My 10 Favourite Thriving Quotes
I absolutely LOVE teaching The Thrive Programme.
I love hearing and seeing clients have “light bulb” moments when everything comes together for them and they start thriving.
There are many reasons why The Thrive Programme is successful, but one aspect that always stands out is how it translates real psychology into easy-to-understand language.
Here are ten of my favourite Thrive quotes/metaphors/explanations:
“A belief is nothing more than a though we keep on thinking.” The statement seems simplistic, but actually it’s very accurate. A belief IS just a thought we keep on thinking. If the belief is an unhelpful one, we will continue to suffer its consequences as long as we believe it.
“There’s always a cost.” There is always a price to pay for holding a powerless belief … every single powerless belief you hold is disempowering you in some way, shape or form. Every belief you hold about external powers, fate, luck, chance, magical treatments, social pressures, the influence of your past experiences, your lack of skills … you are paying for by feeling a little less powerful in some area of your life.
“When the imagination and the will are in conflict, the imagination invariably gains the day.” (Brooks, 1922) This relates to the times where you want to achieve a particular outcome, and are perhaps even putting lots of effort into making that outcome happen, but you, additionally, fear that an alternative negative outcome might happen. You could be stating determinedly what you want to happen (your will) - “I’m going to go on a diet in the new year and lose weight” - then your inner-voice (your imagination) replies with what you fear will happen: “you won’t stick to it - you never stick to a diet!”
“Positive thoughts, experiences and feelings charge your self-esteem battery. Negative thoughts, experiences and feelings deplete it.” It’s helpful to think of your self-esteem as being a little bit like a rechargeable battery. Positive, pleasant, rewarding, validating thoughts or experiences fill your self-esteem battery with “positive charge” and you feel good about yourself.
“In terms of your self-esteem, you are what you think.” Self-esteem is what you currently think and feel about you. It doesn’t necessarily reflect the reality of how good you are, how nice you are, how loveable you are, how pretty or handsome you are, or how clever you are. Your self-esteem is just what you currently think or feel about you. How you feel about yourself today, is entirely related to what you have been thinking about yourself, and your life, TODAY. Not last week, last month, last year, or ten years ago.
“Thriving is not about being perfect.” Perfectionists do tend to be highly achieving people as they spend so much time working to improve upon everything they do! Yet, deep down, perfectionists do not see themselves as successful. All achievements are set aside, as they strive to improve themselves and become faultless. Sooner or later they’re inevitably going to be disappointed in their inability to meet their very high standards. Perspective is required.
“Our language is a window through which we can easily recognise our thoughts and beliefs.” Just in the same way that our “body reacts upon our mind, and our mind reacts upon our body”, our “thoughts and beliefs affect our language, and our language affects our thoughts and beliefs”. If you speak and think negative words, you will lower your mood, anticipate negative outcomes, make yourself stressed, and feel powerless.
“What sort of day do you want today?” Do you want a crappy day today? Do you want to feel miserable, bored, negative, sad, angry? Do you want to feel bad about being overweight, still smoking, gambling, not going to the gym, getting old, or going bald? I imagine your answer is “no”. Then what? What do you want to get out of today? Make your choice.
“Social anxiety isn’t real.” Social anxiety happens inside a person’s head. It’s not about the reality of other people judging you. You create your anxious thoughts and feelings. Social anxiety is just an unhelpful reaction due to the beliefs that you hold about yourself and other people.
“Your self-esteem is a belief, not a fact.” The trouble is, like any belief, we look for evidence that supports and nurtures our beliefs because we feel safe and comfortable in the knowledge that our life is predictable and makes sense. All new information and experiences are viewed through your “belief tinted glasses”. This is why many unhelpful beliefs are often maintained, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
It was hard to limit this list to ten! It’s the tip of the iceberg.
If you’d like to learn the skills that thriving people use every day, then book a no-obligation chat with me today. Click here to book a time directly in my calendar.
Happy New Year! I wish you a brilliant 2019 …