Jacob Nordby > Quotes

“Blessed are the weird people:
poets, misfits, writers
mystics, painters, troubadours
for they teach us to see the world through different eyes.”
― Jacob Nordby, Pearls of Wisdom: 30 Inspirational Ideas to live your best life now

“You know that crazy heart of yours? The one with lightning crackling and moonlight shining through it. The one you’ve been told not to trust because it often led you off the beaten path. The one so many have misunderstood your entire life. Trust it. Feed it. Grow it. It’s your greatest treasure and will point the way to your highest destiny. It is the voice of your soul.”
― Jacob Nordby

“Every pain, addiction, anguish, longing, depression, anger or fear
is an orphaned part of us
seeking joy,
some disowned shadow
wanting to return
to the light
and home
of ourselves.”
― Jacob Nordby

“You can’t know this right now, but…
your ragged, rugged honesty…
your crazy, passionate, naked vulnerability…
your trusting plunge into the unknown of Life at every turn…
your journey of love and healing…
these change your world, the world of those around you and the world as a whole.
Someday you’ll know how important you are.”
― Jacob Nordby

“We wait, starving for moments of high magic to inspire us, but life is full of common enchantment waiting for our alchemists eyes to notice.”
― Jacob Nordby

“Hello," Life says, "Remember me?
We started out together here
When you were just a bundle
Of innocent amazement.
Remember how you saw the world
With nothing but wonder?
We were such rowdy playmates then.
We painted on the sky with clouds
And made magic out of
Clothespins and peanut butter.
Remember, can you, how I became stained and heavy
With trouble?
Not safe now. Lots of no.
They dressed me in painful clothes
And made you wear them, too.
You don't recognize me, do you
But I've never abandoned you
Or lost my wild, happy desire
To show you
Play with you
Kiss you
Hide and seek down twisty paths
And always discover more.
Want to run away with me again?
Shall we elope without ever leaving
Because that's possible, you know.
I've never been anywhere but here
Waiting for you
To remember.”
― Jacob Nordby

“When you no longer need approval from others like the air you breathe, the possibilities in life are endless.
What an interesting little prison we build from the
invisible bricks of other people's opinions.”
― Jacob Nordby

“We keep waiting to be crowned,
Waiting for the world to judge us worthy of offering our brightest, most empowered and beautiful stuff.
But that won’t happen.
Your next certification or ordination or degree will do nothing for your expression in the world until you accept how unspeakably worthy and valuable you already are to be here and share yourself with us.”
― Jacob Nordby

“It's a funny thing, how it works...
The moment we stop trying so hard to be someone, we become ourselves--only what was there all along, waiting and peeking out from behind all the masks we wore.
And when this happens, we discover that Who We Really Are is much greater than anything we might have pretended or even hoped to be.”
― Jacob Nordby

“You have left a trail of breadcrumb clues which will lead you to the place where your purpose and passion have already met and are simply waiting for you to find them.”
― Jacob Nordby

“When in brief flashes of serendipity you glimpse what you were born to do...
Do it.
No matter what. Take steps toward it, even if they are depressingly small at first. With each inch closer to your central magic, you will feel it.
It is unmistakable for anything else.
It's called purpose.”
― Jacob Nordby

“Your enormous soul had so many choices of who it could show up as.
It chose you.”
― Jacob Nordby

“The soul of us is never confused about why it is here.
It only asks us to wake up and see the breadcrumb clues it has been leaving all along.
It asks us to have courage to face the wounds we have been hiding, allow it to heal them and untangle the heavy, snarled patterns.
Because the soul of us has no doubt whatever that it can and, if we allow it to express fully, can live a life of such power and joy through us that our human selves will be astonished.”
― Jacob Nordby

“What do you really want?
Did you know that every single one of your desires is an expression of your soul's longing to experience human life as you?
It's true.
These pure impulses get filtered through our conditioning and show up distorted at times, but follow them back to their source and nothing you desire is anything but good and possible.”
― Jacob Nordby

“I need to be startlingly clear. This thing of finding your authentic voice, expressing your blessed weirdness and revealing your soul isn't an elegant process. You don't do it to be cool. You don't do it to get laid or get rich. It's only real when it is ruthless, relentless and inevitable. But it is also a matter of personal and collective survival. Yes, it's that important. You are that critical.”
― Jacob Nordby

“Saying that “life is short” is such a cliche. And it’s true.
In fact, we only have five minutes to be here. In the really big scheme of things, not even that long. We humans don’t even have the lifespan of fruit flies if you look at the bigger picture.
In other words, we don’t have a second—not even a second—to waste on petty drama, on living fake, shallow lives, on swallowing our truth, or on hiding our light.
We only dance around the flame of this gorgeous human existence for moments and the one thing important at all is loving beautifully.”
― Jacob Nordby

“The great mission of our day is not conquering the sea or space, disease or tyranny. The grand quest which calls to the hero in every one of us is to become fully alive--to stand up and claim our birthright, which is inner freedom, love and radiant purpose. By fulfilling this, we transform the world.”
― Jacob Nordby

“Welcome the small cracking of your hard-clodded shell,
Embrace the warm sting of tears,
Kiss the shadow which frightens you awake as you turn the corners of your day,
Love the whole of everything,
Smooth sunshine skies and
Jagged edges
Which all seek us out in
Constant whisper and touch
To say, 'hello, Beautiful. You’re alive”
― Jacob Nordby

“There is no greater moment in life than that when we discover the unique design which has shaped our lives from the moment of birth, save one:
The instant we recognize destiny, accept it and then begin to create the rest of our own lives within it using the power of free will.
When this threshold has been crossed, nothing can stop our inevitable journey into the highest good for ourselves and all around us.
This is healing.
This is actualization.
This is integration.
This is joy.
And it is the birthright of every incarnated soul on this planet.”
― Jacob Nordby

“Like the body craves oxygen, the mind is desperate for certainty. It believes that without a safe foothold on reality, it will die.
But the fascinating thing is that the illusion of certainty is exactly the opposite of safety because it hardens and narrows the vision to make everything fit its own scope. Then when new information arrives which would be its ally, the mind pushes it away in favor of the leaky life raft to which it clings, sinking all the while beneath the waves of change.
In fact, the only antidote for this is to embrace 'I don’t know' so deeply that a powerful, dynamic safety emerges. This is like learning to surf so well that a tsunami wave shows up as a challenge to test our mastery.”
― Jacob Nordby

“To reclaim our natural power and this birthright of real magic, we must get naked and face ourselves.

The truth of Who You Really Are is vast. It is genius. It crackles with electricity and sensuality and other forbidden, dangerous things. You have longed for it all your life. You catch glimpses of it from the corner of your eye. A riff of music reminds you, a surge of ecstasy during sex brings you home, a crisp Autumn wind carries some long forgotten scent which thrills you for inexplicable reasons. A thousand tiny hints show up to seduce you awake and lead you back into your true nature, but they flee when you try to grasp them and leave you wondering if you were just imagining things.
You weren’t though.
This quality of richness and balance and home is Who You Really Are. That is the kingdom we seek and it waits for us to find it. It wants us to regain our rightful place.”
― Jacob Nordby

“Dare to dream again.
For dreaming is the language of your soul,
And nothing your soul truly desires could ever be wrong or impossible.”
― Jacob Nordby

“False humility is a form of psychosis which was imprinted on most of us since birth. It is a mental illness because it locks us in a victim state of keeping our light turned down, denying who we really are and silently begging for permission to simply show up as ourselves in the world. But there is good news. This is a jail whose lock is broken. We can walk free whenever we know the truth, and by so doing we show others an example of an end to madness. An example of freedom.”
― Jacob Nordby

“The thing is, you're beautiful.
Yes, you…
In your wild, mundane glory.
Your daily life hides from you the possibilities of why you’re here
And who you are.
But never forget that every breath you take is actual alchemy.
With your eyes you record visions of this place.
With your fingertips you read the bumps in life,
Sending messages back from whence you came.
You’re a soul traveler,
An explorer.
You make this place home for now;
Trying on the costumes,
Playing out your roles.
Every so often, take off your masks.
Drop your robes.
See yourself reflected in the very mirror of your life.
And remember…
When you leave this stage,
The only thing you will wonder is,
“Did I love brilliantly?”
― Jacob Nordby

“Writer's block is just another name for fear.”
― Jacob Nordby

“The art of living is to fall in love
with life over and over again.
It is no easy thing to walk through the world
with an open heart, embracing everything,
and also stand true,
allowing no poison to affect us.
But be cracked open often.
Pour yourself into life withholding nothing.
Heal and be healed,
This is the way of living in full.”
― Jacob Nordby, Blessed Are the Weird: A Manifesto for Creatives

“The master in us all lives behind the masks and roles and wounds and beliefs. It calls us to live deep, full, radical lives. It asks us not to wait until we are told by anyone that we have arrived. It invites us forward, across the line of fear and unworthiness, to experience mastery in this moment--as much as we can right now. To learn from stumbling. To rise again and keep walking until we no longer notice our feet in their effortless dance. But mostly not to wait until some distant, perfect someday. Mastery is now.”
― Jacob Nordby

“Relax into this understanding—nothing is wasted. All of your experiences, all of the broken pieces of relationships and half-formed careers, everything you are and have been—it may appear to be a basket of dusty shards, but come with me now and meet other creators so you can see that, somehow, every jagged little piece of you will find its place in a kaleidoscope of brilliance if you stay with the task of becoming yourself.”
― Jacob Nordby, Blessed Are the Weird: A Manifesto for Creatives

“With poetry and writing, the question isn’t “do you know the right words?”.
The real question is, “can you make words from the unwordable, chisel blocks of raw silence into shapes and touch our souls?”
― Jacob Nordby

“Come, come into this circle of grace and friendship.
Come bringing only your open heart.
You owe us nothing but truth, you need no heavy armor here.
Show us your beautiful scars, the evidence of adventures you’ve survived.
Tell your stories from the road.
This space is home.
You are safe to come as you are without fear.”
― Jacob Nordby