Richard Carlson Quotes

“Being listened to and heard is one of the greatest desires of the human heart. And those who learn to listen are the most loved and respected.”

“Effective listening is more than simply avoiding the bad habit of interrupting others while they are speaking or finishing their sentences. It’s being content to listen to the entire thought of someone rather than waiting impatiently for your chance to respond.”

“An argument that happened while you were walking out the door on your way to work is no longer an actual argument, it’s a thought in your mind.”

“When we judge or criticize another person, it says nothing about that person; it merely says something about our own need to be critical.”

“Your heart, the compassionate part of you, knows that it’s impossible to feel better at the expense of someone else.”

“It’s the recognition that other people’s problems, their pain and frustrations, are every bit as real as our own – often far worse. In recognizing this fact and trying to offer some assistance, we open our hearts and greatly enhance our sense of gratitude.”

“Thinking of someone to love each day keeps your resentment away!”

“Choose to be kind over being right and you’ll be right every time.”

“As long as you think more is better, you’ll never be satisfied.”

“If we would just slow down, happiness would catch up to us.”

“We live our lives as if they were one big emergency! We often rush around looking busy, trying to solve problems, but in reality, we are often compounding them.”

“The key to a good life is this: If you’re not going to talk about something during the last hour of your life, then don’t make it a top priority during your lifetime.”

“So often, either consciously or unconsciously, we want something from others, especially when we have done something for them – It’s almost as though we keep score of our own good deeds rather than remembering that giving is its own reward.”

“We forget that life isn’t as bad as we’re making it out to be. We also forget that when we’re blowing things out of proportion, we are the ones doing the blowing.”

“Something wonderful begins to happen with the simple realization that life, like an automobile, is driven from the inside out, not the other way around. As you focus more on becoming more peaceful with where you are, rather than focusing on where you would rather be, you begin to find peace right now, in the present. Then, as you move around, try new things, and meet new people, you carry that sense of inner peace with you. It’s absolutely true that, ‘Wherever you go, there you are.’”

“Ask yourself the question, ‘Will this matter a year from now?’ ”

“We tend to believe that if we were somewhere else – on vacation, with another partner, in a different career, a different home, a different circumstance – somehow we would be happier and more content. We wouldn’t!”

“Imagining yourself at your own funeral allows you to look back at your life while you still have the chance to make some important changes.”

“Indeed, the important question in terms of becoming more peaceful isn’t whether or not you’re going to have negative thoughts – you are – it’s what you choose to do with the ones that you have.”

“One of the mistakes many of us make is that we feel sorry for ourselves, or for others, thinking that life should be fair, or that someday it will be. It’s not and it won’t. When we make this mistake we tend to spend a lot of time wallowing and/or complaining about what’s wrong with life. “It’s not fair,” we complain, not realizing that, perhaps, it was never intended to be.”