Hounslow Youth Counselling Service

"...When day comes we step out of the shade,/aflame and unafraid/the new dawn blooms as we free it./For there is always light,/if only we're brave enough to see it./If only we're brave enough to be it" - Amanda Gorman, Young Poet Laureate USA, extract from The Hill We Climb

"Make a little nest for your feelings about being alive, nurture them that they may fledge and fly" - Grayson Perry, Artist

"Only if you're kind to yourself, can you be kind to others.” - Ruby Wax

"During your life, never stop dreaming. No one can take away your dreams." - Tupac Shakur, rapper

"You’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think". – Christopher Robin from AA Milne's Winnie the Pooh

“... I’ve seen how the smallest kindness can make a difference to someone’s life. Even a simple smile instead of a start can lift someone’s heart.” - Katie Piper, Katie Piper Foundation

“Forgive yourself for not knowing what you didn't know before you learned it.” - Maya Angelou

"I think you travel to search and you come back home to find yourself there" - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

“Never be limited by other people’s limited imaginations.” —Dr. Mae Jemison, first African-American female astronaut

"There's no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act has creates a ripple with no logical end - Scott Adams.

“Fear, uncertainty, and discomfort are your compasses toward growth.” ― Celestine Chua, author

"All great achievements require time" - Maya Angelou

“Be proud of who you are.” – Eminem

"Fear is the cheapest room in the house. I'd like to see you in better living conditions" - Hafiz

"Don't be pushed by your problems, be led by your dreams" - Ralph Waldo Emerson, poet and philosopher

"The struggles along the way are only meant to shape you for your purpose" - Chadwick Boseman

“Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass. It's about learning how to dance in the rain.” ― Vivian Greene

"We are all imperfect beings who need one another" - Haemin Sunim, Love for Imperfect Things

"A flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it, it just blooms" - Zeb Shin

"I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed." - Michael Jordan

“Never lose hope. Storms make people stronger and never last forever.” ― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

"Success is nothing but weaknesses turned inside-out.” – Hrithik Roshan, Bollywood star

“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any.” ― Alice Walker

“Stay together friends/Don’t scatter and sleep/Our friendship is made/Of being awake” - Rumi

"To bring about change, you must not be afraid to take the first step. We will fail when we fail to try." - Rosa Parks

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel'. - Maya Angelou

"Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign. But stories can also be used to empower and to humanise. Stories can break the dignity of a people. But stories can also repair that broken dignity" - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

"Talk to yourself as you would to someone you love" - Brene Brown, Author

"Those who know how to play can easily leap over the adversities of life". — Inuit Proverb

"I will not lose, for even in defeat, there is a valuable lesson learned, so it evens up for me." - Jay-Z

"You are your best thing" - Toni Morrison.

"We have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for the day. Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it. Our attitude is everything." - Charles R Swindoll

"The reason why we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind the scenes with everyone elses' highlight reel" - Steven Furtick

"Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see" - Mark Twain.

"I have two hands: one for me, one for other people". - Millie Bobby Brown, actress

“We can’t change the world until we change ourselves.” – Biggie Smalls

"'We can all dance' he said 'if we find the music that we love'..." - from Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andreae

"If someone does not smile at you, be generous and offer your own smile. Nobody needs a smile more than the one that cannot smile to others." - Dalai Lama

“Don't be pushed around by the fears in your mind. Be led by the dreams in your heart.” ― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

“Stop lookin’ at what you ain’t got, and start being thankful for what you do got.” – T.I.

"If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito." - Dalai Lama

“When the winds of change blow, some people build walls and others build windmills.” - Chinese Proverb

"If you can't love yourself how in the hell you gonna love somebody else?" - Ru Paul

"Everybody’s somebody’s everything. I know you right. Nobody’s nothing. That’s right." - Chance the Rapper

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” - Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, holocaust survivor

“Fulfillment isn’t found over the rainbow—it’s found in the here and now. Today I define success by the fluidity with which I transcend emotional land mines and choose joy and gratitude instead.” - Ru Paul

"I want to sing like the birds sing, not worrying about who hears or what they think". - Rumi, Persian Poet

"Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light." - J. K. Rowling

"Made so many wrong decisions, 'Til I fell in love with optimism.” - Dave, Voices

"Every day may not be good but there is something good in every day". - Alice Morse Earle.

“We ain’t picture perfect but we worth the picture still.” – J. Cole, Crooked Smile.

"You must take action. You must do the impossible. Because giving up is never an option". - Greta Thunberg

"Sometimes it's the journey that teaches you a lot about your destination". - Drake

“When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful.” - Malala Yousafzai

“You’ll never get bored when you try something new. There’s really no limit to what you can do.” - Dr Seuss

"Be who you are and don't let anyone affect the confidence you have in your individuality" - Demi Lovato

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” — Barack Obama

" If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change" - Dr Wayne Dyer

“Wherever you are, at any moment, try and find something beautiful. A face, a line out of a poem, the clouds out of a window, some graffiti, a wind farm. Beauty cleans the mind.” ― Matt Haig, Reasons to Stay Alive

"Without the dark, we'd never see the stars.” ― Stephenie Meyer, Twilight

"In a world where you can be anything, be kind" - Jennifer Dukes Lee

"The good driver sees the organic flow of all the cars on the road and becomes one with the flow upon joining it. The bad driver does not see this flow as a whole and thinks only of his own driving" - Haemin Sunim, Love for Imperfect Things

“Those who have a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how'.” - Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, holocaust survivor

"However long the night, the dawn will break." - African Proverb, Hausa Tribe

"Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better" - Maya Angelou, Author

"For the kids out there that are worried about what the future holds, especially the LGBTQI+ kids, our brothers and sisters that came before us didn't fight for nothing. Trust me: we will only move forward, but you need to put your fear aside and find the strength to believe that." - Michelle Visage

"Show me someone who has done something worthwhile, and I'll show you someone who has overcome adversity". - Lou Holtz, Coach

"Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart". - Winnie the Pooh (AA Milne)

"Don't aim at success. The more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue." - Victor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, holocaust survivor

“You are so busy being YOU that you have no idea how utterly unprecedented you are.” ― John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

"Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself" - Coco Chanel

"Openness may not completely disarm prejudice, but it's a good place to start." — Jason Collins from the essay The Gay Athlete,

"... We must be brave, we must beware - mostly of ourselves/For the mind is like a spider, it will weave many webs/But the heart is like an arrow of light/It will pierce a hole in the dark that life will fill..." - Mark Nepo, extract from "Coming up for Air"

"I wish I could show you when you are lonely in darkness the astonishing light of your own being." Hafez 14th Century Persian Poet (1390 - 1389).

"...no person is your friend (or kin) who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow and be perceived as fully blossomed as you were intended." - Alice Walker

'Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree it will live its whole life feeling it is stupid'. - Albert Einstein

“We come to love not by finding a perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.” – Sam Keen, To Love and Be Loved

"The only way to have a friend is to be one" - Ralph Waldo Emerson, Poet & Philosopher

"Pay no mind to those who talk behind your back, it simply means that you are two steps ahead." - Tupac Shakur, rapper

"Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air" - Ralph Waldo Emerson, poet and philosopher

“It isn’t the hours you put in, it’s what you put in the hours”. - Sam Ewing, motivational speaker

"I've missed more than 900 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over again in my life and THAT is why I succeed". - Michael Jordan

"I've had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened." - Mark Twain

"Long live the rose that grew from concrete when no one else even cared." - Tupak Shakur, rapper

"Anxiety and fear are cousins but not twins. Fear sees a threat. Anxiety imagines one." - Max Lucado

"Today is unique! It has never occurred and it will never be repeated. At midnight it will end, quietly, suddenly, totally. Forever. But the hours between now and then are opportunities with eternal possibilities." ~ Charles R. Swindoll

"The dreams I chased took me on a journey, a journey more rewarding than the goals" - Shahruk Khan, Bollywood actor

“If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done.” – Bruce Lee

"The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be" - Ralph Waldo Emerson, poet an philosopher

"You don’t have to control your thoughts. You just have to stop letting them control you." — Dan Millman

"We must be willing to let go of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us." — Joseph Campbell

" I just stop thinking and start moving - you just gotta be you" - Lil Uzi Vert

"Don't compare your life to others. There's no comparison between the sun and moon. They shine when it's their time." (unknown)

"For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone". - Audrey Hepburn

"The summit is what drives us, but it is the climb itself that matters most". - Conrad Ankor, American Rock climber and author

"Shame loves perfectionists - it's so easy to keep us quiet" - Brene Brown.

"Poetry is one of the purest forms of conversation there is". - Caleb Femi, Poet

'I've not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work' - Thomas Edison, inventor of the light bulb

"Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen" - Michael Jordan, Basketball Player

"Imperfections are not inadequacies; they are reminders that we're all in this together" - Brene Brown.

"Art and life are subjective. Not everybody's gonna dig what I dig, but I reserve the right to dig it." - Whoopi Goldberg

"Imma be what I set out to be without a doubt undoubtedly." - Eminem

"Until we receive with an open heart, we are never really giving with an open heart." - Brene Brown

“You look ridiculous if you dance. You look ridiculous if you don’t dance. So you might as well dance.” — Gertrude Stein

“Between the stimulus and the response there is a space and in that space is your power and your freedom” - Victor Frankl

“We are what our thoughts have made us. So take care what you think. Thoughts live. They travel far.” ― Preeti Shenoy, Life is What You Make It:

“Don’t fear failure. — Not failure, but low aim, is the crime. In great attempts it is glorious even to fail.” – Bruce Lee, actor and martial artist, film-maker.

"A bend in the road is not the end of the road... unless you fail to make the turn" - Helen Keller.

“Never apologise for being sensitive or emotional. Let this be a sign that you've got a big heart and aren't afraid to let others see it. Showing your emotions is a sign of strength.” ― Brigitte Nicole

"Optimist: Someone who figures that taking a step backward after taking a step forward is not a disaster, it’s more like a cha-cha." — Robert Brault, Author

“It’s only after you’ve stepped outside your comfort zone that you begin to change, grow, and transform.” ― Roy T. Bennett

“What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” - Jane Goodall

"The sky is full of stars and there's room for them all to shine". - unknown

"Its easy to stand in the crowd but it takes courage to stand alone" - Mahatma Gandhi.

"It's when someone listens to how you feel. They won't tell you that you're wrong. You are allowed to feel how you want to feel."

"It helps you get out what you are thinking and feeling."

"It was good to be able to talk about my problems and not feel alone."