Autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower

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“Autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower.”

—Albert Camus, 20th Century French Philosopher

Image of bright autumn leaves

Image from Unsplash be Val Vesa

Our society embraces youth, beauty, and vitality. These qualities seem to coincide with the spring and summer, where new growth begins and we bloom into our fullness.

As we age, we enter the autumn of our lives. I embrace the metaphor of leaves, in all their wondrous colors, being a second spring. With aging and life experience, we can discover new forms of inner beauty and wisdom.

Exercise:

How can you embrace every moment and every season of your life?

What beauty can you find in where you are and who you have become?

#63: “Life is playfulness…”

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“…We need to play so that we can rediscover the magic all around us.”

– Flora Colao

As a child, I remember being told “you cannot go out and play until the work is done.” It turned out that there was always work to do – in the form of chores and schoolwork.

Years ago, I took a one-year course called The Wisdom Course that was all about bringing greater playfulness into my life. It was around this time that I left my 12-year corporate job to begin my coaching career.

As the saying goes, when you love what you do, you’ll never work another day in your life. Most days, my work feels like play.

Exercise:

How can you bring greater magic into your life by bringing more playfulness into your work and your personal life?

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#62: “The work will wait while you show the child the rainbow…”

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“The work will wait while you show the child the rainbow, but the rainbow won’t wait while you finish the work.”

– Patricia Clifford

Are you missing too many rainbows? Do you sometimes feel that life is passing you by? Do you tell yourself that you will have the time in the future – perhaps on the weekend or on vacation, or even when you retire – to get to the things that matter?

We cannot schedule life’s rainbows. We have to seize the precious moments when they occur.

Exercise:

How can you be more intentionally tuned into your world and find greater joy and fulfillment in life’s special moments?

Quotes are posted on The Quotable Coach a week after being sent out by email. To get the latest quotes straight to your inbox, pop your details in the sidebar to the right.

#61: “The longest journey is the journey inward.”

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– Dag Hammarskjold, diplomat, economist and author

I have just finished driving 845 miles over two days through Canada, New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire. My journey included stops in Niagara Falls, the Finger Lakes, a winery, and a very cool hole-in-the-wall diner with the best all-you-can-eat fish and chips I’ve ever had!

Most people I know like going on such adventures. This quote, however, is about our ability to journey within our own minds. Think about it: you can instantly go anywhere at any time without 15 hours in the car and two and a half tanks of gas.

Exercise:

Where have you already gone on this inner journey so far?

What new and expanded adventures are possible for each day, week, month, and year ahead?

Quotes are posted on The Quotable Coach a week after being sent out by email. To get the latest quotes straight to your inbox, pop your details in the sidebar to the right.

#60: “Do what you know is right, do the best you can, and let the loose ends drag.”

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– Steve Strickler (attributed)

Life is a journey. It’s a game of progress, not perfection. When we live a life true to our nature and give it our all, perhaps we just need to let the chips fall where they may.

If we let go of the loose ends of life – the small stuff, the minor parts – then we can travel lighter.

Exercise:

Where do you sweat the small stuff, or major in the minors?

How can you simply let the loose ends drag?

Quotes are posted on The Quotable Coach a week after being sent out by email. To get the latest quotes straight to your inbox, pop your details in the sidebar to the right.

#59: “Progress is impossible without change…”

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“…and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”

– George Bernard Shaw

I heard once that the reason many of us resist change is because we are afraid of losing something. It may be the fear of losing the familiar (better the devil you know), fear of losing control, or simply the fear of losing a relationship we have come to know.

But what if we look at the flip side: the opportunities, the things we have to gain? Perhaps if we not only acknowledge that change is constant, but fully embrace it, even intentionally cause it, we can live fuller and more satisfying lives.

Exercise:

Where are you resisting change and maintaining a closed mind?

How can you develop a more open perspective to welcoming change in your world?

Quotes are posted on The Quotable Coach a week after being sent out by email. To get the latest quotes straight to your inbox, pop your details in the sidebar to the right.

Follow Your Heart

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“When at a conflict between mind and heart, always follow your heart.”

– Swami Vivekananda, Hindu monk

How do you make decisions? Do you come to them through logic, or check in with your gut? Do they make sense or do they feel right? Are you a head or heart decider?

Many people use both, and enjoy knowing that something is consistent with their core values as well as meeting the criteria of logic and critical thinking.

What if these two types of thinking are in conflict? How often have you been faced with such a conflict in your personal or professional life, and how successful have you been in making such decisions?

Exercise:

Where could increasing your emphasis on your heart’s decisions increase your success and satisfaction?

 

#57: “When one door closes, another opens…”

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“… but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one that has opened for us.”

– Alexander Graham Bell, scientist and inventor

Life is filled with many endings and beginnings. It has many twists, turns, and even its share of dead ends. How can we maintain life’s momentum when we come to a real or apparent ending, instead of stopping too long to ponder or dwell on our past?

It often takes us a while to turn our heads and look forward, to grasp the doorknob of the future and open it with excitement and enthusiasm.

Exercise:

What doors in your life have you recently closed, and what new openings are available for you to pursue?

Quotes are posted on The Quotable Coach a week after being sent out by email. To get the latest quotes straight to your inbox, pop your details in the sidebar to the right.

#56: “To succeed in life, you need three things…”

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“… a wishbone, a backbone and a funnybone.”

– Reba McEntire, musician and actress

Many of the quotes I’ve included in The Quotable Coach series discuss the benefit of vision and hard work to help you along your life journey. I like the added element here of having a funny bone, or a sense of humor, as we navigate this journey.

I personally need to take life a bit less seriously – to be more playful and light-hearted and to have a whole lot more belly laughs along the way. How about you?

Exercise:

What can you do to lighten your life journey, experience more humor and laughter and find a youthful, playful spirit that will bring more joy into your world?

Quotes are posted on The Quotable Coach a week after being sent out by email. To get the latest quotes straight to your inbox, pop your details in the sidebar to the right.

Nothing happens unless first a dream

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“Nothing happens unless first a dream.”

– Carl Sandburg, 20th Century Pulitzer Prize-winning Poet

Close up image of a blue eye

Image from Unsplash by Daniil Kuželev

A dream, a vision, a goal, an objective: Words that convey a view of the future. When we envision the future, a magical attractive power begins to pull us towards its realization.

Without this first thought of what we want to see, we are left exactly where we are – with something neither good nor bad unless we make it so. However, the moment we think about, imagine, and envision a future, we find the ability to reach our destiny.

Exercise:

What are your personal and professional dreams?
How can you exercise your personal and professional capacity to envision your future, and use this capacity to enhance your world?