My 12 Top Quotes for 2021

A Year goes by so quickly.  Before you know it we’re planning for the New Year and reflecting on the past one.  This is a collection of my top quotes from 2021 that have guided me, uplifted me and made me think about life (sometimes more seriously and sometimes less).  I hope you enjoy the collection!

1) ‘Your life is a gift from the creator.  Your gift back to the Creator is what you do with your life.’ – Billy Mills

Consider your purpose on this earth for a moment.  Do you really believe you have no purpose?  That you wake up day after day for no real reason?  This quote is so powerful to me because it really puts it into perspective that there is no logical reason why the Creator would have given you life without purpose.

Finding what makes your soul come alive is what you were sent here for.  Finding your way back to yourself.  Seeking your full potential in life.  Never doubt your worth or your purpose.  Show up for yourself and the Creator that gave you life.

2) ‘Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.’ – John Wooden

We hold ourselves back, thinking about how difficult everything is.  Making excuses for why we can’t make a change.  It becomes easier to make excuses than to take action.  But, this quote is a reminder to stop looking at the ‘can’t’ and actually give yourself a chance by looking at the ‘can’.  Because, there is so much more that you can do than you realize.  Look beyond the challenge for a moment, to the potential result!  Find a reason to focus on your opportunities and you will see you are capable of achieving so much more than you give yourself credit for!

3) ‘The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.’ – Gandhi

This quote is so much deeper than it appears at first glance.  We focus so much on ourselves and our own needs that we don’t even realize we are designed to serve each other!  Everything we do is a process of serving.  What we don’t understand, though, is the emotional responsibility we need to attach to that service.  The love.  We have taken the love out of serving.  When we understand that everything we do needs to be done from a place of love we give meaning back to our work and everything we do on a daily basis.  Find love, and meaning, in what you do everyday!

4) ‘Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.’ – William Penn

Time.  Precious, precious time.  We have so, so little of it.  And yet, we put very little value on it.  If we become more mindful of our lives, how we spend our days, we can extract all the goodness out of time.  We can live a life of joy, filled with value and purpose.  Don’t waste your most precious gift.

5) ‘Discipline is choosing between what you want now and what you want most.’ – Abraham Lincoln

Think about this one for a moment.  Let it sink in.  What he is saying is, dedicate yourself to what you want above all else in this life.  Forget instant gratification and focus on fulfillment.  Work towards a greater goal that will nourish you, body and soul.  This could apply to working at a job that is meaningless for the sake of a pay cheque while you put your dreams aside for tomorrow.  Ask yourself the question: how badly do I want it?  If you want it badly enough you will discipline yourself and take action towards the result.

6) ‘For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.’ – Ralph Waldo Emerson

How much time have you lost to anger?  This really is a loss and a terrible waste.  The same applies to worry.  It is a waste of our precious time that we mentioned earlier.  Learning to manage our anger is one of life’s greatest challenges, but think of the seconds, hours and (sadly) days we could have spent in love if we learned to manage this emotion.

7) ‘The goal is not to be better than the other man, but your previous self.’ – Dalai Lama

I’m a bit of a stuck record on the subject of growth (this is a personal growth blog after all! Lol!).  Growth is essential for us in this life.  Without it we become ‘stuck’, unhappy and in a rut.  We are sent to this earth to expand.  Everyday we are learning something new about ourselves and the world around us, even if we don’t realize it or ask for it.  The best thing you can do is embrace the experience, welcome the lessons.  They will make you stronger (first) and happier (ultimately).

8) ‘Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know.’ – Pema Chodron

A follow on from the last one.  Like I said, you are learning whether you like it or not.  But, here’s the thing.  If you don’t embrace the lesson it won’t just go away.  It will stay with you until you ‘get it’.  This could be a lesson on self-worth where you keep getting treated badly until you decide ‘no more’.  Life has a way of niggling at you until you pay attention.

9) ‘To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.’ – Oscar Wilde

I have been on a journey of self-love that has taught me this exact thing.  My relationship with myself is more important than anything, and the same goes for you and every single human on the planet.  Everything starts with self-love.  We cannot be happy, and we cannot truly love anyone else until we love and accept ourselves.

10) ‘Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart.’ – Eleanor Roosevelt

I love this one because friendship is such a gift in life.  People come and go along our journey, but true friends are there through it all.  They are life’s diamonds and gold.  Cherish those that have made it onto your list of true, lifelong friends.  They cannot easily be replaced.

11) ‘You gather more flowers with an open hand than a closed fist.’ – Zen Proverb

A lesson in kindness.  Short and to the point.  You will get more out of life and out of people through being kind and open than hardening yourself.  When did you ever achieve anything positive through anger?  Open yourself up, it is a wonderful, freeing way to live!

12) ‘Follow your dreams, they know the way.’ – Kobe Yamada

And, finally, I’d like to leave you with this one to ponder.  I honestly believe that we were given dreams in this life for a reason.  I believe they fill our hearts with joy, passion and purpose.  They are part of who we are and why we were sent to this earth.  One of the best and most important things we can learn to do in this life is to listen to the call of our dreams.  Follow what calls to your heart, this life is too short to be left wondering ‘what if’.

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed my top quotes for 2021, I know they really impacted me this year.  Let them inspire you to start 2022 off in the right frame of mind!

Steph x

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