Bravery Archives - Page 2 of 7 - Stephanie DelTorchio

Be Aggressively Hopeful

Learn from yesterday, Live for today, Hope for tomorrow. Albert Einstein/befat.net/positive quotes

The lowest point in my husband’s cancer diagnosis is what we called “the double handshake”.

It’s when someone you’ve just met stands in front of you, shakes your hand and says, “good luck” and then places their other hand on top and says, “God bless”.

Everything that happened the day or week or year before didn’t seem to matter.

We were living in the today moment for sure. And it didn’t feel very good at all.

Thoughts of tomorrow felt out of reach, a pipe dream.

But very quickly you rely on the lessons and experiences of yesterday. You put on your big boy/girl pants. Make a decision to live in the present moment and deal with that, however ugly and scary it looks. Then wag a finger in the air and shout “fuck you!” and fight like hell for the hope of tomorrow.

BE F-G AWESOME TODAY!

Original graphic and quote: Stephanie DelTorchio

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Being Who You Choose To Become

be f-g awesome today/befat.net/positive quotes/Carl Jung quote 8.3.2016

We all carry bags of shit.

And the reason we do this is because somewhere, a very long time ago, somebody said something to us. Or did something to us. And it wasn’t very nice.

We got older. We brushed it aside. Put it over there, under that. We justified it. We accepted it as part of our past. We felt safe when we hid it. Or buried it out of sight.

With all our acquired grown-up skills we knew what “they” said or did, in the big scope of the world, didn’t amount to crap. But we continued to carry it anyway. In silence. Alone.

In a twisted way we hold on to the hurt, pain, guilt, burden, secret. Because it’s safe. And it’s our excuse to not do the things we want to do. We don’t say it out loud. We are the protectors and keepers of our past. We hold it very close.

But any of it, all of it, keeps us from becoming the curiosity seeker, the doer, the artist, the inventor, the writer, the teacher, the actress, the engineer, the parent — the real us. The person we desperately know is concealed and preserved under layers and layers of shit.

Here’s the thing: How long do you keep that up? How long to you let some person, event, comment — old negativity — burden your potential?

Make it stop. Now.

Tell the world out loud or quietly to yourself: “You are not the boss of me anymore. Love is my new boss.”

Then go be good to yourself today. Love yourself and become the you that you are meant to be.

BE F-G AWESOME TODAY!

Original graphic: Stephanie DelTorchio

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Time for you to change?

Change quote| Inspiring quote | befat.net | #befat | finding the awesome in every day

You might be surprised to learn that you have more aptitude and abilities than you know.

We hold on to this limiting belief that every body is better than us. They had it is easier growing up, an unfair advantage, therefore they got what we didn’t. Bull.

All we need is to shift our mindset and believe that if we take action things can and will change. Being lazy or feeling stuck or having fears are speed bumps and caution signs we create to keep us from having to change.

For the brave and curious change is exactly what we must do. To put yourself in a position to be the person or do the thing that makes you unique.

But I’m stuck HERE. Set in my ways. With my bumper stickers. Nope. Not buying it.

Everyone has it within them to change. Even you.

Lose the bad habits.

Bad attitudes.

Bad associations.

Doing so frees up the space to allow real growth and change to happen.

BE F-G AWESOME TODAY!

Original graphic and quote: Stephanie DelTorchio

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What are you chasing?

Drew Houston commencement speech | inspirational quote | befat.net | #befat.net | finding the awesome in every day

Chasing your tennis ball

Drew Houston, CEO of Dropbox and MIT graduate, delivered the 147th commencement speech by suggesting to the new graduates that they spend time to “find their tennis ball.”

It’s the thing that pulls you along, he said.

Houston was a typical MIT graduate — brainy, computer whiz kid — driven and curious but unsure which direction he wanted to take after earning his degree.

At age 21 he started his first company at a Chili’s restaurant he’d drawn up on a napkin. He tried and failed a few business ideas while he watched his friends get wooed for millions of dollars by Silicon Valley investors.

He took a six month time-out period after graduation and began working on a poker bot. If you’re not familiar with online gambling, once you get tired of spending hours at your computer losing your money, a bot will do it for you.

Although his parents began to wonder about their son’s future, for Houston, perfecting the bot was the thing that drove him forward. Because it mattered to HIM.

It’s like a dog chasing a tennis ball, he says. “…Their eyes go a little crazy, the leash snaps and they go bounding off, plowing through whatever gets in the way.”

“It’s not about pushing yourself,” he told the students. “It’s about finding your tennis ball, the thing that pulls you. It might take a while, but until you find it, keep listening for that little voice.”

His message to students is appropriate for the rest of us still listening and seeking. It begs the question: What is your tennis ball?

[In 2013, at age 30, Houston returned to MIT to give the 147th MIT Commencement Speech. Here he talks about his path from student to CEO of Dropbox, an online backup and storage service.]

BE F-G AWESOME TODAY!

Original graphic: Stephanie DelTorchio

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Did you live it?

Empoering quote | Inspirational quote | It only matters that you lived it | befat.net | finding the awesome in every day

There are no bonuses for thinking about how you want to live your life…it only matters that you LIVED it.

You are not accountable to your family, friends or associates for what you chose to do. Or how you choose to spend your time here.

Don’t ask for permission or seek guidance.

Don’t allow someone else to make you feel vulnerable or question the thing you want to do.

For as surely as the Earth rotates on its axis, your goal or desire will be stopped in its tracks by people who really care about you. Well-meaning as they are, unless your tight circle involves like minds, you’ll not be embraced with the comaraderie you seek.

Find kindred spirits who share the same or similar dreams, passions and interests. Chances are good that their friends are (loving) vision squashers too.

Better to keep it quiet.

But live it.

If you want to write. Go write.

If you want to travel. Go travel.

If you want to learn a new language. Go do that.

If you want to hike a mountain. Take a hike!

Divert the naysayers and Debbie Downers with some trivial pursuit, if you must, then run like hell and go do your thing. Even if your time is limited to after the regular day is done or a weekend.

Don’t delay until “someday.”

Go live it.

Just don’t forget to send us postcards written in French from your hiking adventures through the Swiss Alps.

BE F-G AWESOME TODAY!

Original graphic and quote: Stephanie DelTorchio

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Enjoy it all on purpose

Have fun with this you guys…

If you want to, print it out. Hang it on your refrigerator or mirror as a daily reminder that this is YOUR life to enjoy. Any way you wish.

…..

Remember when you were served a favorite dessert as a kid?

Did you lick your fingers to be sure that not one single crumb missed your lips? Yeah, that’s what you need to remember.

Your interests and goals are the dessert of life. Crumbs are bits of deliciousness you don’t ever want to leave behind.

Roadblocks? Guaranteed.

Yes, you’ll need to navigate the insanity in this mad world. But understand that other people’s reactions to what you want to do, don’t belong to you. That’s their baggage of woes.

Let them carry their own crap while you carry on with your life.

Create. Travel. Learn. Teach. Sail. Write. Sing. Cultivate. Experience. Any of it. And all of it.

And ENJOY it, okay?

Savor every last bit.

BE F-G AWESOME TODAY!

Original graphic and quote: Stephanie DelTorchio

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Moments that seize us

Moments that seize us | inspiring graphic | befat.net | finding awesome in every day

I adore the quote by Ashley Montagu that says:

“The moments of happiness we enjoy take us by surprise. It’s not that we seize them, but that they seize us.”

Think about times in your life where something took hold of you and changed you in that moment.

It reminds me of another favorite quotation from the late great poet Maya Angelou:

“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.”

May today be seized upon you. And may your breath be taken away. (All in a good way!)

BE F-G AWESOME TODAY!

Original graphic and quote: Stephanie DelTorchio

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Begin your journey

begin your journey | chinese proverb on beginning | befat.net | finding the awesome in every day

Forget the END of your story.

And all the complications of the muddled MIDDLE of your story — the obstacles, antagonists, highs and lows, twists, turns, surprises — there will be many. That’s a promise.

Before you can tell us anything about your story you need to step out and BEGIN your story.

Then come back and tell us everything — every single detail. Beginning, middle and end.

Just make yours a good story worth telling.

BE F-G AWESOME TODAY!

Original graphic: Stephanie DelTorchio
Quote: Laozi philosopher

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Stay with me

Don't quit on people who need you / befat.net / inspirational quote / #befat

Don’t quit on people who matter.

They may need to be loved only in our hearts. A safe distance away. To keep them from messing with our heads and getting on our nerves or under our skin.

We know they are hurting and we know we should be the bigger person.

Close our mouths when we have SO much to say. Unfurl our fists when it seems the way out of frustration is to punch the living shit out of something.

But you are the kinder and saner soul in this relationship. That’s why they irk you and they don’t know it (or maybe they do?). That’s why you pray for them. Send them light and rainbows. And draw the hard lines in order to protect yourself.

You’re not a bad person for keeping them away. It’s how you survive and maintain your sanity and live out the day in front of you.

But you can’t give up completely on the people who matter. Even after they’ve taken you down so many times. You find a way to get back up and tangle with them again and again. Because when all the anger, bitterness and contempt is peeled away, you care. Because that hurting person is part of your story.

BE F-G AWESOME TODAY!

Original graphic and quote: Stephanie DelTorchio

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