These positive quotes have the ability to shift your mindset so that you can be more effective and have a happier time. Use them for 30 days and then see how much has changed for the better in your own life.
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1. David Livingston on Moving Forward
“I will go anywhere as long as it’s forward.” ~ David Livingston
This is a quote that you can use each day to remind yourself that the best way to go is forward. There’s no going back and there’s no standing still, onward we go. So many times we get lulled into a sense of comfort of complacency, but you have to keep the fires stoked and the engine moving. This is a great way to sum up that you always want to be making progress and having fun things happen in your life. When you choose the direction you want to go, many times you get there.
2. Elbert Hubbard on Positive vs. Negative
“Positive anything is better than negative nothing.” ~ Elbert Hubbard
It doesn’t matter what it is as long as it’s positive it’s something you can focus your attention on. You don’t need to have dozens or hundreds of positive things taking place in your life at one time. You just need one positive thing that you can think about again and again to maintain your happy state. In fact, even if you have a bunch of negative things occurring in your life, you can safely ignore them all and just keep your mind on that one positive thing and all the negative things will work themselves out.
3. Helen Keller on Sunshine and Shadows
“Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow.” ~ Helen Keller
Leave it to Helen Keller to provide an upbeat look at life. Here’s a woman that could just as easily have given up on life, born deaf and blind. Many of us complain about how hard life is and we don’t have anything holding us back. Imagine how hard it would be to have a positive attitude when it seems life dealt you a pretty low hand. But she made the most of it and she has plenty of quotes that help people live better lives today.
4. William James on the Power of Belief
“Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.” ~ William James
Belief is a powerful force and when you combine that with thoughts of a life worth living you put into motion all of the pieces for a worthwhile life. Those that hold to the idea that life isn’t worth living will find that it comes true after a while. That’s why it’s so important to hold positive thoughts in your mind long enough until they become a belief. Only then will you be able to overcome all of the negativity that exists in the world. We get to choose our beliefs so make sure you’re believing the right things.
5. Zig Ziglar on the Importance of Positive Thinking
“Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will.” ~ Zig Ziglar
Positive thinking infuses our actions with a positive charge and makes all of the things we do better. Negative thinking has just the opposite effect, it saps us of energy and makes everything we do more of a struggle than ever before. You won’t believe the difference when you switch over to being positive from being negative. It might take some time, but eventually you’ll hit the tipping point and then everything will shift. You can spend a lot of time and effort in vain if you have negative thinking.
6. Jon Kabat-Zinn Says Surfs Up!
“You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.” ~ Jon Kabat-Zinn
So many times it seems that people will try to control things that they just have no control over. The waves are going to come to shore no matter what, so instead of trying to stop them we need to learn how to use them to our advantage and have as much fun as we can on them. This is a great quote that even those that don’t surf can appreciate. This quote is left to interpretation because everyone will have a different idea of what the waves represent. Hang ten!
7. Colin Powell on the Power of Optimism
“Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.” ~ Colin Powell
When you’re always optimistic you give yourself the greatest chance of success. Here Powell is saying that it multiplies the force of your efforts many times over. This means that if you take the same action, but do it once in a mindset of optimism and once in a mindset of pessimism the outcomes will be very different. The action you take with an optimistic mindset will be far more effective and produce much better results. The trick is always having this mindset even after a failure.
8. Lincoln on Roses and Thorns
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.” ~ Abraham Lincoln
It’s so true that most people describe the thorn as being the prickly part of the rose instead of the rose being the beautiful and sweet smell part of the thorn. It’s really a matter of how you look at it, so why not always take the positive side of things and give it the most magical spin you can. It is what it is, a plant that has both positive and negative to it, much like life, so which part do you want to focus on?
9. Ford on The Power of Your Thinking
“If you say you can or you can’t you are right either way” ~ Henry Ford
This is a way of saying that whatever image you hold in your mind is what is going to come to pass in reality. If you think that you can do it you will find a way to do it. If you think that you can’t do it you will find a way to sabotage yourself. It’s hard to believe but we’re actually in control of what we can achieve because it’s all in your mind. The mind is so powerful that it puts limitations on itself, and then you start believing those limitations. This quote helps you break free.
10. C. S. Lewis on When You’re Too Old
“You are never too old to set a new goal or dream a new dream.” ~ C. S. Lewis
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It’s easy to think that the time has passed us by to set a new goal or have a new dream. Maybe we’ve reached some of our goals and now we seem like we’re just coasting along. Or maybe you think you’re too old to get started on some great work. This is a quote for those that feel they’re past the point of starting up anything new. It should spark a new fire and get you dreaming and goal setting again. Always have a goal and a dream to pursue as this is when you’re at your happiest.
11. Einstein on Doing Things Himself
“I am thankful to all who said no to me. It is because of them that I’m doing it myself.” ~ Albert Einstein
Sometimes no isn’t the answer you want to hear, but there’s a reason for it. Can you imagine being the person that said no to Einstein? Surely they regretted that decision later. The thing is that if you have someone telling you know it could be a sign that you should just do it yourself. Or it could mean that you need to ask someone else. Don’t put a lot of stock in any one person saying yes, just never give up if it’s truly important to you.
12. Oscar Wilde on Where to Keep Your Gaze
“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” ~ Oscar Wilde
Even if things are looking grim you can still keep your eyes fixed on your dreams. In fact, when things aren’t going well is the perfect time to keep your focus on something that makes you feel good. The thing most people do is feel bad when things are bad and feel good when things are good. But the trick is to feel as good as you can even when things aren’t going the way you want them to, because that speeds up the process of getting them back to the way you want them.
13. Willie Nelson on Negative and Positive Thoughts
“Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results.” ~ Willie Nelson
The thing about taking out negative thoughts and replacing them with positive ones is it’s not that easy. Negative thoughts have a magnetic effect and they attract more negative thoughts and more. So at first you have to be very diligent and just keep thinking of more and more positive thoughts until you displace the negative thoughts. Positive thoughts also have a magnetic effect but it’s not as strong as the pull of negative thoughts. Just stay the course and don’t give up, because you’ll revert back to your old thought patterns.
14. Steve Martin on How Good You Should Be
“Be so good they can’t ignore you.” ~ Steve Martin
Here’s a way to assure yourself of success. Just be so good that you can’t be ignored. This can work in your personal and professional life no matter what you’re doing. You can do it so well that you are a standout and a force to be reckoned with. If you apply this quote to even the most mundane tasks you face, you’ll find that you have a new zest for doing it better. You will keep the mate you have interested in you, keep your boss happy with your work, and keep your customers happy with your product or service.
15. William James on the Greatest Discovery
“The greatest discovery of any generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitude.” ~ William James
All you have to do is shift your attitude and the world around you should shift as well. If before you greeted each day with a sign and just trudged along and did the minimal to get by, you can change it all by greeting the day with a yahoo! and charging into it full steam. The world around you has to adjust to the new you, and people will look at you differently when you are gung ho and striving to life the fullest life possible. But it all starts with an attitude change.
16. Mary Engelbreit on Changing Things
“If you don’t like something change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.” ~ Mary Engelbreit
Here’s a good litmus test for things that present themselves to you in your life. Can you change it? If yes, then do it, if no then just change the way you think about it. That provides the same result as changing it, but without having to make the effort of changing it. Just remember to determine if you can change it or not first, because it’s better to change it and be happy with it than not change it when you could and just learn to live with it.
17. Ralph Marston on What Life Owes You
“Life does not owe you anything because life has already given you everything.” ~ Ralph Marston
It’s true that many people walk around as if they have something coming to them or that they’re entitled to more than they already have. If they would just stop to realize that they already have everything they need for a great life they’d have a much more fun time with life. This is a great quote to remember whenever you feel like you are missing some key element that will make your life so much better. You are not missing it, you already have it inside you you just need to bring it out.
18. Gilbert Chesterton on Rain and Rainbows
“Without the rain there would be no rainbow.” ~ Gilbert Chesterton
It’s so true that rain produces some beautiful rainbows, and the gloomy times in our life can lead to amazing times as well, we just have to trust the way the universe works. The trick is you have to look for that ray of sunshine that creates the rainbow, you can’t expect to focus on the gloomy parts and see the rainbow. It’s a matter of seeking out what you want and wanting to see the most beautiful things come from the most sorrowful times. You also have to look up to see rainbows.
19. Mother Teresa on Making Ripples
“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples.” ~ Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa knew a lot about what it means to live a powerful life full of purpose and how to leave a legacy. The things she did were not amazing by themselves, but it put into motion things that were absolutely amazing. She was so humble and modest that she realized that she wouldn’t be able to change the world by herself, but she was smart enough to realize that she didn’t have to. As long as she made some ripples they would have an effect on the entire planet.
20. Nelson Mandela on How Impossible Things Seem
“It always seems impossible until it is done.” ~ Nelson Mandela
When you are in the middle of a really tough task you will always feel like it will never be finished or that you simply can’t do it. Then when it’s over you’ll sit and scratch your head in disbelief that you actually finished it. The funny thing is that you can apply this to the biggest goals in your life, the ones that seem like they are just not possible. Imagine yourself with it finished sitting there amazed that it’s already done and finding it strange that you once believed you couldn’t do it.
21. Norman Vincent Peale on How to Change Your World
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“Change your thoughts and you change your world. ” ~ Norman Vincent Peale
Thoughts are things and when you change your thoughts you automatically change your world. Think about it this way, your world is constantly changing to your thoughts, which is why sometimes you have bad times and sometimes you have good times. Sometimes things change for the best and sometimes they change for the worst, but it starts in your mind. It doesn’t instantly change, it changes gradually over time based on how you’re thinking and feeling. You simply need to stick with good thoughts long enough so you give your world a chance to change accordingly.
22. Steve Maraboli on Life’s Problems and Happiness
“Happiness is not the absence of problems it’s the ability to deal with them.” ~ Steve Maraboli
If you’re trying to stamp out all of the problems you have so that you can feel happy you’re going to have a lot of work to do. The thing is to learn how to handle your problems and still maintain your happiness throughout the process. You need to learn to get a handle on things in your life, and then you don’t have to worry about problems any more. Problems will seem like opportunites to you, and you’ll be able to handle them with little effort, and without messing up your good vibes.
23. Voltaire on How to Keep Singing Through Calamity
“Life is a shipwreck, but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats.” ~ Voltaire
When things look like a disaster it’s important to remember to keep a positive mindset. Most of the time when things look their worst people will think the worst, which only keeps them stuck in that disaster, or sets up the next disaster to descent upon them. It’s those that keep their heads up when things look bad that are able to spend the shortest amount of time wallowing in misery and have things turn around that much quicker. Learn to sing in the lifeboats when things start to look like a shipwreck, instead of feeling scared and helpless.
24. Walt Disney on the Courage to Pursue Dreams
“All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.” ~ Walt Disney
Disney infused many of his films with positive messages about achieving your dreams and what it takes to live a magical life. It’s no wonder that he was able to achieve many of his dreams in his lifetime and leave a lasting legacy. Do you have the courage to pursue your dreams, and if so what have you done lately that is moving you forward towards your dreams. Just remember that courage means feeling the fear and doing it anyway. Everything you want is on the other side of fear.
25. Gandhi on How to Change the World
“Be the change you wish to see in the world. ” ~ Gandhi
Instead of wishing that the world will change you have to be the change that you wish it would make. When you make positive changes to yourself you set an example for those around you to do the same. Instead of wishing that everyone would recycle, make sure that you are the master recycler. Instead of wishing that your loved ones would lose weight and be healthy, lead by example and get fit so that they can be inspired by you. Small changes can lead to big changes when others see what you can do.
26. Mark Amend on Remembering the Good things
“The best way to forget the bad things in life is to learn to remember the good things.” ~ Mark Amend
This is so true, but often people get it mixed around. Most often people will forget the good things and remember the bad things. Not only that but they’ll want to focus on the bad things so much and explore them and wonder what they mean and this leads them down a dark path that has no ending. Instead they should just forget those bad things and only try to remember the good things so more good things can come their way. The more you think about something the more of that you get.
27. Picasso on How to Do Things You Can’t Do
“I’m always doing things I can’t do. That’s how I get to do them.” ~ Pablo Picasso
This is a fun quote to remember when you think there are things you can’t do. You just have to keep trying them again and again so that you get to the point where you can do them. If you think that you can’t do them and never try to do them, or to improve your skills to the point that you can do those things that you originally couldn’t, they’ll always remain things that you can’t do. It’s fun to overcome things that once were off limits to you and become a master of them.
28. Annie Gottlier on the Right Mindset
“It’s so hard when I have to, and so easy when I want to.” ~ Annie Gottlier
This is a perfect phrase to remember when you are struggling with something because you absolutely don’t want to do it, and you feel like you have to do it. There is such a huge shift in ease when you shift your mind over to wanting to do it. Listen, if you have to do something you might as well get on board with it mentally because you’re going to do it anyway. When you feel like you actually want to do it, it will become much easier than when you struggle to do it against your will.
29. Robert Brault on Celebrating Life’s Occasions
“There are exactly as many special occasions in life as we choose to celebrate.” ~ Robert Brault
Take the time to celebrate often in your life. You don’t have to pop a bottle of champagne every day, but you could if you felt the notion. The point is to find something to celebrate each. The more you celebrate and have the feeling of celebration, the more things will arrive in your life that you can celebrate about. If you save celebrations for an occasional thing, you will only have a few things a year to celebrate. Celebrating is like the ultimate form of thankfulness, and this is a powerful vibe to send out.
30. Dr. Seuss on the Awesomeness of You
“Kid, you’ll move mountains! Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting, so get on your way!” ~ Dr. Seuss
Let’s end our list with this great Dr. Seuss quote that pretty much sums it up. Today is your day, and boy oh boy you’ll move some mountains. Just get fired up about the day and don’t leave your mountain waiting for you. Get out there and tackle your mountain each and every day. This one goes nicely with the other Dr. Seuss quote: Today was good, today was fun, tomorrow is another one! Move mountains everyday because you have the power if you harness it.
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