Resilience

Life is harsh and sometimes even ruthless. Only the tough survive. That is one strand of thinking. The other says: humankind is a species of designers, problem solvers, and seekers. We don't have to accept our follies and our missteps.

Without God, life's storms are too strong to withstand. But with Him, there is no storm that can destroy you.

Adversity is an opportunity. Adversity will make you stronger. Adversity will mold you into the person that you're meant to be.

We are all Pinocchio. We go out into the world filled with good intentions, with a vision. We are pulled this way and that. We falter. We make mistakes. But the little flame inside, no matter what we go through, will not be extinguished.

I do not wish you an easy path. Instead, I wish you a path filled with impediment and ambiguity and struggle and joy.

Through angers, losses, ambition, ignorance, ennui, what you are picks its way.

Whatever blocks you encounter, you have learned that there is a way over, around or through them. It is not those obstacles that inhibit your progress but your confidence, and will to break the inertia of fear and doubt.

The things which seem like heartbreaking setbacks sometimes turn out to be lucky breaks.

This is your time and it feels normal to you, but really there is no normal. There's only change, and resistance to it, and then more change.

When one door closes, another door always opens. It really does.

Every other disappointment that happened... they were like guideposts that kept me on my path.

It's moments like these that force us to try harder, to dig deeper, and to discover gifts we never knew we had — to find the greatness that lies within each of us.