitive/solution-oriented perspective (e.g. meditation, prayer, poetry, music, art, divination, cooking, etc.).
***
My next quote that is basically a generalization of some of what I've described above. (Again, the thinking behind it isn't originally mine--inspired by reading about William James and Pragmatism.)
"Do what works. Whatever does not work can be discarded."
Below are a couple other quotes that feel like they offer a semi-decent argument for unconditional positive regard on the basis of enlightened self-interest. The idea is that my own identity is constantly shifting and fluctuating ("No man ever steps in the same river twice." -Heraclitus). So over the course of my existence I will probably pass through a lot of different states. At some point, I'm going to resemble each and every one of the things that I've judged/hated in other people. When that happens, my own judgmental mindset could potentially make it more difficult for me to accept/forgive/process whatever is happening in myself ("Judge not, that ye be not judged." -Matthew 7:1).
"Whatever I say I am, I will cease to be. Whatever I say I am not, I will become."
"Whatever judgments I make of others will be directed against myself."
@QuietMagic
First, thank you so much for your great quotes, they are:
“When words stop working, I am free to drop them and create my own.”
“Do what works. Whatever does not work can be discarded.”
“Whatever I say I am, I will cease to be. Whatever I say I am not, I will become.”
“Whatever judgments I make of others will be directed against myself.”
I really enjoy reading your writing that I reread it so many times. I learn so much from you, and now I know who Ludwig Wittgenstein, Alfred Korzybski, William James, and Heraclitus are. And it’s good to know that amid your nasty depression, you could somehow come up with such quotes that helped to get you out of it.
I believe there are types of problem that is best to just let go, because like you said, “The harder you try to fix it, the worse the problem becomes.” And it is so interesting to see how you illustrate that many seemingly positive/healthy things can be put to destructive purposes. It does seem like running in a never-ending circle of dissatisfaction that leads us to low self-worth.
I myself is not big on personal growth or self-awareness. Most of the time I feel more in a survival mode. This survival mode sometimes making me feel like I’m running in a maze where when I make a mistake of choosing the wrong path, I have to go back and start again, hence I keep changing my goals. It’s tiring, but often I do not have any option than to persevere. I guess we’ve all been there.
The one thing I found ironically funny is the fact that you feel you are running away from reality, failing to take responsibility, being intellectually dishonest, giving up on myself, etc. when you are avoiding to solve the unsolvable problems. Why? Because I am big on running away from my problem, conflict, and confrontation. In times of distress, sometimes I often shut myself down. And when I’m ready (which usually takes a long time for me to be ready), I’m aware of the possibility that I can break down easily when the end results don’t go my way after facing it.
I have to be honest; I found it hard to understand your analyzation of these statements below:
Language is a human invention --> If an invention stops working, we can get rid of it and come up with something else that works better --> The decision to implement the normal way to say things or to invent is equal to hard-rule when it is actually voluntarily because sometimes the so-called normal way is not optimal or does not work --> In this case, we can find more benefit through all kinds of other alternative methods that either don’t involve words, distort words beyond recognition, or use lots of irrational/intuitive elements that might seem ridiculous/irrelevant to someone who is operating strictly from a cognitive/solution-oriented perspective, such as meditation, prayer, poetry, music, art, divination, cooking, etc.
So, does it mean that words equal trying? Or does “words” mean advice/suggestion you give to others that fails because a cognitive perspective is more effective for them?
Also, this is the first time I know about Unconditional Positive Regard, and after I read the link to it carefully, I offered this to my friend because it reminds me of an unconditional love a mom usually has for her children. He’s in BPD and often saying bad things about himself, no matter how smart and communicative he really is. I still don’t know if it’s work or not, but I sincerely believe that the word "unconditional" has a powerful impact. I hope in your case this unconditional positive regard works best.
@UndomesticGoddess
Hi, thanks for reading.
I can relate to what you're describing as survival mode. Sort of like problems feel like they're too much to approach directly and the thought of working on them just causes everything to shut down. So then it's like having to wait until you feel ready to do something. (One way that this sometimes plays out for me is that I just have to wait for my anxiety or frustration to build up until I feel like I'm forced to fix or solve a problem out of necessity. Then there might be a burst of energy or concentration where difficult things start happening pretty quickly.)
Sorry about the language idea being a bit unclear. Just to give an example, sometimes I'll be trying to think about a problem and I won't make any progress, but then I'll draw a picture or write a poem and feel like I understand more about the problem. Almost like I'm able to connect more deeply with my own feelings and get closer to the heart of the situation than if I try to think about it normally. Something that doesn't look like normal problem-solving or thinking ends up feeling like it gives me insight or helps me communicate more honestly. So I guess the general idea is that there are sometimes benefits to going outside the box.
That makes sense to me what you're saying that you have a friend who you think is really smart and good at communicating and you want them to know that you like them and you see them as being a really good person. One way I see unconditional positive regard is that maybe if someone like that has many people telling them things like, "You have to be more positive" or "It's wrong for you to dislike yourself", it could feel really refreshing or validating for someone to be okay or accepting of the fact that they just genuinely don't feel good about themselves.
These are few of my mottos that I’ve had since grade school. They’ve got me through rough times. Right now my life has been pretty awful, but when I take the time to remember my morals and ideas I can push through another day of hell.
When Lights Go Dim Keep Life Bright
Tears Are Never In Vain
Brother By Bond Not By Blood
Realism Doesn’t Motivate Dreamers (meaning: pursue your passion)
If I Didn’t Learn the First Time, You Know Where To Find Me (keep trying, and do what you love)
And I also still use an inside joke from grade school, which usually lifts my spirits. My friends and myself were talking, somewhere along the line I lost track of the conversation. The last thing I heard was ‘starfish’. So I yelled:
Wait, You Left Me On Starfish!
From then on we said starfish anytime anything confused us.
@4343AKcolors
Wow! You have some good mottos there, Colors! All schools in my country have a motto too, and I believe I have one too in the past, but I never am able to make one myself as you did.
I'm sorry to hear that you're having difficulty in your life right now, but I'm glad to know that these mottos help you in times of need. I always remind myself whenever I have a troubling season that, "This too shall pass."
By the way, my favorite is the Starfish thing! It's fresh and funny lol
Thank you so much for sharing with us. May you have great days ahead; God bless!
Which kneecap hurts the most.
@UndomesticGoddess This is amazing UG. Thank you. You might want to share them in Sharing Circle or Steps Towards Healthy Habits Sessions as well with other community members. They may find it inspiring to read. Or maybe you use some of these quotes in your sharings and participation
