Positive Thoughts for Troubling Times. Allen Klein

complexity; finances, work, chores, shopping, entertainment, and relationships may all be sources of stress and chaos, or they may become wellsprings of peace and contentment.

      —Chelsea Walters

      The choice we make will determine whether we reinforce a world where conflicts escalate out of control, or create a new world where conflicts are transformed into opportunity.

      —Mark Gerzon

      I keep the telephone of my mind open to peace, harmony, health, love, and abundance. Then, whenever doubts, anxiety, or fear try to call me, they keep getting a busy signal—and soon they’ll forget my number.

      —Edith Armstrong

      There is always plenty to be worried and sad about, but there is equally plenty to be happy and at peace with. The choice is yours.

      —Steve Maraboli

      No matter what’s happening, choose to be happy.

      —Joel Osteen

      The greatest part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions and not on our circumstances.

      —Martha Washington

      Happiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong. The amount of work is the same.

      —Francesca Reigler

      A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes.

      —Hugh Downs

      In every crisis, doubt, or confusion, take the higher path—the path of compassion, courage, understanding, and love.

      —Amit Ray

      Sometimes, there is a lot of darkness in this world. As I see it, you have two choices. You can be a part of that darkness or you can be the light. Be the light.

      —Tom Giaquinto

      I think when tragedy occurs, it presents a choice. You can give in to the void: the emptiness that fills your heart, your lungs, that constricts your ability to think or even breathe. Or you can try to find meaning.

      —Sheryl Sandberg

      You’ve got a lot of choices. If getting out of bed in the morning is a chore and you’re not smiling on a regular basis, try another choice.

      —Steven D. Woodhull

      If you don’t like where you are, move. You’re not a tree.

      —Peter Shankman

      You have the choice this very moment—the only moment you have for certain. I hope you aren’t so wrapped up in nonessential stuff that you forget to really enjoy yourself—because this moment is about to be over.

      —Oprah Winfrey

      Every day we have plenty of opportunities to get angry, stressed, or offended. But what you’re doing when you indulge these negative emotions is giving something outside yourself power over your happiness. You can choose to not let little things upset you.

      —Joel Osteen

      If you ever find yourself in the wrong story, leave.

      —Mo Willems

      If you don’t like something change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.

      —Mary Engelbreit

      Even a thought, even a possibility can shatter us and transform us.

      —Friedrich Nietzsche

      Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it a thing to be achieved.

      —William Jennings Bryan

      Ultimately…it’s not the stories that determine our choices, but the stories that we continue to choose.

      —Sylvia Boorstein

      To be wronged is nothing unless you choose to remember it.

      —Confucius

      Your choice of people to associate with, both personally and business-wise, is one of the most important choices you make. If you associate with turkeys, you will never fly with the eagles.

      —Brian Tracy

      Every person, all the events of your life are there because you have drawn them there. What you choose to do with them is up to you.

      —Richard Bach

      Look to your heart and soul first, rather than looking to your head first, when choosing. Rather than what you think, consider instead how you feel. Look to the nature of things. Feel your choices and decisions. It just might change everything.

      —Jeffrey R. Anderson

      When you make choices, please remember: what is good for you but not good for others won’t be good for you either, eventually; what’s good for you and others but not good for the Earth won’t be good for you or others either, eventually; what’s good for you, others, and the Earth will be good for all.

      —Ilchi Lee

Believe in Yourself

      When I was seven years old, my parents took me to see my first Broadway show. From that day on, I wanted to be a scenic designer, someone who created those pretty stage pictures.

      In grade school, my fellow classmates would write book reports. I, on the other hand, made a book-related diorama in an old shoe box. In high school, I took myself downtown and saw almost every show on Broadway. In college, I designed many of the school productions, and, with the help of one of the professors, got into Yale Drama School.

      It was a three-year master’s degree program. They admitted twelve students the first year. Then, because they only produced eight plays in their smaller theater the second year, they let go of four designers. I was one of the first to go. In essence, they were telling me that I had no talent.

      Soon after being booted from Yale, I became an apprentice in the scenic design union in New York City and finally became a full-fledged designer at CBS Television. My Yale classmates were still designing school productions. I was designing national television shows such as Captain Kangaroo, The Merv Griffin Show, and The Jackie Gleason Show.

      Who said I had no talent? Who said I would never be a designer? Nobody could tell me I wasn’t one. In my mind, I had been a scenic designer since I went to grade school. I believed in myself, my talents, and my dream.

      Hopefully the following powerful thoughts will encourage you to believe in yourself too.

      Greatness is not this wonderful, esoteric, elusive, god-like feature that only the special among us will ever taste, it’s something that truly exists in all of us.

      —Will Smith

      I wish I could show you when you are lonely or in darkness the astonishing light of your own being.

      —Hafez

      There is a light which cannot ever be extinguished. It is inside of you. It is you.

      —Neale Donald Walsch

      Know yourself. Don’t accept your dog’s admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful.

      —Ann Landers

      If you believe in yourself, anything is possible.

      —Miley Cyrus

      It is only in our darkest hours that we may discover the true strength of the brilliant light within ourselves that can never, ever, be dimmed.

      —Doe Zantamata

      We