Renewal Quotes

“Clean slate?
No no never.
That's not life.
Life is beginner mind with a full slate
a dirty slate
whatever slate you've got,
you are,
complicated interactions
(with related and unrelated history and triggers),
unfinished tasks and incomplete projects.”
― Shellen Lubin

“This will be the year of consequences,
external consequences.
And hopefully the year of meeting
essential needs.

Happy One Two Three.

Begin again.”
― Shellen Lubin

“I sit now, as I have before, with the question of balance,
balance between
hanging on (planning, setting goals and expectations)
and letting go (complete presence, in the moment, no attachment
to any one way).

Do they have to be in contradiction?
Yes.
Can they be contradictory co-existing realities?
Yes, yes, definitely.
But only only only
when we balance them through fullness,
allowing them to co-exist,
letting the plans and goals in deeply,
but not clutching them for dear life,
and allowing the results of the process
to be what they are,
as they continue to affect the plans and goals,
and us...

And so begin again
again again
hold on again
let go again
again again
all at the same time.”
― Shellen Lubin

“Even when your dream is taken from you, you can have a great new life.”
― Lev A.C. Rosen, Lavender House

“Call your spirit back. It may be caught in corners and creases of shame, judgment, and human abuse.

You must call in a way that your spirit will want to return.
Speak to it as you would to a beloved child.

Welcome your spirit back from its wandering. It may return in pieces, in tatters. Gather them together. They will be happy to be found after being lost for so long.”
― Joy Harjo, Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings: Poems

“The real revival is renewal through repentance.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

“Maybe in order to grow and become better, part of us has to die to make room for that new thing, Like a broken heart.”
― Jodi Picoult, The Book of Two Ways

“There is in us an instinct for newness, for renewal, for a liberation of creative power. We seek to awaken in ourselves a force which really changes our lives from within. And yet the same instinct tells us that this change is a recovery of that which is deepest, most original, most personal in ourselves. To be born again is not to become somebody else, but to become ourselves.”
― Thomas Merton, Choosing to Love the World: On Contemplation

“The terrible thing, the almost impossible thing, is to hand over your whole self—all your wishes and precautions—to Christ. But it is far easier than what we are all trying to do instead. For what we are trying to do is to remain what we call ‘ourselves’, to keep personal happiness as our great aim in life, and yet at the same time be ‘good’. We are all trying to let our mind and heart go their own way—centred on money or pleasure or ambition—and hoping, in spite of this, to behave honestly and chastely and humbly. And that is exactly what Christ warned us you could not do. As He said, a thistle cannot produce figs. If I am a field that contains nothing but grass-seed, I cannot produce wheat. Cutting the grass may keep it short: but I shall still produce grass and no wheat. If I want to produce wheat, the change must go deeper than the surface. I must be ploughed up and re-sown.”
― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

“Failures are very important—they mean a great deal to me. After a big failure, I go into a deep depression and a very dark part of my body, but soon afterward I come back to life again, alive to something else.”
― Marina Abramović, Walk Through Walls: A Memoir

“But with the morning came hope, and a brighter view of things.”
― Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South

“Renewal of thought is necessary for transformation.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

“Without renewal of thoughts, there is no transformation.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

“I could feel spring in the softening air, see it in the busyness of the juncos and finches as they foraged for nesting materials. Buds were setting on the rosebushes, and from my seat on the steps, I could smell the rich fragrance of newly turned earth.”
― Louisa Morgan, The Witch's Kind

“Maybe one day you'll see
me latched barkside to that tree,
teasing my way out of the skin I'm in
until I plunk into the dirt. Until I slither
then fly. Shiny and high.
Leaving only an effigy—
a hollowed-out
replica
behind.”
― Jenny Noble Anderson, But Still She Flies: Poems and Paintings

“Evolution is a revolution without R, and "R" is a Renewal of the mind.”
― Bruce Mbanzabugabo

“Rest is the bridge that connects exhaustion and fatigue to renewed strength and restoration. Cross it more often and feel the transformation within.”
― Dr. Lucas D. Shallua

“Leadership is largely ignored by recent liberal theorists. I suspect that the very idea of leadership has a non-egalitarian and authoritarian quality to it, best left to those (inspired by Max Webber) with a fascination for charisma or revolution; or left to fascists or management consultants and organisational psychologists.

But this neglect by liberal theorists comes at a cost. Institutions and procedures are run by imperfect human beings and without ongoing maintenance, care and investment they decay. While I do not claim that 'leadership' is a sufficient response to the challenges of institutional decay and renewal, it may well be a necessary one.”
― Eric Schliesser, The Scottish Enlightenment: Human Nature, Social Theory and Moral Philosophy: Essays in Honour of Christopher J. Berry

“We may better achieve change on a national level by not focusing on it at all. Indeed, social renewal is only possible by shifting our energy to what Americans already do quite well—caring about and investing in the people and places closest to home. Scale is essential to enhancing social habitats, but it must be human scale.”
― Seth D. Kaplan, Fragile Neighborhoods: Repairing American Society, One Zip Code at a Time

“There is no revival like a repentance.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

“Allow yourself to be healed and renewed through detachment.”
― Mitta Xinindlu

“Meditations on Holy Scriptures brings about renewal of mind.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita

“Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
― Florence Scovel-Shinn, The Game of Life and How to Play It

“Spring is the season of blooming flowers, chirping birds, and fresh beginnings. As nature awakens from its winter slumber, so too does our spirit. It's a time to shake off the frosty negative cobwebs, embrace the warmth of the sun on our faces, and revel in the beauty of renewal all around us. Let's sow the seeds of our dreams and watch them bloom alongside the daffodils and tulips. Spring is nature's way of reminding us that even the darkest winters eventually give way to brighter days.”
― Life is Positive

“She is happy again, proud again, a full human being again, at last. She’s happy, but she’s alone. (But is she still lonely?)”
― George Saunders, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life

“Renewal generally refers to extending the life, validity, or effectiveness of something beyond its original term.”
― Nkahloleng Eric Mohlala

“Let's sit down here. From here we can see more of the sky. The vast expanse of these starry heights is soothing. Life hurts less as we look at them; a whiff of air from an invisible fan refreshes our life-wearied face.”
― Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet

“Every ending writes the first chapter of something new.”
― Shivanshu K. Srivastava

“Even the darkest nights will end, and the sun will rise again”
― Shivanshu K. Srivastava

“Fear and despair are impediments.
Hope is a permission slip.

Today I give myself a permission slip to hope again.

And, if you need one--
as the designated hall monitor who loves to give out permission slips
(yes, you can go in that room;
yes, you can try that activity;
yes, yes, yes)--
if you're open to receiving it,
I've got one for you, too.”
― Shellen Lubin