Success is a journey not a destination. The doing is usually more important than the outcome. Arthur Ashe Last week Lisa came home all excited. She announced that she wanted to represent her class in the Student Advisory Leadership Team. Every class gets to pick two representatives (a boy and a girl). Those kids will have meetings with the principal and present the ideas of their class. She was delighted by the idea of representing her class and asked me if she please could (I had to sign a permission slip).

A beautiful poem that’s attributed to Mother Theresa. Some say the words were written on a wall in Mother Theresa’s children’s home in Calcutta. It’s adapted from the Paradoxical Commandments by Kent M. Keith. People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies.

Bent, Not Broken Desolate the reed stands in between the barren fields. Fighting the harsh wind and bitter cold. Head down hoping to defy the wind. Severely bent but not broken. Until one day the wind lays down and the sun comes out. And the reed rises, glorious and fierce. Ready to grow to its full potential.

A moment of self-compassion can change your entire day. A string of such moments can change the course of your life. Christopher K. Germer How can it be that self-compassion is so hard for most people? We are willing to give others a break, but not ourselves. How wonderful would it be if we could be as kind towards ourselves like we are to the people we love? Nowadays, when I notice that I’m self-loathing, I ask myself: what would I say to a friend?

Photo by Leonora (Ellie) Enking via Flickr  Last week I logged in to my Red Tricycle account and much to my surprise, the UPV’s (Unique Page Views) of my best-read article had gone up significantly. At one point it was over 6200. Wow, this made me feel like I am actually a real writer. People want to read what I’ve written. I have something good to say. Then, suddenly it went down to 290 UPV’s.

Photo Anthony Albright via Flickr Never give up on what you really want to do. The person with big dreams is more powerful than the one with all the facts. Albert Einstein My 9 years old daughter has a love/hate relationship with math. When she gets it, she likes math. The problem is that if she doesn’t grasp it right away, she gets discouraged. She then thinks that she can’t do it and wants to give up.

True belonging only happens when we present our authentic, imperfect selves to the world, our sense of belonging can never be greater than our level of self-acceptance. Brene Brown Of all the things I struggle with, self-acceptance is probably my biggest challenge. And when I look at society, I know I’m not the only one (though admittedly there are times I feel like I am). People spend a lot of money on appearance, whether it’s plastic surgery or expensive possessions, because they care how others perceive them.

You either walk inside your story and own it or you stand outside your story and hustle for your worthiness. Brene Brown Hustling for worthiness, that’s what I’ve done for as long as I can remember. Never good enough, only visible when I got high grades or was “a good girl”. Always trying to be perfect so others would like and accept me. Always trying to stand outside my story, because I was ashamed of it, of myself.

Imagine, you have been walking all day and somewhere along the way, you got lost. You’ve been walking around for hours and the day is coming to an end. It’s getting darker and darker, you can hardly see where you put your feet. You need to find shelter soon. Then, suddenly your foot slides away and you tumble down. A long way down. Like Alice into the rabbit hole, except, there’s no wonderland, just darkness.

Have you ever wondered what the purpose of your life is? I have. Many times. Ever since I did my first NLP training I have this feeling that I want to help people, I just don’t know how. But lately I’m starting to think that maybe it is to create awareness for mental illness. Whenever I feel insecure about my posts I keep reminding myself: if there’s just one person who gets something out of my writing, then it’s worth it.