I don't remember how I came across the husband and wife team, Mark & Angel Chernoff, authors of the New York Time's Best Selling book, "Getting Back To Happy," but I have found so much solace in their words and stories during some of my darkest and trying times. Not everyone might be comfortable speaking to a therapist about deeply personal and private matters. Some may not have the financial means to even seek out that type of help when they need it most. Others still, might not even register that could be an option. That's why I think it's important to find voices that resonate throughout your life. We need to know we are not alone, our troubles may be unique to us, but chances our, someone else is going through something similar. When we isolate, withdraw, retreat from the world, finding ourselves and healing gets that much harder. If you find you can't do the simplest things, seek things that make your world a little lighter, even if it's just a temporary stop on the way to more grieving. I truly believe the hurt we feel stays locked inside every fiber of our being if we don't find a way to acknowledge it and set it free. So today, pull up a chair for the next 10 minutes and sit and ponder these 20 powerful affirmations courtesy of Mark & Angel Hack Life.

1. “The biggest and most complex obstacle I will ever have to overcome is my mind. If I can overcome that, I can overcome anything.”
2. “I cannot control exactly what happens in life, but I can control how I respond to it all. In my response is my greatest power.”
3. “I have to accept whatever comes my way, and the only important thing is that I meet it with the best I have to give.”
4. “I will stop focusing on how stressed I am and remember how blessed I am. Complaining won’t change my reality, but a positive attitude will.”
5. “Being positive does not mean ignoring the negative. Being positive means overcoming the negative. There is a big difference between the two.”
6. “I will not get caught up in what could’ve been or should’ve been. I will look instead at the power and possibility of what is, right now.”
7. “I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions. It’s about not letting my fear decide my future.”
8. “I will get back up. Again, and again. The faster I recover from setbacks, the faster I’ll get to where I’m going in life.”
9. “My next step in the right direction does not have to be a big one.”
10. “Patience is a genuine expression of confidence, acceptance, serenity, and faith in my own ability. It’s a sign of strength. I will practice it.”
11. “When I find that I don’t have time for what matters, I will stop doing things that don’t.”
12. “I can always feel the genuine, positive power that flows from my decision to rise above the petty drama and distractions that don’t really matter anyway.”
13. “Instead of getting angry, I will find the lesson. In place of envy, I will feel admiration. In place of worry, I will take positive action. In place of doubt, I will have faith.”
14. “The longer I remain peaceful, the stronger I become. Peace on the inside leads to real, meaningful progress on the outside.”
15. “There’s nothing selfish about self-care and self-love. I can’t give what I don’t have. When I enrich my own life, I’ll be life-giving to others too.”
16. “If the grass looks greener on the other side, it’s just life’s way of reminding me to water the grass I’m standing on.”
17. “From now on I will be too busy watering my own grass to notice if yours is greener.”
18. “I will focus on making myself better, not on thinking I am better.”
19. “I will practice gratitude, even in the midst of frustration and despair, so I can better see the positive possibilities around me.” 
20. “Happiness does not start when ‘this, that or the other’ thing is resolved. Happiness is what happens now, when I make the best of what I have.