Inspirational quotes can help us draw meaning to our lives through the wisdom of others. Here, I’d like to share some favorites that have helped me and my patients along the way. Please enjoy.

Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly now. Love mercy now. Walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it. – The Talmund
Unless you love someone, nothing else makes any sense. – E. E. Cummings
Being the “best you can be” is really only possible when you are deeply connected to another. Splendid isolation is for planets, not people. – Susan Johnson
History often repeats itself, and parents are vulnerable to passing on to their children unhealthy patters from the past.  Understanding our lives can free us from the otherwise almost predictable situation in which we recreate the damage to our children that was done to us in our own childhoods. – Dan Siegel
Making sense of life can free parents from patterns of the past that have imprisoned them in the present. – Dan Siegel
Grief never ends… But it changes. It’s a passage, not a place to stay. Grief is not a sign of weakness, nor a lack of faith. It is the price of love. – Author Unknown
And when your family shares a deeper intimacy and respect, problems between family members will seem lighter to bear. – John M. Gottman
Turn your demons into art, your shadow into a friend, your fear into fuel, your failures into teachers, your weaknesses into reasons to keep fighting. Don’t waste your pain. Recycle your heart. – Andrea Balt

Picture the beach at low tide, endless sand offering itself as material for creation. Three different approaches are possible. The fully Apollonian man builds elaborate sandcastles, throwing himself into his activity as if his creations would last forever, totally oblivious of the coming tide which will demolish his productions. Here is someone who ignores reality and is therefore continually surprised, battered and bruised by it. The fully Dionysian man sees the inevitability of the leveling tide, and therefore builds no castles. His constant preoccupation with the ephemeral nature of his life and his creations allows him no psychic space to live and play. He will only build if his productions are assured of immortality, but unlike the Apollonian man, he suffers no delusions in this regard. Here is someone tyrannized and depleted by reality. The third option is Nietzsche’s tragic man, aware of the tide and the transitory nature of his productions, yet building his sandcastles nevertheless. The inevitable limitations of reality do not dim the passion in which he builds his castles; in fact, the inexorable realities add a poignancy and sweetness to his passion. The tragicomic play in which our third man builds, Nietzsche suggests, is the richest form of life, generating the deepest meaning from the dialectical interplay between illusion and reality. – Stephen A. Mitchell, PHD, “The Wings of Icarus:—Illusion and the Problem of Narcissism”

People who need people,
Are the luckiest people in the world
We’re children, needing other children
And yet letting a grown-up pride
Hide all the need inside
Acting more like children than children”- Bob Merrill, Julie Styne

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. – Marianne Williamson (Nelson Mandella quoted her in his 1994 inauguration speech and and is often incorrectly given credit for these words.)