Do you have any favorite quotes? It’s fascinating how a few words can capture so much. So often good quotes tell a story, too. They make you think and reflect and are inspiring. 

When I was originally brainstorming about a topic for this week’s message, I thought how it would be fun to share my favorite quote, but it was too hard to pick just one! Instead I gathered a few, like a buffet for your brain. 😆

These come from the Balanced Mind Messages that are part of my virtual program, Stronger Everywhere Training (SET). Because I believe you can lift all the weights in the world, but if you don’t pay attention to that space between your ears, life will always be unbalanced. 

What I love about quotes is how they allow us to put a name to something that might be hard to articulate and provide a wonderful opportunity to pause and consider how you’re living day to day.   

When I look at this compilation, I see a theme… there’s a thread of how to bring change into your life from a place of self-love. Transformation and building new habits doesn’t have to be filled with self-attack. But there is a level of self-devotion and patience required.  

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Self acceptance is my refusal to be in an adversarial relationship with myself. — Nathaniel Brandon

Integrity is choosing courage over comfort; choosing what is right over what is fun, fast, or easy; and choosing to practice our values rather than simply professing them. — Brené Brown

The life that you want begins the moment you embrace the life you have because all of it is a miracle. — Rob Bell

It won’t happen overnight. But if you quit, it won’t happen at all.” internet meme

Behind every complaint is a secret desire. — Molly Godfrey

There are very few human beings who receive the truth, complete and staggering, by instant illumination. Most of them acquire it fragment by fragment, on a small scale, by successive developments, cellularly, like a laborious mosaic. — Anais Nin

“

This one really tugs at me because I see myself in this. It’s from a book by Anna Quindlen (Still Life with Breadcrumbs) 

Then when she really thought about it she realized she’d been becoming different people for as long as she could remember but had never really noticed, or had put it down to moods, or marriage, or motherhood. The problem was that she’d thought that at a certain point she would be a finished product. — Anna Quindlen

But we’re never quite finished products, are we? Indeed life is much more spirally than linear. We don’t actually reach a point of success that says, “I did it,” and we stop growing or learning or becoming or dreaming. At least I don’t think that sounds very fun!  

Where in your life can you invite transformation?

What do you complain about that is actually a hidden desire? 

How can you allow and be ok with successive developments, versus attached to instantaneousness?

Can you lay down your adversarialism with your own self? (pssst, you are not an enemy.)    

I would be interested in knowing which one resonated with you. Or do you have any adages you live by? Please share!!!! Hit reply!! Maybe I’ll add it to SET!!! 

I’ll leave you with one final quote: 

What lies behind us, and what lies before us are but tiny matters compared to what lies within us. And when we bring what lies within us out into the world, miracles happen. — Henry Stanley Haskins

May you pause and reflect. May you pay attention to what is going on inside of you at a deeper level. May you never be a finished product. 

Many hugs, 
Laura

P.S. This is a photo of a tree I took out on a walk… in the successive development of fall turning to winter. Definitely not a finished product. 😉

P.P.S. Stronger Everywhere Training (SET) is a transformative program designed to help you safely and progressively strengthen your body and mind. Join a supportive community, receive personalized feedback from me, and enjoy the convenience of accessible workouts. 

This is a totally virtual/online program. Picking up a weight and pausing to balance your mind can really help change the trajectory of your life (both in daily life and long term), especially if you’re feeling weaker, adding body fat each year and feeling stressed out.

You can find out more or sign up here: