For my birthday, a good friend gave me Maria Shriver’s new book I’ve Been Thinking…

And a lot of what Ms. Shriver was thinking and writing really resonated with me.  Here are a few gems I’d like to share with you:

“So today, start where you are – not where you wish you were, but where you are.  The future isn’t here.  This day offers each of us a chance to be the person we want to be.  Not the person we wish we had been yesterday or want to be tomorrow, but the person we already are.”

“I’ve learned that living in either the past or the future keeps me up in my head, out of reality, robbing me of the present.”

“It takes courage to push up against the way it is or the way it has been.  It takes courage to push back and be creative with the gift of life.  But that’s exactly what building a life of our own requires: thinking outside the box, being creative, being flexible, facing the fear of the unknown, stepping into it, and being willing to start over.”

“You never know how your story might inspire another.  Share what you wish, save some just for you, and always remember to keep adding new chapters as you go along.”

And these quotes were not written by Ms. Shriver, but she did include them in her book:

“I am not what happened to me.  I am what I choose to become.”  — Carl Jung

“What you’re supposed to do when you don’t like a thing is change it.  If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.”  — Maya Angelou