The Life Brief Quotes

“We are most vulnerable during moments of transition. Yet change presents an opportunity to reflect on and release our past. Each time we open a new chapter, sadness will find us, wearing different faces, delivered in different forms. Being present with it and creating space for it allows for its eventual release. Change is hardest to embrace when the loss of our past is palpable, and the payoffs are not yet in sight.

I call it courageous living. Others call it a leap of faith...

Courageous, creative living is the ability to act, leap, or keep moving forward, even when confidence is nowhere to be found.”
― Bonnie Wan, The Life Brief: A Playbook for No-Regrets Living

“Each time we open a new chapter, we must close the previous one. Yet sometimes we are running so fast into what's next that we overlook the magnitude of honoring what was. We underestimate the potency of saying "thank you" or the power of ritualizing closure.”
― Bonnie Wan, The Life Brief: A Playbook for No-Regrets Living

“Observe your own rhythms and flow to uncover your unique peak conditions. What are the conditions that elevate you? And what are the conditions that deflate you? When do you feel most alive? What's happening around you to fuel that aliveness? How can you stimulate and replicate it? What are the conditions you need to thrive?

When you find yourself experiencing "peak" aliveness, pause to take note of what's happening around you. What led you to this moment? What got you to this feeling? What pumps you up when you're breaking down?”
― Bonnie Wan, The Life Brief: A Playbook for No-Regrets Living

“When we let ourselves write--write freely without fear--we invite the unconscious forward, moving beyond our "scripts" into our truth. Writing is the key. Simply thinking through our issues is too vague, too noncommittal. Like the ocean, one thought gets washed away with another: a wave comes in, only to be washed over by another wave. Connections between how we're currently living and what we really want can be fleeting, easily lost if not captured. Writing commits our thoughts and feelings to paper so that we can be in relationship with them and with ourselves--artifacts of our interior available for reflection, and refinement.”
― Bonnie Wan, The Life Brief: A Playbook for No-Regrets Living

“Because of my long-held feeling off outsiderness, I'm prone to anxiety about being excluded and suspicious of hidden agendas. I've found that the fastest remedy and resolution is to puncture my anxiety or suspicions through connection. If I feel isolated, I seek out one-on-one time. If I feel in doubt, I reach out to my fans. If I feel misunderstood, I connect with my critics and open a conversation.”
― Bonnie Wan, The Life Brief: A Playbook for No-Regrets Living

“Ultimately, what makes creative people creative isn't just their flair for art, words, or song. It's their belief that they can figure it out. Their willingness to risk failure rather than give up.”
― Bonnie Wan, The Life Brief: A Playbook for No-Regrets Living

“Creative courageous living is about forging ahead anyway, onto the uncharted path, even as your nerves rattle. Especially when they rattle.”
― Bonnie Wan, The Life Brief: A Playbook for No-Regrets Living

“But in my experience, wildly creative people are idea-led--they're driven by a velocity of vision that doesn't allow them to accept no for an answer... When they're fired up about an idea, they do everything in their capacity to make it real... They're as creative about finding new approaches to making an idea a reality as they are about coming up with ideas in the first place.”
― Bonnie Wan, The Life Brief: A Playbook for No-Regrets Living

“Creativity is not a skill, it's a mindset.”
― Bonnie Wan, The Life Brief: A Playbook for No-Regrets Living

“Amazing things start to happen once you have clarity. From our very first Life Brief to "Take Our Time," Chip and I learned that once we get clear about what we want, unexpected twists and unimaginable rewards begin to reveal themselves.”
― Bonnie Wan, The Life Brief: A Playbook for No-Regrets Living

“Words are the lifeblood of strategy. Strategies can't exist without them, so strategists are practiced expressionists. We play with the power of words to express ideas that move people into action.”
― Bonnie Wan, The Life Brief: A Playbook for No-Regrets Living

“Money is not a measure of self-worth, it's a means to self-reliance.”
― Bonnie Wan, The Life Brief: A Playbook for No-Regrets Living

“I spoke of my own guilt by assimilation. I stressed that until we owned the problems at our most senior ranks, nothing real or meaningful would change.”
― Bonnie Wan, The Life Brief: A Playbook for No-Regrets Living

“As the poet David Whyte once said, “What you can plan is too small for you to live.” Plans are usually based on facts we already know or can see from where we’re standing, opinions we already hold. But life is peppered with surprise and serendipity that are impossible to plan for or around.”
― Bonnie Wan, The Life Brief: A Playbook for No-Regrets Living