β
Never respond to an angry person with a fiery comeback, even if he deserves it...Don't allow his anger to become your anger.
β
β
Bohdi Sanders (Warrior Wisdom: Ageless Wisdom for the Modern Warrior)
β
To be heroic is to be courageous enough to die for something; to be inspirational is to be crazy enough to live a little.
β
β
Criss Jami (Venus in Arms)
β
Cowards hide [...] but warriors lie and wait [...] the only difference is whether you're motivated by fear or purpose.
β
β
Neal Shusterman (UnSouled (Unwind, #3))
β
The worst disability in life is a bad attitude.
β
β
SupaNova Slom
β
She was aware of how much she was degrading herself. Yet at the same time, she had no motivation to care.
β
β
Cade Mengler (The Companions)
β
You were born a winner, a warrior, one who defied the odds by surviving the most gruesome battle of them all - the race to the egg. And now that you are a giant, why do you even doubt victory against smaller numbers and wider margins? The only walls that exist are those you have placed in your mind. And whatever obstacles you conceive, exist only because you have forgotten what you have already achieved.
β
β
Suzy Kassem (Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem)
β
Know what you want and reach out eagerly for it.
β
β
Lailah Gifty Akita (Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind)
β
Cowards shrink from challenges, weaklings flee from them, but warriors wink at them.
β
β
Matshona Dhliwayo
β
It is better for you to take responsibility for your life as it is, instead of blaming others, or circumstances, for your predicament. As your eyes open, you'll see that your state of health, happiness, and every circumstance of your life has been, in large part, arranged by you - consciously or unconsciously.
β
β
Dan Millman (Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book That Changes Lives)
β
Fight your battles through prayer,
And win your battles through faith.
β
β
Luffina Lourduraj
β
If a lion turned every time small dogs barked at it, it would be the laughing stock of the jungle.
β
β
Matshona Dhliwayo
β
Never strike out of anger if at all possible, this will give your enemy the advantage and strengthen his resolve and psyche
β
β
Soke Behzad Ahmadi
β
What you think of me does not change who I am.
β
β
Lailah Gifty Akita
β
The βWarrior Ethosβ emphasizes placing the mission first, not accepting defeat, and being disciplined physically and mentally. Why? Because an American Soldier is a βguardian of freedom and the American way of life.
β
β
Dan Smee (Totally American: Harnessing the Dynamic Duo of Optimism and Resilience to Achieve Success)
β
The victory over our inner self is a daily struggle. Be strong and do not give up.
β
β
Lailah Gifty Akita (Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind)
β
A warrior doesnβt worry. He or she evaluates the situation, investigates the source, calculates the risks and benefits, formulates a plan then puts it into action.
β
β
Shannon L. Alder
β
In the moment of decision, may you hear the voice of the Creator saying, βThis is right road, travel on it.
β
β
Lailah Gifty Akita (Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind)
β
It is what it is because you let it be so.
β
β
Suzy Kassem (Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem)
β
A warrior is defined by his scars, not his medals.
β
β
Matshona Dhliwayo
β
The louder the dogs bark the less a lion feels threatened.
β
β
Matshona Dhliwayo
β
We are surrounded by adversity but we shall triumph because we have a greater spirit
β
β
Lailah Gifty Akita (Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind)
β
Life as a defeated warrior with dignity is lot better than the king ruling without it.
β
β
Vikrmn: CA Vikram Verma (Guru with Guitar)
β
Fundamental rule in your life, is to know what your deserve in life and getting what you deserve. That's winning always.
β
β
Jubin Jomon
β
Life is hope.
Hope is faith.
Faith is believe.
Believe is possibilities.
Possibility is miraculous.
Miraculous is divine.
Divine is supernatural.
Supernatural is spiritual.
β
β
Lailah Gifty Akita (Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind)
β
Never underestimate a warrior; the lion in him may be sleeping, but that does not mean heβs dead.
β
β
Matshona Dhliwayo
β
The best warrior is the one who succeeds in transforming an enemy into a friend.
β
β
null
β
Don't spend your days sitting around waiting for something to happen. Get outside and make it happen!Live like a warrior, be at one with nature, fearless in the moment....because this moment will never happen again so don't waste it!
β
β
Karen Gibbs
β
Challenges are part of life;
We weaken our spirit, when we act in fear and lose hope.
But we strengthen our spirit, when we fearlessly with faith and hope, rise up to meet and conquer the challenges.
β
β
Lailah Gifty Akita (Think Great: Be Great! (Beautiful Quotes, #1))
β
The warrior of the night is a wondrous soul.
β
β
Lailah Gifty Akita
β
In the strength of God, you can crush any army
β
β
Lailah Gifty Akita (Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind)
β
Wolves travel in packs, but the fiercest travel alone.
β
β
Matshona Dhliwayo
β
The strong overcome their opponents, the mighty crush them, the shrewd outwit them, the cowardly hide from them, but the enlightened transcend them.
β
β
Matshona Dhliwayo
β
The workplace is like a battlefield, and you need to be a warrior to survive. So arm yourself with knowledge and fight for your place in the corporate world.
β
β
Shubham Shukla (Career's Quest: Proven Strategies for Mastering Success in Your Profession: Networking and Building Professional Relationships)
β
If you want to be happy you have to study people who are happy. You have to hang out with people that are happy. Life won't go in the direction you want, by simply trying to stay positive in a life you're not happy with. You have to know what you want and why you truly want it so badly. When you figure that out then you need to change your current identity, in order to fit the type of person you envision would make those dreams come true. Happiness is not reliant on the actions or inactions of other people. It is your βcourage in motionβ toward your dreams.
β
β
Shannon L. Alder
β
If his decision is correct, he will win the battle, even if it lasts longer than expected. If his decision is wrong, he will be defeated and he will have to start all over againβonly this time with more wisdom.
But once he has started, a Warrior of the Light perseveres until the end.
β
β
Paulo Coelho (Warrior of the Light)
β
. . . most martial artists want to know how A technique is done, A seasoned Sensei will demonstrate why
β
β
Soke Behzad Ahmadi (Dirty Fighting : Lethal Okinawan Karate)
β
Your deepest scars tell the world of your greatest triumphs.
β
β
Matshona Dhliwayo
β
Every adversity is the fuel for the soul. The greatest self-realization occurs during the greatest adversity.
β
β
Lailah Gifty Akita (Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind)
β
We have certain demons who are motivated by the smell of food. They tend to get rather violent whenever they smell it. I personally wouldnβt be caught eating anything because I would end up dead. You might not. But youβd still have to fight them, and since some of them are rather ugly and really, really smelly, it might spoil your appetite. Then again, maybe not. Doesnβt spoil Noirβs. I think it makes him hungrier, especially when he guts them. Sick, but true. (Asmodeus)
β
β
Sherrilyn Kenyon (Dream Warrior (Dream-Hunter, #4; Dark-Hunter, #17))
β
Donβt train to be ordinary; train to be extraordinary. You have to go beyond the ordinary in order to become extraordinary. You must develop a style that works for you.
β
β
Bohdi Sanders (BUSHIDO: The Way of the Warrior)
β
Donβt think for one second you canβt be anything you want to beβ a warrior, a goddess, a queen-bee.
β
β
Melody Lee (Vine: Book of Poetry)
β
Adaptability and innovation are the root of victory. Chaos and fear are the birth of defeat.
β
β
Alpha Four
β
Times of adversity are golden moments.
β
β
Lailah Gifty Akita (Think Great: Be Great! (Beautiful Quotes, #1))
β
I have seen times of plentiful and times of scarcity.
I enjoy the times of prosperity and endure the times of difficulty.
β
β
Lailah Gifty Akita (Think Great: Be Great! (Beautiful Quotes, #1))
β
Let you limitation fuel your determination to work on your strengths.
β
β
Lailah Gifty Akita (Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind)
β
The obstacles were intended to be a distraction from the goal.
You must keep a persistence focus to realise the goal.
β
β
Lailah Gifty Akita (Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind)
β
Learn like an amateur. Train like a champion. Fight like a warrior. Triumph like a conqueror.
β
β
Matshona Dhliwayo
β
A lion will never be afraid of sheep, no matter how many outnumber it.
β
β
Matshona Dhliwayo
β
Keep on desiring. Keep on seeking.
β
β
Lailah Gifty Akita (Think Great: Be Great! (Beautiful Quotes, #1))
β
Hang on! Donβt give up.
β
β
Lailah Gifty Akita (Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind)
β
Encouragement is a fire of flame. It refreshes the soul and revives the spirit.
β
β
Lailah Gifty Akita (Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind)
β
You have to conquer every mountain to fulfill the dream.
β
β
Lailah Gifty Akita (Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind)
β
I am a great warrior.
β
β
Lailah Gifty Akita (Think Great: Be Great! (Beautiful Quotes, #1))
β
The sacred soul is untouchable.
β
β
Lailah Gifty Akita
β
Whatever happens to us, God gives grace to endure and overcome the situation.
β
β
Lailah Gifty Akita (Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind)
β
Leftists may claim that their activism is motivated by compassion or by moral principles, and moral principle does play a role for the leftist of the oversocialized type. But compassion and moral principle cannot be the main motives for leftist activism. Hostility is too prominent a component of leftist behavior; so is the drive for power. Moreover, much leftist behavior is not rationally calculated to be of benefit to the people whom the leftists claim to be trying to help. For example, if one believes that affirmative action is good for black people, does it make sense to demand affirmative action in hostile or dogmatic terms? Obviously it would be more productive to take a diplomatic and conciliatory approach that would make at least verbal and symbolic concessions to white people who think that affirmative action discriminates against them.
But leftist activists do not take such an approach because it would not satisfy their emotional needs. Helping black people is not their real goal. Instead, race problems serve as an excuse for them to express their own hostility and frustrated need for power. In doing so they actually harm black people, because the activistsβ hostile attitude toward the white majority tends to intensify race hatred.
β
β
Theodore John Kaczynski (Industrial Society and Its Future)
β
There comes a time for us not to just be survivors, but to be warriors. Yara, you have your life, and the chance to make the most of it. Don't run or hide from that challenge or let your guilt keep you from living your life. This gift is such a beautiful opportunity. Embrace it. Seize every opportunity from here on out. Live.
β
β
Becca Vry (Musings: An Argyle Empire Anthology)
β
The hunter knows how to live in the jungle,
the warrior knows how to live on the battlefield,
and the sage knows how to live in life.
The fiercest ruler is a warrior,
the most beloved leader is a saint,
and the greatest soveriegn is a sage.
β
β
Matshona Dhliwayo
β
Just handle what's in front of you now. and the future will take care of itself. Otherwise, you'll spend most of your life wondering which foot you'll use to step off the curb when you're still only halfway to the corner.
β
β
Dan Millman (Sacred Journey of the Peaceful Warrior)
β
A hunter is no greater than what he kills.
A farmer is no greater than what he reaps.
A fisherman is no greater than what he baits.
A sculpture is no greater than what he fashions.
A warrior is no greater than what he conquers.
β
β
Matshona Dhliwayo
β
If adversity was truly bad, warriors wouldn't rise from it.
β
β
Matshona Dhliwayo
β
Hide your weaknesses from your enemies. Play down your strengths.
β
β
Matshona Dhliwayo
β
A warrior conquers more in one day than a coward in a lifetime.
β
β
Matshona Dhliwayo
β
Anger at the loss of a fellow warrior β and revenge killing of the man responsible β motivates heroes throughout epic poetry.
β
β
Natalie Haynes (Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths)
β
I will pursue the dream, no matter how long it takes to fulfil it.
β
β
Lailah Gifty Akita (Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind)
β
People fight wars for power. But those who win are motivated by love. Never lose sight of that.
β
β
Sarah Noffke (Warriors (The Reverians, #3))
β
The courage to dream, the courage to act.
β
β
Lailah Gifty Akita (Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind)
β
Battling wolves today strengthens you for battling lions tomorrow.
β
β
Matshona Dhliwayo
β
You have tried to be superior in an ordinary realm. Now you must learn to be ordinary in a superior realm.
β
β
Dan Millman (Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book That Changes Lives)
β
The brave with all of their weaknesses are better than the cowardly with all of their strengths.
β
β
Matshona Dhliwayo
β
Don't think for second you are not a badass warrior. That's precisely your problem, you don't realize how amazingly brilliant and super kickass you are. Your potential is only limited by your mind.
β
β
Melody Lee (Moon Gypsy)
β
Here you are.
Still standing. Fierce with the reality of love and loss. Wearing the truth of our hearts on your tattered sleeves. And yes, this one very nearly took you out. And yes, there were days when the darkness was heavy and the climb out of that rabbit hole required you to mine your depths for strength you didnβt even know you had.
But here you are.
Broken open by hope. Cracked wide by loss. Full of longing and grief and the burn of that phoenix fire. Warrior painted with ashes. Embers from the blaze still clinging to your newborn skin, leaving you forever marked with scars of rebirth.
And just look at you. Heart broken but still beating. Arms empty but still open. Face raised to the sky and giving thanks for the light, even when it hurts your eyes.
My god, you are beautiful.
β
β
Jeanette LeBlanc
β
Donβt try to fit me in a boxβ¦ My life is not one dimensional. Iβm the summer breeze and the hurricaneβ¦ Iβm the serene lake and the raging oceanβ¦ Iβm the gentle poet and the rough warriorβ¦ I can build and I can destroy... I can romance and I can ravage... I can be wise and I can be silly... I can and WILL be everything that the length, depth, and breadth of life will allow... KNOW THIS! Your labels donβt limit meβ¦ they limit your experience of me. Donβt confuse the two.
β
β
Steve Maraboli
β
Iβm in awe of the people who manage their difficult lives with little complaint, those who have suffered more than their fair share of pain, and understand things could have been much worse, those who take the time to be grateful for the important things, and who never give up on themselves or their lives. It's no easy feat to stay optimistic when life has shown you too much darkness, yet our world is filled with these steady, strong, resilient warriors of the light. From them, we have so much to learn.
β
β
Scott Stabile
β
Praying always means praying through things and not giving up. It means being ever-watchful and persevering in prayer in order to see breakthrough.
God wants us to be persistent in our praying. Donβt forget to spend some quiet time praying to your Heavenly Father today.
β
β
Stormie Omartian (Prayer Warrior: The Power of Praying Your Way to Victory)
β
Within us all are sages, warriors and fools; we more often that not choose the fools
β
β
rassool jibraeel snyman
β
A warrior experiences many burials, but only one death.
β
β
Matshona Dhliwayo
β
A warrior proves his courage in the heat of battle.
β
β
Matshona Dhliwayo
β
Warriors suffer for their dreams. Cowards pay for their fears.
β
β
Matshona Dhliwayo
β
Wisdom is a great prophet, faith is a great warrior, knowledge is a great sage, and virtue is a great priest.
β
β
Matshona Dhliwayo
β
O Lord, thy will be done in my life as it is written in Heaven in Jesus Name. Amen.
β
β
Lailah Gifty Akita (Think Great: Be Great! (Beautiful Quotes, #1))
β
We were despised and trampled upon but the Lord lifted us.
β
β
Lailah Gifty Akita (Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind)
β
You arenβt meant to fit in. Your fierce warrior spirit is meant to tear down old systems that lack integrity.
β
β
Sharon Kirstin (The Answers Within)
β
Brave cubs become fierce lions.
β
β
Matshona Dhliwayo
β
One who conquers the sea today is ready to conquer the ocean tomorrow.
β
β
Matshona Dhliwayo
β
A lion conquers more in one day than a sheep in a lifetime.
β
β
Matshona Dhliwayo
β
HONESTY
is reached through the doorway of grief and loss. Where we cannot go in our mind, our memory, or our body is where we cannot be straight with another, with the world, or with our self. The fear of loss, in one form or another, is the motivator behind all conscious and unconscious dishonesties: all of us are afraid of loss, in all its forms, all of us, at times, are haunted or overwhelmed by the possibility of a disappearance, and all of us therefore, are one short step away from dishonesty. Every human being dwells intimately close to a door of revelation they are afraid to pass through. Honesty lies in understanding our close and necessary relationship with not wanting to hear the truth.
The ability to speak the truth is as much the ability to describe what it is like to stand in trepidation at this door, as it is to actually go through it and become that beautifully honest spiritual warrior, equal to all circumstances, we would like to become. Honesty is not the revealing of some foundational truth that gives us power over life or another or even the self, but a robust incarnation into the unknown unfolding vulnerability of existence, where we acknowledge how powerless we feel, how little we actually know, how afraid we are of not knowing and how astonished we are by the generous measure of grief that is conferred upon even the most average life.
Honesty is grounded in humility and indeed in humiliation, and in admitting exactly where we are powerless. Honesty is not found in revealing the truth, but in understanding how deeply afraid of it we are. To become honest is in effect to become fully and robustly incarnated into powerlessness. Honesty allows us to live with not knowing. We do not know the full story, we do not know where we are in the story; we do not know who is at fault or who will carry the blame in the end. Honesty is not a weapon to keep loss and heartbreak at bay, honesty is the outer diagnostic of our ability to come to ground in reality, the hardest attainable ground of all, the place where we actually dwell, the living, breathing frontier where there is no realistic choice between gain or loss.
β
β
David Whyte
β
Lion Is fearless. Lion is not a survivor But a warrior. Lion Hunt Alone, Not in group. Lion Don't eat leftover, but hunt big. A Lion does not turn around when a small dog Barks. Lion Is the king of the jungle
β
β
Andrew Rozario
β
You were born a giver, don't die a taker.
You were born an earner, don't die a begger.
You were born a sharer, don't die a hoader.
You were born a lover, don't die a hater.
You were born a builder, don't die a destroyer.
You were born a creator, don't die an immitator.
You were born a leader, don't die a follower.
You were born a learner, don't die a teacher.
You were born a doer, don't die a talker.
You were born a dreamer, don't die a doubter.
You were born a winner, don't die a loser.
You were born an encourager, don't die a shamer.
You were born a defender, don't die an aggressor.
You were born a liberator, don't die an executioner.
You were born a soldier, don't die a murderer.
You were born an angel, don't die a monster.
You were born a protecter, don't die an attacker.
You were born an originator, don't die a repeater.
You were born an achiever, don't die a quitter.
You were born a victor, don't die a failure.
You were born a conqueror, don't die a warrior.
You were born a contender, don't die a joker.
You were born a producer, don't die a user.
You were born a motivator, don't die a discourager.
You were born a master, don't die an amateur.
You were born an intessessor, don't die an accusor.
You were born an emancipator, don't die a backstabber.
You were born a sympathizer, don't die a provoker.
You were born a healer, don't die a killer.
You were born a peacemaker, don't die an instigater.
You were born a deliverer, don't die a collaborator.
You were born a savior, don't die a plunderer.
You were born a believer, don't die a sinner.
β
β
Matshona Dhliwayo
β
A long while ago, a great warrior faced a situation which made it necessary for him to make a decision which insured his success on the battlefield. He was about to send his armies against a powerful foe, whose men outnumbered his own. He loaded his soldiers into boats, sailed to the enemyβs country, unloaded soldiers and equipment, then gave the order to burn the ships that had carried them. Addressing his men before the first battle, he said, βYou see the boats going up in smoke. That means that we cannot leave these shores alive unless we win! We now have no choiceβwe win, or we perish! They won.
β
β
Napoleon Hill (Think and Grow Rich (Start Motivational Books))
β
Make a movie out of this, Hallmark.Β Being carried away to drown by a warrior on horseback for not embracing the holiday spirit is certainly more motivating than watching a jaded CEO move to a small town where she falls in love with Christmas and her hunky neighbor.
β
β
Bonnie Quinn (The Man With No Shadow (How to Survive Camping Book 1))
β
Forgive yourself for the lives that will be lost, but do not forget them. A good leader always recognizes that sacrifices must be made in order to win, but remembering or forgetting those who sacrificed themselves for your cause is what separates the tyrants from the benevolent.
β
β
Courtney Praski (The Seven (The Oloris Series, #1))
β
It is obvious that in his day-dreams he is a warrior, not a professor; all of the men he admires were military. His opinion of women, like every man's, is an objectification of his own emotion towards them, which is obviously one of fear. "Forget not thy whip"-- but nine women out of ten would get the whip away from him, and he knew it, so he kept away from women, and soothed his wounded vanity with unkind remarks. [...] [H]e is so full of fear and hatred that spontaneous love of mankind seems to him impossible. He has never conceived of the man who, with all the fearlessness and stubborn pride of the superman, nevertheless does not inflict pain because he has no wish to do so. Does any one suppose that Lincoln acted as he did from fear of hell? Yet to Nietzsche, Lincoln is abject, Napoleon magnificent. [...] I dislike Nietzsche because he likes the contemplation of pain, because he erects conceit into duty, because the men whom he most admires are conquerors, whose glory is cleverness in causing men to die. But I think the ultimate argument against his philosophy, as against any unpleasant but internally self-conscious ethic, lies not in an appeal to facts, but in an appeal to the emotions. Nietzsche despises universal love; I feel it the motive power to all that I desire as regards the world. His followers have had their innings, but we may hope that it is coming rapidly to an end.
β
β
Bertrand Russell (A History of Western Philosophy)
β
As recently as the early 1970s, a Republican president - Richard Nixon - was willing to impose wage and price controls to rescue the U.S. economy from crisis, popularizing the notion that βWe are all Keynesians now.β But by the 1980s, the battle of ideas waged out of the same Washington think tanks that now deny climate change had successfully managed to equate the very idea of industrial planning with Stalinβs five-year plans. Real capitalists donβt plan, these ideological warriors insisted - they unleash the power of the profit motive and let the market, in its infinite wisdom, create the best possible society for all.
β
β
Naomi Klein (This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate)
β
Your commitment is to action alone, not to the fruits of action. That must never be: you must not be motivated by the fruits of your actions. Yet you must not become attached to inaction. Perform your duties as a warrior and cast off attachment, Arjuna, indifferent alike whether you gain or gain not. This indifference is called yoga.
Action is far lower than the rule of understanding, Arjuna. Seek refuge in wisdom. They are unworthy who are moved only by gain.
Lesson Two, verses 47-49
β
β
Bhagvad Gita
β
Givers are worth more than takers.
Earners are worth more than beggars.
Sharers are worth more than hoarders.
Lovers are worth more than haters.
Builders are worth more than destroyers.
Creators are worth more than imitators.
Leaders are worth more than followers.
Learners are worth more than teachers.
Doers are worth more than talkers.
Dreamers are worth more than doubters.
Winners are worth more than losers.
Encouragers are worth more than detractors.
Defenders are worth more than aggressors.
Liberators are worth more than jailers.
Soldiers are worth more than murderers.
Angels are worth more than monsters.
Protectors are worth more than attackers.
Originators are worth more than copiers.
Achievers are worth more than quitters.
Victors are worth more than failures.
Conquerors are worth more than warriors.
Contenders are worth more than spectators.
Producers are worth more than users.
Motivators are worth more than discouragers.
Masters are worth more than amateurs.
Intercessors are worth more than accusers.
Emancipators are worth more than backstabbers.
Sympathizers are worth more than provokers.
Healers are worth more than killers.
Peacemakers are worth more than instigators.
Deliverers are worth more than collaborators.
Saviors are worth more than invaders.
Believers are worth more than sinners.
β
β
Matshona Dhliwayo
β
Women are taught to sacrifice, to play nice, to live an altruistic life because a good girl is always rewarded in the end. This is not a virtue; it is propaganda. Submission gets you a ticket to future prosperity that will never manifest. By the time you realize the ticket to success and happiness you have been sold isnβt worth the paper it was printed on, it will be too late. Go on, spend a quarter of your life, even half of your life, in the service of others and you will realize you were hustled. You do not manifest your destiny by placing others first! A kingdom built on your back doesnβt become your kingdom, it becomes your folly. History does not remember the slaves of Egypt that built the pyramids, they remember the Pharaohs that wielded the power over those laborers. Yet here you are, content with being a worker bee, motivated by some sales pitch that inspires you to work harder for some master than you work for yourself, with this loose promise that one day you will share in his wealth. Altruism is your sin. Selfishness is your savior. Ruthless aggression and self-preservation are not evil. Why arenβt females taught these things? Instead of putting themselves first, women are told to be considerate and selfless. From birth, they have been beaten in the head with this notion of βDonβt be selfish!β Fuck that. Your mother may have told you to wait your turn like a good girl, but Iβm saying cut in front of that other bitch. Club Success is about to hit capacity, and you donβt want to be the odd woman out. Where are the powerful women? Those who refuse to play by those rules and want more out of life than what a man allows her to have? I created a category for such women and labeled them Spartans. Much like the Greek warriors who fought against all odds, these women refuse to surrender and curtsy before the status quo. Being
β
β
G.L. Lambert (Men Don't Love Women Like You: The Brutal Truth About Dating, Relationships, and How to Go from Placeholder to Game Changer)
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Patriotism comes from the same Latin word as father. Blind patriotism is collective transference. In it the state becomes a parent and we citizens submit our loyalty to ensure its protection. We may have been encouraged to make that bargain from our public school education, our family home, religion, or culture in general. We associate safety with obedience to authority, for example, going along with government policies. We then make duty, as it is defined by the nation, our unquestioned course. Our motivation is usually not love of country but fear of being without a country that will defend us and our property. Connection is all-important to us; excommunication is the equivalent of death, the finality we canβt dispute. Healthy adult loyalty is a virtue that does not become blind obedience for fear of losing connection, nor total devotion so that we lose our boundaries. Our civil obedience can be so firm that it may take precedence over our concern for those we love, even our children. Here is an example: A young mother is told by the doctor that her toddler is allergic to peanuts and peanut oil. She lets the school know of her sonβs allergy when he goes to kindergarten. Throughout his childhood, she is vigilant and makes sure he is safe from peanuts in any form. Eighteen years later, there is a war and he is drafted. The same mother, who was so scrupulously careful about her childβs safety, now waves goodbye to him with a tear but without protest. Motherβs own training in public school and throughout her life has made her believe that her sonβs life is expendable whether or not the war in question is just. βPatriotismβ is so deeply ingrained in her that she does not even imagine an alternative, even when her sonβs life is at stake. It is of course also true that, biologically, parents are ready to let children go just as the state is ready to draft them. What a cunning synchronic-ity. In addition, old men who decide on war take advantage of the timing too. The warrior archetype is lively in eighteen-year-olds, who are willing to fight. Those in their mid-thirties, whose archetype is being a householder and making a mark in their chosen field, will not show an interest in battlefields of blood. The chiefs count on the fact that young braves will take the warrior myth literally rather than as a metaphor for interior battles. They will be willing to put their lives on the line to live out the collective myth of societies that have not found the path of nonviolence. Our collective nature thus seems geared to making war a workable enterprise. In some people, peacemaking is the archetype most in evidence. Nature seems to have made that population smaller, unfortunately. Our culture has trained us to endure and tolerate, not to protest and rebel. Every cell of our bodies learned that lesson. It may not be virtue; it may be fear. We may believe that showing anger is dangerous, because it opposes the authority we are obliged to appease and placate if we are to survive. This explains why we so admire someone who dares to say no and to stand up or even to die for what he believes. That person did not fall prey to the collective seduction. Watching Jeopardy on television, I notice that the audience applauds with special force when a contestant risks everything on a double-jeopardy question. The healthy part of us ardently admires daring. In our positive shadow, our admiration reflects our own disavowed or hidden potential. We, too, have it in us to dare. We can stand up for our truth, putting every comfort on the line, if only we can calm our long-scared ego and open to the part of us that wants to live free. Joseph Campbell says encouragingly, βThe part of us that wants to become is fearless.β Religion and Transference Transference is not simply horizontal, from person to person, but vertical from person to a higher power, usually personified as God. When
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David Richo (When the Past Is Present: Healing the Emotional Wounds that Sabotage our Relationships)
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One of the things that Iβve always felt missing from funerals and services is the voice of the man or woman who was the deceasedβs partner in life. Iβve always wanted to hear from the person whoβd loved them more than anyone. Biblically, the two become one flesh--the spouse is their other half. It has always seemed to me that his or her voice was critical to truly understanding who the deceased was in life.
I also felt that American Sniper had told only part of Chrisβs story--an angry part in much of it. There was so much more to him that I wanted the world to know.
People said Chris was blessed that I hung in there during his service to our country; in fact, I was the one who was blessed. I wanted everyone to hear me say that.
Beforehand, a friend suggested I have a backup in case I couldnβt finish reading my speech--a βhighway option,β as Chris used to call it: the way out if things didnβt go as planned.
I refused.
I didnβt want a way out. It wasnβt supposed to be easy. Knowing that I had to go through with it, that I had to finish--that was my motivator. That was my guarantee that I would finish, that I would keep moving into the future, as painful as it surely would be.
When you think you cannot do something, think again. Chris always said, βThe body will do whatever the mind tells it to.β I am counting on that now.
I stand before you a broken woman, but I am now and always will be the wife of a man who is a warrior both on the battlefield and off.
Some people along the way told Chris that through it all, he was lucky I stayed with him. I am standing before you now to set the record straight. Remember this: I am the one who is literally, in every sense of the word, blessed that Chris stayed with me.
I feel compelled to tell you that I am not a fan of people romanticizing their loved ones in death. I donβt need to romanticize Chris, because our reality is messy, passionate, full of every extreme emotion known to man, including fear, compassion, anger, pain, laughing so hard we doubled over and hugged it out, laughing when we were irritated with each other and laughing when we were so in love it felt like someone hung the moon for only usβ¦
I looked at the kids as I neared the end, talking to them and only them.
Tears ran from their faces. Bubbaβs head hung down. It broke my heart.
I kept reading.
Then I was done.
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Taya Kyle (American Wife: Love, War, Faith, and Renewal)
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[A Tibetan Legend]
"There comes a time when all life on Earth is in danger. Barbarian powers have arisen. Although they waste their wealth in preparations to annihilate each other, they have much in common: weapons of unfathomable devastation and technologies that lay waste the world. It is now, when the future of all beings hangs by the frailest of threads, that the kingdom of Shambhala emerges.
"You cannot go there, for it is not a place. It exists in the hearts and minds of the Shambhala warriors. But you cannot recognize a Shambhala warrior by sight, for there is no uniform or insignia, there are no banners. And there are no barricades from which to threaten the enemy, for the Shambhala warriors have no land of their own. Always they move on the terrain of the barbarians themselves.
"Now comes the time when great courage is required of the Shambhala warriors, moral and physical courage. For they must go into the very heart of the barbarian power and dismantle the weapons. To remove these weapons, in every sense of the word, they must go into the corridors of power where the decisions are made.
"The Shambhala warriors know they can do this because the weapons are manomaya, mind-made. This is very important to remember, Joanna. These weapons are made by the human mind. So they can be unmade by the human mind! The Shambhala warriors know that the dangers that threaten life on Earth do not come from evil deities or extraterrestrial powers. They arise from our own choices and relationships. So, now, the Shambhala warriors must go into training.
"How do they train?" I asked.
"They train in the use of two weapons."
"The weapons are compassion and insight. Both are necessary. We need this first one," he said, lifting his right hand, "because it provides us the fuel, it moves us out to act on behalf of other beings. But by itself it can burn us out. So we need the second as well, which is insight into the dependent co-arising of all things. It lets us see that the battle is not between good people and bad people, for the line between good and evil runs through every human heart. We realize that we are interconnected, as in a web, and that each act with pure motivation affects the entire web, bringing consequences we cannot measure or even see.
"But insight alone," he said, "can seem too cool to keep us going. So we need as well the heat of compassion, our openness to the world's pain. Both weapons or tools are necessary to the Shambhala warrior.
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Joanna Macy