Pursuit of Happiness

"Happiness does not come by pressing a button, as does the electric light; happiness is a state of mind and comes from within. It must be earned. It cannot be purchased with money; it cannot be taken for nothing."

-President Spencer W. Kimball

"I feel like people get lost when they think of happiness as a destination. We're always thinking that someday we'll be happy. You know, we'll get that car or that job or that person in our lives that'll fix everything. But happiness is a mood, and it's a condition, it's not a destination. It's like being tired or hungry; it's not permanent, it comes and goes, and that's okay. And I feel like if people thought of it that way they'd find happiness a lot more often."

-One Tree Hill

"Happiness is a choice, and I'm choosing it."

"In this world, it is very difficult to find a happy person because nobody is fulfilling the conditions for being happy. The first condition is that one has to drop all comparison. Drop all these stupid ideas of being superior and inferior. You are neither superior nor inferior. You are simply yourself! There exists no one like you. Be yourself and be happy with you."

"Happiness comes of the capacity to feel deeply, to enjoy simply, to think freely, to risk life, to be needed."

-Storm Jameson

"Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it. You must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it."

-Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat Pray Love

"I used to think that happiness comes after the hard part is over. But I have learned that we can be happy while enduring."

"Come what may, and love it. Life has peaks and shadows and times when it seems that the birds don't sing and bells don't ring. Yet in spite of discouragement and adversity, those who are happiest seems to have a way of learning from difficult times, becoming stronger, wiser, and happier as a result... I believe that the way we react to adversity can be a major factor in how happy and successful we can be in life. If we approach adversities wisely, our hardest times can be times of greatest growth, which in turn can lead towards times of greatest happiness."

-Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin

"The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for."

"Nobody can take away your pain, so don't let anyone take away your happiness."

"Everyday is amazing. Even if it's awful. Because everything is for a reason. Because I know that this horrible thing that happens today will bring me something amazing tomorrow."

-Sandra Bullock

Heart of the Matter

 

Before we are born our heart has a hole in it. When we are born our first breath causes this hole in our heart to close over, redirecting blood to the lungs to be oxygenated and kick starting our lives as a living, breathing human being. If a single breath is so powerful, imagine the potential you have as an entire person.

Hey Arnold!

This is my one nerdy obsession. I am so in love with Hey Arnold! As you can see, I own every season on DVD and watch them all the time. It's like reliving a moment of my childhood. Helga Pataki was my hero as a kid haha. I know that sounds bad. But I just loved her and had a crush on this boy and acted like Helga does to him (it doesn't work so great!). But I totally get Helga and unrequited love and how it's hard to admit you like/love someone because there is always this overwhelming fear they won't like you back. I'm so sad they never released the Jungle Movie which would've finally developed Arnold and Helga's relationship and brought closure to it! Seriously though, Arnold is the best, and I'd recommend it to anyone who's never seen it. I'm going to leave you with some Arnold quotes.

"Move it football head."

-Helga

"To Arnold, with the red-hot lips:

  Your football head

  Your awesome face

  Your grungy chic

  Your catlike grace

  Whose red-hot lips do I want to taste?

  Three guesses, stupid!

  Arnold, Arnold, Arnold!"

-Helga G. Pataki

"Arnold my love, my sultry preteen

  Why must I hold you only whilst I dream?

  Will I be forever enslaved by your spell?

  Why must I worship you and never ever tell?

  Arnold you make my girlhood tremble,

  My senses all go wacky.

  Someday I'll tell the world my love,

  Or my name's not Helga G. Pataki."

-Helga's Poem

"Have you ever noticed that sometimes when you think you like a person from far away you find out they're not what you thought they were when you get up close?"

-Arnold

"Well maybe she's not the girl for you. Maybe the girl for you is someone you didn't expect, after all, the most beautiful gift can come from the plainest box."

-Helga as Cecile

"It's funny. When you like someone, but they don't really like you back, it's not so bad. But if you really like them, like them, but you find out they just like you, it hurts."

-Arnold

"Even if you're still afraid to go looking for magic, magic may still come looking for you."

-Arnold

"All the days of my week,

  I write the name I dare not speak.

  The boy with the cornflower hair,

  My beloved, and my despair."

-Helga

Everyone Needs Love

Great Expectations

Time Goes By In The Blink of an Eye

Dearest Lovelies (aka my readers),

I cannot believe it's been a week since I last posted. Not good! I express my apologies, but I will never just completely stop or leave the Inspiration Nation. I'm just human with a busy life like the rest of you. As much as I'd love to sit and just inspire people all day long every day, it's impossible at the moment with school and work and family and all-the-other-things-that-pop-up-and-surprise-you-in-your-week-that-demand-your-time. I appreciate your patience and support. I love you all like friends. I hope you had a wonderful week. Even when life is hard and not the best, it's still pretty amazing. Here is an incredible quote I just read that I love.

"To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. it is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. what we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. if we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. if we remember those times and places — and there are so many — where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. and if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. the future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory."