Loving yourself is one of the best things you can do to improve the quality of your life.

It will make your life happier and lighter.

It will improve the relationships – new and old – you have with other people in your life.

And it will help you to greatly improve the relationship you have with yourself. To be kind and helpful to yourself when you stumble or fall and to stop self-sabotaging when you’re starting towards a goal or closing in on achieving a dream.

In this post I’d like to share 201 of the most powerful love yourself quotes. Inspiring, motivating and often practically helpful advice from the past thousands of years put together in an ultimate guide of sorts.

And if you want even more self-loving inspiration then check out this post with quotes on self-care and this one with timeless advice about knowing your worth and value.

Inspirational Love Yourself Quotes

“Most of the shadows of this life are caused by standing in one’s own sunshine.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.
Buddha

“Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.”
Lucille Ball

“If you can learn to love yourself and all the flaws, you can love other people so much better. And that makes you so happy.”
Kristin Chenoweth

“Accept yourself, love yourself, and keep moving forward. If you want to fly, you have to give up what weighs you down.”
Roy T. Bennett

“Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing that we’ll ever do.”
Brené Brown

“All you really need to do is accept this moment fully. You are then at ease in the here and now and at ease with yourself.”
Eckhart Tolle

“Love yourself not in some egocentric, self-serving sense but love yourself the way you would love your friend in the sense of taking care of yourself, nourishing yourself, trying to understand, comfort, and strengthen yourself.”
Frederick Buechner

“The best friend you will ever find is you. Love yourself with joy and fill your heart with bliss and happiness.”
Debasish Mridha

“Don’t sacrifice yourself too much, because if you sacrifice too much there’s nothing else you can give and nobody will care for you.”
Karl Lagerfeld

“One of the best guides to how to be self-loving is to give ourselves the love we are often dreaming about receiving from others.”
bell hooks

“You have to grow, you have to be, you have to love yourself unconditionally.”
Dominic Riccitello

“A person learns how to love himself through the simple acts of loving and being loved by someone else.”
Haruki Murakami

“When admiring other people’s gardens, don’t forget to tend to your own flowers.”
Sandbar Khan

“People may flatter themselves just as much by thinking that their faults are always present to other people’s minds, as if they believe that the world is always contemplating their individual charms and virtues.”
Elizabeth Gaskell

“Daring to set boundaries is about having the courage to love ourselves, even when we risk disappointing others.”
Brené Brown

“You have been criticizing yourself for years, and it hasn’t worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens.”
Louise L. Hay

“Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.”
Benjamin Spock

“A healthy self-love means we have no compulsion to justify to ourselves or others why we take vacations, why we sleep late, why we buy new shoes, why we spoil ourselves from time to time. We feel comfortable doing things which add quality and beauty to life.”
Andrew Matthews

“If you aren’t good at loving yourself, you will have a difficult time loving anyone, since you’ll resent the time and energy you give another person that you aren’t even giving to yourself.”
Barbara De Angelis

“To accept ourselves as we are means to value our imperfections as much as our perfections.”
Sandra Bierig

“Until you value yourself, you won’t value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.”
M. Scott Peck

“If you have the ability to love, love yourself first.”
Charles Bukowski

“When I loved myself enough, I began leaving whatever wasn’t healthy. This meant people, jobs, my own beliefs and habits – anything that kept me small. My judgement called it disloyal. Now I see it as self-loving.”
Kim McMillen

“The absence of self-love can never be replaced with the presence of people’s love for you.”
Edmond Mbiaka

“One of the greatest regrets in life is being what others would want you to be, rather than being yourself.”
Shannon L. Alder

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

“A loving person lives in a loving world. A hostile person lives in a hostile world. Everyone you meet is your mirror.”
Ken Keyes

“When there’s no one else, look inside yourself. Like your oldest friend, just trust the voice within. Then you’ll find the strength that will guide your way. You’ll learn to begin to trust the voice within.”
Christina Aguilera

“Everyone of us needs to show how much we care for each other and, in the process, care for ourselves.”
Princess Diana

“Encourage yourself, believe in yourself, and love yourself. Never doubt who you are.”
Stephanie Lahart

“You have to be able to love yourself because that’s when things fall into place.”
Vanessa Hudgens

“Love yourself and love those around you. Take care of yourself and take care of those around you. Lead by example. Give love. Be a part of everything that is great in the world, and in turn there is more love and greatness in the world! Change the world!”
Jeffrey I. Moore

“When you establish peace, when you establish love, when you establish kindness here inside, you cannot act any other way to the outside world.”
Mimi Ikonn

“You must be fearless enough to give yourself the love you did not receive.”
Oprah Winfrey

“People who love themselves don’t hurt other people. The more we hate ourselves, the more we want others to suffer.”
Dan Pearce

“When you adopt the viewpoint that there is nothing that exists that is not part of you, that there is no one who exists who is not part of you, that any judgment you make is self-judgment, that any criticism you level is self-criticism, you will wisely extend to yourself an unconditional love that will be the light of the world.”
Harry Palmer

“Find company within yourself and you’ll never spend a day alone. Find love within yourself and you’ll never have a lonely day.”
Connor Chalfant

“As long as you look for someone else to validate who you are by seeking their approval, you are setting yourself up for disaster. You have to be whole and complete in yourself. No one can give you that. You have to know who you are – what others say is irrelevant.”
Nic Sheff

“You are very powerful, provided you know how powerful you are.”
Yogi Bahaman

“I don’t entirely approve of some of the things I have done, or am, or have been. But I’m me. God knows, I’m me.”
Elizabeth Taylor

“Everything you have done and been through is valuable and important. In order to be who you are, to know what you know, to be where you are in this moment, you needed to go through what you went through.”
Iyanla Vanzant

“Don’t rely on someone else for your happiness and self-worth. Only you can be responsible for that. If you can’t love and respect yourself – no one else will be able to make that happen. Accept who you are – completely; the good and the bad – and make changes as YOU see fit – not because you think someone else wants you to be different.”
Stacey Charter

“You are a true success if you can trust yourself, love yourself, and be yourself.”
Debasish Mridha

“My willingness to be intimate with my own deep feelings creates the space for intimacy with another.”
Shakti Gawain

”If you don’t love yourself, nobody will. Not only that, you won’t be good at loving anyone else. Loving starts with the self.”
Wayne Dyer

“Love yourself unconditionally, just as you love those closest to you despite their faults.”
Les Brown

“Because one believes in oneself, one doesn’t try to convince others. Because one is content with oneself, one doesn’t need others’ approval. Because one accepts oneself, the whole world accepts him or her.”
Lao Tzu

Learning to Love Yourself Quotes for Your Self-Love Journey

“Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”
Carl Gustav Jung

“You’re always with yourself, so you might as well enjoy the company.”
Diane Von Furstenberg

“Have the courage to love yourself like you always wished someone would.”
Vironika Tugaleva

“To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself.”
Thich Nhat Hanh

“Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life, but define yourself.”
Harvey Fierstein

“Love yourself. Forgive yourself. Be true to yourself. How you treat yourself sets the standard for how others will treat you.”
Steve Maraboli

“Lighten up on yourself. No one is perfect. Gently accept your humanness.”
Deborah Day

“Some people around you will not understand your journey. They don’t need to; it’s not for them.”
Paulo Coelho

“As I began to love myself I found that anguish and emotional suffering are only warning signs that I was living against my own truth.”
Charlie Chaplin

“The only person who can pull me down is myself, and I’m not going to let myself pull me down anymore.”
C. JoyBell C.

“Self-love doesn’t mean that everyone will treat you the way you deserve to be treated. It means that you won’t let them change the way you see yourself; nor will you stick around for them to destroy you.”
Tony A. Gaskins Jr

“Self respect, self worth and self love, all start with self. Stop looking outside of yourself for your value.”
Rob Liano

“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”
Rumi

“We must dare to be originals for we have only one life to live. Living a life that placates other people is fool’s gold.”
Kilroy J. Oldster

“Never forget that once upon a time, in an unguarded moment, you recognized yourself as a friend.”
Elizabeth Gilbert

“At the core of your heart, you are perfect and pure. No one and nothing can alter that.”
Amit Ray

“I had to grow to love my body. I did not have a good self-image at first. Finally it occurred to me, I’m either going to love me or hate me. And I chose to love myself. Then everything kind of sprung from there. Things that I thought weren’t attractive became sexy. Confidence makes you sexy.”
Queen Latifah

“Whatever you did today is enough. Whatever you felt today is valid. Whatever you thought today isn’t to be judged. Repeat the above each day.”
Brittany Burgunder

“Spend time understanding who you are, after all the only person you’re ever going to truly live with is yourself.”
Nikki Rowe

“We just need to be kinder to ourselves. If we treated ourselves the way we treated our best friend, can you imagine how much better off we would be?”
Meghan Markle

“Find the love you seek, by first finding the love within yourself. Learn to rest in that place within you that is your true home.”
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

“So then, the relationship of self to other is the complete realization that loving yourself is impossible without loving everything defined as other than yourself.”
Alan Watts

“Celebrate who you are in your deepest heart. Love yourself and the world will love you.”
Amy Leigh Mercree

“Love only yourself a little bit longer, until you can’t stand not to love someone else.”
Kiera Cass

“Becoming acquainted with yourself is a price well worth paying for the love that will really address your needs.”
Daphne Rose Kingma

“Inner peace begins the moment you choose not to allow another person or event to control your emotions.”
Pema Chodron

“I think the reward for conformity is that everyone likes you except yourself.”
Rita Mae Brown

“To love yourself right now, just as you are, is to give yourself heaven. Don’t wait until you die. If you wait, you die now. If you love, you live now.”
Alan Cohen

“Scarcity of self-value cannot be remedied by money, recognition, affection, attention or influence.”
Gary Zukav

“No other love, no matter how genuine it is, can fulfill one’s heart better than unconditional self-love.”
Edmond Mbiaka

“Believing in our hearts that who we are is enough is the key to a more satisfying and balanced life.”
Ellen Sue Stern

“Love yourself enough to set boundaries. Your time and energy are precious. You get to choose how you use it.”
Anna Taylor

“Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are.”
Malcolm S. Forbes

“Loving yourself…does not mean being self-absorbed or narcissistic, or disregarding others. Rather it means welcoming yourself as the most honored guest in your own heart, a guest worthy of respect, a lovable companion.”
Margo Anand

“Eat like you love yourself. Move like you love yourself. Speak like you love yourself. Act like you love yourself.”
Tara Stiles

“Our self-respect tracks our choices. Every time we act in harmony with our authentic self and our heart, we earn our respect. It is that simple. Every choice matters.”
Dan Coppersmith

“There is no sense in punishing your future for the mistakes of your past. Forgive yourself, grow from it, and then let it go.”
Melanie Koulouris

“Whenever I am in a difficult situation where there seems to be no way out, I think about all the times I have been in such situations and say to myself, ‘I did it before, so I can do it again’.”
Idowu Koyenikan

“She lacks confidence, she craves admiration insatiably. She lives on the reflections of herself in the eyes of others. She does not dare to be herself.”
Anais Nin

“There is nothing noble about being superior to some other man. The true nobility is in being superior to your previous self.”
Hindu Proverb

“Beauty is when you can appreciate yourself. When you love yourself, that’s when you’re most beautiful.”
Zoe Kravitz

“Through life’s ups and downs remember that you have your own life. That you’re your own person. With your own unique hopes, dreams and flaws. And that you’re worthy of love for the sum total of all of that.”
Unknown

“When a woman becomes her own best friend, life is easier.”
Diane Von Furstenberg

“To establish true self-esteem, we must concentrate on our successes and forget about the failures and the negatives in our lives.”
Denis Waitley

“Perfectionism is searching for faults to justify low self-esteem. It is a guaranteed failure and fantasy.”
Brittany Burgunder

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs, ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
Howard Washington Thurman

“I love myself for I am a beloved child of the universe and the universe lovingly takes care of me now.”
Louise Hay

“The greatest love that you could ever experience on earth is the one that only comes from you to you.”
Edmond Mbiaka

“The hardest challenge is to be yourself in a world where everyone is trying to make you be somebody else.”
E. E. Cummings

“Plant your own garden and decorate your own soul, instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.”
Veronica A. Shoffstall

“Love yourself… Enough to cut yourself loose from the drama-filled past, enough to set a high standard for relationships, enough to feed your mind and body in a healthy manner, enough to forgive yourself, enough to move on.”
Steve Maraboli

“The important thing is at first the small thing when it comes to loving yourself. Just be kind to yourself about a small thing in your daily life. Then build on that, step by step.”
Unknown

“People who want the most approval get the least and the people who need approval the least get the most.”
Wayne Dyer

“We all wear masks, and the time comes when we cannot remove them without removing some of our own skin.”
Andre Berthiaume

“Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Do not brood over your past mistakes and failures as this will only fill your mind with grief, regret and depression. Do not repeat them in the future.”
Swami Shivananda

“I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to what light I have.”
Abraham Lincoln

“The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own. No apologies or excuses. No one to lean on, rely on, or blame. The gift is yours – it is an amazing journey – and you alone are responsible for the quality of it. This is the day your life really begins.”
Bob Moawad

Also be sure to have a look at this post about focusing on yourself for self-empowerment and this one with quotes about kindness towards both others and yourself.

Love Yourself First Quotes

“People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is light from within.”
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

“Sometimes the noise of life can be just too much. If you need to escape, love yourself enough to know when you need a real time out.”
Karen A. Boquerón

“Respect, love, and value yourself. Always remember to be good to yourself by taking care of yourself. Make yourself a priority and know that it’s okay. Don’t feel guilty for loving yourself, first! You’re just as important as anybody else.”
Stephanie Lahart

“When you recover or discover something that nourishes your soul and brings joy, care enough about yourself to make room for it in your life.”
Jean Shinoda Bolen

“Love yourself. It is important to stay positive because beauty comes from the inside out.”
Jenn Proske

“You’ve got to love yourself first. You’ve got to be okay on your own before you can be okay with somebody else.”
Jennifer Lopez

“You can never meet your potential until you truly learn to love yourself.”
Teresa Collins

“We are each gifted in a unique and important way. It is our privilege and our adventure to discover our own special light.”
Mary Dunbar

“It’s all about falling in love with yourself and sharing that love with someone who appreciates you, rather than looking for love to compensate for a self-love deficit.”
Eartha Kitt

“I’ve finally stopped running away from myself. Who else is there better to be?”
Golden Hawn

“Why should I care what other people think of me? I am who I am. And who I wanna be.”
Avril Lavigne

“Looking back you realize that a very special person passed briefly through your life and that person was you. It is not too late to become that person again.”
Robert Brault

“It took many years of vomiting up all the filth I’d been taught about myself, and half-believed before I was able to walk on the earth as though I had a right to be here.”
James Baldwin

“Your time is way too valuable to be wasting on people that can’t accept who you are.”
Turcois Ominek

“I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence.”
Frederick Douglass

“Love is the great miracle cure. Loving ourselves works miracles in our lives.”
Louise L. Hay

“The most powerful relationship you will ever have is the relationship with yourself.”
Steve Maraboli

“One’s dignity may be assaulted, vandalized and cruelly mocked, but it can never be taken away unless it is surrendered.”
Michael J. Fox

“You can receive all the compliments in the world, but that won’t do a thing unless you believe it yourself.”
Criss Jami

“For every one person who praises you, there are a hundred who would criticize you. Heed neither the one nor the hundred. It is your own opinion that truly matters.”
Richelle E. Goodrich.

“To love yourself is the first step to happiness.”
Asokha

“If you don’t love yourself, you won’t be happy with yourself. If you can’t love yourself, you can’t love anyone else. You can’t give the love you do not have. You can’t make anyone love you without loving yourself first.”
Kemi Sogunle

“My mother told me to be a lady. And for her, that meant be your own person, be independent.”
Ruth Bader Ginsburg

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.”
Bernard M. Baruch

“Once you embrace your value, talents and strengths, it neutralizes when others think less of you.”
Rob Liano

“To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.”’
E.E. Cummings

“I’m gonna love myself more than anyone else. Believe in me, even if someone can’t see the stronger woman in me.”
Jewel

“You have to believe in yourself when no one else does – that makes you a winner right there.”
Venus Williams

“Our entire life … consists ultimately in accepting ourselves as we are.”
Jean Anouih

“Why should we worry about what others think of us, do we have more confidence in their opinions than we do our own?”’
Brigham Young

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Being yourself means shedding all the layers of looking good, wanting to be liked, being scared to stand out, and trying to be who you think people want you to be.”
Jeff Moore

“Self-care is never a selfish act – it is simply good stewardship of the only gift I have, the gift I was put on earth to offer to others.”
Parker Palmer

“You have to learn to love yourself before you can love someone else. Because it’s only when we love ourselves that we feel worthy of someone else’s love.”
Alyssa B. Sheinmel

“Even when it seems that there is no one else, always remember there’s one person who never ceased to love you – yourself.”
Sanhita Baruah

“You were born an original work of art. Stay original always. Originals cost more than imitations.”
Suzy Kassem

“When you please others in hopes of being accepted, you lose your self worth in the process.”
Dave Pelzer

“Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you have an obligation to be one.”
Eleanor Roosevelt

“In my experience, the biggest reason people struggle to get where they want to be is guilt. Guilt that they have let someone down, and also guilt that they are about to leave someone they love… behind.”
Bethany Brookbank

“Whatever you are doing, love yourself for doing it. Whatever you are feeling, love yourself for feeling it.”
Thaddeus Golas

“Self love is an ocean and your heart is a vessel. Make it full, and any excess will spill over into the lives of the people you hold dear. But you must come first.”
Beau Taplin

Short Love Yourself Quotes

“A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.”
Mark Twain

“If you ever want to love someone, love yourself unconditionally first.”
Debasish Mridha

“Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin, as self-neglecting.”
William Shakespeare

“No one knows how you treat yourself, but it’s the most important relationship you have.”
Bill Masur

“I don’t like myself, I’m crazy about myself.”
May West

“It is never too late to be what you might have been.”
George Eliot

“The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely.”
Carl Gustav Jung

“The better you feel about yourself, the less you feel the need to show off.”
Robert Hand

“It isn’t what they call you, it’s what you answer to.”
W.C. Fields

“To fall in love with yourself is the first secret to happiness.”
Robert Morley

“Be faithful to that which exists within yourself.”
André Gide

“Growth begins when we start to accept our own weakness.”
Jean Vanier

“Loneliness is a sign you are in desperate need of yourself.”
Rupi Kaur

“Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye.”
Helen Keller

“The right attitude is always one of kindness. Towards others and yourself.”
Unknown

“Sometimes the hardest part of the journey is believing you’re worthy of the trip.”
Glenn Beck

“The real difficulty is to overcome how you think about yourself.”
Maya Angelou

“The way you treat yourself sets the standard for others.”
Sonya Friedman

“Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will.”
Zig Ziglar

“Low self-esteem is like driving through life with your hand-break on.”
Maxwell Maltz

“If God had wanted me otherwise, he would have created me otherwise.”
Johann von Goethe

“Do your thing and don’t care if they like it.”
Tina Fey

“Argue for your limitations and, sure enough, they’re yours.”
Richard Bach

“The more you love yourself, the less nonsense you’ll tolerate.”
Unknown

“All people deserve your kindness, but none more so than you.”
Justin Kan

“As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself.”
Coco Chanel

“Love yourself and dream bigger.”
Teresa Collins

“Love yourself enough to have a meaningful life.”
Millen Livis

“One learns to ignore criticism by first learning to ignore applause.”
Robert Brault

“The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself.”
Michel de Montaigne

“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
Eleanor Roosevelt

“The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.”
William James

“Your ideal life is your real life. Be true to yourself and honor your preferences.”
Maria Erving

“Your most important sale is to sell yourself to yourself.”
Maxwell Maltz

“Just being born makes you worthy enough to be here.”
Oprah Winfrey

“Self-worth comes from one thing – thinking that you are worthy.”
Wayne Dyer

“It’s not your job to like me…it’s mine!”
Byron Katie

“We are what we believe we are.”
C.S. Lewis

“In order to love who you are, you cannot hate the experiences that shaped you.”
Andrea Dykstra

“Sometimes you have to be alone to truly know your worth.”
Karen A. Baquiran

“There are so many more important things to worry about than how you’re perceived by strangers.”
Dennis Lehane

“We can’t be so desperate for love that we forget where we can always find it; within.”
Alexandra Ell

“We accept the love we think we deserve.”
Stephen Chbosky

“You can’t build joy on a feeling of self-loathing.”
Ram Dass

“To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance.”
Oscar Wilde

“Remind yourself that you cannot fail at being yourself.”
Wayne Dyer

“You don’t have to stop fighting for others, you just have to remember to fight for yourself too.”
Liz Newman

“Do you want to meet the love of your life? Look in the mirror.”
Byron Katie

“Why are you trying so hard to fit in when you were born to stand out?”
Ian Wallace

“Even in the loneliest moments I have been there for myself.”
Sanober Khan

“The moment you accept yourself, you become beautiful.”
Osho

“Only when you are kinder to yourself, can you be kinder to the world.”
Haemin Sunim

“Loving yourself isn’t vanity; it’s sanity.”
Katrina Mayer

Want even more motivation to be your best self and overcome negative thoughts? Check out this post with inspiring quotes about self-esteem, this one with you are enough quotes and this post with my own favorite tips for improving your self-esteem.

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The post 201 Love Yourself Quotes for Happiness and Inner Strength appeared first on Heal your health yourself.

I like quotes that hit hard.

The ones that I know deep down are true. Or the ones that sends my mind off into a new direction or shifts it into seeing a problem from a new point of view.

So in today’s post I’d like to share the most hard hitting quotes I’ve found in the past 10+ years.

I’ve divided the post into four different sections to make it easier to navigate: life, love, happiness and success.

I hope you’ll find something here that is hard hitting for you too and helps you to make a real shift in your own life.

And if you want even more motivational quotes then check out this post with don’t settle quotes and this one filled with quotes on knowing your worth and true value in life.

Hard Hitting Quotes About Life

“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.”
Mark Twain

“One can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again.”
Abraham Maslow

“Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.”
Henry Ford

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people just exist.”’
Oscar Wilde

“Time is a created thing. To say ‘I don’t have time,’ is like saying, ‘I don’t want to.’”
Lao Tzu

“You, me or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life.”
Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone)

“Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
Maya Angelou

“Experience is a brutal teacher, but you learn. My God, do you learn.”
C.S. Lewis

“What’s the worst thing I’ve stolen? Probably little pieces of other people’s lives where I’ve either wasted their time or hurt them in some way. That’s the worst thing you can steal—the time of other people. You just can’t get that back.”
Chester Bennington

“The more you know who you are and what you want, the less you let things upset you.”
Stephanie Perkins

“Sometimes, you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.”
Dr. Seuss

“Instead of cursing the darkness, light a candle.”
Benjamin Franklin

“You’ll never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.”
Bob Marley

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is right now.”
Chinese Proverb

“Life’s under no obligation to give us what we expect.”
Margaret Mitchell

“Follow your bliss and don’t be afraid, and doors will open where you didn’t know they were going to be.”
Joseph Campbell

“You will not be punished for your anger. You will be punished by your anger.”
Buddha

“A thousand words will not leave so deep an impression as one deed.”
Henrik Ibsen

“Take wrong turns. Talk to strangers. Open unmarked doors. And if you see a group of people in a field, go find out what they are doing. Do things without always knowing how they’ll turn out. You’re curious and smart and bored, and all you see is the choice between working hard and slacking off.
There are so many adventures that you miss because you’re waiting to think of a plan. To find them, look for tiny interesting choices. And remember that you are always making up the future as you go.”
Randall Munroe

“He who knows does not speak. He who speaks does not know.”
Lao Tzu

“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”
Aristotle

“Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.”
Marthe Troly-Curtin

“There are only two ways to live your life—one is as though nothing is a miracle, the other is as though everything is a miracle.”’
Albert Einstein

“The reason why we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind the scenes with everyone else’s highlight reel.”
Stephen Furtick

“When we are tired, we are attacked by ideas we conquered long ago.”
Friedrich Nietzsche

“In three words, I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life—it goes on.”
Robert Frost

“Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad.”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“Each morning when I open my eyes I say to myself: I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn’t arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I’m going to be happy in it.“
Groucho Marx

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”
Oscar Wilde

“Be yourself, but always your better self.”
Karl G. Maeser

“I believe that life’s challenges are here to knock us out of our brain grooves – get us to switch over to another brain groove track – where we can finally experience new ways of seeing and being in the world. Without hitting bumps in the road, it’s very tough to get, out of our repeated cycles of thinking and behaving.”
Karen Salmansohn

“Never hit if you can help it, but when you have to, hit hard. Never hit soft. You’ll never get any thanks for hitting soft.”
Theodore Roosevelt

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”
George Bernard Shaw

“A ship is safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are for.”
John A. Shedd

“It is only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth – and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up – that we will begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it was the only one we had.”
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

“Many people die at twenty five and aren’t buried until they are seventy five.”
Benjamin Franklin

“Please don’t worry so much. Because in the end, none of us have very long on this Earth. Life is fleeting. And if you’re ever distressed, cast your eyes to the summer sky, when the stars are strung across the velvety night, and when shooting star streaks through the blackness, turning night into day, make a wish. Think of me. Make your life spectacular. I know I did.”
Robin Williams

Hard Hitting Quotes About Love

“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”
Rumi

“You can’t put arms around a memory.”
Guns N Roses

“It takes courage to love, but pain through love is the purifying fire which those who love generously know. We all know people who are so much afraid of pain that they shut themselves up like clams in a shell and, giving out nothing, receive nothing and therefore shrink until life is a mere living death.”
Eleanor Roosevelt

“You don’t love someone for their looks, or their clothes, or for their fancy car, but because they sing a song only you can hear.”
Oscar Wilde

“Be slow in choosing a friend, slower in changing.”
Benjamin Franklin

“We try so hard to hide everything we’re really feeling from those who probably need to know our true feelings the most.”
Colleen Hoover

“If you aren’t good at loving yourself, you will have a difficult time loving anyone, since you’ll resent the time and energy you give another person that you aren’t even giving to yourself.”
Barbara De Angelis

“Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.”
James Baldwin

“Being negative is like spraying yourself with anti-charisma.”
Karen Salmansohn

“How do you spell ‘love?’ You don’t spell it, you feel it.”
Winnie The Pooh

“The heart of a fool is in his mouth, but the mouth of a wise man is in his heart.”
Benjamin Franklin

“Love is a friendship set to music.”
Joseph Campbell

“When we are in love we seem to ourselves quite different from what we were before.”
Blaise Pascal

“Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind, always.”
Brad Meltzer

“Whatever it is you’re seeking won’t come in the form you’re expecting.”
Haruki Murakami

“Love is of all passions the strongest, for it attacks simultaneously the head, the heart and the senses.”
Lao Tzu

“The best and most beautiful things in this world cannot be seen or even heard, but must be felt with the heart.”
Helen Keller

“Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don’t know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of witherings, of tarnishings.”
Anaïs Nin

“Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.”
Benjamin Franklin

“It will never rain roses. When we want to have more roses, we must plant more roses.”
George Eliot

“Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead.”
Oscar Wilde

“Love does not dominate; it cultivates.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
Eleanor Roosevelt

“You know who you love but you can’t know who loves you.”
Nigerian Proverb

“When you adopt the viewpoint that there is nothing that exists that is not part of you, that there is no one who exists who is not part of you, that any judgment you make is self-judgment, that any criticism you level is self-criticism, you will wisely extend to yourself an unconditional love that will be the light of the world.”
Harry Palmer

“Some things take time. Stay positive. Be patient. Don’t settle. Things will get better. Wait for what you deserve.”
Karen Salmansohn

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Maya Angelou

“Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down.”
Oprah Winfrey

“Love is what you’ve been through with somebody.”
James Thurber

“If you would be loved, love, and be loveable.”
Benjamin Franklin

“Loving people live in a loving world. Hostile people live in a hostile world. Same world.”
Wayne Dyer

“The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, not the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when you discover that someone else believes in you and is willing to trust you with a friendship.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Don’t brood. Get on with living and loving. You don’t have forever.”
Leo Buscaglia

You may also find this post helpful to improve your relationships: 140 Toxic People Quotes to Help You Remove Negativity and Drama From Your Life

Hard Hitting Quotes About Happiness

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens. But often, we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.”
Helen Keller

“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.”
Haruki Murakami

“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.”
Maya Angelou

“People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.”
Thich Nhat Hanh

“Happiness is within. It has nothing to do with how much applause you get or how many people praise you. Happiness comes when you believe that you have done something truly meaningful.”
Martin Yan

“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts. Therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.”
Marcus Aurelius

“Yesterday, I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today, I am wise, so I am changing myself.”
Rumi

“The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is, and the future less resolved than it will be.”
Marcel Pagnol

“I don’t have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness—it’s right in front of me if I’m paying attention and practicing gratitude.”
Brene Brown

“Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.”
Les Brown

“Men spend their lives in anticipations, in determining to be vastly happy at some period when they have time. But the present time has one advantage over every other – it is our own. Past opportunities are gone, future have not come. We may lay in a stock of pleasures, as we would lay in a stock of wine; but if we defer the tasting of them too long, we shall find that both are soured by age.”
Charles Caleb Colton

“The pleasure which we most rarely experience gives us greatest delight.”
Epictetus

“The path to a dream is rarely linear. You gotta zig-zag your way to happiness.”
Karen Salmansohn

“We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.”
Seneca

“The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain. Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter’s oven? And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?
When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see in truth that you are weeping for that which has been your delight.”
Kahlil Gibran

“Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.”
Buddha

“The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.”
Thich Nhat Hanh

“This, too, shall pass.”
Persian Proverb

“Spend your money on the things money can buy. Spend your time on the things money can’t buy.”
Haruki Murakami

“Our envy always lasts longer than the happiness of those we envy.”
Heraclitus

“Bad things happen to us to teach us how to look at good things in a whole new light.”
Unknown

“When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened.”
Winston Churchill

“I think the saddest people always try their hardest to make people happy because they know what it’s like to feel absolutely worthless and they don’t want anyone to feel like that.”
Robin Williams

“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.”
Frederick Douglass

“Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions. The more you express gratitude for what you have, the more likely you will have even more to express gratitude for.”
Zig Ziglar

“When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy.’ They told me I didn’t understand the assignment; and I told them they didn’t understand life.”
John Lennon

“Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.”
Abraham Lincoln

“It’s been my experience that you can nearly always enjoy things if you make up your mind firmly that you will.”
L.M. Montgomery

“If people sat outside and looked at the stars each night, I bet they’d live a lot differently. When you look into infinity, you realize there are more important things than what people do all day.”
Bill Watterson

“Sometimes, your joy is the source of your smile. But sometimes, your smile can be the source of your joy.”
Thich Nhat Hanh

“If you want happiness for an hour — take a nap.
If you want happiness for a day — go fishing.
If you want happiness for a year — inherit a fortune.
If you want happiness for a lifetime — help someone else.”
Chinese Proverb

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do, so throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, Dream, Discover.”
Mark Twain

For more inspiration, check out this post with quotes about dealing with the hard times and the tough times.

Hard Hitting Quotes About Success

“Morning is an important time of day, because how you spend your morning can often tell you what kind of day you are going to have.”
Lemony Snicket

“The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.”
William Faulkner

“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.”
Winston Churchill

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.”
Neale Donald Walsh

“Well begun is half done.”
Aristotle

“One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was from a horse master. He told me to go slow to go fast. I think that applies to everything in life. We live as though there aren’t enough hours in the day but if we do each thing calmly and carefully we will get it done quicker and with much less stress.”
Viggo Mortensen

“You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.”
Mark Twain

“The best way to succeed in this world is to act on the advice you give to others.”
Unknown

“Don’t let yesterday take up too much of today.”
Will Rogers

“Follow effective actions with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.”
Peter Drucker

“The universe rewards the decisive.”
Karen Salmansohn

“He that can have patience can have what he will.”
Benjamin Franklin

“Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again.”
Richard Branson

“Show me a person who has never made a mistake and I’ll show you someone who has never achieved much.”
Joan Collins

“Remember that stress doesn’t come from what’s going on in your life, it comes from your thoughts about what’s going on in your life.”
Andrew J. Bernstein

“Aim for success, not perfection. Never give up your right to be wrong, because then you will lose the ability to learn new things and move forward with your life. Remember that fear always lurks behind perfectionism.”
David M. Burns

“Until you value yourself, you won’t value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.”
M. Scott Peck

“Champions aren’t made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them – a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have the skill, and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.”
Muhammad Ali

“Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”
Stephen King

“Do what you can with all you have wherever you are.”
Theodore Roosevelt

“It does not matter how slowly you go, so long as you do not stop.”
Confucius

“Nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost legendary. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Perseverance and determination alone are omnipotent.”
Calvin Coolidge

“Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will.”
Zig Ziglar

“If you don’t pay appropriate attention to what has your attention, it will take more of your attention than it deserves.”
David Allen

“When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you’ll be successful.”
Eric Thomas

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.”
Steve Jobs

“Never ruin an apology with an excuse.”
Benjamin Franklin

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
Thomas A. Edison

“Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.”
Earl Nightingale

“Much of the stress that people feel doesn’t come from having too much to do. It comes from not finishing what they started.”
David Allen

“Try not to become a person of success, but rather try to become a person of value.”
Albert Einstein

“Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.”
John Wooden

“You are today where your thoughts have brought you. You will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.”
James Allen

“Dreams can come true, but there is a secret. They’re realized through the magic of persistence, determination, commitment, passion, practice, focus and hard work. They happen a step at a time, manifested over years, not weeks.”
Elbert Hubbard

“He who is untrue to his own cause cannot command the respect of others.”
Albert Einstein

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”
Henry Ford

“If you are not willing to risk the usual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.”
Jim Rohn

“The most glorious moments in your life are not the so-called days of success, but rather those days when out of dejection and despair you feel rise in you a challenge to life, and the promise of future accomplishments.”
Gustave Flaubert

Want even more motivation? Check out this post with inspiring quotes about better days ahead and this one about breaking out of your comfort zone.

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Happiness, this simple pronounceable word is far greater than we think. There is nothing in this world that compares to being happy. Okay, does money compare, does wealth compare, do friends and family compare?

None of those things compare. What is the essence of the money you have when you are not even happy for once? That said, there are a lot of factors or things that contribute to our happiness. However, the most vital of all these things are your relationships. 

Relationship means the emotional connection between people. Where there is a relationship, there is an emotion. However, emotion means any strong feeling you can have for something or someone. So, when you have a relationship with someone it means you have strong feelings for them. 

But, since being in any kind of relationship is a big deal it then means that the relationships we keep can affect our lives a lot. But why? Well, because there is a strong feeling involved. 

A lot of people are pursuing happiness, they want to be happy at all costs, they just want to keep smiling with no ounce of sadness. However, they find that hard to do, they just think they can’t be happy no matter what, some even think happiness is not for them. 

One thing you should know is, no matter who you are or what you may be, if you really want to be happy you need the right relationships. Your relationship matters a lot. But, ask yourself these questions:

• What kind of relationship am I in right now?
• Has this relationship benefitted me?
• How happy have I been ever since in this relationship?
• How has my life improved positively? 

Find your answers. 

How does your relationship determine your happiness?

Being in a relationship, friendly relationship, love relationship, or blood-related relationship (your family), means you are strongly connected emotionally, strongly connected means love is involved. It is really risky when love is involved.

For example, a girl broke up with her boyfriend due to the boyfriend’s fault. However, the guy loves his girl a lot, what do you think will happen after the breakup? It is either he commits suicide, drink, and smoke (especially if he has not done such before), or even get involved in an accident of any form. 

Why do you think such a thing will happen to the guy? It’s because of love, it’s because of emotion. And that is how a lot of people who want to be happy are. They are in relationships that are not helpful and yet, they still want to be happy.

You want to be happy and yet, your friends argue and fight with you every day? You break up every second with your girlfriend/boyfriend? Your husband or wife fight with you every day? Your children also are not peaceful with each other?

In essence, you can never be happy if you are in a relationship like that. They fight with you every day, argue every day, they say words that hurt you every day, and you still expect yourself to be happy?

If you are a married man/woman, at your workplace, you may be happy and smile all you want but, remembering that you are still going back home can immediately bring sorrow to your heart. Because you know your home is not at peace.

“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.” – Dalai Lama

Peace is the signature of happiness. Wherever there is peace, there is happiness. As a student, Knowing that your parents’ fight with each other may not want you to return home because you know violence is the order of the day in your home. 

Your relationships matter a lot because they really contribute to whether you become happy or not. And a lot of people are in relationships like this but they also want to be happy, they also want peace, however, the sad part is, no matter how much they want to be happy, they still can’t leave and say goodbye to their relationships. 

Why? Because love is present. Because their emotions are strongly connected and because they have a relationship. Over to you, what relationships do you keep or what relationship are you in? Is it peaceful or not? Never forget, peace is the signature of happiness. Where there is peace there is happiness. 

Ask yourself: “what relationship am I in”? How has it benefited me in any way? How has my mental health improved ever since I am in this relationship? Does this relationship make me happy or not?

If your answer to these questions is capital NO, then you should try to get out of those relationships or discuss how to work things out so that there will be peace in your life. And, you should know that the opposite of happiness is sadness and depression. So, get out of your unpeaceful relationships and start a new life afresh. 

Additionally, never forget that our Lord and Savior Jesus is the prince of peace, if you have Jesus in your life, you have eternal life and peace. 

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One of the most important things you can do is to improve your health and happiness. This will allow you to live a better life and feel more fulfilled. If you’re not happy with how your life is going, then this article may be just what you need! We’ll provide some simple tips that will help improve both your physical and mental health in no time at all.

Exercise

One of the best ways to improve your health is by exercising. This doesn’t mean you have to join a gym or start running marathons. Just getting up and moving for 30 minutes each day can make a big difference. Exercising will help boost your energy levels, improve your mood, and strengthen your immune system. In the words of specialists at Self-Care Fundamentals, exercising is one of the best ways to take care of yourself. If you’d prefer to work out at home, try these exercises for beginners or this dance workout video. If you want to get the most out of your exercise, do it first thing in the morning before breakfast. This will help control blood sugar levels and prevent you from overeating at lunchtime.

Eat A Balanced Diet

A healthy diet is just as important as exercise when it comes to improving your health. Eating a variety of fruits and vegetables, lean protein, and whole grains will give you the nutrients you need to stay energized and healthy. Avoid processed foods, sugary drinks, and unhealthy snacks whenever possible. Instead, try packing a healthy lunch each day or cooking your dinner instead of eating out. Healthy foods will keep you full longer and prevent overeating, which can lead to weight gain over time. If you don’t know where to start with healthy eating, try borrowing some recipes from the Food Monster App. It has hundreds of thousands of vegan, vegetarian, and meat-based recipes.

Get Enough Sleep

Getting enough sleep is another important part of taking care of yourself. Most people need around eight hours of sleep per night, but everyone is different. If you’re not getting enough rest, you’ll likely feel tired and grumpy all the time. Lack of sleep can also lead to weight gain, anxiety, and depression. To get a good night’s sleep, try going to bed and waking up at the same time each day. Avoid using electronics before bed, and make your bedroom a calm and relaxing space. If you’re having trouble sleeping, try these tips for better slumber.

Take Breaks

It’s important to take breaks throughout the day to relax and rejuvenate and to improve your health and happiness. This can mean taking a few minutes each hour to stretch or just breathe deeply. If you’re feeling overwhelmed or stressed, take some time for yourself to relax and recharge. You’ll be able to work more effectively after taking a break, and you’ll feel happier as well. Additionally, try to take a vacation at least once a year. A change of scenery can do wonders for your mental health and well-being.

Practice Self Care

Taking care of yourself doesn’t mean you have to do everything on your own. If you need help, ask for it. Try joining an online community like the Mighty where others can share their struggles and advice. And don’t forget to take care of your physical health as well. Meditation and journaling are all great ways to reduce stress and promote self-care. Meditation is the act of focusing your mind on one thing at a time, while journaling is simply writing down how you feel. Both practices can help clear your head and make it easier to manage stress in daily life.

Try Therapy

Therapy is another great way to take care of yourself. This can be in the form of individual counseling, couples counseling, or group therapy depending on your needs. If you have a mental health diagnosis like depression or anxiety, consider meeting with a therapist so they can help you manage it. Most therapists will work by asking questions and giving you feedback, which can help you understand yourself better. If you’re not sure if therapy is right for you, consider going on a free trial first. You can try meeting with a therapist for a few sessions before committing to anything long-term.

These are just a few of the ways you can improve your health and happiness. There are many other things you can do as well, such as joining a support group or seeing a therapist. Just find what works best for you and stick with it. The more you take care of yourself, the better you’ll feel both physically and emotionally.

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What values are important to a life well lived?

What do you want to be known for?

What qualities do you admire in others and work to cultivate in yourself?

And how do those qualities reflect your core beliefs?

Your life values are those that, once you identify them, help you with decision-making and provide the building blocks for your character — specifically the one you want to have.

For example, if one of your top values in life is courage, you’ll likely seek out new challenges so you can act in spite of the fear that comes when you’re faced with the possibility of failure or rejection.

And if forgiveness has recently become one of your values to live by, you’ll want to remind yourself of your new commitment when you’re about to spend time with someone who has hurt you in the past.

But what is the point of identifying your values, and how do they contribute to your growth and happiness?

To answer this question, we’re exploring 29 of the most important values in life and showing how they influence everything you do.

But before we do that, it makes sense to explain what values are in the first place.

What Are Values in Life?

Values are about what you consider important to the life you want to live. They inform your priorities and, when practiced consistently, form the character you want to have.

They’re rooted in your core beliefs about what makes for a life well-lived and about the behavior you want to model for others (including children if you have them).

Look at them as the guideposts for your actions and decisions — the themes around which you want to design your life based on the type of person you aspire to be.

You may inherit many of your life values from your parents or from societal expectations. But it’s up to you to prioritize these values and discern how you’ll honor and act on them daily.

Why Are Values in Life Important?

Shared values are the basis for a common code – a value-based compass – that speeds up decision making and unites those who share that code.

By expressing those values, the common code articulates different aspects of the shared mission and becomes the key motivator for those who share it.

Defining your core values gives you parameters for actions and decisions that can keep you out of trouble, improve your confidence and self-esteem, and further your life goals.

Without them, you are rudderless and reactive to the challenges and choices life presents to you.

You can take each of the following examples of values in life to create a code or motto that motivates you to practice that value every day, so it will become second nature when it’s most needed.

29 Most Important Values To Life By

1. Courage

Courage is about doing what you believe needs to be done — not in the absence of fear but in spite of it.

You might feel disinclined to offer a genuine apology out of fear that the other will reject it, but courage will help you apologize anyway, because it’s the right thing to do, out of respect for the one you hurt or offended. Whether they accept your apology or not is their business.

Courage requires a step outside of your comfort zone. If you have no fear, you don’t need courage, but when something you know you have to do makes you feel sick inside, courage is what makes you do that thing anyway.

Courage code (or motto): “I do what needs to be done, even when fear comes along for the ride.”

2. Kindness

Kindness is about treating others the way you want to be treated.

It’s more than just holding your tongue when you’re tempted to say something unkind; kindness looks for ways to make life better for others. It takes delight in lifting others up and reminding them they’re not alone, invisible, or insignificant.

Kindness and compassion are closely related; the latter involves the readiness to see a situation from someone else’s perspective and to give them the benefit of the doubt. It also takes into consideration what the other person has gone through and chooses to respond with kindness rather than anger or vengefulness.

Both demonstrate at least a subliminal appreciation for the connectedness of all living beings; when you show kindness and compassion to others, you benefit (at least) as much as they do.

Kindness to yourself is also important, and it’s the basis for self-care. Don’t forget to be as kind to yourself as you want others to be.

Schedule time each day for reasonable and thoughtful self-care, and practice mindfulness to be fully present for it. In practicing kindness to yourself, you also make yourself better able to render kindness to others.

Kindness code: “I treat others as I want to be treated — with thoughtfulness, patience, and respect.”

3. Patience

When someone is pushing your buttons, taking your time or attention away from something you want to finish, or making your life harder in some way, you practice patience by putting yourself in the others’ shoes, trying to see the situation from their perspective, and responding with kindness and respect.

No one wants to be treated like an inconvenience or a burden, and sometimes your priorities have to change to make room for something (or someone) more important or more likely to help you grow.

Patience code: “No matter how I feel when someone interrupts me or gets in my way, I always treat them with the same patience I hope for from others when necessity compels me to interrupt them or get in their way.”

4. Integrity

Integrity is about acting and speaking in accordance with your beliefs.

If you say one thing but do the opposite, witnesses to this contradiction aren’t likely to recognize you as a person of integrity. They’re more likely to accuse you of hypocrisy.

Though you may not be fully conscious of the disagreement between your words and actions, if you believe one thing but your actions profess a contradictory belief, you might feel a growing unease and unhappiness with the way you’re acting.

It doesn’t feel right. And you’re faced with a choice: either change your belief, or change your actions.

Integrity code: “What I believe is made clear by what I say and do.”

5. Gratitude / Appreciation

When gratitude is a core belief, you make time for it every day. You prioritize both feeling gratitude and expressing it — in your thoughts, in the words you speak or write, and in your attitude and actions.

You might create the habit of writing a daily gratitude list. And if you recognize the importance of emotion to the fullest experience of gratitude, you’ll likewise place a high value on a daily mindfulness practice.

Showing appreciation to others for their words and actions is also essential to making this a core value. Just as you appreciate it when others thank you for a job well done, for a thoughtful gift, or for rendering the help they needed, others appreciate that recognition too.

And far too often, we act as though others must already know how much we appreciate them. Don’t assume that they do; make sure of it.

Gratitude code: “In the morning, throughout the day, and in the evening, I feel and express gratitude for the good things in my life. And I make sure everyone who has done something good for me knows I appreciate them for it.”

6. Forgiveness

Forgiveness is about letting go of anger and resentment toward those who have hurt or offended you.

You’re not saying what they did was okay or not a big deal; you’re acknowledging that what they did was hurtful but choosing to forgive them in order to be free of the anger and resentment (toward them) that are making you miserable.

In forgiving them, you take back your power and choose happiness and peace of soul for yourself, even if the one who hurt you has never shown the slightest hint of remorse.

Everyone has a capacity for forgiveness — just as everyone has the capacity to hurt others with their words and actions — but not everyone has cultivated a habit of forgiveness.

We learn to be more forgiving by forgiving more. If you write morning pages, add a short list of people you forgive, adding what you forgive them for and something you appreciate about each person.

Forgiveness code: “I forgive those who have hurt me, because I know I’ve made mistakes and hurt people, too, and I want to be free of this anger and resentment. I choose freedom, and I choose to genuinely want (and work for) the good of those who’ve hurt me.”

7. Love

Love sees the good in everyone, and it wants good things for them. You may not always know what’s best for someone else, but if you love them, you want their ultimate happiness, and you want to see them grow.

You recognize that no one reaches adulthood with their character fixed and unchangeable; we’re all a work in progress. Things your 20-year-old self would say might appall your 40-year-old self. It’s part of being human if you’re a human that continues to grow.

Did someone you love do terrible things in their 20’s or 30’s — things they would never do now (in their mid-40’s)?

Forgive them for not knowing better before they learned whatever stopped them from doing those terrible things. And forgive yourself for not knowing that human beings are all capable of terrible things — just as we’re also capable of growth.

When you love someone, you don’t base that love on the kind of person they were ten or twenty years ago, or on the person, you hope they become or that you wish they were. Your love tells them, “You are enough — just as you are today.”

You recognize that their beliefs and behavior may change as they grow, but since your love doesn’t depend on what they believe or on whether you agree on everything, your love doesn’t lessen with time and with the challenges those changes bring.

Love code: “I love with both passion and understanding; real love is wide awake.”

8. Growth

If growth is one of your core values, you look for opportunities to grow as a person and to help others grow, too.

You take the time to identify your values and your overall mission, so you can live in accordance with it and become more and more the person you have to be in order to fulfill your mission.

You know that growth isn’t a destination but a process, and you want to enjoy that process and help others to enjoy their own.

You might take an interest in coaching or in group growth opportunities, where members support and encourage each other. You recognize true and wholehearted collaboration as an asset and a growth facilitator, and you prioritize growth over comfort and security.

Real growth might mean shaking things up at home or at work, but the more committed you are to your growth and to that of those you care about, the less you mind rocking the boat.

Growth code: “Every day, I’m growing more into the person I want to be.”

9. Listening

If active listening is a core value for you, you value others’ input and invest time and energy in learning how to see things from their perspectives.

So, it makes sense that when someone wants to tell you something, you give them your full attention and thoughtfully consider their words.

Whereas before you felt tense with the expectation of having to defend your beliefs against an unfriendly viewpoint, you’ve learned (through practice) to listen with genuine openness rather than an ego-centric fear of being proven wrong.

You recognize that you don’t know everything, and you don’t see even familiar things from every angle, so you appreciate it when others share their perspectives. And your body language as well as your feedback shows them you’re listening and that you care about what they have to say.

Listening code: “I listen to others with my full attention, so I can learn from them and show thoughtful consideration for their ideas.”

10. Respect

If you want to be known for treating all human (or living) beings with respect, you probably base that respect on something more fundamental than someone’s rank or social status.

Otherwise, why would you consider it a priority to treat all humans with equal respect — regardless of their age, income, or background?

Or why would you put more energy into making sure the least exalted among you is treated with respect than into making sure others treat you with the same consideration.

It doesn’t mean you don’t consider yourself equally worthy of respect, but you find it easy to put yourself in other people’s shoes, so in making sure they feel respected, you feel more respected, too.

Respect code: “I treat all living beings with the same respect with which I like to be treated.”

11. Self-Giving

Another word for self-giving is sacrifice, but self-giving has a more positive connotation. Essentially, you’re giving of yourself — your time, your attention, your energy, your treasure, your abilities — to help or enrich another.

Real love doesn’t hesitate to give of itself until it hurts, knowing that the momentary pain is nothing compared to the benefit won by that self-giving.

The word “selfless” implies that someone has given so much of themselves, they’ve reserved nothing for their own use or enjoyment, but in giving yourself — if you give out of love — your joy is in what that gift brings to others.

Self-giving can be overdone but only when the motive is pride (or insecurity) rather than love.

Self-giving code: “I give of myself to others not only to connect with them but to acknowledge our connectedness. What I give to them, I also receive.”

12. Vision

You may be used to talking about vision in the context of a specific person’s “vision for the future,” but the larger sense of vision is not something that you own or that comes from you; it comes through you and inspires you and others.

Because the larger vision isn’t confined to your ego, the power of that vision is free to attract, illuminate, and flow through you.

Your vision is connected to one that is infinite and uncontainable — you do not exist to serve yourself at the expense of others; you exist to cooperate with others in the creation of a community that benefits all living creatures.

Your personal vision – what you see as your response to the larger vision — informs your personal mission and the process by which you live out that mission.

It’s not about the lifestyle you want or the things you’ll have when you’re “successful.” It has more to do with allowing yourself to be led by the greater vision through your personal links to it — your intuition and inner wisdom.

Vision code: “I live according to a vision guided by my inner wisdom and judgment.”

13. Authenticity 

Authenticity is being truthful about who you are. It means speaking your truth, openly and honestly — not hiding for fear of criticism or judgment, which will come anyway. 

As an authentic person, you don’t expect or need to be liked by everyone. You accept that some will have a problem with you and find it easy to judge you for what you reveal yourself. Some will feel affronted by your “out there-ness.”  

That doesn’t stop you from living your life as you choose to, nor does it stop you from sharing some of what you’ve learned from your own mistakes. You put it out there, trusting that at least one reader will feel less alone because of it. 

It’s a gamble you’re willing to make. You don’t see the point in pretending to be someone you’re not or hiding who you are. You know some will see your faults more easily and focus on them, but their opinions aren’t your responsibility — or your business. 

And there’s freedom in recognizing that. 

Authenticity code: “I live and speak my truth, choosing not to fear criticism or judgment.” 

14. Balance

It’s not easy to balance work, relationships, and self-care. But you know from experience how important it is to do so. 

It’s too easy to sideline self-care to get more done — or to put off date nights with your partner so you can impress the boss and (possibly) score that pay-raise or promotion. Do it once, and it’s even easier to do it again. And again. Etcetera. 

This is not the way to live, though, and you know it. So, you take note of where you are on your priority list when you review your actions for the day. You also take note of how much time you’ve invested in your relationships. You see the slope for what it is. 

Then, you make some adjustments. You start building new habits to prioritize daily self-care and a daily investment in your relationships. And contrary to your fears, you don’t run out of time for work. You still get things done. 

And you even enjoy it more than you used to. Because balance. 

Balance code: “When my priorities are in the right order, balance happens.”

As a community-minded person, while you’re not responsible for how other people might feel about you or your actions, you choose to consider the impact of your choices on the people around you. You value their safety and well-being and have goodwill toward them. 

You know your behavior toward those in your community can affect them in various ways, and you want that effect to be as positive as possible. You can’t control what others think of you, but you can control what you say and what actions you take. 

When you give up your seat to someone who looks tired and stressed, you step outside yourself to offer comfort or silent empathy to another. When you quietly disregard someone else’s petty criticism, you choose a better way forward for you both. 

And whether you have an active and visible presence in the community or you prefer to work behind the scenes, you make it a priority to leave it better off than you found it. 

Community code: “I value all members of my community, whatever their beliefs or backgrounds.”  

16. Compassion 

Compassion is what helps you overcome the impulse to judge another harshly or to find fault with them — choosing to see the good, even when it’s hidden. 

You put yourself in their shoes to see the situation from a different perspective. You’re open to what they have to say and slow to assume they’re in the wrong. 

You want to understand them more than you want to be right. 

This doesn’t obligate you to expose yourself to the negativity and judgment of others. You might temporarily block someone’s access to you to protect your headspace and well-being. But you don’t rule out the possibility of reconciliation and growth. 

You want to see others — even those who’ve hurt you — happy and growing. Ultimately, what they think of you doesn’t matter. And it’s not your business. 

You let go of the hurt and send them warm, compassionate thoughts. Because you’re aware of your own faults. And you want everyone to get out of this life in better shape. 

Compassion code: “I make compassion the foundation of my behavior and thoughts toward others.”

17. Creativity 

You are a creator. As such, you have both the potential and the innate drive to create things that make lives better (including your own). 

No matter how you express this impulse — through writing, art, craftsmanship, chemistry, robotics, etc. — you put something of yourself into every creation. And from that something, other things grow. You bear a living fingerprint, and you leave your own. 

So, it makes sense for creativity to be one of your key values, not just because others see you as “a creative sort” but because the creative impulse is your birthright, and you don’t consider a life well-lived that doesn’t honor that impulse and explore its potential. 

You don’t wait for the day to bring you something new; you take what you have and create something. And being a social creature (more or less), you enjoy creating things you know other people will enjoy. 

Creativity code: “I am a creator with a unique genius all my own, which I use every day.”

18. Generosity 

Generosity is a willingness to share your blessings with those who have less. It’s easy enough to share with people you know and like; it’s another thing to share with those you don’t get along with or who seem to think you owe them what you have. 

The thing is, no one has a right to hoard resources, and it makes no sense when one person can only enjoy so much. You would rather share what you have so that fewer people will feel the pain of hunger and lack. Fewer will feel neglected, forgotten, or invisible. 

You know generosity is about more than donating money or spending a bit more to support a worthy cause. A truly generous spirit is also quick to share intangible blessings: kindness, patience, goodwill, understanding, and forgiveness. 

You don’t keep treasure of any kind locked up and of no use to anyone while people around you are starving or in pain. You put yourself in their place and share what you have to make their lives better. 

Otherwise, what’s the point of having more than enough? 

Generosity code: “I share my wealth with those who have less and we all benefit.” 

19. Justice 

Justice — to be worthy of the name — must apply equally to all people, regardless of their race, gender identity, income, age, or sexual orientation. You’ve seen injustice, and you share the anger of those who’ve suffered it. 

Justice is a driving force for you because you see it denied to so many because their race or gender isn’t represented or respected by those in power. You’ll do what you can to correct that. 

Maybe you’ve chosen a career that allows you to fight to obtain justice for the under-served. Or maybe you’ll use your creative talent or time or other resources to further causes for justice. 

Whatever you do, it’s not to score points or to be seen. It’s to look these fellow human beings in the eye and let them know you see them and want what they want. 

Because they have as much right to justice as anyone else. 

Justice code: “I do what I can to fight injustice wherever I see it. I am my brother’s keeper.”

20. Learning

You’re a big believer in the value of always learning. As an independent scholar, you look for ways to learn about the things that interest you. And you have plenty of resources to choose from: books, video documentaries, websites, podcasts, TED talks, etc. 

You’re so hungry for learning that you might find it hard to spend your reading time on fiction — though you do love a good story. It’s just that there are so many things you want to learn more about, and you have so little time (comparatively) to sit and relax with a book. 

You have so many interests that it’s hard to stay focused on just one. And you love to find connections between seemingly disparate ideas and disciplines. 

The more you learn, the more you realize how little you know and how much more there is to learn, which excites you. You know you’ll never run out of things to learn. And it will never get boring. 

Learning code: “I aim not to become an expert but to always be learning.” 

21. Freedom

Viktor Frankl called the last of human freedoms the freedom “to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.” Another way to describe this is by exercising your responsibility for your own thoughts and feelings. 

You choose how to feel about something, just as you choose how to act. 

That inner freedom is what you value more than any flag or statue or anthem. Because no one can take that away from you. It’s perfectly understandable also to cherish the outward freedoms you enjoy. But if you lost them, you would not also lose yourself. 

So, while you will always speak up against injustice and against tyranny (as well you should), you also recognize that, if you were to lose the advantages you now enjoy — and any of us could — you would not live as though you had no freedom at all. 

You can always decide how you will react. You know that freedom without responsibility is a recipe for chaos. And responsibility without freedom is impossible. They depend on each other. 

Freedom code: “I exercise my freedom to choose how I react, how I feel, and what I do.” 

22. Loyalty 

Loyalty implies a connection or implicit agreement between two people. When you’re loyal to someone, they hold a special place in your life. They take priority over others. Their concerns have more weight with you. 

You probably hope to have the same effect on the people you love. You hope you hold a special place in their lives and that, if you needed them, they’d show up for you. 

Other words that come to mind in connection with loyalty are faithfulness, dependability, trustworthiness, allegiance, and attachment. When you mull over these words, certain people come to the forefront. And you hope the loyalty is mutual. 

You feel the effects of your loyalty toward others, mainly because of how your loyalty-inspired actions affect you and the people around you. In the same way, other people’s loyalty or lack of loyalty toward you has an effect. 

As long as the loyalty (or lack thereof) doesn’t sabotage anyone’s best interest, the effects are generally good. You see the potential dark side of loyalty — when it takes priority over the best interests of those involved — and you keep it in mind. 

Loyalty code: “I value loyalty that does good to everyone connected with it.” 

23. Openness

You’re open to new people and new experiences. From the moment you heard the words, “I’ll try (just about) anything once,” you made it your mantra and repeated it in your mind whenever you faced something new: 

• A new job opportunity
• A new kind of food or drink
• A new place for a vacation or roadtrip
• A new person with new ideas 
• A new clothing or shoe style

It’s not that you necessarily crave novelty, but you do want to be open to considering different viewpoints, perspectives, and ideas. As with compassion, you want to understand them more than you want to be right. 

You know your mind hasn’t comprehended everything there is to comprehend. You know there’s always more to learn. And just as you value continual learning, you value openness and the curiosity that supports it. 

Maybe there’s really “nothing new under the sun,” but it’s enough that it’s new for you. 

Openness code: “I welcome new experiences, new ideas, and new people.” 

24. Prudence 

Generally speaking, prudence is doing or saying the right thing at the right time in the right way. You can have great timing and get it wrong anyway. You can also do the right thing in the right way and still end up with regrets. 

Prudence looks at the bigger picture and the deeper consequences of your words and actions. You value prudence because, much as you want to do something, you know sometimes the situation calls for patience and circumspection. 

You know the value of prudence has nothing to do with prudishness. And you don’t confuse real prudence with the paralysis that comes from obsessing over all the things that could go wrong. Prudence contains wisdom — not paranoia. 

And it has nothing to do with fake purity or self-righteousness. 

The best leaders cultivate prudence to better serve those they lead. The best teachers cultivate prudence to encourage and challenge their students in the most effective way. The best therapists value prudence because it helps them make the most of their intuition.

Prudence is the ultimate superpower.  

Prudence code: “I’m cultivating prudence to make the best possible impact on every life I touch.” 

25. Resilience

Resilience is the ability to recover from and adapt to change or misfortune. In other words, when things go bad, you find a way to pivot and keep moving forward. Life knocks you down, and you get back up — every time. 

You don’t pat yourself on the back for it. You do it because ya gotta. Quitting is just waiting to die. And you want more out of life than an extended hospice stay. 

If there’s a way to get back up and get moving again, you’ll find it because you don’t see any acceptable alternatives. So, even if you’d like to stop existing for an hour or so (just to catch a break), you look at your options and grab onto something. 

It doesn’t have to be something you can hold onto for long. You don’t look at each getting up as proof you can’t be kept down for long. Life is moment to moment. You haven’t undergone every test, and this getting back up is your answer to only one of them.

But the more you respond to knock-downs by getting back up, the more automatic it becomes. 

Resilience code: “I cultivate resilience by looking for the lesson in every challenge.”

26. Responsibility

You take responsibility for your words and actions and how they impact your life and the lives of others. When you’ve hurt someone, you do what you can to make amends. You’re not too proud to apologize when you know you’re in the wrong. 

On the other hand, you do not take responsibility for the way others feel about you. You do nothing to offend others deliberately, and if you’re aware that a certain expression gives offense, you respect others enough to apologize and abandon that expression for good. 

You address others with their proper pronouns and treat them with the same respect you hope to receive. When you fail in this, you apologize and strive to do better. 

But while you own your own feelings and don’t blame them on others, you don’t own the feelings others might blame on you. 

• Owning: “When you said that, I felt [insert feeling here].”
• Blaming: “When you said that, you made me feel [insert feeling here].” 

Much as you might enjoy bringing a smile to people’s faces, you know you’re not responsible for someone else’s feelings, just as no one else is responsible for yours. 

Responsibility code: “I take responsibility for my own words, actions, and feelings.” 

27. Self-Respect 

You know the value of self-respect because you’ve seen the consequences for those who have none. And you’ve seen how easy it is to deprioritize yourself when so many other priorities crowd your plate. 

• You have to keep earning, so you can pay the bills.
• You have to help the youngest with school work. 
• You have to run errands to buy food, etc. 
• You have to attend those weekly appointments and/or meetings. 

The unspoken words at the end of each of those “You have to” statements is the dreaded “or else…” And the imagined consequences seem far worse than simply postponing a shower so you can get something finished in time for one of those appointments. 

You know how it feels: scrambling to take care of everything and everyone but yourself. 

So, you’ve committed to practicing daily self-care as an affirmation of self-love and self-respect. You deserve to be cared for as much as anyone else. 

Self-care is key to creating balance in your life. When you prioritize self-respect, other things tend to fall into place. 

Self-Respect code: “I show self-respect in my commitment to daily self-care and self-expression.” 

28. Spirituality

What is spirituality, if not a healthy respect for the unseen guides and guardians that watch over us and take an interest in our personal development? You don’t have to be religious to be spiritual or to make room in your daily life for spirituality. 

Your connection to this value is related to your openness and commitment to learning. You know you don’t know everything. And there’s plenty you don’t see that you don’t understand. But you’d like to understand it better. 

You believe exploring your spirituality with trustworthy guides helps you become more and more the person you want to be. You’ll understand your own potential and personality better.

And the better you know yourself, the less you’ll feel the need to conform to someone else’s idea of what you should be or what you should be doing. 

Spirituality isn’t about being less than a god or being obedient to religious authority. It’s exploring the needs and potential of your own spirit and its relation to others. 

Spirituality code: “I tend to my spiritual needs and concerns as part of my daily self-care.”

29. Wisdom 

You’ve learned plenty from your years of school, but one of the most important lessons taught you the importance of wisdom — far and above the value of raw intelligence. 

Wisdom is the ability to apply what you know (knowledge) — along with your intelligence — to make the right choices. Ultimately, you know that has more to do with your happiness than your IQ or even your EQ (emotional intelligence). 

Wisdom can guide you to make better use of everything you have, including your money, talents and skills, and time. 

Wisdom looks beyond what’s easy or what feels urgent. It seeks balance and growth. Neither is possible when you take yourself or your relationships off the priority list or when you put other things ahead of them. 

Real wisdom knows what burnout is and how you get there. And wisdom, like prudence, is about the bigger picture. 

Wisdom is about you seeing the most important thing and focusing on that. 

Wisdom code: “I cultivate wisdom to make better choices, to know and heal myself, and to grow.”

More Related Articles:

50 Of The Best Growth Mindset Quotes For Kids And Teachers

11 Things To Be Passionate About Right Now

The Ultimate List of Personal Values

Now, it’s your turn.

What are your values? And what will you do today to put one (or more) of them into practice?

One small action today makes more of a difference than you probably realize.

Think of each small action as a seed you plant that, as long as you nurture it along the way, grows into a healthy tree with roots and branches, shedding seeds of its own.

Your values are the life in every seed you plant. Choose the best values, and make them part of your blueprint for personal growth.

And may your courage and passion for growth influence everything you do today.

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“Simply put, you believe that things or people make you unhappy, but this is not accurate. You make yourself unhappy.”
Wayne Dyer

“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.”
Marcus Aurelius

It is usually pretty easy to become a happier person.

It is also quite easy to rob yourself of your own happiness.

To make yourself more miserable and add a big bowl of suffering to your day. It is a common thing, people do it every day all over the world.

So this week I’d like to combine these two things. I want to share 7 happiness stealing habits that I have had quite a bit of trouble with in my own daily life (and I know from the emails I get that many of you do too).

But I’d also like to add what you can do instead if you find yourself being stuck in one of these destructive habits.

1. Going for a daily swim in a sea of negative voices.

This one can be quite subtle.

You just go around in your daily life like you usually do. Hang out with the same people. Listen to the same podcasts or radio shows, watch the same old TV-shows or Youtube videos and read the usual blogs, books and magazines.

But what influence do these things have over your thinking and the limits you set for yourself and what you feel you deserve in life?

What to do instead:

Make a list of the 5 people you hang out with the most and the 5 media sources you spend most time on during your week.

Then ask yourself this for each of these 10 things/people: is this one dragging me down or lifting me up in life?

Consider spending less time with the ones that drag you down (or move fully forward and cut them out completely) and to spend more of your time with the people and sources that lift you up and make you feel good, motivated etc.

If you have trouble getting started with this one, then go smaller.

Take a few minutes to think about what one person or source that has the biggest negative impact on you. And how you can start to spend less time with it/him/her this week.

2. Waiting for just the right time.

When you have a dream then it is so easy to get lost in planning how you will accomplish it. To drift away in daydreams about how it will be. But also to get stuck in fears about failing with it.

So you make a common choice and wait – and wait and wait for maybe years – for just the right time to take action and get started with making that dream into something real.

What to do instead:

Sure, not every dream is something you can get started with right now.

But there are many that you can get going with. Dreams that only fear is holding you back from.

So make things easy on yourself. You don’t have to do it in a big and extremely courageous jump.

If that was the case then only the bravest people in the world would do and achieve what they want.

Instead, take a small step forward. Take one small action.

That is it.

Then tomorrow you can take another small step forward.

The important thing is that you get started and get going instead spending so much time on just waiting and feeling more and more frustrated and unhappy about the state of your dreams.

3. Letting criticism get under your skin time and time again.

When someone criticizes or verbally attacks you then it may just roll off you like water of the back of a duck.

But if it on the other hand gets under your skin pretty much every time and drags you down into hours or days of self-doubt or self-beatings then you have a problem.

What to do instead:

Let it out.

Talk it over with someone close to you to let the inner tensions out. And to find a healthier perspective on what happened together.

Remember: it is not always about you.

If your self-esteem is low them it is easy to start thinking that all the negative things people tell you are your fault in some way.

That is however often not the case.

People will attack or harshly criticize to let their own steam out. Because they have had an awful day, week or simply do not like their lives that much.

So don’t think it is all about you. There are two of you in this situation.

4. Focusing on the wrong people and getting lost in envy and powerlessness.

When you spend much time in your day thinking about what other people have and do and you compare your life to theirs then you have a good recipe for unhappiness.

Because you spend the attention and energy in the wrong place.

What to do instead:

Focus on you. Compare yourself to yourself.

See how far you have come. The obstacles you have overcome. How you have improved in small or sometimes bigger ways. Appreciate that and yourself.

Focus not on what others have but on what YOU deep down want in your life.

And ask yourself: what is one small step I can take today to get the ball rolling with this goal/dream?

Keep your focus on yourself and what you can actually do to raise your self-confidence, to start walking on your own path and to spend your limited daily time and energy on something that will actually pay off.

5. Not allowing yourself times of peace and rest during your day.

When you are busy, busy, busy all the time and give yourself no time to recharge then you soon become fatigued.

And so each step and each thing you do starts to feel heavier and you do not get much enjoyment at all out of pushing and pulling yourself through it.

What to do instead:

Take a break every hour.

Try setting the timer on your cell phone for 45 minutes. During that time-period just focus on doing your most important task at the moment.

Then, as the bell rings, set the timer for 15 minutes and step away from your workspace.

Have a snack, talk a walk or stretch a bit.

By cycling rest and fully focused work like this you’ll get more things done, do a better job and it will be easier to keep the optimism and motivation up.

Be 10 minutes early.

Transform those traveling times during your day into relaxing breaks instead of passages of time and space that only increase your stress levels and other negative feelings.

6. Never trying anything new.

This one can be sneaky.

It can make you think that things are pretty OK. You have your safe and comfortable routine.

I know, I have been there for long stretches of time.

But during those times there was also denial of feeling dissatisfied. A vague feeling of standing still that sometimes bloomed up into a big burst of undefined, negative feelings directed towards the world or myself.

What to do instead:

Remind yourself of the past times when you tried something new.

And how you most often did not regret it one bit but had an exciting, interesting or fun time.

Go small.

You don’t have to try skydiving. Just take one small step and try some new and different music, a movie or book you would normally not go for or the vegetarian dish if you usually have the beef or sausage for lunch.

Say yes just once this week when your mind says no.

If a friend invites you to go out running, doing yoga or to go fishing or to a party and your mind goes “let’s say no, that is not what I usually do” then stop yourself for a second.

And reconsider.

You don’t have to say yes to every suggestion you get this week to try something new, but give it a shot and say yes to just one of those things.

7. Taking things too seriously.

When you take life too seriously then it is easy to become so afraid of making a mistake and of stumbling a bit that you get stuck.

When you take yourself too seriously then, in my experience, it becomes difficult to fully enjoy the moment and what is happening, to let go of the past and to laugh about yourself and life when you need it the most.

What to instead:

Put up a reminder.

When I wanted to develop a lighter mindset quite a few years ago one thing that helped me was a simple note on fridge that said: Lighten Up!

This reminder helped me to snap out of overly serious thoughts several times a day until this way of finding a lighter perspective became more and more of an automatic thought habit.

Surround yourself with lighter mindsets.

As mentioned in the section about habit #1, what and who you surround yourself with will have a big effect on how you think. No matter if it is a positive or negative aspect they add.

So one powerful thing to do is to add lighter mindsets via people, books, the internet etc. to your daily life.

Raise your self-esteem.

I have found that as my self-esteem has gone up I can laugh about myself more because I am less defensive. I have more trust in myself and so I fear a temporary failure less.

And I like myself more and so I am less concerned about getting everyone else to like me all the time.

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“Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.”
Albert Schweitzer

“A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees.”
Amelia Earhart

A very simple way to spread more happiness in your own little world is through kindness. It’s often an easy and quick thing you can do as you move through your daily life.

But we sometimes forget about it. Or don’t remember how it can help us all.

Three things that I like to keep in mind and that help me to try to be a kinder person are these:

• I get what I give. Yep, some people will be ungrateful, miserable and not reciprocating no matter what you may do. But most people will over time treat you as you treat them.
• By being kinder to others I am more likely to be kinder to myself. It may sound a bit odd but my experience is that when I am kinder towards others then my self-esteem goes up.
• It creates a happier place to live in. Being kinder simply makes my own little world a nicer and happier place to live in.

So how can you start spreading the kindness and happiness in your daily life?

Here are 15 simple ways to do it.

Pick one of them that resonates with you and start using it today.

1. Express your gratitude. 

Think about what you can be grateful for about someone in your life.

Maybe that he is a good listener, that he often is quick to help out or that he always adds great songs to a Spotify playlist. Or simply that he held up the door for you.

Then express that gratitude in a simple “thank you!” or in a sincere sentence or two.

2. Replace the judgments. 

No one likes to be judged. And the more you judge other people the more you tend to judge yourself.

So despite the temporary benefit of deriving pleasure from the judgments it is not a good or smart long-term habit.

When you feel the urge to judge ask yourself: what is one kind thing I can think or do in this situation instead?

3. Replace the unconstructive criticism. 

Try encouragement instead of excessive criticism. It helps people to both raise their self-confidence and to do a better job.

And it will make things more fun and more light-hearted in the long run.

4. Put yourself in the other person’s shoes. 

It is quite easy to resort to unkindness when you see things just from your perspective.

Two questions that help me to see and to better understand other viewpoints are:

• How would I think and feel it if I were in his or her shoes?
• What parts of this person can I see in myself?

5. Recall how people’s kindness made you feel.

Just sit down for a few minutes and try to recall one time or a few times when other people’s kindness really touched you and helped you out.

Then think about how you can do those very same things for someone in your life.

6. Express kindness for something you may often take for granted.

It is easy to remember and to feel motivated to express kindness when someone is having a rough time or have just finished an important project.

But also remember to express kindness and encouragement for how someone continues to put so much love into the dinners you eat. Or for being on time every day and doing their job well and keeping deadlines.

7. Hide a surprising and kind note.

Leave a small note with a loving or encouraging sentence in your partner’s or child’s lunchbox, hat, tea-container or book that he or she is reading right now.

That minute of your time will put a smile on her face and joy and motivation in her heart.

8. Just be there.

Listen – without thinking about something else – when someone needs to vent.

Just be there fully with your attention.

Or have a conversation and help someone find his or her way out of fear and to a more constructive and grounded perspective.

9. Remember the small acts of kindness too.

Let someone into your lane while driving. Let someone skip ahead of you in a line if he’s in a real hurry.

Hold up the door for someone or ask if they need help when you see them standing around with a map and a confused look.

10. Give someone an uplifting gift.

Someone in your life may have a a tough time right now. Then send him or her an inspirational book or movie. 

Or simply send an email with a link to something inspiring or funny that you have found like a blog, podcast or a comic.

11. Help someone out practically.

Give them a hand when moving or with making dinner or arrangements before a party.

If they need information, then help out by googling it or by asking knowledgeable people that you know.

12. Help the people in your life see how they make a difference in their lives.

When you talk to someone about his or her day or what has been going on lately then make sure to point out how he or she also has spread kindness and happiness.

People are often unaware of the positive things they do or they minimize them in their own minds.

So help them to see themselves in a more positive light and to improve their own self-esteem.

13. Remember the 3 reasons for kindness at the start of this article.

It will help you to be kinder even when you may not always feel much like it.

If you like, write those reasons down on a piece of paper and put that note where you can see it every day.

14. Pay it forward.

When someone does something kind for you – no matter how big or small – then try to pay that forward by being kind to someone else as soon as you can.

15. Be kinder towards yourself.

Then you will naturally treat other people with more kindness too. It is truly a win-win habit.

A simple way to start being kinder toward yourself is to each evening write down 3 things you appreciate about yourself and about what you have done that day in a journal.

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Honesty.

Such an important but sometimes tough thing to stay true to.

It’s often easier to just tell a white or perhaps even darker lie. To skirt around how you really think and feel.

But even though it might be tough there is also so much to be gained from being more honest both with yourself and the people in your life:

• The more honest you can be with yourself the easier it will be to be who you deep down want to be but also to improve aspects of your life that are truly in need of that.
• The more honest you are with both yourself and others the more your self-respect, your relationships and your confidence in yourself will improve.

So in this post I’d like to share the most thought-provoking and uplifting quotes and thoughts on honesty from the past 2000+ years.

And if you want more inspiration then have a look at this post with quotes on regret and this one filled with quotes on compassion.

Inspiring Honesty Quotes to Help You Live Your Best Life

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”
Oscar Wilde

“The real things haven’t changed. It is still best to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with simple pleasures; and have courage when things go wrong.”
Laura Ingalls Wilder

“Integrity is telling myself the truth. And honesty is telling the truth to other people.”
Spencer Johnson

“It’s discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit.”
Noël Coward

“Honesty is always the best policy, even when it’s not the trend.”
Sean Covey

“To conceal anything from those to whom I am attached, is not in my nature. I can never close my lips where I have opened my heart.”
Charles Dickens

“You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.”
Abraham Lincoln

“Don’t ever regret being honest. Period.”
Taylor Swift

“All cruel people describe themselves as paragons of frankness.”
Tennessee Williams

“Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure.”
Paulo Coelho

“The line between honesty and dishonesty is a narrow, shifting one and usually lets those get by that are the most subtle and already have more than they can use.”
Clarence Darrow

“Honesty is the first chapter of the book of wisdom.”
Thomas Jefferson

“You ask me what forces me to speak? A strange thing; my conscience.”
Victor Hugo

“Unless you’re ashamed of yourself now and then, you’re not honest”
William Faulkner

“When you give yourself permission to communicate what matters to you in every situation you will have peace despite rejection or disapproval. Putting a voice to your soul helps you to let go of the negative energy of fear and regret.”
Shannon L. Alder

“Being honest may not get you a lot of friends but it’ll always get you the right ones.”
John Lennon

“It takes strength and courage to admit the truth.”
Rick Riordan

“You are honest enough by nature to be able to see and judge your own self clearly – and that is a great thing. Never lose that honesty – always be honest with yourself.”
Enid Blyton

“When we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard or welcomed. But when we are silent, we are still afraid. So it is better to speak.”
Audre Lorde

“Nothing is so difficult as not deceiving oneself.”
Ludwig Wittgenstein

“Just be honest with yourself. That opens the door.”
Vernon Howard

“I admire honesty more than any other trait.”
Jerry Reinsdorf

“I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to
succeed, but I am bound to live up to what light I have.”
Abraham Lincoln

“Proclaim the truth and do not be silent through fear.”
St. Catherine of Siena

“When you’re dishonest with yourself, you’re disconnected from reality. You’re going to make poor decisions. You’re going to drop out of the moment and you’re going to be less happy and you’re going to be wrong.”
Naval Ravikant

“To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; to be credible we must be truthful.”
Edward R. Murrow

“What have I always believed? That on the whole, and by and large, if a man lived properly, not according to what any priests said, but according to what seemed decent and honest inside, then it would, at the end, more or less, turn out all right.”
Terry Pratchett

“Most often people seek in life occasions for persisting in their opinions rather than for educating themselves.”
André Gide

“I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.”
George Washington

“Each time you are honest and conduct yourself with honesty, a success force will drive you toward greater success. Each time you lie, even with a little white lie, there are strong forces pushing you toward failure.”
Joseph Sugarman

“If you can’t be honest with yourself, you can’t fix yourself. Admitting you have a problem is the first step for a good reason.”
Ed Latimore

“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.”
Marcus Aurelius

“The real source of inner joy is to remain truthful and honest.”
Dalai Lama

“If an offense comes out of the truth, better is it that the offense come than that the truth be concealed.”
Thomas Hardy

“Let’s tell the truth to people. When people ask, ‘How are you?’ have the nerve sometimes to answer truthfully. You must know, however, that people will start avoiding you because, they, too, have knees that pain them and heads that hurt and they don’t want to know about yours. But think of it this way: If people avoid you, you will have more time to meditate and do fine research on a cure for whatever truly afflicts you.”
Maya Angelou

“You should not honor men more than truth.”
Plato

“If you’re not honest with yourself, life will never be honest with you.”
Leigh Brackett

“Living with integrity means: Not settling for less than what you know you deserve in your relationships. Asking for what you want and need from others. Speaking your truth, even though it might create conflict or tension. Behaving in ways that are in harmony with your personal values. Making choices based on what you believe, and not what others believe.”
Barbara De Angelis

You may also find this post with quotes on perspective helpful.

Brutal Honesty Quotes

“Most men would rather deny a hard truth than face it.”
George R.R. Martin

“Honesty is more than not lying. It is truth telling, truth speaking, truth living, and truth loving.”
James E. Faust

“Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself the following question: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?”
Marcus Aurelius

“Better a cruel truth than a comfortable delusion.”
Edward Abbey

“You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.”
Winston Churchill

“To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest.”
Mahatma Gandhi

“The trouble with most of us is that we’d rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism.”
Norman Vincent Peale

“If we are not ashamed to think it, we should not be ashamed to say it.”
Marcus Tullius Cicero

“It is not easy to keep silent when silence is a lie.”
Victor Hugo

“Honesty is often very hard. The truth is often painful. But the freedom it can bring is worth the trying.”
Fred Rogers

“To know what is right and not do it is the worst cowardice.”
Confucius

“As long as you’re honest and you articulate what you believe to be true, somebody somewhere will become your enemy whether you like it or not.”
Criss Jami

“If you keep hiding your true self, your life becomes like slow death. Once you become free from the lies and the hiding of yourself, then life becomes vibrant again.”
Ziggy Marley

“The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.”
Flannery O’Connor

“The main trouble with being an honest man was that it lost you all your illusions.”
James Jones

“It is always helpful to remain honest and truthful in the face of difficulty. “
Dalai Lama

“Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.”
Winston S. Churchill

“If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it.”
Marcus Aurelius

Quotes About Honesty in Relationships and Love

“Hiding how you really feel and trying to make everyone happy doesn’t make you nice, it just makes you a liar.”
Jenny O’Connell

“Before speaking, consult your inner-truth barometer, and resist the temptation to tell people only what they want to hear.”
Wayne W. Dyer

“Nothing in this world is harder than speaking the truth, nothing easier than flattery.”
Fyodor Dostoevsky

“It is better to offer no excuse than a bad one.”
George Washington

“Just try, try to be right here, open, honest, straight.”
Ram Dass

“Telling the truth and making someone cry is better than telling a lie and making someone smile.”
Paulo Coelho

“It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.”
Mark Twain

“When a man is penalized for honesty he learns to lie.”
Criss Jami

“Honesty and openness is always the foundation of insightful dialogue.”
Bell Hooks

“Oh, what a tangled web we weave…when first we practice to deceive.”
Walter Scott

“No matter what you do, stand up for who you are and be honest.”
Bryant McGill

“Spontaneity is total sincerity.”
Alan Watts

“Staying silent is like a slow-growing cancer to the soul and a trait of a true coward. There is nothing intelligent about not standing up for yourself.”
Shannon L. Alder

“You can’t lie to your soul.”
Irvine Welsh

“The liar’s punishment is, not in the least that he is not believed, but that he cannot believe anyone else.”
George Bernard Shaw

“Authenticity without empathy is selfish. Authenticity without boundaries is careless.”
Adam Grant

“No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong.”
François de La Rochefoucauld

“Rather fail with honor than succeed by fraud.”
Sophocles

“Don’t assume, ask. Be kind. Tell the truth. Don’t say anything you can’t stand behind fully. Have integrity. Tell people how you feel.”
Warsan Shire

Be sure to also check out this post filled with relationship quotes.

Quotes on Trust, Loyalty and Honesty

“And that’s the thing about people who mean everything they say. They think everyone else does too.”
Khaled Hosseini

“Boastfulness and excessive pride do not equate at all with humility and honesty, credibility and integrity.”
Angelica Hopes

“If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.”
Mark Twain

“When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That’s my religion.”
Abraham Lincoln

“Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts.”
Albert Einstein

“Honesty is the fastest way to prevent a mistake from turning into a failure.”
James Altucher

“We are all travelers in the wilderness of this world, and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend.”
Robert Louis Stevenson

“Honesty is a very expensive gift, don’t expect it from cheap people.”
Warren Buffett

“Aim not at being clever but at being true.”
Marty Rubin

“Honesty is telling the truth to ourselves and others. Integrity is living that truth.”
Kenneth H. Blanchard

“I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy.”
George Washington

“Better to get hurt by the truth than comforted with a lie.”
Khaled Hosseini

“Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity.”
W. Clement Stone 

“I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence.”
Frederick Douglass

“If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem.”
Abraham Lincoln

“A lie has speed, but truth has endurance.”
Edgar J. Mohn

“The foundation stones for a balanced success are honesty, character, integrity, faith, love, and loyalty.”
Zig Ziglar

“There’s one way to find out if a man is honest: ask him; if he says yes, you know he’s crooked.”
Mark Twain

“Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.”
Kent M. Keith

“Honest differences are often a healthy sign of progress.”
Mahatma Gandhi

“Be true to your work, your word, and your friend.”
Henry David Thoreau

“You don’t always have to chop with the sword of truth. You can point with it too.”
Anne Lamott

“Honesty first; then courage; then brains – and all are indispensable.”
Theodore Roosevelt

“Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters”’
Albert Einstein

“As I have said, the first thing is to be honest with yourself. You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself. Great peacemakers are all people of integrity, of honesty, but humility.”
Nelson Mandela

“Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world would do this, it would change the earth.”
William Faulkner

Want even more? Have a look at this post with timeless thoughts on humility.

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Many of us have heard of the 7 deadly sins. It’s safe to say that everyone has had some experience with each of these negative traits. Ask anyone – a neighbor, co-worker, stranger on the street, or even your spouse, and they will tell you they’ve had some personal struggle with at least one of these unfavorable offenses.

What are the 7 Deadly Sins?

1. Lust, an uncontrollable and inappropriate desire, usually for sex, but can also include a desire for power, money, or fame.
2. Gluttony, a need to consume excess amounts of food and drink, and wasting what others need.
3. Greed, a great desire for wealth or material possessions.
4. Sloth, an avoidance of work, excessive laziness, and a failure to use one’s natural gifts and talents.
5. Wrath, an uncontrollable anger and hatred towards another person that can result in an unwillingness to forgive.
6. Envy, a strong wrongful desire of what someone else has, including possessions, status, and advantages.
7. Pride, a superior opinion of oneself, an “I’m better than you” attitude, which places one-self above all others.

These deadly sins represent all that is negative and offensive with the human race. It seems impossible that anyone can use these as a way to bring happiness into their lives. Let’s take a look at each deadly sin, and see how we can create our own “Happiness Strategies” to boost productivity.

1. Self-Control vs. Lust

Self-control helps to keep our wildest desires in check. When we practice self-control, we use that unbridled energy to benefit others, rather than spending all of that energy on ourselves. It’s about being on a selfless mission rather than a selfish mission. To be honest, self-control is not easy, especially when you have a habit of not reigning in those primitive desires. It needs to be practiced on a daily basis until it becomes your new normal. 

When you find yourself desiring a passionate night with a beautiful woman or handsome man who you hardly know, turn that into a desire to find out more about that person. Ask them about their career, their family, their favorite places to visit. Make it your personal mission to learn what it is that makes this person beautiful on the inside.

Happiness Strategy #1 – Choose one of these strategies to practice the next time you are faced with a situation where you need to practice some major self-control.

“If you lose self-control everything will fall.” – John Wooden

2. Temperance vs. Gluttony

Temperance involves self-discipline and moderation, typically when it comes to food and alcohol. It teaches us to use food and drink as a way to be healthy. It’s not that we can’t enjoy food, with all of its flavors and textures and delicious aromas. If we are unhealthy due to the amount of food or drink we consume, then we physically and mentally cannot be at our personal best nor can we be available for the important people in our lives. Being healthy not only gives us an advantage in our own life, but also allows us to be healthy enough to serve others. 

Happiness Strategy #2 – Find one way to make a healthy choice.

3. Charity vs Greed

Charity is about placing others above yourself, making sure others are taken care of first, and using your own resources to accomplish both of these things. This is a great example of how doing for others is a key to happiness for yourself.

Giving, in any form, creates a sense of inward happiness. “I am happy because I have the resources available to make someone else happy.” The more often you give of yourself, the more happiness you will find. It becomes a circular pattern. I’m not talking about giving out of guilt or obligation. The attitude with which you do practice charity will have lasting effects on your own personal happiness. 

Happiness Strategy #3 – Find an opportunity to give of your time or resources to someone in need.

4. Diligence vs. Sloth

Diligence is a desire to use our energy, our talents, and our gifts to serve others rather than live a life of ease and laziness. Energetic and hardworking is a great way to describe a diligent person. They are working towards a purpose, not simply working to check a task off of a list. Being diligent, though, is more than being a hard-worker. It’s also about responsibility and reliability. Others need to know they can rely on you to do what you said you would and be responsible enough to complete it to the best of your ability. 

Having a goal outside of yourself is often what keeps us going until the end. Knowing we’ve accomplished that goal despite our desire to quit, give up, or only do what needs to be done, gives you a sense of pride and accomplishment, and inevitably a sense of happiness. People without a vision or objective in life that they can diligently throw themselves into are inevitably unhappy.

Happiness Strategy #4 – Find a purpose bigger than yourself to use your time and talents to benefit others.

5. Patience vs. Wrath

Patience is taking the time to understand others and being willing to forgive when mistakes or offenses are made. This is not an easy task whatsoever. It is so easy to be upset or criticize the person who offended you, rather than being willing to forgive them.

Forgiveness and understanding are not the norm in our modern culture. There is an underlying attitude of “Eye for an Eye”, or “They got what’s coming to them!”. This will not bring you peace, joy, and least of all any type of happiness. 

Living in anger and unforgiveness will destroy you from the inside out. A popular quote about refusing to forgive describes perfectly what living like this truly does to you. “Refusing to forgive is like taking poison but expecting someone else to die.”

Happiness Strategy #5 – Practice patience and forgiveness daily.

6. Kindness vs. Envy

Kindness is a desire to help others, rather than the need to be better than them. We are envious of our neighbors because they have a brand new car. We are envious of our friends because they went on a tropical vacation. We are envious of our brother-in-law because he received a promotion at work. Envy does nothing but cause major rifts between you and the people you are close to. Does this sound like something that can bring you true happiness?

Kindness, especially in spite of the way we feel, will cut you free from the chains of envy and jealousy. It can be practiced daily in simple ways. Kindness can come in many forms. Text your wife a love note while she’s at work. Bring in the mail for your neighbor. Make cookies for your child’s teacher. Smiling at those you pass by will brighten not only your day but theirs as well.

Happiness Strategy #6 – Find one way to practice kindness each and every day.

“Our envy of others devours us most of all.” – Alexander Solzhenitsyn

7. Humility vs. Pride

Humility is actively letting go of your own false ego and replacing it with an attitude of service. This is definitely not an easy task. Pride allows us to believe we are not in need of help, we are better than everyone else, and we know everything there is to know. Pride also has an uncanny ability to demonstrate in our own lives, the need for humility.

Humility places the emphasis on someone else, besides myself, and their needs. What can I do to help them through this time of struggle? How can I best use my co-workers talents to improve on this presentation? When we practice humility, we begin to see the positive aspects of another person’s life, which in turn helps us see the positive aspects of our own lives.

Happiness Strategy #7 – Practice humility by living a life with an attitude of “others first”.

Now you have seven strategies you can practically implement and use each and every day. Practicing these strategies will create long-lasting habits of self-control, temperance, charity, diligence, patience, kindness, and humility. 

Looking at all of these in its entirety can make you feel very overwhelmed. To best implement these strategies, choose one to follow each week. Begin by focusing on the one that you struggle with the most.

Steady and consistent practice of these seven happiness strategies will have you feeling better. Those around you will take notice that you are now a happier and more contented human being.

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If you’ve watched a video, read a blog post, or follow personal development blog posts, you’ve come to understand that true happiness and fulfillment are an internal job. No other human being can make you feel happy — at least not sustainable happiness. 

There are moments when others in your life help you to feel good, but happiness starts and blooms from inside of you. Happiness comes when you make and witness progress towards your goals. Happiness is real when you’re authentically living your life’s purpose. 

If you’re struggling with how to build happiness habits consistently, here are four strategies to incorporate. You can live out happiness in an abundant way.

1. Make getting enough sleep a significant goal

Sleep is one of those life areas that we know we need more of it, but it often gets pushed aside because other things feel as if they’re more of a priority. One key to sustained success is having enough energy to accomplish your goals. You won’t have enough energy if you’re not consistently getting enough sleep. 

One of the primary reasons people feel the way they do can be traced back to not getting enough sleep. A lack of sleep drains your energy, slows you down, and puts you in an irritable mood. Successful leaders do their best to get enough sleep as a part of incorporating healthy habits. Now, what is enough sleep? That will be different for each person and what their body dictates. It’s up to you to study yourself and give your body and mind the sleep it needs.

“It isn’t what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it.” – Dale Carnegie

2. Move your body and change your state

I’m not going to give you a rant about the need to exercise. There is more than enough material talking about the importance of being physically active. What you should understand is that every time you move your body, you change your state. Physical movement has an immediate effect on our feelings. If you’re mad, go for a short jog. If you’re feeling off, turn on some music and dance it out. If you’re sleepy, stand up, stretch, and breathe. 

Moving your body is one of the purest ways to ensure proper energy management. It’s also essential to living a long life. Exercise and physical movement, along with giving your body the fuel (nutrition) it needs, helps you take on the hard work of becoming the best version of yourself.

Happiness happens with the right mindset, being in control of your feelings and emotions, and knowing how to get into a better state when something upsets you. Moving your body is a great way to practice happiness.

3. Create your ideal form of work

We spend so much time doing something to pay our bills and help us live a life free of financial stress. That may be a job or a business, but one way or another, it does have a tremendous effect on your life. 

If you’re going to create happiness in your life, you have to create your ideal “earn a living” situation. If it’s going after a better job, use the Internet to learn where that job is, what it will take to secure it, and get to work. If it’s creating a business, take advantage of all the tools and technology at our disposal. Get clear on who you want to help and what you want to help them do. Put the pieces together. 

Life is too short to spend a significant chunk of your week miserable and feeling financial stress. The path to a better working situation is not easy, but those that came before us have shown it’s possible. Find or create work that fulfills you, and you will be on the path to creating happiness because one of the most challenging areas of your life will be fulling your purpose.

“Happiness is a constant work-in-progress, because solving problems is a constant work-in-progress – the solutions to today’s problems will lay the foundation for tomorrow’s problems, and so on. True happiness occurs only when you find the problems you enjoy having and enjoy solving.” – Mark Manson

4. Get out of living the comparison loop

Social media and the open access we have to others has created a culture that feeds into comparison syndrome. We continuously see others’ success, and it can make us feel punny when our mind spirals. We see others win, and it fuels our bitterness, envy, and irritation. We are frustrated that it seems to be taking so long for us. The comparison bruises our ego. 

If you’re going to live a happy life through healthy habits, you have to start living out your personal journey. This has to be about you vs. you every day, and that’s the only comparison you’ll allow. 

You compete to do better than you did the day before. You vow to give each day your best, and the only companion you make is against the effort you make. This becomes about you becoming better and not worrying about being better than someone else.

It’s not a fantasy or myth that you can be happy every day, even when life is not going as planned. Happiness is a learned habit like anything else. You can train your mind, body, and spirit to do whatever it takes to live fulfilled. 

Look at these four areas of your life and see how they’re lining up. The happiness you seek lies in the habits you’re practicing and building. You can be happy every day if you choose to be. 

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