12 Inspiring Quotes From Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff By Richard Carlson
One of the most powerful things in the world is perspective. How we look at events and occurrences in life and what we make of them influences how we see things. Most of the time, the problems that we have often seem larger than they actually are because we blow them out of proportion. We focus on the trivialities of our lives instead of taking control of our perception and seeing things for what they really are.
Whatever happens in life will be as small or as big as we make it out to be. We can make a mountain out of a molehill and believe it’s going to destroy the world.
When things seem dire, we need to take a step back and put them into perspective. And that’s exactly what Richard Carlson’s book ‘Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff’ is about.
Read on for some inspiring quotes that might just help you put things into perspective.
“As long as you think more is better, you’ll never be satisfied.”
We can go on comparing our lives to the lives of our friends and celebrities, but by doing that we ignore what we do have. We can grab and grab and grab and never have enough if we don’t learn to appreciate what’s ours. The less you need to satisfy you, the more content you will be in life.
“If we would just slow down, happiness would catch up to us.”
In our high-speed modern-day societies, we are always rushing from one activity to another, trying to keep up with the increasing demands of our busy lives. But when you don’t stop to appreciate the moment, you’ll find that all that running was for nothing. Take time to slow down, tune in, and savor the moment and happiness will inevitably find you.
“Being listened to and heard is one of the greatest desires of the human heart.”
When you’re having a conversation, instead of waiting for your turn to talk, try listening to the other person with your full, undivided attention. It’s easy to listen to someone when they’re talking, but it’s a whole other thing to hear what they say.
“Thinking of someone to love each day keeps your resentment away!”
Love is resentment’s biggest fear and worst enemy. The way that resentment eats you up is the opposite of how love makes you glow.
“Choose to be kind over being right and you’ll be right every time.”
Yes, you can choose to be right, but what good is that if you’re left on your own? Would you rather be alone having beaten everyone with your rightness, or surrounded by loved ones knowing that being kind matters more?
“A low mood is not the time to analyze your life.”
When you’re not feeling yourself is the absolute worse time to dissect and criticize your life. It will do nothing but bring you pain and suffering when you’re meant to be healing. Wait for the low mood to pass, just like dark clouds on the sky, and when the sun comes out, things won’t look as bad as they seemed.
“Ask yourself the question, “Will this matter a year from now?”
If you’re agonizing over something that seems like the end of the world, ask yourself if it will matter a year or five years from now. If it won’t, chances are you’re blowing things out of proportion. If it won’t have a huge impact on your life, don’t let it bite out a huge chunk of your time worrying about it.
“If you’re not going to talk about something during the last hour of your life, then don’t make it a top priority during your lifetime.”
Be selective about what and who you give your time to. Life is too short to waste it on things that don’t matter to you. Take time to prioritize the things and people who matter the most to you and spend some quality time each day with those you love.
“The important question in terms of becoming more peaceful isn’t whether or not you’re going to have negative thoughts – you are – it’s what you choose to do with the ones that you have.”
Filter your thoughts like you’d filter out toxic substances from your food. Negative thoughts are a given, but as long as you don’t give them too much attention, they’ll fade away into the nothingness from which they came.
“It’s not fair,” we complain, not realizing that, perhaps, it was never intended to be.”
If we’re always complaining about life not being fair, we’re taking the power out of our own hands. Life is not fair, but we can make it what we want. Take back your power by taking action and responsibility and realizing that you can change things if you really want to.
“As you focus more on becoming more peaceful with where you are, rather than focusing on where you would rather be, you begin to find peace right now, in the present.”
Don’t wish your life away, because you’ll find out that the best moments were right there waiting for you, had you not looked past them into the abyss of your desire. Appreciate where you are, and you will experience the contentment that no other place can give you.
“We forget that life isn’t as bad as we’re making it out to be. We also forget that when we’re blowing things out of proportion, we are the ones doing the blowing.”
Life is, after all, what we make it.
Conclusion
We all need a bit of perspective sometimes. We all tend to overreact and blow things out of proportion, because to us, our world IS the world.
But always remember that you have the ability to zoom out on your life and look at things from a broader perspective. Remember this and you will learn not to sweat the small stuff and enjoy life to the maximum.
That’s the power of perspective.
