Quotes from Barbara Sher

Mitten on a Bottle

Every time you have to make a choice about anything, think "Does this go toward or away from what I want?

Water Play Games

Where Am I Touching?

Regret can't hover for long in the company of determination.

Playing with Your Food

Texture Play

What you're really supposed to be doing is whatever makes your heart sing.

Doing what you love isn't a priviledge; it's an obligation.

Life isn't supposed to be an all or nothing battle between misery and bliss. Life isn't supposed to be a battle at all. And when it comes to happiness, well, sometimes life is just okay, sometimes it'comfortable, sometimes wonderful, sometimes boring, sometimes unpleasant. When your day's not perfect, it's not a failure or a terrible loss. It's just another day.

Every time you have to make a choice about anything, think "Does this go toward or away from what I want?" Always choose what goes toward what you want.

How can families harm us when they love us? Very easily, unfortunately. Most of us overlook one important fact when we think love is enough: Love and respect aren't the same thing. Love is fusion. As a baby, you belong to your parents, you're extension of them. Respect is differentiation: you belong to yourself, and you're an extension of no one. Differentiation is essential for happiness of adults.

Find out what you love. Do it because you love it. Stick with it. Start now.

Every time you worry that you could get trapped in some kind of work you don't care about, you're dealing with the problem of meaningfulness. I guarantee that in the back of your mind is the thought that somehow you have to make a contribution to something, be acknowledged, do something that matters--or you're just fooling around.

You must go after your wish. As soon as you start to pursue a dream, your life wakes up and everything has meaning.

You can learn new things at any time in your life if you're willing to be a beginner. If you actually learn to like being a beginner, the whole world opens up to you.

You can learn new things at any time in your life if you're willing to be a beginner. If you actually learn to like being a beginner, the whole world opens up for you.

You just have to forget whatever you were taught about "meaningful work" and start noticing whatever has meaning to you.

Start small. Start now. Start everything. And don't bother to finish any of it.

You can waste a perfectly good life trying to meet the standards of someone who thinks you're not good enough because they can't understand who you are.

Doing is a quantum leap from imagining.

When you lose interest in something, you must always consider the possibility that you've gotten what you came for; you have completed your mission.

Let's end the notion that ideas have no value unless they turn into a business or have some other practical use. Save them all in a beautiful book like Leonardo did. You might want to give them away someday, perhaps to someone who needs an idea. Or your great-great-grandchildren might love knowing what a fascinating mind you had. Or your biographer might be very happy after you're gone.

Bitterness isn't as authentic as it looks. Believe it or not, one of the reasons we choose to feel bitter is because it's easier than feeling pain. It makes us feel tough. Being bitter gives the illusion that you're fighting, that you're not taking defeat lying down. But bitterness is a log jam. It won't let you get moving.