Bronnie Ware quotes

“A Buddhist story is that a man came shouting angrily at Buddha, who remained unaffected by him. When questioned by others as to how he remained calm and unaffected, Buddha answered with a question. “If someone gives you a gift and you choose not to receive it, to whom then does the gift belong?” Of course it stays with the giver.”

“Don’t work too hard. Try to maintain balance. Don’t make work your whole life.”

“Don’t worry about the little stuff. None of it matters. Only love matters. If you remember this, that love is always present; it will be a good life.”

“Finding the courage to act or surrender will never be as painful as lying on a deathbed with regrets.”

“Gratitude for every day along the way is the key to acknowledging and enjoying happiness now. Not when the results come in or when you retire, or when this or that happens.”

“Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it.”

“I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.”

“I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.”

“If we are able to face our own inevitable death with honest acceptance, before we have reached that time, then we shift our priorities well before it is too late. This gives us the opportunity to then put our energies into directions of true value. Once we acknowledge that limited time is remaining, although we don’t know if that is years, weeks or hours, we are less driven by ego or by what other people think of us. Instead, we are more driven by what our hearts truly want. This acknowledgment of our inevitable, approaching death, offers us the opportunity to find greater purpose and satisfaction in the time we have remaining.”

“It is much easier to be strong in faith when you are smiling. So it would automatically lift my mood and reassure me that I would indeed find more reasons to smile again.”

“It’s not just about staying in touch with your friends. It is about giving yourself the gift of their company too.”

“Laughter is a very underrated tool for healing.”

“Life doesn’t owe us anything. We only owe ourselves, to make the most of the life we are living, of the time we have left, and to live in gratitude.”

“Living regret-free is not something achievable in a flash. It is created by an ongoing day-to-day process of conscious decisions, loving actions to ourselves, and a whole bucket full of courage.”

“Loneliness isn’t a lack of people. It is a lack of understanding and acceptance.”

“My leaps of faith had also taught me this already. When the money stopped, it was usually because I was focusing on that fear of lack, so I received more lack. When I focused on the beauty of the day, counted my blessings and worked towards whatever I was being guided to do, what I needed would flow my way.”

“No one owes us anything. We only owe ourselves to get off our backsides, count our blessings, and face our challenges. When you live from that perspective, the gifts pour forth.”

“People play the victim forever but who are they kidding? They are only robbing themselves. Life doesn’t owe you anything. Neither does anyone else. Only you owe yourself. So the best way to make the most out of life is to appreciate the gift of it, and choose not to be a victim.”

“Playing the victim is a toxic waste of time that not only repels other people, but also robs the victim of ever knowing true happiness.”

“Smile and know that this time will pass and good will follow.”

“Sometimes we don’t know until much later that a particular moment in time has changed our life’s direction.”

“Surrender is not giving up, far from it. Surrender takes an enormous amount of courage. Often we are only capable of doing so when the pain of trying to control the outcome becomes too much to bear.”

“The clock ticks for every one of us. It is your own choice how you spend your remaining days.”

“The mind knows no answers. The heart knows no questions.”

“The only true thing that brings out the best in anyone is love.”

“The same view you look at every day, the same life, can become something brand new by focusing on its gifts rather than the negative aspects. Perspective is your own choice and the best way to shift that perspective is through gratitude, by acknowledging and appreciating the positives.”

“There is a fine line between compassion and a victim mentality. Compassion though is a healing force and comes from a place of kindness towards yourself. Playing the victim is a toxic waste of time that not only repels other people, but also robs the victim of ever knowing true happiness.”

“There is always a gift in any challenge.”

“There is nothing wrong with loving your work and wanting to apply yourself to it. But there is so much more to life. Balance is what is important, maintaining balance.”

“They say that everything comes down to love or fear: every emotion, every action, and every thought.”

“Those who accept you as who you are, and who know you very well, are worth more than anything in the end.”

“To be in any sort of relationship where you do not express yourself, simply to keep the peace, is a relationship ruled by one person and will never be balanced or healthy.”

“We can never know the gifts that will flow to us until they arrive, but of one thing I am certain. Courage and honesty are always rewarded.”

“We do more to avoid pain than we do to gain pleasure. So it is when the pain becomes too much that we finally find the courage to make changes.”

“When the money stopped, it was usually because I was focusing on that fear of lack, so I received more lack. When I focused on the beauty of the day, counted my blessings and worked towards whatever I was being guided to do, what I needed would flow my way.”

“When there is limited time left, there is little to lose by being totally honest.”