THERE are a lot of quotes that can help push us to do better. Perhaps there are a million quotes that talk about going beyond your comfort zone, reaching for the stars, doing your best. Of those many quotes, a few will connect with you deeply. And those few that you gravitate to the most are the ones you will probably commit to memory.

This is the quotable quote that I always recall when I need a little booster:

“You can decide to be two types of people. You can be ordinary or you can be extraordinary. The only difference between those two words is extra. If you do extra, you can be extraordinary. If you don’t want an extraordinary life, just stop doing extra.” — Steve Harvey

Ordinary vs extraordinary. That one word isn’t only a five-letter difference, but one that creates a huge impact when acted on.

How have you become extraordinary today?

I KNOW that you know that every cloud has a silver lining, and that there is no day but today. That while the grass is greener on the other side, you’ll never know what’s missing till it’s gone. I’m sure you also know that a smile is a frown turned upside down, and that when you smile, the world smiles with you. You’ve tried and tried until you’ve achieved success, because you thought that if others can’t, why couldn’t you?

You have to admit that one can find solace in classic lines. Quotable quotes may sound absolutely cliche, but I’ve come to discover thirteen quotes that never fail to pull me out of the gutter. Perhaps they can help you when you need some picker-uppers too.

1. The quote for when you need to bring back focus on the blessings you have now or for thanksgiving. In other words, when you feel like the world is depriving you of goodness, you can center yourself with the quote below.

“I live in a space of thankfulness, and I have been rewarded a million times over for it. I started giving thanks for small things, and the more thankful I became, the more my bounty increased. That’s because what you focus on expands, and when you focus on the goodness in your life, you create more of it.”
– Oprah Winfrey

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SUBSCRIBING to newsletters with inspirational themes and quotes are great ways to remind myself to stay positive. Sometimes the deluge of reminders can be overwhelming though, and they end up looking like reflections of one another. And then there are times when a quote stands out, grabs your attention and puts you in reflective mode. That’s exactly what happened to me when I opened one of my daily e-mail from Oprah’s Mission Calendar Inspirations. The inspiration for the day was this beautiful quotation.

“People talk about the meaning of life; there is no meaning of life–there are lots of meanings of different lives, and you must decide what you want your own to be.”
– Joseph Campbell

It struck me. It was an epiphany. It was “Bahala ka sa buhay mo!” spun differently. Kidding aside, it really did stop me from working for about five minutes. The quote did its work: Reflective Mode ON.

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