Thrive Quotes

“If you are a future donor recipient, remember: your family should be a part of your transformative journey. Both parties will experience growth as they find balance in your new life stage.”
― Gregory S. Works, Triumph: Life on the Other Side of Trials, Transplants, Transition and Transformation

“Be okay with having health-essential boundaries.”
― Gregory S. Works, Triumph: Life on the Other Side of Trials, Transplants, Transition and Transformation

“I thrive in structure. I drown in chaos.”
― Anna Kendrick, Scrappy Little Nobody

“The tests we face in life's journey are not to reveal our weaknesses but to help us discover our inner strengths. We can only know how strong we are when we strive and thrive beyond the challenges we face.”
― Kemi Sogunle

“The cactus thrives in the desert while the fern thrives in the wetland.

The fool will try to plant them in the same flowerbox.

The florist will sigh and add a wall divider and proper soil to both sides.

The grandparent will move the flowerbox halfway out of the sun.

The child will turn it around properly so that the fern is in the shade, and not the cactus.

The moral of the story?

Kids are smart.”
― Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration

“The realms of dating, marriage, and sex are all marketplaces, and we are the products. Some may bristle at the idea of people as products on a marketplace, but this is an incredibly prevalent dynamic. Consider the labor marketplace, where people are also the product. Just as in the labor marketplace, one party makes an offer to another, and based on the terms of this offer, the other person can choose to accept it or walk. What makes the dating market so interesting is that the products we are marketing, selling, buying, and exchanging are essentially our identities and lives.

As with all marketplaces, every item in stock has a value, and that value is determined by its desirability. However, the desirability of a product isn’t a fixed thing—the desirability of umbrellas increases in areas where it is currently raining while the desirability of a specific drug may increase to a specific individual if it can cure an illness their child has, even if its wider desirability on the market has not changed.

In the world of dating, the two types of desirability we care about most are:
- Aggregate Desirability: What the average demand within an open marketplace would be for a relationship with a particular person.
- Individual Desirability: What the desirability of a relationship with an individual is from the perspective of a specific other individual.

Imagine you are at a fish market and deciding whether or not to buy a specific fish:
- Aggregate desirability = The fish’s market price that day
- Individual desirability = What you are willing to pay for the fish

Aggregate desirability is something our society enthusiastically emphasizes, with concepts like “leagues.” Whether these are revealed through crude statements like, “that guy's an 8,” or more politically correct comments such as, “I believe she may be out of your league,” there is a tacit acknowledgment by society that every individual has an aggregate value on the public dating market, and that value can be judged at a glance. When what we have to trade on the dating market is often ourselves, that means that on average, we are going to end up in relationships with people with an aggregate value roughly equal to our own (i.e., individuals “within our league” ). Statistically speaking, leagues are a real phenomenon that affects dating patterns. Using data from dating websites, the University of Michigan found that when you sort online daters by desirability, they seem to know “their place.” People on online dating sites almost never send a message to someone less desirable than them, and on average they reach out to prospects only 25% more desirable than themselves.

The great thing about these markets is how often the average desirability of a person to others is wildly different than their desirability to you. This gives you the opportunity to play arbitrage with traits that other people don’t like, but you either like or don’t mind. For example, while society may prefer women who are not overweight, a specific individual within the marketplace may prefer obese women, or even more interestingly may have no preference. If a guy doesn’t care whether his partner is slim or obese, then he should specifically target obese women, as obesity lowers desirability on the open marketplace, but not from his perspective, giving him access to women who are of higher value to him than those he could secure within an open market.”
― Malcolm Collins, The Pragmatist's Guide to Relationships: Ruthlessly Optimized Strategies for Dating, Sex, and Marriage

“Clarity of mission is important for acceleration. If you have a mission, but others don’t understand or your actions contradict it, then it will be less contagious.”
― Raoul Davis Jr., Firestarters: How Innovators, Instigators, and Initiators Can Inspire You to Ignite Your Own Life

“Freedom in any moment is a product of two things: the autonomy you feel and the support for autonomy that the moment allows.”
― Raoul Davis Jr., Firestarters: How Innovators, Instigators, and Initiators Can Inspire You to Ignite Your Own Life

“Firestarters aren’t born lucky. They manufacture it.”
― Raoul Davis Jr., Firestarters: How Innovators, Instigators, and Initiators Can Inspire You to Ignite Your Own Life

“There is no such thing as a relationship without a contract. All relationships are governed by contracts, be they implied or explicit. Relationship contracts are not legal contracts, though sometimes societal expectations of relationships get worked into law (this can come into play in situations like divorce as well as the legal establishment and relinquishment of paternity).

The society in which you grew up provided you with a set of template contracts to which you implicitly agree whenever you enter a relationship, even a non-sexual one. For example, a common clause of many societal template contracts among friends involves agreeing to not sleep with a friend's recent ex. While you may never explicitly agree to not sleep with a friend's ex, your friend will absolutely feel violated if they discover that you shacked up with the person who dumped them just a week earlier.

Essentially, these social contracts tell an individual when they have “permission” to have specific emotional reactions. While this may not seem that impactful, these default standards can have a significant impact on one’s life. For example, in the above reaction, a friend who just got angry out of the blue at a member of their social group would be ostracized by others within the group while a friend who became angry while citing the “they slept with my ex” contract violation may receive social support from the friend group and internally feel more justified in their retaliatory action. To ferret out the contractual aspects of relationships in which you currently participate, think through something a member of that relationship might do that would have you feeling justifiably violated, even though they never explicitly agreed to never take such action.

This societal system of template contracts may have worked in a culturally and technologically homogenous world without frequent travel, but within the modern world, assumed template contracts cause copious problems.”
― Simone Collins, The Pragmatist's Guide to Relationships: Ruthlessly Optimized Strategies for Dating, Sex, and Marriage

“We master our lives by mastering our perception. Life is not what happens to us but how we manage what happens.”
― Kelly Markey, Don't Just Fly, SOAR: The Inspiration and tools you need to rise above adversity and create a life by design

“The greatest witness we can give another is grace. Showing mercy and grace is a privilege. Do you have the capacity to exhibit this?”
― Kelly Markey, Don't Just Fly, SOAR: The Inspiration and tools you need to rise above adversity and create a life by design

“Feel what you want to but never be consumed by it.”
― Kelly Markey, Don't Just Fly, SOAR: The Inspiration and tools you need to rise above adversity and create a life by design

“Whenever we look around the world, we see smart leaders – in politics, in business, in media – making terrible decisions. What they're lacking is not IQ, but wisdom. Which is no surprise; it has never been harder to tap into our inner wisdom, because in order to do so, we have to disconnect from all our omnipresent devices – our gadgets, our screens, our social media – and reconnect with ourselves.”
― Arianna Huffington, Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder

“Healing does not equate to overlooking the pain but rather to reframing your experience to add worth to your growth in life.”
― Kelly Markey, Don't Just Fly, SOAR: The Inspiration and tools you need to rise above adversity and create a life by design

“Trauma changes us forever, so be kind and accepting of yourself; deliberate and plan all your healing. Prioritise your boundaries and implement your vision map to be the person you want to be.”
― Kelly Markey, Don't Just Fly, SOAR: The Inspiration and tools you need to rise above adversity and create a life by design

“It’s an insane venture to live,
to thrive, to create,
to know, be known, to care,
to love, be loved
in these times in all times
against all odds
and darkest forces.”
― Shellen Lubin

“Life wants you to thrive in the domain of your own unique creative vision for your yourself.”
― Bryant McGill, Simple Reminders: Inspiration for Living Your Best Life

“Business Paradigm Shifting empowers companies to rewrite their future, not just react to the present.”
― Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr.

“The truth is, you can’t sustainably force life. You must let what is meant to be, unfold. You must do what feels good and makes you come alive, that’s how you thrive.”
― Kristen Butler, The Comfort Zone: Create a Life You Really Love with Less Stress and More Flow

“Dear Daughter,
Learn to pray and you will know how to thrive without fail.”
― Gift Gugu Mona, Dear Daughter: Short and Sweet Messages for a Queen

“Corrupt police officers thrive in a poor customer service environment!”
― Steven Magee

“Newspapers thrive on attention. They reproduce on daily attention. The next day they only exist because we gave them attention the day previously.”
― Ryan Gelpke, 2017: Our Summer of Reunions: Braai Seasons with Howl Gang (Howl Gang Legend)

“Nature gave us tools that’ll help us thrive and advance in life. Why not take advantage of this?”
― Robin S. Baker

“Creating a Safe Space


Surround yourself with all the positive things,
being in the environment that embraces you.
Doing the things to create peace.
Doing the things to allow you to have peace.
Doing the things that are
good for you.
good for others,
good for nature,
good for all.
Being with those who grant you peace.
Being with supportive people who
want you to be safe and well.
A safe space is a free space
to share with all those who care.

by Tina Leung: I Face Forward poem”
― Tina Leung, I Face Forward

“If you’re living a reality you don’t like, chances are you’re living out beliefs that are not serving you—beliefs that limit your creativity, your inspiration, and your ability to thrive.”
― Kristen Butler, The Comfort Zone: Create a Life You Really Love with Less Stress and More Flow

“I like to do my part in helping others overcome, thrive, and win. What is the point of absorbing all of this information and holding it all to myself? That is not an abundant way to live.”
― Robin S. Baker

“Until she lost and let others down and felt the weight of responsibility press onto her shoulders, she couldn't lecture him on only seeking sunshine and completely forgetting that the world also needed rain to thrive.

Darkness was never as appealing as the light to most, but that didn't mean it was any less integral to life. Too much sunshine withered the soul.

Balance was the key.”
― Kerri Maniscalco, Throne of the Fallen

“In the complex interplay of technology and society, online privacy emerges as a defining factor in preserving personal agency. It's about reclaiming control over the narrative of our digital lives, ensuring that our online interactions remain a reflection of our choices. As we traverse the vast expanse of the internet, the importance of safeguarding online privacy becomes more evident, urging us to foster a digital landscape where individuals can thrive without compromising their autonomy.”
― James William Steven Parker

“Comfort is an ever-ending hole.”
― Goitsemang Mvula