Great people are not people who have never fallen down. Greatness has to do with how you get back up.

To be truly seen and understood - in all our innocence and glory and yes, our brokenness, too - is to be delivered into the spiritual ethers where both seen and seer are healed.

Allowing the pain of personal growth to be a crucible of your spirit-the alchemical grail through which the metal of your former self turns into gold-is one of the highest callings of life. Pain can burn you up and destroy you, or burn you up and redeem you. It can deliver you to an entrenched despair, or deliver you to your higher self. At midlife we decide, consciously or unconsciously, the path of the victim or the path of the phoenix when it is rising up at last.

The path to self-esteem lies in getting over yourself. There is nothing to esteem about our smaller dramas; it's our commitment to something beyond ourselves that is truly estimable to ourself and others.

The worlds of Truth (love) and illusion (fear) are like parallel universes; with every thought we make a choice which one to inhabit

If we lose a job, we are easily tempted into thoughts like, "Ain't it awful? There aren't any jobs out there. This is terrible. It'll be awhile before the economy comes back. Even if they're hiring someone, they're not hiring someone my age with my resume." And that's really what causes the crash and burn. The fact is, there are Fortune 500 companies that have been founded during recessions.

The universe is wired to give us what we need, yet we have to show up for the experience of life with a positive attitude in order to experience its gifts.