Dawna Markova > Quotes

“I will not die an unlived life.
I will not live in fear
of falling or catching fire.
I choose to inhabit my days,
to allow my living to open me,
to make me less afraid,
more accessible;
to loosen my heart
until it becomes a wing,
a torch, a promise.
I choose to risk my significance,
to live so that which came to me as seed
goes to the next as blossom,
and that which came to me as blossom,
goes on as fruit.”
― Dawna Markova, I Will Not Die an Unlived Life: Reclaiming Purpose and Passion

“Once you begin to acknowledge random acts of kindness - both the ones you have received and the ones you have given - you can no longer believe that what you do does not matter.”
― Dawna Markova

“I don’t think anyone “finds” joy. Rather, we cultivate it by searching for the preciousness of small things, the ordinary miracles, that strengthen our hearts so we can keep them open to what is difficult”
― Dawna Markova

“The moments you are given are your true wealth. You don't need power, influence, or fame. The sunlight brings the power; the wind carries the influence. And as for fame, well, when you allow yourself to notice all those hands that have made your growth possible, you will also recognize what you have made possible for countless others — and how famous you already are. In this very moment, one of those others may be telling a story about how you helped them grow forward.”
― Dawna Markova, Spot of Grace: Remarkable Stories of How You DO Make a Difference

“You survived as a child because others helped to maintain your life. It continues to be true today, even when you think you are abandoned, rejected, neglected, and unloved: the tomatoes you eat sustain you, the crossing guard stops the traffic so you can get to the other side of the street, the dinner offered to you on clean white plates nourishes you, the paper on which these words are printed informs you. Noticed or ignored, this web of others protects and holds you and makes it possible for you to make a difference: to take what came to you as seed and pass it on as blossom, and what came as blossom and ripen it to fruit.”
― Dawna Markova, Spot of Grace: Remarkable Stories of How You DO Make a Difference

“My journal has become a paper mirror, a topographic map to my mind. It is where I go to sort out confusion and decipher the invisible.”
― Dawna Markova, I Will Not Die an Unlived Life: Reclaiming Purpose and Passion

“I will not die an unlived life.”
― Dawna Markova

“To be educated is not so much to be taught as it is to be awakened to who you really are.”
― Dawna Markova, The Open Mind: Exploring the 6 Patterns of Natural Intelligence

“Wide Open I will not die an unlived life. I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire. I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open me, to make me less afraid, more accessible, to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise. I choose to risk my significance; to live so that which came to me as seed goes to the next as blossom and that which came to me as blossom, goes on as fruit.”
― Dawna Markova, Wide Open: On Living with Purpose and Passion

“LEARNING IS DISCOVERING THAT SOMETHING IS POSSIBLE”
― Dawna Markova, The Open Mind: Exploring the 6 Patterns of Natural Intelligence

“Developing perceptual fluency will increase your ability to access your total mind. No small thing. You will also find that habitual defensiveness and manipulation of others is gradually replaced by a flexible ability to establish rapport with a wide variety of people. What is needed to reach that point is lavish curiosity and the willingness to be a little awkward and embarrassed—qualities that indicate that we are, after all, merely human.”
― Dawna Markova, The Open Mind: Exploring the 6 Patterns of Natural Intelligence

“The most significant gift our species brings to the world is our capacity to think. The most significant danger our species brings to the world is our inability to think with those who think differently.”
― Dawna Markova, Collaborative Intelligence: Thinking with People Who Think Differently

“One thing that distinguishes a boss from a leader is the ability to suspend belief and disbelief so that innovations and new processes will have a chance to emerge.”
― Dawna Markova, Collaborative Intelligence: Thinking with People Who Think Differently

“We are all so different largely because we all have different combinations of intelligences. If we recognize this, I think we will have at least a better chance of dealing appropriately with the many problems that we face in the world.”
― Dawna Markova, The Open Mind: Exploring the 6 Patterns of Natural Intelligence

“Market share determines who is right and who is wrong. Mind share asks what is possible. This”
― Dawna Markova, Collaborative Intelligence: Thinking with People Who Think Differently

“The realization that you cannot be good at everything makes this possible; you will come to realize how much you truly need others to extend your reach. HOW”
― Dawna Markova, Collaborative Intelligence: Thinking with People Who Think Differently

“The fact that we are different doesn’t mean that one of us is wrong. It just means that there’s a different kind of right. —Faith Jegede When”
― Dawna Markova, Collaborative Intelligence: Thinking with People Who Think Differently

“but I had to find out if the desire to be a leader was stronger than his habit of being a boss.”
― Dawna Markova, Collaborative Intelligence: Thinking with People Who Think Differently

“When you have the courage to shape your life from the essence of who you are, you ignite, becoming truly alive. This requires letting go of everything that is inauthentic. When the inner walls to your soul are graffitied with advertisements, commercials, and the opinions of everyone who has ever known and labeled you, turning inward requires nothing less than a major clean-up.”
― Dawna Markova, I Will Not Die an Unlived Life: Reclaiming Purpose and Passion

“GREAT MINDS DON’T THINK ALIKE … BUT THEY CAN LEARN TO THINK TOGETHER!”
― Dawna Markova, Collaborative Intelligence: Thinking with People Who Think Differently

“Humans can no longer afford to think in division and darkness. Collaborative intelligence is the light that is necessary for our individual and collective survival. We have no choice now but to think together.”
― Dawna Markova, Collaborative Intelligence: Thinking with People Who Think Differently

“we must learn how to think collaboratively and innovatively.”
― Dawna Markova, Collaborative Intelligence: Thinking with People Who Think Differently

“key intentional questions: • What is most important to you about this? • What is surprising to you right now? • What is inspiring you? • What is challenging you?”
― Dawna Markova, Collaborative Intelligence: Thinking with People Who Think Differently

“We habitually misread people and therefore miscommunicate with them. We blame and belittle one another and ourselves because we have not been trained to notice the effect we have on one another or to fluidly shift the ways we communicate to accommodate others. We take for granted that intelligence occurs within our own minds. We don’t realize that it also occurs between us. What keeps us from communicating effectively is that most of us don’t know how to think with people who think differently than we do.”
― Dawna Markova, Collaborative Intelligence: Thinking with People Who Think Differently