Quotes About Self-expression

In a world that values the primacy of work, the most common question that we ask and get asked is, "What do you do?" I used to wince every time someone asked me this question. I felt like my choices were to reduce myself to an easily digestible sound bite or to confuse the hell out of people. Now

What's the greater risk? Letting go of what people think or letting go of how I feel, what I believe, and who I am? Wholehearted living is about engaging in our lives from a place of worthiness.

Being onstage is comfortable for me because it's my work, but put me in the middle of a cocktail party and you'll find me with a frozen smile, wishing I could curl up under a table in the fetal position.

shield required that I stay small and quiet behind it so as not to draw attention to my imperfections and vulnerabilities. It was exhausting.

To be nobody-but-yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody but yourself—means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight—and never stop fighting." "Staying

Get Deliberate: Whenever I'm faced with a vulnerable situation, I get deliberate with my intentions by repeating this to myself: "Don't shrink. Don't puff up. Stand on your sacred ground." I think there's something deeply spiritual about standing your ground. Saying this little mantra helps me remember not to get small so other people are comfortable and not to throw up my armor as a way to protect myself.

Give me the courage to show up and let myself be seen.

Betrayal is an important word with this guidepost. When we value being cool and in control over granting ourselves the freedom to unleash the passionate, goofy, heartfelt, and soulful expressions of who we are, we betray ourselves. When we consistently betray ourselves, we can expect to do the same to the people we love. When

To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody but yourself means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight and never stop fighting." "Staying real" is one of the most courageous battles that we'll ever fight.

Heroics is important and we certainly need heroes, but I think we've lost touch with the idea that speaking honestly and openly about who we are, about what we're feeling, and about our experiences (good and bad) is the definition of courage.

From gangs to gossiping, we'll do what it takes to fit in if we believe it will meet our need for belonging. But it doesn't. We can only belong when we offer our most authentic selves and when we're embraced for who we are.

I'm not very creative" doesn't work. There's no such thing as creative people and non-creative people. There are only people who use their creativity and people who don't.

Sometimes choosing being real over being liked is all about playing it unsafe.

The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself. —ANNA QUINDLEN1

E. E. Cummings wrote, "To be nobody-but-yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody but yourself—means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight—and never stop fighting.

Betrayal is an important word with this guidepost. When we value being cool and in control over granting ourselves the freedom to unleash the passionate, goofy, heartfelt, and soulful expressions of who we are, we betray ourselves. When we consistently betray ourselves, we can expect to do the same to the people we love.

um dos meios mais eficientes de abandonar o perfeccionismo é começar a criar.

Cultivating authenticity: letting go of

I didn't realize it then, but looking back, those permission slips to myself were actually an attempt to belong to myself and to no one else.

Para evitar las críticas no digas nada, no hagas nada, no seas nada. Aristóteles

Sacrificing who we are for the sake of what other people think just isn't worth it.

the question that we must ultimately answer is this: What's the greater risk? Letting go of what people think or letting go of how I feel, what I believe, and who I am?

Belonging, on the other hand, doesn't require us to change who we are; it requires us to be who we are.

If you own this story, you get to write the ending.