Quote: “Falling Slowly” written by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová

"There was an orchestra in her heart. Music heard only by her, except when her heart broke open and it spilled out into the world."

Quote from Tv show 'Pushing Daisies'

Perfection is an illusion. Achievement is motivating and personally satisfying. But contribution lives on. -Erin Forquer

And now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good. - John Steinbeck

If you spend your life waiting for the world to give you answers, you won't find any. You are your own question, and you are the only answer. -Erin Forquer

"this is my letter to the world that never wrote to me." -Emily Dickinson

“Life has no meaning. Each of us has meaning and we bring it to life. It is a waste to be asking the question when you are the answer.” - Joseph Campbell

Don't let the things that you cannot control, control you. -Erin Forquer

This is the first MRI I had done before I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. And while my diagnosis was, at the time, the worst thing that had ever happened to me, 12 years later it turns out that it was also the best thing that happened. To me. Life will always happen to you- and life will always be unfair at some point. But you still have to live. Sometimes, we have to let the bad things change us, break us, so that we can grow back stronger into the people we are supposed to be. 

-Erin Forquer

The people who break us... eventually (and I do mean EVENTUALLY) give us the opportunity to grow stronger in our broken places. If you are brave enough, and honest enough, to let another person really change you.. you never walk away in just one piece. But every piece has a new story, a new scar, and a new world you have yet to find. -Erin Forquer

We grieve, and me miss, and we long for days past.. all at the level we loved. -Erin Forquer

Quote: Regina Spektor

Telling our own story is the most important, and terrifying thing we will ever utter out loud to another person. And if someone is scared, or judgmental of your story, than they would certainly not have been able to survive what you have, and lack the courage to be in your life. Because if someone cannot even try to understand another, they will surely fail to be understood by anyone, especially themselves. -Erin Forquer

Find what makes you come alive, and do it. And keep doing it no matter the obstacles.. because what the world needs, is a reminder that if you care deeply enough about something, even if it hurts, or it seems impossible, that there are people brave enough in this world to keep trying. Please, don't ever underestimate the magnificent beauty in someone following their dreams. Including you. -Erin Forquer

Don't ask what the world needs. 

Ask what makes you come alive,

 and go do it. 

Because what the world needs

is people who have

come alive. 

-Howard Thurman

Sometimes we hide from life. Sometimes life hides from us... Either way, I'm pretty sure it's a good idea not to hide from the ones who love us in this crazy and confusing thing called life. -Erin Forquer

I spent this year as a ghost..

And now I'm not sure 

where home is anymore. 

Please don't ever forget when you wake up each morning, just how dangerous ignorance is. And how damaging and hurtful our silence, or inaction, can be. -Erin Forquer

"The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people

but the silence over that by the good people."

-Dr. Martin Lurther King, Jr.

Someone wise once told me to wander often, get lost whenever I can, and never lose the wonder, or hope, of finding what I am looking for. Even if I don't know where my answers are, or if I'll even find them, I still believe I'll find what I'm supposed to- even if it isn't what I thought I wanted. -Erin Forquer

Learning to let go of the things that no longer belong to us- or with us, or perhaps never meant for us at all, may be one of the hardest tasks in life. And one of the most painful. But in the end, it may save our life, and give us the only opportunity to live the life that we are supposed to. Never forget this painful truth for yourself- or others, because it might just make us all a lot kinder as we walk this earth. -Erin Forquer

In the end, only three things matter:

How much you loved,

How gently you lived,

and how gracefully you let go 

of things not meant for you. 

-Buddha

I was asked to write some advice about raising a child for one of my best friends' baby shower. As I tried to start writing, I realized that the only advice I could give her- was to teach her child what love means in the same way that she and her family have taught me. So this is my wish for your family, and my family, and all of our families. Thank you for showing me what love and family means, in the best definition imaginable. Sincerely, Erin

Quote: Erin Forquer

My sincerest hope, for all of us, is that you are given the opportunity to find this place. It isn't an external place with an actual location. Perhaps, rather it's a hidden internal voice, when you're among people who love you without conditions, which quietly whispers to you "I dare you to be yourself." -Erin Forquer

If you can find beauty within your pain, then you will not live in vain. -Erin Forquer

Perhaps someday I'll crawl back home,

beaten,

defeated.

But not as long as I can make stories 

out of my heartbreak,

beauty out of my sorrow. 

-Sylvia Plath

Our idea about the meaning of life, our "life's mission," our brief time on this earth to make our mark.. whatever you want to call the reason that we are here, on this little planet thats circling a slowly dying star.... Just make sure that what you call it is your own. -Erin Forquer

If this is what love is, which I think it is, then I signed up ages ago... I'm just waiting for my callback. -Erin Forquer

Life goes on... Like a bad nightmare, that you can swear is real, and won't stop despite your cries for mercy. But. Life. Goes. On. And there is so much beauty you haven't found yet. -Erin Forquer

Whenever I am lonely, or questioning the state of the world.. I think of all the people I have crossed paths with that have changed me. The stranger in the hospital waiting room, who hugged me so fiercely- without any words, when she heard me call home to say that my friend wouldn't be making it through the night. The coach who believed in me when even I didn't. The family I found in New York, who took care of me without expectations. The clients who shared their story with me, with trust and courage I didn't even know existed.. And I'm comforted by the thought that I have something to live up to. I might not always hit the mark, but just the trying gives me hope. -Erin Forquer

The paths we take sometimes lead us away from people we know and love,

but in the end....

What matters is that we affect 

the lives of others for the better. 

Somehow..

Whoever we are,

Whatever our story.

But if you are able to let 

Yourself love honestly and 

Without fear,

Then maybe that 

Huge heart you have,

WILL SOMEHOW SET YOU

FREE. 

-BBC's 'The Body Farm'