{"author":"Stephen Lovegrove","author_id":"Stephen+Lovegrove","total_quotes":26,"quotes":[{"text":"The good news is, shame has a kryptonite. Shame cannot survive under the power of love. Love defeats shame, every time. Love says that no matter what you did which may have caused guilt, you are loved. You are lovable. You are love itself. That is the truth. And because of that, you have nothing to be ashamed of.","author":"Stephen Lovegrove","tags":["inspiration","love","love","personal-growth","self-help","shame","truth"],"id":1074,"author_id":"Stephen+Lovegrove"},{"text":"It would be nice if the story ended differently - if he had burst into tears and professed his love for me; if he had said the same three words back and hugged me; if he had given it thought and then asked if we could try a relationship. But you know what? I said those three words to a boy who didn’t love me back, at least not in that way. He casually dropped a “love you” later on, and in a platonic ‘you have impacted my life’ way, he was telling the truth. But I knew. He had given it thought, and we were not on the same page. I built up all this courage to say “I love you” for the very first time, and I said those words to a person that couldn’t reciprocate them. But guess what? I don’t regret any of it.","author":"Stephen Lovegrove","tags":["courage","i-love-you","love","love","personal-growth","regret","relationship","risk","self-help","vulnerability"],"id":7925,"author_id":"Stephen+Lovegrove"},{"text":"While you might think the choices that leave no regrets behind are the minimal ones and the casual ones and the safe ones, I believe the opposite is true. Regret happens when we are still left with “what if.” Regret is the result of leaving a story within you still untold, a song inside of you never sung, a touch unique to your personhood that never was felt by another. When you lay everything on the line because you believe that much that the life you have been given is the utmost calling to be answered, you don’t regret it.","author":"Stephen Lovegrove","tags":["being-yourself","believe","calling","personal-growth","regret","risk","self-help"],"id":13430,"author_id":"Stephen+Lovegrove"},{"text":"It’s easy to think that if we had a different house, different car, different job, different relationship, different city, everything would be different; that we would feel different then.The problem is, you are the main character in the story that is your life. No matter how much you alter the setting of that story, you can’t escape from yourself. There are many factors which contribute to your experience on this planet, but ultimately, you are the one creating your experience here. In order to get to the life you are here to live, you must begin by becoming the person you are here to become.","author":"Stephen Lovegrove","tags":["inspirational","life","main-character","motivational","personal-growth","self-help","story"],"id":25510,"author_id":"Stephen+Lovegrove"},{"text":"You have not been given the task of creating something brand new from the vast world around you. All you are called to do is discover what is inside of you right now, the life you have been given. Once you find that, you can begin creating something external that aligns with and affirms your spark.","author":"Stephen Lovegrove","tags":["create","inspirational","motivational","personal-growth","self-help"],"id":34714,"author_id":"Stephen+Lovegrove"},{"text":"Live that way long enough, and you will literally find yourself addicted to the acceptance of people. You will constantly need verbal affirmation. You will depend on always receiving a steady stream of invitations to events you don’t even want to attend. You will feel as though you need a significant other in your life at all times. I’m not exaggerating - this need for external acceptance will literally become an addiction. And that turns every one of your relationships - personal, professional, and romantic - into a codependent one. You are not in the relationship with a full heart able to give love away. You are in the relationship because you NEED it. You don’t know how you’d survive, much less thrive, without it. You are using every person to fill a void in your heart that you simply refuse to fill yourself. This is a mess.","author":"Stephen Lovegrove","tags":["approval-addiction","inspirational","motivational","personal-growth","self-help"],"id":35940,"author_id":"Stephen+Lovegrove"},{"text":"Whether we are at Cafe Gratitude or Carl’s Jr, whether we are in a cathedral or in a nightclub, whether we are inside of a mosque or on the metro, every single moment is a sacred moment. A moment far too important for us to miss. When we miss the people and the experiences and the feelings of our lives, we miss God. We don’t get to know the joy of seeing God show up in the world. More profoundly, we don’t get to participate in the wonder of God showing up in the world.","author":"Stephen Lovegrove","tags":["experiences","feelings","god","joy","moments","our-lives","participate","people","present-moment","sacred","wonder"],"id":38456,"author_id":"Stephen+Lovegrove"},{"text":"My goal is to be the most magical person you know. I say that all the time, because it’s an idea that really does shape my daily life. But you might not have met me, or maybe you aren’t familiar with me at all. Still, I know that you have a person who has given you that feeling.","author":"Stephen Lovegrove","tags":["feeling","idea","inspirational","magical","motivational","person","personal-growth","self-help"],"id":71713,"author_id":"Stephen+Lovegrove"},{"text":"I couldn’t stop crying. This fact in and of itself alarmed me, because for so long, I hadn’t been able to cry. And now, here I was, weeping. It didn’t feel therapeutic. I know scientists promise that all the negative hormones are being released as you cry, but I didn’t notice my emotional stability rising as the tears fell. I just knew I was crying, and my whole body was shaking, and I couldn’t make it stop.","author":"Stephen Lovegrove","tags":["crying","emotion","feelings","inspirational","motivation","personal-growth","self-help"],"id":71907,"author_id":"Stephen+Lovegrove"},{"text":"You are a soul. You are a creator. You are an individual, absolutely and positively one of a kind. You are an energetic being of love with enough power inside of you to change this entire world forever.","author":"Stephen Lovegrove","tags":["inspirational","motivational","personal-growth","self-help"],"id":72811,"author_id":"Stephen+Lovegrove"}],"pagination":{"page":1,"page_size":10,"total":26,"pages":3,"next":"?page=2\u0026page_size=10"}}