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Resilience Quotes

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Resilience Quotes

“He was lost in that: not being able to have anyone to say, “It’s not your fault, or that there’s nothing wrong in being like you are.” But that was the atmosphere he came up in that Trench Town environment where everybody is rough. He had to show them that although he didn’t know his father, at least he knew there was a God and he knew what he was feeling. ‘Bob had to put up with a lot of resistance. If he wasn’t that strong in himself he wouldn’t be what he became. He would be downtrodden and seen as another half-caste who would never make it.”

“I have this fear that if I ever believe that others wield power over my destiny, that I am so vulnerable, I might as well abdicate control of my life. For if I accept that, what is to stop me attributing to others all the setbacks I encounter? And once that happens, why would I do anything to get back on my own two feet? I would be virtually saying that it was beyond me to reclaim myself. I would be accepting absolute lack of control. And the Good Lord knows, I had very little control over my life as it was. This fear, this need to go on believing I am in the driver's seat, may be the one ingredient in my make-up I will not find it easy to relinquish. Therefore, with everything that I cherished taken, broken or out of reach, I resolved I would become self-sufficient. I would work hard. I would study. I would pull myself up by my bootstraps. Yes, even though I had still to acquire the boots.”

“On train trips, Ernie always wanted the window seat. He knew the names of the trees we passed, and the clouds—nacreous, cumulus, nimbus. He was ever vigilant for animal life and appreciative of the tiny patches of humanity along the tracks that exposed the lives of the rail-side dwellers in such intimate detail. “I love sad houses,” he’d say, pointing to a chorus line of discoloured laundry waving at us, to an upturned self-propelled lawnmower, straggly gardens, leaky drainpipes, a rain-weathered pram that had been turned into a wheelbarrow. “The porch lights are on to keep the rats in their dens,” he’d said. To be a voyeur of decay at such close range was as much of an enthrallment as it was a validation of the scarcities in his own backyard. I knew exactly which days Ernie’s mum had had to choose between heating the house and putting food on the table. My mother had been there too. Before the Zipper had given her a leg up.”

“IT’S A CHOICE Try as we might; neither I nor anyone else can change the past. Yet, our history does not have to hold us hostage. We can’t change things said and done to us, nor can we undo and change what we have done to others. There is no do-over, unfortunately. What we can choose to do, however, is grow and take ownership of our mistakes and share our history and experiences to heal ourselves and others. We can also choose to forgive ourselves and others, and we can also choose to use our experiences to raise ourselves while giving hope and inspiration to others. We can choose to grow from adversity, and we can choose to let go of victimhood. And that is what I decided to do when I left prison, here and in my book. I choose to own it all – the good, the bad, and the ugly, and I choose to let it all go and use my story as both a cautionary tale and a source of inspiration.”

“Anchor Your Stories in Redemptive Themes So We Are Moved to Live Up to Them: Rather than making yourself the victim or the hero in the stories you tell, describe a daunting time of loss, crisis, or criticism or where you made a mistake or acted badly, yet you were eventually able to learn from it. Such stories show vulnerability and a desire to grow and live fully rather than in fear. Then that facet of you can be the place where others can positively and productively connect with you, hard-earned strengths firmly attached together. You can support each other in reinforcing redemptive characterizations and action.”

“Kiss the world like morning sun, Sing to the sky like waking birds. Fret not the fears of wild insecurity, You do your task with dutybound heart. Touch the soul like summer breeze, Hug the soil like monsoon rain. Life is calling, can't you hear! Universe awaits your humane reign.”

“She wasn’t falling apart. She was falling into herself.” This line captures the heart of my trilogy: the moment a woman realizes that what looks like unraveling is actually a return to her truest self. It reframes “falling apart” as a kind of reclamation—messy, necessary, and deeply human. It’s the pivot point where shame turns into clarity, silence turns into voice, and breaking down becomes a kind of breaking open.”

“Betrayal broke me, but it also woke me—what shattered my heart became the foundation for my strength, my healing, and my unapologetic self-love”

“Adopting this strengths-based view doesn't mean pretending challenges don't exist. It means reframing them. Instead of asking 'What's wrong with me?' you get to ask 'What are my unique strengths? What do I need to thrive? What kind of support would actually help?”

“Embracing this identity means something powerful: instead of trying to squeeze yourself into a mold that was never meant for you, you get to understand your actual strengths, honor your real needs, and live as your authentic self.”

“At its heart, ACT isn’t about getting rid of difficult thoughts, feelings, or sensations; it’s about learning how to live well with them.”

“NeuroFlex ACT isn’t about striving to fit a mold. It’s about unfolding into your authentic self, with tools that honor your wiring and your humanity.”

“The world doesn’t need you to shrink into its boxes. It needs you to stand tall in your unique brilliance and build bridges wide enough for others to walk beside you. Every time you show up as you are, ask for what you need, or celebrate your differences, you strengthen those bridges. With each person who crosses, the world grows richer with the creativity, insight, and joy that only comes when every mind has room to thrive.”

“This isn't about becoming someone new. It's about creating the conditions for who you already are to emerge more fully.”

“These skills don’t push your discomfort away. They teach you to move with it, safely, flexibly, and in alignment with what truly matters to you.”

“She [her childhood self] would be proud she escaped the narrative she had been force-fed her entire life. —Cecilia, twenty-five, married”

“To get anywhere, a woman must fall. You can fall by being tipsy, getting ahead of yourself, by missing a step. You can fall because there was a blind alley, a sharp curve, a slippery surface, or a stumbling block. You fall because somebody pulls the rug out from under you or because the whole time as you stood, believing you were on solid ground, there was a trapdoor directly beneath you.”