Do you have a favorite quote that you return to again and again? What is it, and why does it move you?

I collect quotes and have lots that I like.  There are several that are favorites but one that I think of quite often is something that ee cummings said;

“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”

This is so true!  It doesn’t matter how old we are; we are never really grown up.  Bigger and older on the outside maybe.  But inside we are all little kids just trying to make sense of the world and trying to find where we fit in the scheme of things.

What seems to be the easy thing to do is to be whoever and whatever others think we are…or should be.  In some ways that is the easy way, little conflict and rarely confrontation.  At least not that anyone, including ourselves, can see.  But it is a different story inside our heads and hearts.

When we take a path of non-resistance or blind obedience there is a lot of conflict and little peace within.  We hurt ourselves and in the end we hurt others.  In this world, wherever we find ourselves, we are in that place for a purpose that no one else can fulfill. That place and purpose is ours alone to make whole and complete.

When we take the easy way and become someone we were never meant to be everybody loses.  It takes “courage to become who you really are” and great strength to overcome all those around us who want what they think is best for us. Be strong, life is good if you don’t weaken.