Sarah Ban Breathnach Quotations

Whatever we are waiting for - peace of mind, contentment, grace, the inner awareness of simple abundance - it will surely come to us, but only when we are ready to receive it with an open and grateful heart.

Be grateful for the home you have, knowing that at this moment, all you have is all you need.

Always remember that striving and struggle precede success, even in the dictionary.

The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers. But above all, the world needs dreamers who do.

New Year's Day. A fresh start. A new chapter in life waiting to be written. New questions to be asked, embraced, and loved. Answers to be discovered and then lived in this transformative year of delight and self-discovery. Today carve out a quiet interlude for yourself in which to dream, pen in hand. Only dreams give birth to change.

Each day offers us the gift of being a special occasion if we can simply learn that as well as giving, it is blessed to receive with grace and a grateful heart.

Take a leap of faith and begin this wondrous new year by believing. Believe in yourself. And believe that there is a loving Source - a Sower of Dreams - just waiting to be asked to help you make your dreams come true.

Expect to have hope rekindled. Expect your prayers to be answered in wondrous ways. The dry seasons in life do not last. The spring rains will come again.

An authentic life is the most personal form of worship. Everyday life has become my prayer.

Grace is available for each of us every day - our spiritual daily bread - but we've got to remember to ask for it with a grateful heart and not worry about whether there will be enough for tomorrow.

Let's choose today to quench our thirst for the 'good life' we thinks others lead by acknowledging the good that already exists in our lives. We can then offer the universe the gift of our grateful hearts.

Faith is the very first thing you should pack in a hope chest.

The seasons of life are not meant to be frenetic, just full. Blessed is the woman who knows her own limits.

Today, and everyday, take as your personal mantra: I am what I am and what I am is wonderful.

Our success already exists on a spiritual level; it's a matter of pulling it into the physical world.

Invite Divine Order into your life today and a more serene tomorrow will unfold.

We can stop waiting for life to become perfect and start working with what we’ve got to make it as satisfying as we can. We can accept, bless, give thanks, and get going. Today, we can begin to call forth the riches from our everyday life. Today we can move from lack to abundance.

Today you may not be familiar with the happiness habit. But like any new behavior, happiness can be learned.

Your heart will always tell you what’s working and what’s not.

Not every one of our desires can be immediately gratified. We’ve got to learn to wait patiently for our dreams to come true, especially on the path we’ve chosen.

Turn away from the world this year and begin to listen. Listen to the whispers of your heart. Look within. Your silent companion has lit lanterns of love to illuminate the path to Wholeness. At long last, the journey you were destined to take has begun.

The revelation that we have everything we need in life to make us happy but simply lack the conscious awareness to appreciate it can be as refreshing as lemonade on a hot afternoon. Or it can be as startling as cold water being thrown in our face. How many of us go through our days parched and empty, thirsting after happiness, when we’re really standing knee-deep in the river of abundance?

Never forget that all you have is all you need.

Any self-prompt that reminds you to focus on flow not ebb, contributes to your greater sense of abundance. (53)

Remember, no matter what life throws at us, we can always bake a cake!

Not having money to spend doesn’t mean we can’t have well-spent moments every day. (42)

This is how women self-sabotage and self-destruct. Unless we have constant witnesses to our hard work, we are convinced we pull off every day of our lives through smoke and mirrors. (27)

Every day we’re given chances to embrace the new.

The way you reach that awareness is through an inner journey that brings about an emotional, psychological, and spiritual transformation. A deep inner shift in your reality occurs, aligning you with the creative energy of the Universe. Such change is possible when you invite Spirit to open up the eyes of your awareness to the abundance that is already yours.

Second thoughts have aborted more dreams than all the difficult circumstances, overwhelming obstacles, and dangerous detours fate ever could throw at you.

We think that it's the big moments that define our lives-the wedding, the baby, the new house, the dream job. But really, these big moments of happiness are just the punctuation marks of our personal sagas. The narrative is written every day in the small, the simple, and the common. In your tiny choices, in these tiny changes. In the unconsidered. The overlooked. The discarded. The reclaimed.

To find this greater truth about God, Spirit, and the sacred, we must often set aside the limiting impressions from our childhood. In many instances these images of fear only serve to hold us back in our search for authentic spirituality...Open up your mind and heart to a concept of Spirit who looks out for us, loves us, sheds light on our path, and wants nothing less for us than unconditional happiness.

It's a perfect moment to quietly meditate on the cosmic Great Mother who can inspire us all; the divine, feminine Spirit of nurturance known as The Goddess, so revered in ancient times and being rediscovered by women today.

Gail Sheehy tells us that "the delights of self-discovery are always available." All Fools' Day is the perfect day to engrave this wisdom in our hearts.

Some holiday traditions are sacred. In our house one such tradition is the annual Christmas classic cinema celebration.

It doesn't really matter whether we reflect the light through our authentic gifts or whether our authentic calling is to spread it. What matters is that tonight is that the world is dark, cold, and bleak. Your flame burns so brightly. Share your Love and warmth with others. Watch the Light return.

After self-nurturance, listening to the whispers of our hearts is probably the hardest task we've ever attempted.

All of us know about learning life's lessons through pain, struggle, and loss. But few of us realize that it is often the gentlest lessons that teach us most. Serendipity can instruct us as much as sorrow.

Self-nurturance, or learning to bask in bliss, is an acquired art form.

This moment is your life. It is the process of living, the journey, that is life itself, and we often wish away our lives by focusing only on what tomorrow could, should, would bring.

This moment is always the best one in which to express your care for others.

Only dreams give birth to change.

Let passion be your muse. Let her guide and teach you to trust your instincts.

...start thinking of yourself as an artist and your life as a work-in-progress. Works-in-progress are never perfect. But changes can be made...Art evolves. So does life. Art is never stagnant. Neither is life. The beautiful, authentic life you are creating for yourself is your art. It's the highest art.

It's time we put thoughts of lack behind us. It's time for us to discover the secrets of the stars, to sail to an uncharted land, to open up a new heaven where our spirits can soar. But first we'll have to make changes. And lasting change does not happen overnight. Lasting change happens in infinitesimal increments: a day, an hour, a minute, a heartbeat at a time....

Deliberately seeking solitude-quality time spent away from family and friends-may seem selfish. It is not. Solitude is as necessary for our creative spirits to develop and flourish as are sleep and food for our bodies to survive.

Conscious choice is creative. Unconscious choice is destructive. That is how we end up living other people's lives.

Life is not made up of minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, or years, but of moments. You must experience each one before you can appreciate it.

I am grateful for what I call well-spent moments: Making a tuna fish sandwich with the works. Taking at least a half hour to eat it outside. Ironing my vintage tea towels while watching old black-and-white film noir movies and sipping one martini with extra olives - a quirky combination, but it works.

It's hard to tell our bad luck from our good luck sometimes. And most of us have wept copious tears over someone or something when if we'd understood the situation better we might have celebrated our good fortune instead.

Joy is your birthright.

We can learn to be the catalysts for our own change.

How many of us go through our days parched and empty, thirsting after happiness, when we're really standing knee-deep in the river of abundance?

Today expect something good to happen to you no matter what occurred yesterday.

Procrastination has robbed us of too many opportunities.

Whatever you are waiting for-peace of mind, contentment, grace, the inner awareness of Simple Abundance-it will surely come, but only when you are ready to receive it with an open and grateful heart.

Authentic success is being so grateful for the many blessings bestowed on you and yours that you can share your portion with others.

Every morning when we wake up we've been given a wonderful gift-another day of life-so let's make the most of it. No one can do it for us. . . . Genuine happiness can only be realized once we commit to making it a personal priority in our lives. This may be a new behavior for some of us and a bit intimidating. Be gentle with yourself. It will all unfold. Like any new behavior, happiness can be learned.

The House of Belonging is your birthright; it is part of your Happily Everafter, whether you are married, single, divorced, widowed, with or without children. The blueprints of your House of Belonging exist as spiritual energy and hover over your head-ready, when you are, to be pulled down from Heaven to shelter your Soul on Earth.

As we become curators of our own contentment on the Simple Abundance path... we learn to savor the small with a grateful heart.

Human beings, as far as I can tell, seem to be divided into two subspecies -- the resigned, who live in quiet desperation, and the exhausted, who exist in restless agitation.

We can then offer the universe the gift of our grateful hearts.

I have a theory about soul mates -- that God wants to be our sweetheart. And once we fall in love with life and have an intimate relationship with Spirit, that's when we meet our soul mate. It's as if God says, 'You're not meant to be alone on this earth. I just wanted you to love me first.

Since the choice of what we curl up with is often crucial for our solace and sanity, we need to learn how to nurture the talent of selection. Book browsing is a meditative art...Books are as essential as breathing.

Start moving, a step at a time, step after step. The positive momentum will take you from there.

As the season of believing seems to wind down let me gently remind you that many dreams still wait in the wings. Many authentic sparks must be fanned before passion performs her perfect work in you. Throw another log on the fire.

I truly believe that we each have a House of Belonging waiting for us. Waiting to be found, waiting to be built, waiting to be renovated, waiting to be cleaned up. Waiting to rescue us. Waiting for the real thing: a grown-up, romantic, reciprocal relationship.

I approach my work with a passionate intensity, acting as if its success depends entirely on me. "But once I've done my best, I try to let go as much as possible and have no expectations about how my work will be received by the world."

Choice is destiny's soul mate.

Trust that through the balm of simplicity your frazzled and weary soul can discover the place where you ought to be. Every day offers us simple gifts when we are willing to search our hearts for the place that's right for each of us.

Take another look at your life. Give thanks. Accept your circumstances. Give thanks. Count your blessings. Give thanks. Show up for each day's meditation. Be willing to give the basic tools a fair chance. They can help you find your way.

Consider the track record of your naysayers. How many dreams have they successfully brought into this world?

We are far betting dealing with the big losses-death, divorce, debt, and debilitating illness-than with the daily onslaught of little losses.

Gratitude is the most passionate transformative force in the cosmos.

Don't wish today away. Don't waste it. Redeem one hour to be grateful. Let your thanksgiving rise above the din of disappointment - opportunities lost, mistakes made, the clamor of all that has not yet come.

Take a leap of faith and begin this wondrous new year by believing.

If we are to flourish as creative beings, if we are to grow into wholeness, we must bloom wherever we are planted.

No one needs to know that you've shut the world out and are meditating as you stroll down the street. Twenty minutes to a half-hour every day is a good amount of time to restore a sense of serenity.

A new chapter in life waiting to be written. New questions to be asked, embraced, and loved.

No matter what our decorating style - realized or aspired to the essential spiritual grace our home should possess is the solace of comfort.

Soul-directed events defy logic and ridicule reason.

The simpler we make our lives, the more abundant they become. There is no scarcity except in our souls.

Success doesn't have to pull, tug, or chafe if we wear our real size.

self-sacrifice is one of a woman's seven deadly sins (along with self-abuse, self-loathing, self-deception, self-pity, self-serving, and self-immolation).

There might be a few things in a woman's life that a romantic interlude won't cure, but I don't know any of them.

I truly believe that regret is the only wound the soul does not recover from, and so I'm trying to live without regrets. ... Each day is another chance to be swept away.

Because the truth is - and we know it - we were born to die without regrets. Regret is the only wound from which the soul never recovers.

Solvency feels better than anything you can spend money on.

Money ... it's both the most complicated and the most passionate relationship in our lives.

Indifference breeds animosity.

you already possess all you need to be genuinely happy.

When I think about my father, the first image that comes to mind is holding his hand as he drove me to the train station six weeks before he died; I had never noticed how beautiful his hands were until I saw them, for the first and last time, entwined in mine.

dreams are our spiritual illustrated discovery journals.

Change is the essence of life; change is the great challenge, the great constant. Change is the ultimate teller of tales.

Self-loathing is the silent hemorrhaging of the soul. You don't feel or see the life force fleeing until it's not longer there, and then, of course, it's too late.

A nap is not to be confused with sleeping. We sleep to recharge our bodies. We nap to care for our souls. When we nap, we are resting our eyes while our imaginations soar. Getting ready for the next round. Sorting, sifting, separating the profound from the profane, the possible from the improbable. Rehearsing our acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize, our surprise on receiving the MacArthur genius award. This requires a prone position. If we're lucky, we might drift off, but we won't drift far. Just far enough to ransom our creativity from chaos.

Let your heart be awakened to the transforming power of gratefulness.

Your life at this exact moment is a direct result of choices you made once upon a time. Thirty minutes or 30 year ago.

Often writers cast their words out prophetically, as a sorceress might cast a spell, and many times when the words return to you, enclosed between covers, your phantom is so fully fleshed out in its own persona, you don't recognize your own creation.

Observe how gently but surely the natural world renews itself daily.