“Love words, agonize over sentences. And pay attention to the world.”
— Susan Sontag
Love Words
The Difficulty of Being in the Present
“Much of what ruins the present is sheer anxiety. The present always contains an enormous number of possibilities, some hugely gruesome, which we are constantly aware of in the background. Anything could theoretically happen, an earthquake, an aneurysm, a rejection – which gives rise to the non-specific anxiety that trails most of us around all the time; the simple dread at the unknownness of what is to come.”
“Do not ask your children
to strive for extraordinary lives.
Such striving may seem admirable,
but it is the way of foolishness.
Help them instead to find the wonder
and the marvel of an ordinary life.
Show them the joy of tasting
tomatoes, apples and pears.
Show them how to cry
when pets and people die.
Show them the infinite pleasure
in the touch of a hand.
And make the ordinary come alive for them.
The extraordinary will take care of itself.”
― William Martin
From the book: The Parent’s Tao Te Ching: Ancient Advice for Modern Parents
Real Religion
“Real religion is the transformation of anxiety into laughter.”
— Alan Watts
Two-Mountain People
“The basement of your soul is much deeper than you knew. Some people look into the hidden depths of themselves and they realize that success won’t fill those spaces. Only a spiritual life and unconditional love from family and friends will do. They realize how lucky they are. They are down in the valley, but their health is O.K.; they’re not financially destroyed; they’re about to be dragged on an adventure that will leave them transformed.”
— David Brooks
Thank you Jocelyn for reminding me of one of my favorite reads of 2019: Two-Mountain People
We Have To Stand Up To Evil
“If our leaders are evil, what does one do? . . . If God gives us free will, we are responsible for what we do or what we fail to do . . . . I can’t do what I believe is wrong. We have to stand up to evil.”
Timely quote from the stunning movie A Hidden Life by Terrence Malick
In The Presence of Unconditional Love
“When you are in the presence of unconditional love, that is the optimum environment for your heart to open, because you feel safe, because you realize nobody wants anything from you. The minute that heart opens, you are once again letting in the flow. And that flow is where you experience God.”
— Ram Dass
Emotion As A Currency for Remembering Content
“According to numerous studies, emotion is a basic currency for remembering content. A listener must connect emotionally to what they hear in order to remember what the speaker says. Simply, we remember most vividly the events in our lives in which we were most emotionally impacted.”
Do You Need Charisma to Be a Great Public Speaker?, by Sarah Gershman
Something Extraordinary
“I was waiting for something extraordinary to happen but as the years wasted on nothing ever did unless I caused it.”
— Charles Bukowski
Never Too Late
“For what it’s worth: it’s never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of. If you find that you’re not, I hope you have the courage to start all over again.”
― Francis Scott Fitzgerald
Walk Beside Me
“Don’t walk behind me; I may not lead. Don’t walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend”.
— Albert Camus
Crush
“A crush represents in pure and perfect form the dynamics of romantic philosophy: the explosive interaction of limited knowledge, outward obstacles to further discovery – and boundless hope.”
The Ideal Place
“I’ve been searching for years for the ideal place. And I’ve come to the realization that the only way to find it is to be it.”
— Alan Watts
Pile Of Good Things
“So, what if, instead of thinking about solving your whole life, you just think about adding additional good things. One at a time. Just let your pile of good things grow.”
— Rainbow Rowell
(Thank you Madeleine)
Personal Messages
These personal messages by Michael Dumontier and Neil Farber make my heart sing. My favorite discovery in a long time. Inernet, I love you so much.
Finding Joy
“There are souls in this world who have the gift of finding joy everywhere, and leaving it behind them when they go.”
— Frederick William Faber
Satisfaction is Always Available
“Satisfaction is always available. It is just not always looked for. If, when you enter any experience, you enter with curiosity, respect and interest you will emerge enriched and with awareness you have been enriched. Awareness of enrichement is what satisfaction is.”
Giving Space in Love
“I hold this to be the highest task of a bond between two people: that each should stand guard over the solitude of the other.”
— Rainer Maria Rilke
Earth
“The Earth is a fine place and worth fighting for.”
– Ernest Hemingway
Receiving
“It’s so very hard, receiving. When you give something, you’re in much greater control. But when you receive something, you’re so vulnerable.”
The Mister Rogers No One Saw, By Jeanne Marie Laskas
The Good Wolf
A member of the community goes to an elder: “I am trying to find my way, but I am struggling with the path and within myself.” The elder explains, “Inside each of us, there are two wolves which fight all the time. One of them is the good wolf which represents love, peace, hope, kindness, bravery and compassion. The other is the bad wolf, which represents greed, anger, arrogance, resentment and fear. And these two wolves fight all the time.” The member of the community reflects and asks, “If these two fight all the time, then which one wins?” The elder shares, “whichever one you feed.”
I am “A Too Much” Woman
“There she is. . . the “too much” woman. The one who loves too hard, feels too deeply, asks too often, desires too much.
There she is taking up too much space, with her laughter, her curves, her honesty, her sexuality. Her presence is as tall as a tree, as wide as a mountain. Her energy occupies every crevice of the room. Too much space she takes.
There she is causing a ruckus with her persistent wanting, too much wanting. She desires a lot, wants everything—too much happiness, too much alone time, too much pleasure. She’ll go through brimstone, murky river, and hellfire to get it. She’ll risk all to quell the longings of her heart and body. This makes her dangerous.
She is dangerous.
And there she goes, that “too much” woman, making people think too much, feel too much, swoon too much. She with her authentic prose and a self-assuredness in the way she carries herself. She with her belly laughs and her insatiable appetite and her proneness to fiery passion. All eyes on her, thinking she’s hot shit.
Oh, that “too much” woman. . . too loud, too vibrant, too honest, too emotional, too smart, too intense, too pretty, too difficult, too sensitive, too wild, too intimidating, too successful, too fat, too strong, too political, too joyous, too needy—too much.
She should simmer down a bit, be taken down a couple notches. Someone should put her back in a more respectable place. Someone should tell her.
Here I am. . . a Too Much Woman, with my too-tender heart and my too-much emotions.
A hedonist, feminist, pleasure seeker, empath. I want a lot—justice, sincerity, spaciousness, ease, intimacy, actualization, respect, to be seen, to be understood, your undivided attention, and all of your promises to be kept.I’ve been called high maintenance because I want what I want, and intimidating because of the space I occupy. I’ve been called selfish because I am self-loving. I’ve been called a witch because I know how to heal myself.
And still. . . I rise.”
— Ev’Yan Whitney
The Cost of Being Wrong
“The cost of being wrong is less than the cost of doing nothing.”
— Seth Godin
Credit
“If you don’t care who gets the credit you can do a lot of good in this world.”
— Esther Abraham Hicks