Welcome to our collection of quotes (with shareable picture quotes) by Melody Beattie. We hope you enjoy pondering them and that you will share them widely.
Wikipedia Summary for Melody Beattie
Melody Beattie is an American author of self-help books on codependent relationships.
Is our past a mistake? No. The only mistake we can make is mistaking that for the truth.
Today I will focus on a peaceful pace, rather than a harried one. I will keep moving forward gently, not frantically. I will let go of my need to be anxious and upset and will replace these feelings with calmness and harmony.
We need to build downtime into our lives, so that we can have solitude without feeling overcome with guilt.
Going home means getting comfortable being who you are and who your soul really wants to be. There is no strain with that. The strain and tension come when we're not being who our soul wants to be and we're someplace where our soul doesn't feel at home.
I saw people who were hostile; they had felt so much hurt that hostility was their only defense against being crushed again.
We can say what we need to say. We can gently, but assertively, speak our mind. We do not need to be judgmental, tactless, blaming or cruel when we speak our truths.
This moment, we are right where we need to be, right where we are meant to be.
Let your mind and soul be at ease. Don't grasp and grab for the magic and miracles. When you reside in that place of stillness, the joy, miracles, and magic you're seeking will find you.
Believing that things happen too slowly or too quickly is an illusion. Timing is perfect.
Arranging for and allowing ourselves to have fun is an important part of taking care of ourselves. It helps us stay healthy. It helps us work better. It balances life. We deserve to have fun. Fun is a normal part of being alive. Fun is taking time to celebrate being alive.
Caring works. Caretaking doesn't. We can learn to walk the line between the two.
What's a codependent? The answer's easy. They're some of the most loving, caring people I know.
We cannot change others, but when we change ourselves, we may end up changing the world.
If we are unhappy without a relationship, we'll probably be unhappy with one as well. A relationship doesn't begin our life; a relationship doesn't become our life. A relationship is a continuation of life.
God, help me let go of my need to be afraid. I welcome peace, trust, acceptance, and safety into my life. I will make a point of listening to my healthy, rational fears, and will relinquish all the others.
Other people maay be there to help us, teach us, guide us aolng our path, But the lesson to be learned is always ours.
Quit hanging on to the handrails ... Let go. Surrender. Go for the ride of your life. Do it every day.
Worrying, obsessing, and controlling are illusions. They are tricks we play on ourselves.
Embrace and love all of yourself -- past, present, and future. Forgive yourself quickly and as often as necessary. Encourage yourself. Tell yourself good things about yourself.
Prayer changes things. Prayer changes us. Prayer changes life. Sometimes an event has been manifested that needs to be stopped, midair. Don't pray just when you're in trouble. Pray every day. Surround yourself with prayer. You never know when you might need an extra miracle.
We don't have to do it any better than we can -- ever. Do our best for the moment, then let it go. If we have to redo it, we can do our best in another moment, later.
Today I will not wait for someone to come to my aid. I'm not helpless. Although help may come, I'm my own rescuer. My relationships will dramatically improve when I stop rescuing others and stop expecting others to rescue me.
Today, I will let go. I will stop trying to control everything. I will stop trying to make myself be and do better, and I will let myself be.
Today I will refuse to jump into the middle of others' affairs, issues, and relationships. I will trust others to work out their own problems, including the ideas and feelings they want to communicate to each other.
Today I will learn to reject shame. Shame is an overwhelming sense that who I am isn't good enough. I realize that I am good enough, and that my imperfections are part of being human. I let go of shame.
Resentments are hardened chunks of anger. They loosen up and dissolve with forgiveness and letting go.
The more we are focused on controlling and changing others, the more unmanageable our life becomes. The more we focus on living our own life, the more we have a life to live, and the more manageable our life will become.
Even if the most important person in your world rejects you, you are still real, and you are still okay.
We decided that sooner or later you had to learn to live without almost everybody, at least for a while. Even people you didn't think you could live without. p 167 love always found itself again.
Today I will stop trying to control my relationships. I will participate at a reasonable level and let the other person do the same. I can let go, knowing that the relationship will find its own life-or not-and that I don't have to do all the work, only my share.
Some therapists have proclaimed: 'Co-dependency is anything, and everyone is co-dependent.'
Like it or not, i was already learning that in the worst and darkest time, I would find specks of light, moments of joy. What I didn't want to learn was the other, harsher lesson -- that in life's brightest moments there would also be unbearable pain. p 87.
Waiting time is not wasted time. Something is being worked out -- in us, in someone else, in the Universe.
Today I will tell myself that I'm lovable. Just because some people haven't been able to love me in ways that worked doesn't mean that I'm unlovable. I've had lessons to learn, and some of them have hurt deeply, but I can still love, and I still am loved.
I used to spend so much time reacting and responding to everyone else that my life had no direction. Other people's lives, problems, and wants set the course for my life. Once I realized it was okay for me to think about and identify what I wanted, remarkable things began to take place in my life.
A man went to Istanbul, his first visit there. On his way to a business meeting, this man lost his way. He began raging at himself for getting lost, until a realization allowed him to transcend his ire. How can I be lost? I've never been here before? pp 104-105.
You don't blast a heart open, she said. You coax and nurture it open, like the sun does to a rose.
Gratitude turns negative energy into positive energy. There is no situation or circumstance so small or large that it is not susceptible to gratitude's power.
Gratitude helps us stop trying to control outcomes. It is the key that unlocks positive energy in our life. It is the alchemy that turns problems into blessings, and the unexpected into gifts.
Today I will honor, cherish, and love myself. When I get confused about what to do, I just have to remember that I need to be true to myself. I will break free of the hold that others-and their expectations-ha ve on me.
Live your life from your heart. Share from your heart. And your story will touch and heal people's souls.
Letting go helps us to live in a more peaceful state of mind and helps restore our balance. It allows others to be responsible for themselves and for us to take our hands off situations that do not belong to us. This frees us from unnecessary stress.
There are almost as many definitions of co-dependency as there are experiences that represent it.
Guilt can prevent us from setting the boundaries that would be in our best interests, and in other people's best interests.
Feel what you feel, know what you know, and set your relatives free to do the same.
Don't violate your own code of values and ethics, but don't waste energy trying to make other people violate theirs.
According to some Eastern religion, there is a belt that goes across the world, and I've heard that Minnesota is right in the heart of this spiritual-creative belt of energy.
Make New Year's goals. Dig within, and discover what you would like to have happen in your life this year. This helps you do your part. It is an affirmation that you're interested in fully living life in the year to come.
What do you do when life blindfolds you and spins you around? We think it's our fault, that we're to blame, when really we should be focused on being gentle with ourselves.
Few things can make us feel crazier than expecting something from someone who has nothing to give.
Twelve-step promotes spirituality, not religion. It gives a practical, day-to-day spirituality that tells me what I can and cannot control. There is room to be imperfect and to be someone who struggles to find God.
The new year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written. We can help write that story by setting goals.
Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.
In martial arts, every time you graduate, move to another level, you don't forget everything you've done. You build on it, but it's always there.