Self Reflection Quotes

History matters, not because it repeats itself (which it never does), but because its narration can rid demons that torment the oppressed, shock the complacent and intransigent into self-reflection, and inspire feats of human perseverance and will.

~ Seth Garfield

If you are going to judge others it is wisest to do so individually not collectively and on your own direct experience of them personally. But first - and throughout - examine yourself closely. Blurred vision can often occur due to the lens, perspective and perceptions of the viewer projected onto the object that it sees. Be wary of taking to the judges seat. Above all meet at treat yourself and everyone else mindfully, compassionately with humanity.

~ Rasheed Ogunlaru

Self-reflection enables every person to alter the trajectory of their personal storyline by reviewing a series of episodic occurrences and making value judgments regarding the past. How we perceive our history colors the present, our deeds of today script the future outcome of individual persons, and the outcome of many people making conscious decisions using their cognitive processes including the ability to remember and share memories influences the direction of human development and the progress of society.

~ Kilroy J. Oldster

But maybe it’s the laboring that gives you shape. Might the most fulfilling times be those spent solo at your tasks, literally immersed or not, when you are able to uncover the smallest surprises and unlikely details of some process or operation that in turn exposes your proclivities and prejudices both?

~ Chang-Rae Lee

When you feel annoyed, when you feel pain, that's when you have the opportunity to meet and confront yourself. It is when we are most emotionally volatile that we expose our true selves. Unresolved pain, frustration and grievance come to the surface. We can let this torment and torture us, pulling us to and fro, or we can use these moments to come face to face with ourselves. Why do we feel the way we do? Why do we feel compelled to act in a certain matter. Is this serving us? Are we serving our own best interest? Is there something we could do to help ourselves? Are we exercising compassion to ourselves and others? Don't be afraid to confront or question yourself. Remember to be extra loving, patient, forgiving and kind to yourself when you are emotionally volatile. Move gently forward in cooperation with yourself.

~ Akiroq Brost

Love. What is it truly? Love is a spiritual state, an intangible, often insatiable need to put one's needs above your own. To provide peace, stability and smiles to those who have made the long transition from your mind to your heart.

~ Bella Vespira

How can you follow your heart, unless you know why you have allowed it to be empty for so long and didn't have the courage to fix it?

~ Shannon L. Alder

My mind is like a little house,My peers break into.They rearrange my furniture,And the cabinets rifle through.They throw things out;They put things in,And erase the writing on the wall,And by the time that they walk out,It's not my mind at all.

~ Margo T. Rose

Life presents innumerable possibilities for love, friendship, compassion, and self-fulfillment, but we must be willing to give in order to receive. Persistence, sacrifice, a quest for knowledge, along with acquaintance with our true self is essential in order to achieve our dreams. Panic, fear, worry, doubt, anger, and a negative attitude are the biggest impediments to self-realization. The most important battle we undertake in life is not with other people; rather it takes place in the human mind.

~ Kilroy J. Oldster

Disturbing encounters in life spur reflective thinking that jars a person from his or her exhausted ideologies and way of living. A person who lives passionately will develop a philosophic outlook because the road of excess leads to knowledge. Enthusiasm will frequently make a person look foolish, and result in intermittent periods of despondency and self-questioning, yet only exuberance and a degree of risk-taking leads us to wisdom.

~ Kilroy J. Oldster

So much has been done to my body, and still, somehow, not enough.

~ Jennifer Elisabeth

I tried to push my body through his and completely disappear.

~ Jennifer Elisabeth

We are chained by our own control. Life is nothing more than finding the key that unlocks every part of our soul.

~ Shannon L. Alder

What woman here is so enamored of her own oppression that she cannot see her heelprint upon another woman's face? What woman's terms of oppression have become precious and necessary to her as a ticket into the fold of the righteous, away from the cold winds of self-scrutiny?

~ Audre Lorde

As understanding deepens, the further removed it becomes from knowledge.

~ C.g. Jung

Blessed are those with cracks in their broken heart because that is how the light gets in.

~ Shannon L. Alder

I kindly ask you to place your name in 1 Corinthians 13:4-6. And read it out loud. This verse will help you reflect on your own behavior, to become the right type of person for yourself and others.

~ Efrat Cybulkiewicz

We become the product of our recurrent thoughts. Writing is one method of explicating upon our thoughts, condensing multiple scenes, times, and ideas, and editing our fragmented beliefs.

~ Kilroy J. Oldster

The principal advantage of narrative writing is that it assists us place our life experiences in a storytelling template. The act of strict examination forces us to select and organize our past. Narration provides an explanatory framework. Human beings often claim to understand events when they manage to formulate a coherent story or narrative explaining what factors caused a specific incident to occur. Stories assist the human mind to remember and make decisions based on informative stories. Narrative writing also prompts periods of intense reflection that leads to more writing that is ruminative. Contemplative actions call for us to track the conscious mind at work rendering an accounting of our weaknesses and our strengths, folly and wisdom.

~ Kilroy J. Oldster

Our actions reflect the distilled wisdom that we possess of the innermost self. Our personal philosophy is an activated way of living. A peaceful person delves the truest definition of the self by maintaining an attentive state of conscious awareness and ceases escaping from reality with mindless diversions. Self-inquiry is the principal method to remove ignorance, increase self-awareness, and abide in a tranquil existence

~ Kilroy J. Oldster

Only when we are truly lost are we free to choose our own path.

~ Hugo Embleton-Black

The beauty in correcting our own mistakes; rather than attempting to correct the mistakes in others, is that working upon our own flaws improves us. But working upon the flaws of others not only leaves us unimproved; it actually leaves us being less than we were prior to making those assessments. I believe that the moral of this natural occurrence, is that we are all born to find and fix our own shortcomings; rather than find and fix the shortcomings in others. And if all people were to do this, then we would be a race of creatures looking inward, in order to bring out something better. Now think of what a beautiful race that would be.

~ C. Joybell C.

I write letters to you that you’ll never see.

~ Jennifer Elisabeth

He looked at me, that first day, like he had just found something he’d lost a thousand years ago.

~ Jennifer Elisabeth

But I love you and I want you and I need you. Can’t you see that? This world has nothing to offer me if it doesn’t include you.

~ Jennifer Elisabeth

Time' is the most threatening four letter word.

~ Jennifer Elisabeth

I’m tired of justifying why I love someone. I’m done with the explaining.

~ Jennifer Elisabeth

That last time you kissed me my heart slid past your teeth down into the center of your chest… trapping us both in a stainless cage.

~ Jennifer Elisabeth

If I had an .MP3 of your heartbeat… I might actually get some sleep.

~ Jennifer Elisabeth

I kept waiting for the part where I’d finally know who I was — some flashing, neon moment of relief, but it never came.

~ Jennifer Elisabeth

In the old days, when travelers would get lost, they would follow the stars and I love that idea. I wish that I could rely on something as simple and magnificent as a star for all of my aching questions.

~ Jennifer Elisabeth

I ruin everything. I think that a bullet must have passed through my heart when I was very young, causing me to bleed out slowly, over things and people and every white surface that I’d ever come across.

~ Jennifer Elisabeth

I wish that love could be broken down the way it breaks me down.

~ Jennifer Elisabeth

I don’t ever want to hurt anyone, but I really wish there was something like a reset button on my life.

~ Jennifer Elisabeth

He could pour himself into my little paper cup heart and my emptiness would finally have a meaning.

~ Jennifer Elisabeth

It feels like the world is folding up around me, like origami paper, and I’m trapped inside of its breathless center.

~ Jennifer Elisabeth

I want to understand the strings that are tied between me and certain other people and if they really can stretch through infinite time and space without ever breaking. Are soul mates real, and is my life ever going to make sense?

~ Jennifer Elisabeth

I feel like a paper cut just waiting to bleed.

~ Jennifer Elisabeth

I wish on one of the stars for divine orchestration and save the rest of them for all of the other girls in the world who will feel like I do tonight.

~ Jennifer Elisabeth

Standing naked on the beach with all of my secrets between my legs, I look out into the water and up deep into the stars. I beg the sparkling lanterns of light to cure me of myself…

~ Jennifer Elisabeth