Why Quotes & Words of Inspiration Are Important to Gifted Adults

By Lynne Azpeitia

Words spoken by others in similar circumstances serve as guideposts of encouragement along our way.

In any journey, adventure or endeavor there are times when a few words of encouragement, advice or wisdom inspire us to remain engaged and moving towards our goals. These words speak to us in our own language, cheer us on, open our eyes and stir our souls as we face our daily challenges in life, love, work and art.

I like quotes. Can you tell? There is probably at least one quote on every single page of this site. I find them useful, inspiring and thought provoking. I’ve also found that quotes play a very important role in the coaching, mentoring and psychotherapy work I do with gifted and creative adults.

Gifted adults like quotes.

Quotes from other gifted and creative people not only provide wisdom, advice and encouragement, they transcend time and space and allow gifted and creative persons to feel connected to understanding others who see, hear, feel, think and experience things from a very similar perspective, thereby reducing feelings of alienation and loneliness while facilitating an experience of belonging and connectedness.

Over the years I’ve collected many favorite quotes that support success, innovation, creativity and much more. At first the quotes were just for me. Then I found myself sharing them with gifted & creative clients in therapy and coaching, in supervision and while training therapists and, finally, in my workshops. They even find their way into my e-mails and signature lines.

A few years ago I put together my first collection of quotes. I put them on colorful cardstock and began to give custom sets of my “quote cards” to clients, students and colleagues.

I was not prepared for what happened next.

During conversations, the people I’d given quote cards to began sharing what their favorite quotes were and why. We began having wonderful conversations about what the quotes meant to them and how they had been affected by the quote. It turns out they were having conversations with others about the quotes, too. The quotes had taken on a life of their own! I was thrilled.

So now, I still collect quotations that strike me as original and that say things that are hard to find support for, but now I put them on the pages of this site as well as on the quote cards I give out.

One of my favorite things to do these days is to have people who attend my workshops and trainings select a quote card to take home with them. This has been fun.

What ideas do you have for the use of quotes and quote cards?

I hope you enjoy exploring the different pages of quotes and words of inspiration I’ve shared here and on the other sections of the site. Let me know what you find to be interesting and helpful, I’d love to hear from you.