Rafa > Rafa's Quotes

“When you stop expecting people to be perfect, you can like them for who they are.”
― Donald Miller, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life

“Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change.”
― Brene Brown

“Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen.”
― Brené Brown, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead

“Because true belonging only happens when we present our authentic, imperfect selves to the world, our sense of belonging can never be greater than our level of self-acceptance.”
― Brené Brown, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead

“We cannot selectively numb emotions, when we numb the painful emotions, we also numb the positive emotions.”
― Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection

“Numb the dark and you numb the light.”
― Brené Brown, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead

“The willingness to show up changes us, It makes us a little braver each time.”
― Brené Brown, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead

“Worthiness doesn't have prerequisites.”
― Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection

“As long as we continue to live as if we are what we do, what we have, and what other people think about us, we will remain filled with judgments, opinions, evaluations, and condemnations. We will remain addicted to putting people and things in their "right" place.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen

“Let us not underestimate how hard it is to be compassionate. Compassion is hard because it requires the inner disposition to go with others to place where they are weak, vulnerable, lonely, and broken. But this is not our spontaneous response to suffering. What we desire most is to do away with suffering by fleeing from it or finding a quick cure for it.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen

“Hospitality means primarily the creation of free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy. Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place. It is not to bring men and women over to our side, but to offer freedom not disturbed by dividing lines.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life

“When people show you their boundaries ("I can't do this for you") you feel rejected...part of your struggle is to set boundaries to your own love. Only when you are able to set your own boundaries will you be able to acknowledge, respect and even be grateful for the boundaries of others.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, The Inner Voice of Love: A Journey Through Anguish to Freedom

“Our humanity comes to its fullest bloom in giving. We become beautiful people when we give whatever we can give: a smile, a handshake, a kiss, an embrace, a word of love, a present, a part of our life...all of our life.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World

“The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing... not healing, not curing... that is a friend who cares.”
― Henri Nouwen

“While my friend always spoke about the sun, I kept speaking about the clouds, until one day I realized that it was the sun that allowed me to see the clouds.”
― Henri Nowen

“One of the tragedies of our life is that we keep forgetting who we are”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Here and Now: Living in the Spirit

“I am the prodigal son every time I search for unconditional love where it cannot be found.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming

“Who can listen to a story of loneliness and despair without taking the risk of experiencing similar pains in his own heart and even losing his precious peace of mind? In short: “Who can take away suffering without entering it?”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, The Wounded Healer: Ministry in Contemporary Society

“preaching means more than handing over a tradition; it is rather the careful and sensitive articulation of what is happening in the community”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, The Wounded Healer: Ministry in Contemporary Society

“Vulnerability is not winning or losing; it’s having the courage to show up and be seen when we have no control over the outcome. Vulnerability is not weakness; it’s our greatest measure of courage.”
― Brené Brown, Rising Strong: The Reckoning. The Rumble. The Revolution.

“Just because someone isn’t willing or able to love us, it doesn’t mean that we are unlovable.”
― Brené Brown, Rising Strong: The Reckoning. The Rumble. The Revolution.

“I want to be in the arena. I want to be brave with my life. And when we make the choice to dare greatly, we sign up to get our asses kicked. We can choose courage or we can choose comfort, but we can’t have both. Not at the same time. Vulnerability is not winning or losing; it’s having the courage to show up and be seen when we have no control over the outcome. Vulnerability is not weakness; it’s our greatest measure of courage.”
― Brené Brown, Rising Strong: The Reckoning. The Rumble. The Revolution.

“The opposite of recognizing that we’re feeling something is denying our emotions. The opposite of being curious is disengaging. When we deny our stories and disengage from tough emotions, they don’t go away; instead, they own us, they define us. Our job is not to deny the story, but to defy the ending—to rise strong, recognize our story, and rumble with the truth until we get to a place where we think, Yes. This is what happened. This is my truth. And I will choose how this story ends.”
― Brené Brown, Rising Strong: The Reckoning. The Rumble. The Revolution.

“Being the “best you can be” is really only possible when you are deeply connected to another. Splendid isolation is for planets, not people.”
― Sue Johnson, Love Sense: The Revolutionary New Science of Romantic Relationships

“Love has an immense ability to help heal the devastating wounds that life sometimes deals us. Love also enhances our sense of connection to the larger world. Loving responsiveness is the foundation of a truly compassionate, civilized society.”
― Sue Johnson, Hold Me Tight: Your Guide to the Most Successful Approach to Building Loving Relationships

“The greatest gift a parent has to give a child—and a lover has to give a lover—is emotionally attuned attention and timely responsiveness.”
― Sue Johnson, Love Sense: The Revolutionary New Science of Romantic Relationships

“The most functional way to regulate difficult emotions in love relationships is to share them.”
― Sue Johnson, Love Sense: The Revolutionary New Science of Romantic Relationships

“• Emotional dependency is not immature or pathological; it is our greatest strength.”
― Sue Johnson, The Love Secret: The revolutionary new science of romantic relationships

“We are never so vulnerable as when we love.” — Sigmund Freud”
― Sue Johnson, Hold Me Tight: Seven Conversations for a Lifetime of Love

“Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone, it has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new. —Ursula K. Le Guin”
― Sue Johnson, Love Sense: The Revolutionary New Science of Romantic Relationships