Yourself

"Be yourself. Everyone else is taken."

- Oscar Wilde

Good Enough

"I guess when all is said and done, you are who you are, and that should be good enough for everybody else."

-Susan Tamol

Happiness

"It is not easy to find happiness in ourselves, and it is not possible to find it elsewhere."

- Agnes Repplier

Expectations

"Other people may not have high expectations of me, but I have high expectations for myself."

-Shannon Miller

Take a Risk

"If you take a risk, two things will happen. People will laugh at you. Or you’ll be way ahead of everybody else."

- Steven Tyler

You Deserve the Best

"You deserve the best in life
So if the time isn't right then move on
Second best is never enough
You'll do much better baby on your own."

- Madonna, "Express Yourself"

Life Long Love

"To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance."

- Oscar Wilde

Phenomenal

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.

I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size

But when I start to tell them,

They think I'm telling lies.

I say,

It's in the reach of my arms

The span of my hips,

The stride of my step,

The curl of my lips.

I'm a woman,

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

- "Phenomenal Woman" by Maya Angelou

If You Just Believe

"Believe in what your heart is saying
Hear the melody that's playing
There's no time to waste
There's so much to celebrate
Believe in what you feel inside
And give your dreams the wings to fly
You have everything you need
If you just believe."

- Josh Groban "Believe"

From The Polar Express

Love After Love

The time will come
when, with elation,
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror,
and each other will smile at the other's welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

- Derek Walcott
Found in the book The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

A Place in this World

I don't know what I want, so don't ask me
Cause I'm still trying to figure it out
Don't know what's down this road,
I'm just walking
Trying to see through the rain coming down
Even though I'm not the only one
Who feels the way I do.

I'm alone, On my own, and that's all I know
I'll be strong, I'll be wrong, oh but life goes on
Oh I'm just a girl, trying to find a place in this world

Got the radio on, my old blue jeans
And I'm wearing my heart on my sleeve
Feeling lucky today, got the sunshine.
Could you tell me what more do I need
and tomorrow's just a mystery, oh yeah
But that's ok

Maybe I'm just a girl on a mission
But I'm ready to fly..

I'm alone, On my own, and that's all I know
Oh I'll be strong, I'll be wrong, oh but life goes on
OH I'm alone, On my own, and that's all I know
Oh I'm just a girl, trying to find a place in this world

Oh I'm just a girl

Taylor Swift, "A Place in This World"

Center of the Universe

When they discover the center of the universe, a lot of people will be disappointed to find they are not it.

~Bernard Bailey

Go For It

The world bursts at the seams with people ready to tell you you're not good enough. On occasion, some may be correct. But do not do their work for them. See any job; ask anyone out; pursue any goal. Don't take it personally when they say "no"- they may not be smart enough to say "yes."

~Keith Olberman, from Starbucks "The Way I See It #17"

Destiny

The best years of your life are the ones in which you decide your problems are your own. You don't blame them on your mother, the ecology, or the President. You realize that you control your own destiny.

~Albert Ellis

Today

You looked right through me
When there was no one else
I sat beside you and became myself
Today... today
You are the one
I've been waiting for today
And here comes the sun
That's been baiting on today

~Joshua Radin, Today

Then Came You

Somehow I'm leading someone else's life
I cut a star down with my knife
And right now I still see the way the moon
Plays this tune
Though our lights died.

My hands shake
My knees quake
It's every day
The same way.
Cos then came you.
Then there's you.
I keep your picture
In my worn through shoes.
Then there's you.
Then came you.
When I'm lost, I look at my picture of you.

And somehow I'll make tonight our own
I'll show you every way I've grown
Since I met you
And right now
I'll be the boy in your next song
I'll learn the parts and play along
If you let me.

If you let me, I'll show the world to you.
Yes, if you let me, I'll know just what to do.
Cos then came you.
Then there's you.
I keep your picture
In my worn through shoes.
When I'm lost
In your eyes I see a way for me

~Joshua Radin, "Someone Else's Life"

Little Victories

This time, I'll be sailing
No more bailing boats for me
I'll be out there on the sea
Just my confidence and me

And I'll be awful sometimes
Weakened to my knees
But I'll learn to get by
On little victories

This time, I'll have no fear
I'll be standing strong and tall
Turn my back towards them all

And I'll be awful sometimes
Weakened to my knees
I'll learn to get by
And I'll learn to get by
On the little victories
And if the world decides to catch up with me
It's a little victory.

~Matt Nathanson, Little Victories

Normal

"Don’t let the feeling of being normal inhibit you from achieving something extraordinary."


~Jon Rankin's blog post

Who You Are

"As you become more clear about who you really are, you'll be better able to decide what is best for you- the first time around."

~Oprah Winfrey

Against the Wind

And the years rolled slowly past
And I found myself alone
Surrounded bv strangers I thought were my friends
I found myself further and further from my home
And I guess I lost my way
There were oh so many roads
I was living to run and running to live
Never worried about paying or even how much I owed
Moving eight miles a minute for months at a time
Breaking all of the rules that would bend
I began to find myself searchin
Searching for shelter again and again

Against the wind
A little something against the wind
I found myself seeking shelter against the wind

~Bob Seger, "Against the Wind"