AlphaGirl

“Bhakti, it is believed, are of two varieties – one, that of a traditionalist who follows holy scriptures and two, that of one whose sole route to the Lord is his selfless love. It is accepted that there are five ways pujas are performed. The first is calm meditation, the one followed by hermits. The second is complete surrender to the Lord. The third is acceptance of the Lord as your sakha (friend). The fourth is vatsalya, where the devotee considers himself as a child and the Lord as his guardian. The fifth form of puja is madhurya, where the Lord and the devotee are seen as lovers.”
― Pradeep Pandit, The Life and Times of Ramakrishna Parmahamsa by Pradeep Pandit: Delving into the Life of Ramakrishna Parmahamsa

“Some people take the opposite path and hide from their fears. They are like villagers terrorized by rumors of a dragon to the point that they cannot leave their own property. They cower, and that dragon, who they have never seen themselves, only gains strength and stature in their minds because when you hide from whatever it is that freaks you out, that growth factor works against you. It will be your fear that grows exponentially while your possibilities become ever more limited.”
― David Goggins, Never Finished: Unshackle Your Mind and Win the War Within

“We all owe it to ourselves to stand for something. Principles give us a foundation—solid ground we can trust and build on as we continue to redefine what’s possible in our own lives. Sure, some will be put off by your dedication and level of effort. Others will call you obsessed or think that you’ve gone crazy. When they do, smile and say, “I’m not crazy. I’m just not you.”
― David Goggins, Never Finished: Unshackle Your Mind and Win the War Within

“However, the world being what it is, not five miles later, on that same highway, a beat-to-shit pickup crept alongside me. I turned and glanced at the kid in the passenger seat just as he hollered, “Nigger!” I shook my head as they drove on, but his ignorance didn’t fuck with me. That was his problem. In fact, the word he’d hoped would wound me bounced right off me. I was on the verge of running five hundred miles of ultra races in less than six weeks. That is a monumental output, and the reason I pulled it off is because I am focused on being my best at all times. When you live that way, there is no time to donate to small-town racists or anyone else whose perspective is defined by their narrow minds. At this point in my life, the supposedly offensive, unspeakable word with its dark, violent history has been reduced to a chain of harmless symbols: consonants and vowels that don’t mean a damn thing.”
― David Goggins, Never Finished: Unshackle Your Mind and Win the War Within