Episode Summary
Today’s episode is an invitation to pause for a moment and take some time to reflect and think about life’s essential things. Together, we delve into stirring quotes to help us reflect on friendship, success, empathy, freedom, and humor, to name some of them. We explore inspirational quotes from Abraham Lincoln, the importance of meditation, and how we can use it to calm our minds and soul.
Steve Shallenberger: Welcome to the Becoming Your Best podcast wherever you may be in the world today. This is your host, Steve Shallenberger. And we are so thrilled to have you together with us. Thank you for joining us. It says so much about the kind of person that you are that wants to become your best, and really make a difference not only in your life but in the life of others. Today, we’re going to talk about the power of meditation and reflection. I love this quote by Emily Fletcher, who wrote the book “Stress Less, Accomplish More:” “We meditate to get good at life, not to get good at meditation.” Well, I think that’s a really good reflection of what we want to accomplish, what the purpose is of talking about this subject today. Meditation and reflection are powerful contributors to calming the mind and the soul, which in turn, provide you with the energy and focus to produce outstanding results. Meditation is surprisingly simple. You can do it in one minute and have a one-minute meditation or take 15 or 20 minutes to meditate. You can reflect on nothing in particular, or it can be a focused meditation; seeking, for example, feedback from your inner counselor, or inner counselors, or inner healer, or inner self-awareness. It can be a simple one to two-minute deep breathing exercise or laying flat on your back looking for answers to a particular concern. In any case, meditation and reflection will be a huge force for good in your life.
In today’s podcast, I invite you to join me in a simple meditation and reflection upon quotes from one of the most inspiring leaders in history: Abraham Lincoln. I will share with you quotes that I found online from goodreads.com. Plus, I’ve added a few of my own for Mr. Lincoln. Your invitation is to not close your eyes if you’re driving. However, wherever you are, I invite you to just take it in, be curious, open, and ask yourself, “Can one or two of these quotes be a blessing in my life? Can they help me in the quest to become a bit better? And are there any that I can share with a family member or a friend that might bless them?” So, let’s enjoy these together. And thank you, Mr. Lincoln, in advance for the amazing impact that you have had on the world and for your inspired leadership.
Okay, here we go. I’ll just read through these quotes. There are about 20 or 30. And then we’ll conclude our podcasts from today. And again, your invitation is to just be aware and thoughtful of these. These will be in a transcript form, so you’ll have access to them in writing as well. Here we go.
“Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.”
“Whatever you are, be a good one.”
“Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?”
“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter or lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”
“My best friend is a person who will give me a book I have not read.” Wow! Wonderful.
“My concern is not whether God is on our side. My greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.”
“I am a success today because I had a friend who believed in me, and I didn’t have the heart to let him down.” Oh, so good.
“Books serve to show a man or a woman that those original thoughts of his aren’t very new after all.”
“When I do good, I feel good. And when I do bad, I feel bad. That’s my religion.”
“Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves.”
“I am a slow walker, but I never walked back.” Whoo! Good stuff.
“Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it, try it on him personally.”
“There are no bad pictures; that’s just how your face looks sometimes.” Oh, he had a great sense of humor, Disney.
“I can see how it might be possible for a person to look down upon the earth and be an atheist. But I cannot conceive how an individual can look up into the heavens and say, ‘There is no God.’”
“Those who look for the bad and people will surely find it.”
“I don’t like that man. I must get to know him better.” Wow! Now, that is extremely powerful.
“When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.” He knew all about that.
“I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to what light I have.”
“Be sure you put your feet in the right place, and then stand firm.”
“You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.”
“I would rather be a little nobody than to be an evil somebody.”
“If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?” Whoo! Wow!
“I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day.” I loved his faith in humility, his surrendering, his prayers.
“All that I am, or ever hoped to be, I owe to my angel mother.”
“Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.”
“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing.”
“The best way to predict your future is to create it.” He understood the power of a personal vision. I love that. What an inspiring quote.
“No man is poor who has a godly mother.”
“We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.” That’s one of the most inspiring, that’s awesome right there.
“I laugh because I must not cry, that is all, that is all.” That’s so good.
And here is the last one today as we do our reflection upon Abraham Lincoln; a quiet little meditation of goodness: “Let us have faith that right makes might, and, in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.” That was a speech that Lincoln gave at Cooper Union, New York, in February 1860.
Well, it’s been a delight to be together today. I hope that you have a quote here that has impressed you or inspired you. We thank you for being with us, as we all work on Becoming Your Best. Thank you so much. This is your host, Steve Shallenberger, wishing you the best today and always.
