Quotes for Living and Leading Wellbeing in 2023

I’m starting 2023 with a deep sense of possibility and gratitude.?

When we shift into a new year, it feels like we can look back at our experiences, learn from what we’ve been through, and resolve to create a better future. The birds, bees, fungi, and fish know nothing of our human calendar—the difference between December 31st and January 1st is meaningless to them. However, the turn of the year is meaningful and important to our psyche; we want not only to survive but thrive in our circumstances. Honoring a new year is about honoring our capacity for individual and collective renewal.

This isn’t to make light of the challenges we’ve faced. The past few years have been particularly difficult. Our stress levels have risen to a new high as 33% of adults report daily negative experiences and our wellbeing inequalities have grown worldwide . In many workplaces, leaders don’t even realize how much people, including themselves, are struggling . As an executive I work with once said, we are spending more time being “master practitioners of survival ” than we likely know.

Yet, I feel a sense of possibility and gratitude that we can learn how to call on our profound capacities to regenerate. During the holiday break, these twelve quotes showed up in my path, like welcomed cairns guiding my hike on a mountain trail. I intend to lean into these quotes as a source of regeneration in my life and work this year. To help me continually reconnect with a knowing that we are part of a mystery much greater than ourselves. To right myself when I feel my inside world turned upside down.

For me, each of these quotes (you can even think of them as mantras) offer an orientation from which to live and lead, one that can bring about greater wellbeing for myself and others.

In the seeds of every breakdown, no matter how dark, are the seeds of a breakthrough that’s bigger ...

—Lynne Twist, Cofounder of the Pachamama Alliance and author of The Soul of Money

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Participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world. We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy.

—Joseph Campbell, professor of literature and author of the Power of Myth

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Everything changes, becoming otherwise.

—Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, Sōtō Zen monk and author of Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind

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Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.

—Simone Weil, philosopher, mystic, and activist

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Who you are is not your fault, but it is your responsibility.

—Cory Muscara, mindfulness teacher

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Don’t side with yourself.

—Benkei, Japanese warrior monk

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The wise believe that our people without power leaves our planet without possibility.

—Amanda Gorman, wordsmith, changemaker, and the U.S. Poet Laureate

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We all have the potential to move the world and the world is ready to be moved.

—Harry Chapin, singer-songwriter and activist

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We are now armed with the tools to make our lives better both at the individual level and the societal level.

—Laurie Santos, Professor of Psychology at Yale

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When we live inside our purpose, our path is smooth.

—Native American wisdom

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Love is not only the most important ingredient; it is the only ingredient that really matters.

—Anonymous

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Peace will come to the hearts of men when they realize their Oneness with the Universe.

— Heháka Sápa, commonly known as Black Elk, holy man of the Oglala Lakota people

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We do not exist in this lifetime only for ourselves. We’re here to learn how to uplift each other and the planet. What quote will help guide your way?

I’m grateful to be on this wellbeing leadership journey with you.

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