Pain

“Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding."

- Kahlil Gibran

One and Only

You've been on my mind
I grow fonder every day,
Lose myself in time
Just thinking of your face
God only knows
Why it's taking me so long
To let my doubts go
You're the only one that I want

I don't know why I'm scared,
I've been here before
Every feeling, every word,
I've imagined it all,
You never know if you never try
To forgive your past and simply be mine

I dare you to let me be your, your one and only
Promise I'm worthy to hold in your arms
So come on and give me the chance
To prove that I'm the one who can
Walk that mile until the end starts

If I've been on your mind
You hang on every word I say, lose yourself in time
At the mention of my name,
Will I ever know how it feels to hold you close?
And have you tell me whichever road I choose you'll go

- Adele, "One and Only"

Stay Hungry

"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything -- all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. ... Stay hungry. Stay foolish."

- Steve Jobs, Stanford Commencement Address, 2005
Rest in Peace

Simple and Complex

"That's been one of my mantras -- focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it's worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains."

- Steve Jobs
Rest In Peace

Rejection

"Rejection isn’t failure... Giving up is failure."

- Castle

King of Anything

And who cares if you disagree
You are not me
Who made you king of anything
So you dare tell me who to be
Who died and made you king of anything

All my life I've tried
To make everybody happy while I just hurt and hide
Waitin' for someone to tell me it's my turn to decide


- Sara Bareilles, "King of Anything" 

Good Life

When you're happy like a fool
Let it take you over
When everything is out
You gotta take it in

Oh this has gotta be the good life
This has gotta be the good life
This could really be a good life, good life

Say oh, got this feeling that you can't fight
Like this city is on fire tonight
This could really be a good life
A good, good life

- One Republic, "Good Life"

Today

"Today — do not be angry.
Today — do not worry.
Today — be kind to yourself and others.
Today — be honest to yourself and others.
Today — work diligently."

– Usui Sensei, 1865-1926

Sailing

"The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails."

- William Arthur Ward

Committed

"There’s a difference between interest and commitment. When you’re interested in doing something, you do it only when it’s convenient. When you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses; only results.”

- Ken Blanchard

Fickleness

"Now we're in that sweet period where everyone agrees that our recent horrors should never be repeated," he says. "But collective thinking is usually short-lived. We're fickle, stupid beings with poor memories and a great gift for self-destruction. Although who knows? Maybe this will be it, Katniss."

- Plutarch, from the book "Mockingjay", the third in the Hunger Games Trilogy, written by Suzanne Collins

Just Say Yes

"I'm running out of ways to make you see
I want you to stay here beside me
I won't be ok and I won't pretend I am
So just tell me today and take my hand
Please take my hand

Just say yes, just say there's nothing holding you back
It's not a test, nor a trick of the mind
Only love.

It's so simple and you know it is
You know it is, yeah
We can't be to and fro like this
All our lives
You're the only way to me
The path is clear
What do I have to say to you
For God's sake, dear."

Permission

"When we give ourselves permission to be and feel everything we are -- monstrous, large, loud, brazen, occasionally ugly -- we age backward."

- From Elle Magazine 2011

Make You Feel My Love

"The storms are raging on the rolling sea
And on the highway of regret
The winds of change are blowing wild and free
You ain't seen nothing like me yet.

I could make you happy, make your dreams come true
Nothing that I wouldn't do
Go to the ends of the earth for you
To make you feel my love."

- Adele, "Make You Feel My Love"

Good Things

"Sunlight fall down on the fields
Sunlight fall down over me
Work all day, be all that I can be
Say, I can say words only simple
Say, I can say words only clear
But, oh, I can feel your heart is beating near.
Haunted love is all that I feel, when you're passing by
Haunted love is all that I see, it's there in your eyes
And I say no, no, no, don't pass me over
No, no, no, don't pass me by
See, I can see good things for you and I
Yeah, good things for you."

- The Bodeans, "Good Things"

All I Have

"It's so clear now that you are all that I have
I have no fear cause you are all that I have
There is a darkness deep in you
A frightening magic I cling to
Give me a chance to hold on."

- Snow Patrol, "You're All I Have"

Yourself

"Be yourself. Everyone else is taken."

- Oscar Wilde

Know Life

‎"The way to know life is to love many things."

Vincent Van Gogh

Still

"Be not afraid of going slowly, be afraid only of standing still."

- Chinese Proverb

Happy Rapture!

"It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine."

- R.E.M., "End of the World"