I opened my eyes to the darkness that blanketed me, and it’s not just due to the level of brightness in the unfamiliar room I forgot I slept in last night.
There is a heavy, stuck feeling in the center of my chest—a tightness.
I am unsure of the source. It could be emotional discord as I revisit my childhood, the visions I can’t get out of my mind of the heart-shattering attacks in Ukraine, or because my usual morning routine is disrupted as I travel. Things just feel off.
I get up to write, thinking maybe putting pen to paper may allow my subconscious mind to reveal something else hiding in this unclear fog that looms over me.
At that moment, and for whatever reason, an old Mr. Rogers quote drifted across my mind like a subtitle on a movie screen:
“The only thing evil can’t stand is forgiveness.”
Ah-ha. It would make sense, as my inner child navigates old stories during travel to the home I grew up in, that the man who had a vision of helping children grow to be confident and caring would appear. I was at first prompted to go to my usual forgiveness exercise, but then quickly realize that wasn’t the only thing calling to my heart. It’s the wisdom Mr. Rogers’ words almost always bring.
Each morning before our busy home shuffles to work and school, we read an inspirational quote, which I share on my IG stories, and we choose an angel card. Because our family is traveling, we haven’t been keeping up with this ritual, and I miss it! So this thought comes over me to write down my favorite Mr. Rogers quotes, cut them up, put them in a bowl, and choose one every day we are away, to support and nurture my inner child.
I typed them out, spaced them, cut them up, and put them in a bowl. To no surprise, the first one I chose, “The only thing evil can’t stand is forgiveness.” With that inspiring thought, I work with self-forgiveness and look forward to what I will choose tomorrow, in hopes it will nudge me to another step of grace and listening to my inner person within.
Following are inspiring quotes from Mr. Rogers, who truly wanted each child to wake each morning in peace and acceptance. Some of these are from his books and others from his PBS show. I invite you to write them down or print them out, cut them up, and choose one each day with me.
May they inspire you to honor your inner child and confidently move forward in care:
1. “The only thing evil can’t stand is forgiveness.”
2. “When we love a person, we accept him or her exactly as is: the lovely with the unlovely, the strong with the fearful, the true mixed in with the façade, and of course, the only way we can do it is by accepting ourselves that way.”
3. “We get so wrapped up in numbers in our society. The most important thing is that we are able to be one-to-one, you and I with each other at the moment. If we can be present to the moment with the person that we happen to be with, that’s what’s important.”
4. “Listening is where love begins: listening to ourselves and then to our neighbors.”
5. “There are times when explanations, no matter how reasonable, just don’t seem to help.”
6. “There are three ways to ultimate success: The first way is to be kind. The second way is to be kind. The third way is to be kind.”
7. “I don’t think anyone can grow unless he’s loved exactly as he is now, appreciated for what he is rather than what he will be.”
8. “If you could only sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to the people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.”
9. “In times of stress, the best thing we can do for each other is to listen with our ears and our hearts and to be assured that our questions are just as important as our answers.”
10. “I feel so strongly that deep and simple is far more essential than shallow and complex.”
11. “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.'”
12. “Everyone longs to be loved. And the greatest thing we can do is to let people know that they are loved and capable of loving.”
13. “Love isn’t a state of perfect caring. It is an active noun like struggle. To love someone is to strive to accept that person exactly the way he or she is, right here and now.”
14. “Taking care is one way to show your love. Another way is letting people take good care of you when you need it.”
15. “Often when you think you’re at the end of something, you’re at the beginning of something else.”
16. “Our society is much more interested in information than wonder, in noise rather than silence…And I feel that we need a lot more wonder and a lot more silence in our lives.”
17. “You can think about things and make believe. All you have to do is think and they’ll grow.”
18. “You rarely have time for everything you want in this life, so you need to make choices. And hopefully your choices can come from a deep sense of who you are.”
19. “We all have different gifts, so we all have different ways of saying to the world who we are.”
20. “The greatest gift you ever give is your honest self.”
Do any of these stand out to you or speak to you in any which way? If you do join me in choosing one quote each day at random, I would be curious to hear if one or two keep repeating for you!
Please do share in the comments. XO
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AUTHOR: GINA NICOLE BALLARD
IMAGE: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
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