Quotes from Richard Carlson

My best friend, Benjamin Shield, taught me this valuable lesson. Often our inner struggles come from our tendency to jump on board someone else's problem; someone throws you a concern and you assume you must catch it, and respond.

I used to be the type of person who would jump in and try to solve a problem without being asked. Not only did my efforts prove fruitless, they were also almost always unappreciated, and sometimes even resented.

Humility and inner peace go hand in hand. The less compelled you are to try to prove yourself to others, the easier it is to feel peaceful inside.

It's always a good idea to ask yourself, Where is this decision likely to lead? When you do, you can avoid many hassles and mistakes that are otherwise inevitable. By asking this simple question, you can keep your energy directed in areas that will serve you and others well.

We form opinions and then spend our entire lifetimes validating what we believe to be true.

When we're busy making "other plans," our children are busy growing up, the people we love are moving away and dying, our bodies are getting out of shape, and our dreams are slipping away. In short, we miss out on life.

So many people spend so much of their life energy 'sweating the small stuff' that they completely lose touch with the magic and beauty of life.

If you do, there will come a day when you'll rarely feel the need to do battle at all.

The next time you feel low, for whatever reason, remind yourself, "This too shall pass." It will.

Ask yourself this question: 'Will this matter a year from now?

Be the First One to Act Loving or Reach Out

You always feel good when you give to others. Rather than diluting the positive feelings by telling others about your own kindness, by keeping it to yourself you get to retain all the positive feelings.

We take our own goals so seriously that we forget to have fun along the way, and we forget to cut ourselves some slack.

So perhaps the best thing to do is simply be aware of how much venting is okay and how much is too much.

In a low state of mind, everything seems really bad and worse than it probably is.

Admit that you're wrong- or that you've made a mistake.

A low mood is not the time to analyze your life. To do so is emotional suicide.

If you want to be a more peaceful person you must understand that being right is almost never more important than allowing yourself to be happy.

Most of us spend too much time wishing that people would be other than they are.

Trust in your own instincts and wisdom, and not in the words and fears of experts.

Each of us places varying degrees of significance on what's really relevant and important, and we can almost always find fault with the way someone else is thinking or behaving. We can usually validate our own versions of reality by focusing on examples that, we believe, prove us to be right. In short, the way we see life will always seem justified, logical, and correct—to ourselves. The problem is, everyone else has the same assumption.

Love your plant whether it blooms or not, whether it lives or dies.

True happiness comes not when we get rid of all out problems, but when we change our relationship to them, when we see our problems as a potential source of awakening, opportunities to practice, and to learn.

When you allow yourself to be bored, it takes an enormous amount of pressure off you to be performing and doing something every second of every day. Now, when either of my two children says to me, "Daddy, I'm bored," I respond by saying, "Great, be bored for a while. It's good for you." Once I say this, they always give up on the idea of me solving their problem.