Words of Wisdom Through Divorce
In contemplating the subject of this article, I considered writing about divorcing an addicted spouse or recovery from infidelity. There are SO many issues surrounding the distress and despair involved in divorcing. Instead, I thought I’d share some inspirational words of wisdom collected over the years. Words that apply to many specific circumstances and also to the fundamental feeling of pain associated with divorce wounds. I hope you find them helpful!
- • In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you. – Buddha
- The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it. –Henry David Thoreau
- Never love anyone who treats you as ordinary. –Oscar Wilde
- When another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply within himself, and his suffering is spilling over. He does not need punishment. He needs help. –Thich Nhat Hanh
- A miracle is a shift in perception from fear to love. –Marianne Williamson
- You’ve seen my descent. Now watch my rising. –Rumi
- We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us. –Joseph Campbell
- • Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair. –Kahlil Gibran.
- • Someone was hurt before you, wronged before you, hungry before you, frightened before you, beaten before you, humiliated before you, raped before you….Yet Someone survived…You can do anything you choose to do. –Maya Angelou
- Each morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most. –Buddha
- Nothing ever goes away until it teaches us what we need to know. –Pema Chodran
- If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely. –Roald Dahl
- Sometimes the act of letting things go is an act of far greater power than defending or hanging on. –Eckhert Tolle
- “For I know the plans I have for you”, says the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” -Jeremiah 29:11
- When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us. –Helen Keller
- Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck. –Dalai Lama
- Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do, so throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, Dream, Discover. –Mark Twain
- Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will fins; knock, and the door will be opened for you. Matt 7:7
- The best way to predict your future is to create it. –Abraham Lincoln
- We have all come to the right place. We all sit in God’s classroom. Now, the only thing left for us to do, my dear, is to stop throwing spitballs for a while. –Hafiz
What do I hear in these priceless bits of poetic advice? Let go, live in the moment, be grateful, forgive, and be your best self. Regardless of what life (or someone else) throws at you.
Be kind to yourself.
Wishing you healing-
Deirdre Shaffer, MSW, LCSW
