tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892755092292382942024-03-23T06:14:48.790-04:00Wavian Arts(A collection of favorite quotes, writing, photos, advice, and the occasional how-to....) <br><br>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger305125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-789275509229238294.post-13005451589752019272022-11-12T18:34:00.001-05:002022-11-12T18:34:12.386-05:00On Heartbreak, by David Whyte<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAsfsU21wQsfgyvsT48_BJ-UdRVPKeDrsnjHCWJtoL3kfyBGs3yt-mmaNg2eQRuGXQfTB-v3NYSBv9cUAH_mrHKHNHNWAhOaBwk-c8D7cgUbdNzfNBM1JXyrnKXnF8bLC5KxQK90fVWYk10BkuTBeKy5_L7tOOghwkbM9oxC-bbvC69Ac2R0Z5-FDV/s2448/IMG_0302.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2448" data-original-width="2448" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAsfsU21wQsfgyvsT48_BJ-UdRVPKeDrsnjHCWJtoL3kfyBGs3yt-mmaNg2eQRuGXQfTB-v3NYSBv9cUAH_mrHKHNHNWAhOaBwk-c8D7cgUbdNzfNBM1JXyrnKXnF8bLC5KxQK90fVWYk10BkuTBeKy5_L7tOOghwkbM9oxC-bbvC69Ac2R0Z5-FDV/w400-h400/IMG_0302.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><span style="--tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid rgb(229, 231, 235); box-sizing: border-box; min-width: 0px;">"</span><em style="--tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid rgb(229, 231, 235); box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(31, 41, 55); color: #1f2937; font-family: Poppins, ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"; font-size: 18px; min-width: 0px;">Heartbreak is how we mature; yet we use the word heartbreak as if it only occurs when things have gone wrong: an unrequited love, a shattered dream, a child lost before their time. Heartbreak, we hope, is something we hope we can avoid; something to guard against, a chasm to be carefully looked for and then walked around; the hope is to find a way to place our feet where the elemental forces of life will keep us in the manner to which we want to be accustomed and which will keep us from the losses that all other human beings have experienced without exception since the beginning of conscious time. But heartbreak may be the very essence of being human, of being on the journey from here to there, and of coming to care deeply for what we find along the way.”</em><p></p><br style="--tw-ring-color: rgba(59,130,246,0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 transparent; --tw-shadow: 0 0 transparent; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; border: 0px solid rgb(229, 231, 235); box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(31, 41, 55); color: #1f2937; font-family: Poppins, ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"; font-size: 18px; font-style: italic; min-width: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: #f9f9fa; caret-color: rgb(31, 41, 55); color: #1f2937; font-family: Poppins, ui-sans-serif, system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"; font-size: 18px; font-style: italic;">David Whyte<br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-789275509229238294.post-16490833450677172522021-11-27T10:13:00.004-05:002021-11-27T10:14:10.350-05:00You Don't Just Lose Someone Once by Donna Ashworth Words<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ykzNv4IsdIk/YaJK422fRUI/AAAAAAAAPOQ/Lrf_UbLMCYwnSVii1xUymoXJlfMg75Y5ACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/381.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ykzNv4IsdIk/YaJK422fRUI/AAAAAAAAPOQ/Lrf_UbLMCYwnSVii1xUymoXJlfMg75Y5ACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h400/381.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />— You Don’t Just Lose Someone Once — You lose them over and over, sometimes many times a day. When the loss, momentarily forgotten, creeps up, and attacks you from behind. Fresh waves of grief as the realization hits home, they are gone. Again.<br /><br />You don’t just lose someone once, you lose them every time you open your eyes to a new dawn, and as you awaken, so does your memory, so does the jolting bolt of lightning that rips into your heart, they are gone. Again.<br /><br />Losing someone is a journey, not a one-off. There is no end to the loss, there is only a learned skill on how to stay afloat, when it washes over.<br /><br />Be kind to those who are sailing this stormy sea, they have a journey ahead of them, and a daily shock to the system each time they realise, they are gone, Again.<br /><br />You don’t just lose someone once, you lose them every day,<br /><br />for a lifetime.<br /><br />© Donna Ashworth WordsUnknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-789275509229238294.post-49411543801185222842021-09-01T21:24:00.000-04:002022-03-17T21:25:42.002-04:00 From “A Servant To Servants,” by Robert Frost.<p><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">“It's rest I want - there, I have said it out -</span></p><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">From cooking meals for hungry hired men</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">And washing dishes after them - from doing</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Things over and over that just won't stay done.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">By good rights I ought not to have so much</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Put on me, but there seems no other way.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Len says one steady pull more ought to do it.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">He says the best way out is always through.”</span><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Robert Frost</span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A Servant to Servants</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-789275509229238294.post-51071113337354732012021-08-15T19:29:00.004-04:002021-11-14T12:22:27.923-05:00my brain and heart divorced (by John Roedel)<p> </p><div class="qzhwtbm6 knvmm38d" style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px;"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql oi732d6d ik7dh3pa ht8s03o8 a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d9wwppkn fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" color="var(--primary-text)" dir="auto" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; word-break: break-word; word-wrap: break-word;"><h3 class="gmql0nx0 l94mrbxd p1ri9a11 lzcic4wl aahdfvyu hzawbc8m" dir="auto" style="color: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 4px 0px 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span class="nc684nl6" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;"><span color="var(--primary-text)" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-weight: 600; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration: none; touch-action: manipulation;"><a class="oajrlxb2 g5ia77u1 qu0x051f esr5mh6w e9989ue4 r7d6kgcz rq0escxv nhd2j8a9 nc684nl6 p7hjln8o kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x jb3vyjys rz4wbd8a qt6c0cv9 a8nywdso i1ao9s8h esuyzwwr f1sip0of lzcic4wl oo9gr5id gpro0wi8 lrazzd5p" href="https://www.facebook.com/johnbigjohn?__cft__[0]=AZX8uyAUmkcUut77Kixkie41yVybOJuN42gcSiEGJSabUmPWXETTzu6OgcOZr9KFRKSE8Cy9eF00rWl4_EdRj6SrIUb5Ok8qIeOfZgcHnc5Jn6i6vcWVtcmTNLlqrAaqqpnWG2AmzCp60EHBxIfznmoaATucAd5tjnBAQcmSieVFhA&__tn__=-UC%2CP-y-R" role="link" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: var(--primary-text); cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-weight: 600; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration: none; touch-action: manipulation;" tabindex="0">John Roedel</a></span></span></h3></span></div><div dir="auto"><div dir="auto"><div class="ecm0bbzt hv4rvrfc ihqw7lf3 dati1w0a" data-ad-comet-preview="message" data-ad-preview="message" style="padding: 4px 16px 16px;"><div class="j83agx80 cbu4d94t ew0dbk1b irj2b8pg" style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; margin-bottom: -5px; margin-top: -5px;"><div class="qzhwtbm6 knvmm38d" style="margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px;"><span class="b6zbclly myohyog2 l9j0dhe7 aenfhxwr l94mrbxd ihxqhq3m nc684nl6 t5a262vz sdhka5h4" style="cursor: inherit; display: inline; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-weight: 600; line-height: inherit; position: relative; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql oi732d6d ik7dh3pa ht8s03o8 a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d9wwppkn fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" color="var(--primary-text)" dir="auto" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 0.9375rem; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; word-break: break-word; word-wrap: break-word;"><div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">my brain and</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">heart divorced</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">a decade ago</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">over who was</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">to blame about</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">how big of a mess</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">I have become</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">eventually,</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">they couldn't be </div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">in the same room</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">with each other </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">now my head and heart </div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">share custody of me</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">I stay with my brain </div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">during the week</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">and my heart </div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">gets me on weekends</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">they never speak to one another</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"> - instead, they give me</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">the same note to pass</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">to each other every week </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">and their notes they</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">send to one another always </div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">says the same thing:</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">"This is all your fault"</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">on Sundays</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">my heart complains</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">about how my </div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">head has let me down</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">in the past</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">and on Wednesday</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">my head lists all</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">of the times my </div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">heart has screwed</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">things up for me </div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">in the future</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">they blame each</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">other for the </div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">state of my life</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">there's been a lot</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">of yelling - and crying</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">so,</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"> lately, I've been</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">spending a lot of </div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">time with my gut</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">who serves as my</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">unofficial therapist</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">most nights, I sneak out of the</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">window in my ribcage</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">and slide down my spine</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">and collapse on my </div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">gut's plush leather chair</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">that's always open for me</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">~ and I just sit sit sit sit</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">until the sun comes up</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">last evening, </div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">my gut asked me</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">if I was having a hard</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">time being caught </div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">between my heart</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">and my head</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">I nodded</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">I said I didn't know</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">if I could live with </div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">either of them anymore</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">"my heart is always sad about</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">something that happened yesterday</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">while my head is always worried</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">about something that may happen tomorrow," </div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">I lamented</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">my gut squeezed my hand</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">"I just can't live with</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">my mistakes of the past</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">or my anxiety about the future,"</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">I sighed</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">my gut smiled and said:</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">"in that case, </div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">you should </div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">go stay with your </div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">lungs for a while,"</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">I was confused</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"> - the look on my face gave it away</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">"if you are exhausted about</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">your heart's obsession with</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">the fixed past and your mind's focus</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">on the uncertain future</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">your lungs are the perfect place for you</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">there is no yesterday in your lungs</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">there is no tomorrow there either</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">there is only now</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">there is only inhale</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">there is only exhale</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">there is only this moment</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">there is only breath</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">and in that breath</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">you can rest while your</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">heart and head work </div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">their relationship out."</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">this morning,</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">while my brain</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">was busy reading</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">tea leaves</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">and while my</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">heart was staring</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">at old photographs </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">I packed a little</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">bag and walked</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">to the door of </div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">my lungs</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">before I could even knock</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">she opened the door</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">with a smile and as</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">a gust of air embraced me</div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">she said</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">"what took you so long?"</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"> ~ john roedel </div><div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></div></div></span></span><ul style="text-align: left;"><li style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/johnbigjohn/posts/10165115174030276" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://www.facebook.com/johnbigjohn/posts/10165115174030276" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">link to post on facebook</a></li><li><span style="font-family: inherit;">To anyone who loves this author's words, he has written a book! Check out his website at </span><a href="https://www.johnroedel.com" style="font-family: inherit;">https://www.johnroedel.com</a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></li></ul></div></div></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-789275509229238294.post-91242939807632726512021-07-12T17:08:00.003-04:002021-07-12T17:08:34.084-04:00Pablo Neruda, on trees and the cosmos<div class="separator"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eh3ExBe-CYk/YOyvA391vVI/AAAAAAAAPCk/vbAIaj-oEYUlMnDsdvK5QsYBCWcwWfeswCLcBGAsYHQ/s1591/IMG_4824.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1591" data-original-width="1591" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eh3ExBe-CYk/YOyvA391vVI/AAAAAAAAPCk/vbAIaj-oEYUlMnDsdvK5QsYBCWcwWfeswCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h400/IMG_4824.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>"If a single tree is home to a miniature universe of life, and if we are learning with wide-eyed wonder that a tree is not a self-contained world but a synaptic node in a complex cosmos of relationships in constant and astonishing communication with other nodes, relationships that weave the fabric of earthly life, what does it make us — what does it reveal about our character, as a planetary people and a civilization — to watch the world’s forests vanish in flames before our eyes, in wildfires so ferocious as to be visible from space?"<div><br /></div><div>Pablo Neruda</div><div><a href="https://www.brainpickings.org/2020/04/26/leland-melvin-reads-pablo-neruda-chilean-forest/">https://www.brainpickings.org/2020/04/26/leland-melvin-reads-pablo-neruda-chilean-forest/</a> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-789275509229238294.post-85091744549030903742020-11-15T19:49:00.005-05:002021-07-12T17:09:05.864-04:00Quote from Jewel in her book "Never Broken"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AHGERGVwPVw/YOyvaQjXBtI/AAAAAAAAPCs/gZvOmPiB4IQV2z1fc09If-vJojo7d0yJgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1624/105.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1624" data-original-width="1624" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AHGERGVwPVw/YOyvaQjXBtI/AAAAAAAAPCs/gZvOmPiB4IQV2z1fc09If-vJojo7d0yJgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h400/105.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div> "Happiness is not a perpetual state. It's not like saying, "I found Europe, I'm living in Europe now." You have to get happy with the process. To me, there's a real peace in accepting that, and being able to say life is never one thing. It's all things. The whole universe is expanding, stretching, tearing down, and creating, and we are made of the same stuff. We expand, contract, decay, and grow all at once. We are mirrors of the universe and the natural world and what created us. We are made like trees, with our roots firmly planted in the ground, and if we can see we are built to bend and give, then the winds of life will pass through our branches without breaking us. Some days it passes through with fury. Some days with a gentle caress. Each morning I wake up with gratitude that I can have the confidence to meet these ups and downs without being uprooted. The faith to step into pain when it comes and the courage to let it ravage me and pass through instead of hanging on to it and letting it tear me down. Life is ever-changing. What is consistent is knowing I am up for anything. That I am never broken." JewelUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-789275509229238294.post-34366945744390427802020-11-07T12:53:00.007-05:002020-11-07T12:53:54.603-05:00"Being a good person matters." Van Jones <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9eMoCW1Pq54" width="320" youtube-src-id="9eMoCW1Pq54"></iframe></div> <p></p><p>"<b>Well, it's easier to be a parent this morning. It's easier to be a dad. It's easier to tell your kids character matters. It matters. Tell them the truth matters. Being a good person matters.</b> And it's easier for a whole lot of people. </p><p>"If you're Muslim in this country, you don't have to worry if the president doesn't want you here. If you're an immigrant, you don't have to worry if the president is going to be happy to have your babies snatched away or send Dreamers back for no reason. </p><p>"It's a vindication for a lot of people who have really suffered. You know 'I can't breathe'? You know, that wasn't just George Floyd. That was a lot of people who felt they couldn't breathe. </p><p>"Every day you're waking up and you're getting these Tweets and you just don't know, and you go in the store and people who have been afraid to show their racism would get nastier and nastier to you and you're worried about your kids and you're worried about your sister. Can she just go to Walmart and get back in her car without somebody saying something to her. </p><p>"And you spent so much of your life energy just trying to hold it together. And this is a big deal for us just to be able to get some peace and have a chance for a reset. </p><p>"And the character of the country matters. </p><p>"And being a good man matters. </p><p>"You know, I just want my sons to look at this--look at this--you know... it's easier to do it the cheap way and get away with stuff but it comes back around. It comes back around. And it's a good thing for this country. </p><p>"I'm sorry for the people who lost; for them it's not a good day. </p><p>"But for a whole lotta people, it's a good day."<br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Van Jones</h2><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Facebook post: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/vanjones/videos/674129206640087">https://www.facebook.com/vanjones/videos/674129206640087</a></li><li>YouTube video: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eMoCW1Pq54">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eMoCW1Pq54</a></li></ul><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-789275509229238294.post-78517034465394773522020-09-17T20:32:00.001-04:002021-11-16T10:51:42.946-05:00Guidelines by Lisa Suhair Majaj<div dir="ltr"><h2 style="background-color: #f6f6f6; caret-color: rgb(36, 36, 36); color: #242424; font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.5rem; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">Guidelines</h2><pre style="background-color: #f6f6f6; caret-color: rgb(36, 36, 36); color: #242424; font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: 0px; overflow: auto;">If they ask you what you are,
say Arab. If they flinch, don't react,
just remember your great-aunt's eyes.
If they ask you where you come from,
say Toledo. Detroit. Mission Viejo.
Fall Springs. Topeka. If they seem confused,
help them locate these places on a map,
then inquire casually, Where are you from?
Have you been here long? Do you like this country?
If they ask you what you eat,
don't dissemble. If garlic is your secret friend,
admit it. Likewise, crab cakes.
If they say you're not American,
don't pull out your personal,
wallet-sized flag. Instead, recall
the Bill of Rights. Mention the Constitution.
Wear democracy like a favorite garment:
comfortable, intimate.
If they wave newspapers in your face and shout,
stay calm. Remember everything they never learned.
Offer to take them to the library.
If they ask you if you're white, say it depends.
Say no. Say maybe. If appropriate, inquire,
Have you always been white, or is it recent?
If you take to the streets in protest,
link hands with whomever is beside you.
Keep your eyes on the colonizer's maps,
geography's twisted strands, the many colors
of struggle. No matter how far you've come, remember:
the starting line is always closer than you think.
If they ask how long you plan to stay, say forever.
Console them if they seem upset. Say, don't worry,
you'll get used to it. Say, we live here. How about you?</pre><p style="background-color: #f6f6f6; caret-color: rgb(36, 36, 36); color: #242424; font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5rem;">—Lisa Suhair Majaj</p><div class="rights-and-access" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; border-top-color: rgb(128, 128, 128); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; caret-color: rgb(36, 36, 36); color: #242424; font-family: "Open Sans", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; padding-top: 1rem;"><h3 style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 1.25rem; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px 0.75rem;"><a href="https://www.loc.gov/programs/poetry-and-literature/audio-recordings/poetry-of-america/item/poetry-00000895/naomi-shihab-nye-lisa-suhair-majaj/#rights-and-access" style="color: #242424; font-size: 1.1rem; text-decoration: none;"><span class="icon icon-plus-square" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; color: #0076ad; display: inline-block; font-family: FontAwesome; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1; text-rendering: auto;"></span></a></h3></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></div><div dir="ltr"><br /><br />—Lisa Suhair Majaj<br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ybhGpOy-YJ0/X2QAL4bozSI/AAAAAAAAOVA/kH-Iw8zlnqkZZqLjh8rc3xMgUPQa0jEOQCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/1DD0E6E7-DB4B-4430-91EC-EAF45BDD9879-766532.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_6873619135401086242" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ybhGpOy-YJ0/X2QAL4bozSI/AAAAAAAAOVA/kH-Iw8zlnqkZZqLjh8rc3xMgUPQa0jEOQCK4BGAYYCw/s320/1DD0E6E7-DB4B-4430-91EC-EAF45BDD9879-766532.JPG" /></a></div><br /><br /><div dir="ltr">(Sent from my phone)</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-789275509229238294.post-74335487104678060102020-07-15T22:49:00.001-04:002020-07-15T22:49:25.357-04:00From the documentary “13th”<p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.66em; text-indent: 1em; caret-color: rgb(37, 37, 37); color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-family: georgia, "Times New Roman", times, serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">"People say all the time, 'well, I don't understand how people could have tolerated slavery?' 'How could they have made peace with that?' 'How could people have gone to a lynching and participated in that?' 'That's so crazy, if I was living at that time I would never have tolerated anything like that.'</p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.66em; text-indent: 1em; caret-color: rgb(37, 37, 37); color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-family: georgia, "Times New Roman", times, serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">And the truth is we are living in this time, and we are tolerating it."</p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.66em; text-indent: 1em; caret-color: rgb(37, 37, 37); color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-family: georgia, "Times New Roman", times, serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><strong style="text-indent: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 18px; vertical-align: baseline; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "PT Serif", serif;">Bryan Stevenson</strong></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.66em; text-indent: 1em; caret-color: rgb(37, 37, 37); color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-family: georgia, "Times New Roman", times, serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><br></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-789275509229238294.post-4551972999582662792020-06-27T15:59:00.001-04:002020-06-27T17:14:53.022-04:00Bout time - haven't you been feeling this way too? Musician Jippy Lad created this song, "Bout Damn Time (BLM)" about the rising change we're seeing today for the #blacklivesmatter movement. I've got chills, take a listen:<br />
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/j_EiymiQr88" width="560"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-789275509229238294.post-34516507439981527802020-06-26T20:00:00.001-04:002020-06-27T17:03:50.319-04:00A quote from Jewel's book, Never Broken, on presence and mindfulness.<br />"At first it seemed impossible to notice my thoughts--they came and went too quickly and I was not attentive enough to slow them down and assess them while they were happening. Instead I watched my hands. My hands were the servants of my thoughts. They carried out the physical impulses going on unseen in my mind. I spent several days trying to be present and just witness what my hands had been doing. They had been stealing. They had been writing about all the bad things that had happened to me and that would surely happen again. They were hypervigilant in predicting the next bad thing that might happen, so that I might somehow avoid it. They obsessed over when I would become sick again. They dwelled on all the belongings I did not have. They were not engaging in the opportunity that lies in the present moment. If I couldn't change my thoughts, perhaps I could reverse engineer the process. If I changed what my hands did, perhaps that would force me to change my thoughts. I began to notice and write down how many doors I had opened for others in a day. Then I tried to open more doors than I had the previous day. I found myself holding a door open for strangers envy when I wasn't going into the building. I began to notice and look for others who needed help. Helping others helps you get over yourself and your own problems. Instead of staring down at my feet I would look someone in the eye. This would force myself to remember we were all connected and help me let go of the illusion that I was alone. These were all practices in being present. <div><br /></div><div>"Whether it's a trick or not, I managed to gain some power over my sense of perception--I could experience myself feeling in control of my life, feeling capable, not being a victim. And the more empowered I felt, the more empowered I allowed myself to be. And the more my confidence bubble grew... to allowing myself to look at the blue water and say, I'm okay, right now this very second. I don't know what will happen an hour from now, but in this moment I'm okay and have all I need. I learned that if I could get through second by second, if I could allow myself to experience that right here, right now, and then just sink into that moment and expand it, and let myself <i>feel</i> that, let the energy of that move through my body, let my tension and my tightness melt away, I actually felt some joy. Real joy."</div><div><br /></div><div>Jewel<br /><div><br />
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=wavianwebdesi-20&language=en_US&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=0399185720&asins=0399185720&linkId=b36fff2337e628de2be0a22a440123f9&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-789275509229238294.post-92120320190433354022020-06-07T18:05:00.003-04:002020-06-07T18:08:40.218-04:00"We will not go back to normal..." by Sonya Renee Taylor "We will not go back to normal. Normal never was. Our pre-corona existence was not normal other than we normalized greed, inequity, exhaustion, depletion, extraction... we should not long to return, my friends. We are being given the opportunity to stitch a new garment. One that fits all of humanity and nature."<br />
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~ Sonya Renee Taylor <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B-fc3ejAlvd/?hl=en">@sonyareneetaylor</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-789275509229238294.post-4253918084514193782020-06-06T17:36:00.000-04:002020-06-07T18:05:59.843-04:00The "Should I check on my black friends right now?" decision guide... (Twitter discussion from Wikipedia Brown)Really important post on Twitter from writer & professor, Wikipedia Brown, <a class="css-4rbku5 css-18t94o4 css-901oao css-16my406 r-1n1174f r-1loqt21 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" data-focusable="true" href="https://twitter.com/eveewing" role="link" style="border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1b95e0; cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Ubuntu, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.3125; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;">@eveewing</a>:<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">can i be REAL awkward for a sec? the thing about “reach out and check on your black friends” is some of “your black friends” are not your friends. They are acquaintances or coworkers who have tolerated your complacency or participation in creating a hostile environment for years.</span></div>
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They do not want you to check on them. They don’t want to think about you or hear from you right now. They want you to read a book or do some soul-searching or whatever you need to do to not be so racist or just annoying and DRAINING.<br />
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Your well-intentioned outreach can come across as “wow I just kinda remembered you’re black and I saw on TV that some black people stuff is happening right now” and be actively emotionally and psychologically taxing.<br />
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If you’re reading this & you pause and wonder if you shouldn’t in fact email Leslie from accounts receivable and tell her that you can’t stop crying over the news and you’re praying for her and her family and for America to heal<br />
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play it safe, and don’t! Leave Leslie alone!<br />
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people in the replies who want a flow chart to determine if your black friends are REAL friends, acquaintances, a wrong number you dialed or just a person in front of you in line at the grocery store, I'm sorry I am not able to do that but I wish you the best. thoughts & prayers<br />
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doing mental gymnastics wondering if your black friend is really your friend after reading this thread<br />
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<div class="css-901oao css-bfa6kz r-hkyrab r-1qd0xha r-a023e6 r-vw2c0b r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-3s2u2q r-qvutc0" dir="auto" style="border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #14171a; display: inline; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Ubuntu, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.3125; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; word-wrap: break-word;">
<span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" style="border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; display: inline; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.3125; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: inherit; word-wrap: break-word;">Willy Shakes</span></div>
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<div class="css-901oao css-bfa6kz r-1re7ezh r-18u37iz r-1qd0xha r-a023e6 r-16dba41 r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" dir="ltr" style="-webkit-box-direction: normal; -webkit-box-orient: horizontal; border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #657786; display: inline; flex-direction: row; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Ubuntu, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.3125; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; word-wrap: break-word;">
<span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" style="border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; display: inline; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.3125; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: inherit; word-wrap: break-word;">@IAM_SHAKESPEARE</span></div>
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· <span aria-label="Jun 3" class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1re7ezh r-1q142lx r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-3s2u2q r-qvutc0" style="border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; flex-shrink: 0; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; line-height: 1.3125; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: nowrap; word-wrap: break-word;"><time datetime="2020-06-03T18:49:28.000Z">Jun 3</time></span></div>
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<div class="css-901oao r-hkyrab r-1qd0xha r-a023e6 r-16dba41 r-ad9z0x r-1g94qm0 r-bcqeeo r-bnwqim r-qvutc0" dir="auto" lang="en" style="border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: #14171a; display: inline; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Ubuntu, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.3125; margin: 5px 0px 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;">
<span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" style="border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; color: inherit; display: inline; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.3125; margin: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: inherit; word-wrap: break-word;">Did they not sometime cry 'All hail!' to me?</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">See full thread:</span> </b></div>
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<a href="https://twitter.com/eveewing/status/1267619355866603527">https://twitter.com/eveewing/status/1267619355866603527</a> </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-789275509229238294.post-90609923636224630512020-04-26T17:03:00.003-04:002020-04-26T17:03:50.348-04:00Small Kindnesses, by Danusha Laméris<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PvR4nhM4TWs/XqX1wBqjHWI/AAAAAAAAN8w/1D6RX7fFbp0GAqImJSzejcFfqRAFaoxwACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/crater-hike-orange-flower.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PvR4nhM4TWs/XqX1wBqjHWI/AAAAAAAAN8w/1D6RX7fFbp0GAqImJSzejcFfqRAFaoxwACLcBGAsYHQ/s400/crater-hike-orange-flower.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I've been thinking about the way, when you walk</div>
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down a crowded aisle, people pull in their legs</div>
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to let you by. Or how strangers still say "bless you"</div>
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when someone sneezes, a leftover</div>
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from the Bubonic plague. "Don't die," we are saying.</div>
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And sometimes, when you spill lemons</div>
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from your grocery bag, someone else will help you</div>
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pick them up. Mostly, we don't want to harm each other.</div>
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We want to be handed our cup of coffee hot,</div>
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and to say thank you to the person handling it. To smile</div>
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at them and for them to smile back. For the waitress </div>
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to call us honey when she sets down the bowl of clam chowder</div>
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and for the driver in the red pick-up truck to let us pass.</div>
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We have so little of each other, now. So far</div>
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from tribe and fire. Only these brief moments of exchange.</div>
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What if they are the true dwelling of the holy, these</div>
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fleeting temples we make together when we say, "Here,</div>
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have my seat," "Go ahead--you first," "I like your hat."</div>
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Danusha Laméris</div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-789275509229238294.post-50000231624831025772020-03-31T22:19:00.001-04:002020-03-31T22:19:23.780-04:00Powerful quote by Rachel Camille Terrell / Richard Oscar Terrell<b>"It can be easy to assume</b> that your worldview is everything that exists in the world and that something outside of your own experience isn't real, however, it's important to remember that there are ways of experiencing the world that you're not going to have any concept of and that if you aren't experiencing the world that way, you are not in a good place to judge the needs and difficulties of people who are. No one is making up labels for attention. The attention is not positive. No one is asking to have a life that is more difficult. If a person is going through the danger, discomfort, and difficulty of telling you or anyone that they are an identity that falls outside of the heteronormative range of acceptability, it's likely that it's a core part of who they are, important enough that pretending to be something else is more painful for them than all of the trouble that society is going to give them. Please, take it seriously. They are likely facing trouble on a lot of fronts. Please, at the very least, don't add to the trouble, and if you can do something to make their lives easier, choose to do that. If you want to have a conversation about someone's experience of gender, let it be a conversation, not a debate or an argument, and remember that no one is obligated to explain who they are to you either. If they are taking the time to talk you through it, listen, learn, and say thank you."*<br />
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<b>By Rachel Camille Terrell / Richard Oscar Terrell </b><br />
*This was written in a post for the <i>Stonewall Employee Affinity Group</i>, which is a group that promotes inclusion and awareness of the LGBTQIAP+ community in the workplace.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-789275509229238294.post-39165099624838134162020-03-07T21:26:00.000-05:002020-03-07T21:26:00.520-05:00Pep talk, by Erin Brook "Pep talk from a singing teacher (me): <br />
<br />
"I don’t know if you have talent. I don’t know what talent is. To me, talent is just desire. Do you want to do the thing? Does it make you feel sparkly? Great. That’s enough talent for me. Everything else is skill, and that I know about."<br />
<br />
By Erynn Brook (<a href="https://twitter.com/ErynnBrook/status/1235917243856412672">@ErynnBrook</a>)<br />
<br />
(See full thread: <a href="https://twitter.com/ErynnBrook/status/1235917243856412672https://twitter.com/ErynnBrook/status/1235917243856412672">https://twitter.com/ErynnBrook/status/1235917243856412672</a>)<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-789275509229238294.post-12501687605539605722020-02-22T21:00:00.000-05:002020-06-27T17:14:03.055-04:00From singer / songwriter Jewel on comparison for creatives"Don't compare yourself with what's popular. Doing so is like one child comparing himself with another. Greatness is never achieved by trying to imitate the greatness of another. Greatness is hipping away at all that does not belong to you and then expressing yourself so truly that others can't help but recognize it. It is in silence that we discover ourselves. The silence and the unknown can be frightening, but with time it stops feeling like there is nothing there. The darkness and silence will begin to feel like a void in a positive sense--the womb of creation. It is the magical nothing that something is birthed from. Feed yourself a diet of great work, and then go away by yourself and listen alone to your soul speak to you. Silence will be your greatest teacher." Jewel, from her book "<i>Never Broken: songs are only half the story</i>"<div><br /></div><div>
<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=wavianwebdesi-20&language=en_US&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=0399185720&asins=0399185720&linkId=3b0fefdea16178495151be5b2067daad&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-789275509229238294.post-55275609272390429292020-02-09T21:19:00.001-05:002020-02-09T21:19:05.791-05:00Quotes on Writing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fBElxtJr6mA/XkC9jSlam8I/AAAAAAAANto/hu_FdB4NPTAsOBj4y1RR6vHiiIkjGzQngCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/iphone-photos%2B104.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="1440" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fBElxtJr6mA/XkC9jSlam8I/AAAAAAAANto/hu_FdB4NPTAsOBj4y1RR6vHiiIkjGzQngCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/iphone-photos%2B104.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
“The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.”<br />
― Terry Pratchett<br />
<br />
“You can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.”<br />
― Jodi Picoult<br />
<br />
“If the book is true, it will find an audience that is meant to read it.”<br />
— Wally Lamb<br />
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"If a writer falls in love with you, you can never die."<br />
Mik Everett<br />
<br />
“Don't be 'a writer'. Be writing.”<br />
William Faulkner<br />
<br />
“A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.”<br />
― Thomas Mann<br />
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“When I write, I feel like an armless, legless man with a crayon in his mouth.”<br />
― Kurt Vonnegut<br />
<br />
“A blank piece of paper is God's way of telling us how hard it is to be God.”<br />
― Sidney Sheldon<br />
<br />
“Being a good writer is 3% talent, 97% not being distracted by the Internet.”<br />
— Anonymous<br />
<br />
“Writing is easy; all you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until the drops of blood form on your forehead.”<br />
— Gene Fowler<br />
<br />
“We are a species that needs and wants to understand who we are. Sheep lice do not seem to share this longing, which is one reason why they write so little.”<br />
— Anne Lamott<br />
<br />
“Having been unpopular in high school is not just cause for book publication.”<br />
— Fran Lebowitz<br />
<br />
“There are three rules for writing. Unfortunately, no one can agree what they are.”<br />
— Somerset MaughamUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-789275509229238294.post-78746540281617977812020-01-15T08:14:00.000-05:002020-01-15T08:16:24.124-05:00Skye, from Marc & Angel<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dKc6dIIqEc0/Xh8QqiBamGI/AAAAAAAANqk/1Ocy-0-Wn2guGy-L_MxIhULUYy80wNDwwCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/DB031D8F-4D0A-4601-8354-AC735D8AD6B6-784262.JPG"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dKc6dIIqEc0/Xh8QqiBamGI/AAAAAAAANqk/1Ocy-0-Wn2guGy-L_MxIhULUYy80wNDwwCK4BGAYYCw/s320/DB031D8F-4D0A-4601-8354-AC735D8AD6B6-784262.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_6782157886716549218" /></a></p>"Once upon a time, an aging king knew the end of his life was nearing, and he decided it was time to designate a successor. Since he had sadly lost his wife and children in a terrible accident, he chose to pass the throne on to one lucky child. So he summoned children from every corner of his kingdom and asked them to visit the castle immediately.
<br>
<br>When the children arrived, he gave each of them one little brown seed. "I want you to plant your seed, give it sunlight and water, and take good care of it," he said. "In exactly six months from today, return to the castle with the plant you've grown. The child who grows the most beautiful plant will be mentored by me to become the next king or queen!"
<br>
<br>One of the lucky children who received a seed that day was a young girl named Skye. She immediately ran home and carefully planted her seed in a pot of nutrient-rich soil, and then placed it on a well-lit windowsill. Every day Skye watered and cared for her seed. A few weeks later several other children in her school began bragging about their beautiful plants, but Skye's pot was still empty. Despite her constant care, her seed hadn't grown at all.
<br>
<br>Six months passed by quickly, and it was time for all the children to return to the castle to show the king the plant they had grown. Skye didn't want to go with her empty pot of soil, but her parents told her to be honest about her failure. Discouraged and dejected, Skye listened to her parents and returned to the castle. She stood quietly at the very back of the room where the king would be evaluating everyone's plants, and waited to be judged.
<br>
<br>As the king entered the room he looked amazed to see so many beautiful plants. He then proceeded to walk from child to child admiring what they had grown. And the closer the king got to Skye, the more her eyes welled up with tears.
<br>
<br>The king eventually stood before her and her empty pot of soil. "What is your name?" the king asked.
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<br>"Skye," she said with a whimper.
<br>
<br>"Where is your plant, Skye?"
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<br>Hanging her head in humiliation, Skye took a deep breath and then looked up at the king and told the truth: "Your majesty, I planted the little brown seed you gave me in this pot, and I gave it plenty of sunshine and water every single day, but the seed did not grow at all. I have failed."
<br>
<br>Suddenly, the king's voice thundered throughout the room, "Behold! My successor! Your next queen! Her name is Skye!"
<br>
<br>Silence and confusion swept over the room as the king continued, "Six months ago, I gave everyone here a boiled brown seed that could not grow into a plant. Only Skye had the heart and courage to share the truth with me today. Soon enough, she will lead our kingdom very well!"
<br>
<br>REMEMBER:
<br>
<br>As friends, as family members, as teammates… too often we feel the need to lie about our experiences and accomplishments, simply to make ourselves appear bigger and better than we are. We believe that if we constantly show off the "beautiful plants" we've grown, others will love and respect us. But this is far from the truth (no pun intended).
<br>
<br>When we share our truths openly and honestly, not only do we build the kind of trust that opens doors to deeper relationships and real opportunities, but we also make it easier for the people we spend our lives with to be more open and honest with us, which makes every moment together healthier and more peaceful."
<br>-from Marc and Angel Hack Life blogUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-789275509229238294.post-14198703479919401812020-01-08T22:57:00.000-05:002020-01-08T22:57:54.920-05:00The key to a healthy personality is flexibility.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2r1Dd2tgDa0/XhaktXMBa8I/AAAAAAAANpg/EY5eFGV0j2A56XrqKucj8i17d001QDlTwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/framed-print-large-14x10-sailboat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1143" data-original-width="1600" height="285" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2r1Dd2tgDa0/XhaktXMBa8I/AAAAAAAANpg/EY5eFGV0j2A56XrqKucj8i17d001QDlTwCLcBGAsYHQ/s400/framed-print-large-14x10-sailboat.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
"If we were sailors navigating the world on the open seas, we would need to have a set of precisely tuned, highly sophisticated instruments in order to navigate effectively. Our navigational tools would need to be capable of swiftly adjusting to changing conditions (weather conditions, cargo weight, etc.). The same is true of our personalities. In other words, we must be able to adjust our reactions to the specific circumstances of each situation. This means our perceptions and interpretations of the world must not only be accurate, but also nuanced. This requires of our personalities a high degree of flexibility in order to take into account the special needs and circumstances of every unique situation we encounter. Each situation may need to be interpreted differently. Our reactions must be finely tuned and properly adjusted to precisely correspond with the unique demands of each individual situation. Unfortunately, people with personality disorders lack this essential flexibility, and respond to situations and events with a characteristically rigid constellation of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. This inflexibility, and difficulty forming nuanced responses, represents the primary difference between healthy and disordered personalities.<br />
<br />
"The question remains, how do we account for this fundamental difference between healthy and unhealthy personalities? The answer seems to lie in the "navigational instruments." It appears that people with personality disorders are missing an important tool. Research by Fonagy and his colleagues (1996) found that people with personality disorders seem to lack a highly necessary skill called "mentalization." Mentalization refers to the ability to reflect upon the behaviors, internal states, and motivations of both ourselves and other people. The ability to mentalize may enable people with healthy personalities to adjust their behaviors to the differing demands of each unique situation. In other words, what permits this flexibility may be the capacity to reflect upon one's own behaviors and motivations, and to reflect upon the behaviors and motivations of others. Thus, the ability to mentalize permits an accurate assessment of each unique situation that renders an appropriate response for that situation."<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Cambria, Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14px;"><a href="https://www.gulfbend.org/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=493&cn=8">Simone Hoermann, Ph.D., Corinne E. Zupanick, Psy.D. & Mark Dombeck, Ph.D.</a></span><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-789275509229238294.post-32764355271921182932019-12-01T17:04:00.000-05:002020-06-27T17:07:01.588-04:00"Our unexamined feelings swim like restless schools of fish..." by Jewel"Our unexamined feelings swim like restless schools of fish inside us; they stir up and muddy the waters. Self-examination organizes our moodiness, and helps us identify the stimulus that caused those feelings, and calms the water." Jewel<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=wavianwebdesi-20&language=en_US&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=0399185720&asins=0399185720&linkId=3b0fefdea16178495151be5b2067daad&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-789275509229238294.post-55555213629904189812019-11-30T18:24:00.001-05:002019-11-30T18:24:20.518-05:00Self-care is often a very unbeautiful thing, by Brianna Wiest<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ELvtxl9RihU/XeL6JYRK6TI/AAAAAAAANlY/GOYo9ng0hw0KIzsMiqNUNJJt4TrjvcW0gCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_1415-760522.JPG"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ELvtxl9RihU/XeL6JYRK6TI/AAAAAAAANlY/GOYo9ng0hw0KIzsMiqNUNJJt4TrjvcW0gCK4BGAYYCw/s320/IMG_1415-760522.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_6765244629304142130" /></a></p>"Self-care is often a very unbeautiful thing.
<br>
<br>It is making a spreadsheet of your debt and enforcing a morning routine and cooking yourself healthy meals and no longer just running from your problems and calling the distraction a solution.
<br>
<br>It is often doing the ugliest thing that you have to do, like sweat through another workout or tell a toxic friend you don't want to see them anymore or get a second job so you can have a savings account or figure out a way to accept yourself so that you're not constantly exhausted from trying to be everything, all the time and then needing to take deliberate, mandated breaks from living to do basic things like drop some oil into a bath and read Marie Claire and turn your phone off for the day.
<br>
<br>A world in which self-care has to be such a trendy topic is a world that is sick. Self-care should not be something we resort to because we are so absolutely exhausted that we need some reprieve from our own relentless internal pressure.
<br>
<br>True self-care is not salt baths and chocolate cake, it is making the choice to build a life you don't need to regularly escape from.
<br>
<br>And that often takes doing the thing you least want to do.
<br>
<br>It often means looking your failures and disappointments square in the eye and re-strategizing. It is not satiating your immediate desires. It is letting go. It is choosing new. It is disappointing some people. It is making sacrifices for others. It is living a way that other people won't, so maybe you can live in a way that other people can't.
<br>
<br>It is letting yourself be normal. Regular. Unexceptional. It is sometimes having a dirty kitchen and deciding your ultimate goal in life isn't going to be having abs and keeping up with your fake friends. It is deciding how much of your anxiety comes from not actualizing your latent potential, and how much comes from the way you were being trained to think before you even knew what was happening.
<br>
<br>If you find yourself having to regularly indulge in consumer self-care, it's because you are disconnected from actual self-care, which has very little to do with "treating yourself" and a whole lot do with parenting yourself and making choices for your long-term wellness.
<br>
<br>It is no longer using your hectic and unreasonable life as justification for self-sabotage in the form of liquor and procrastination. It is learning how to stop trying to "fix yourself" and start trying to take care of yourself… and maybe finding that taking care lovingly attends to a lot of the problems you were trying to fix in the first place.
<br>
<br>It means being the hero of your life, not the victim. It means rewiring what you have until your everyday life isn't something you need therapy to recover from. It is no longer choosing a life that looks good over a life that feels good. It is giving the hell up on some goals so you can care about others. It is being honest even if that means you aren't universally liked. It is meeting your own needs so you aren't anxious and dependent on other people.
<br>
<br>It is becoming the person you know you want and are meant to be. Someone who knows that salt baths and chocolate cake are ways to enjoy life – not escape from it."
<br>-Brianna Wiest
<br>
<br>[Illustration: Yaoyao Ma]Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-789275509229238294.post-11001742503245936442019-11-17T20:05:00.001-05:002019-11-17T20:05:08.740-05:00All I know about love, by Neil GaimanI saw this on his blog and it's so incredibly beautiful.<br />
<br />
<h2>
<a href="http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2017/10/wedding-thoughts-all-i-know-about-love.html">All I know about love</a>, by Neil Gaiman</h2>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit;">This is everything I have to tell you about love: </span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: italic; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">nothing.</span><br />
<div class="p1" style="border: 0px; font-family: "pt sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">
<span class="s1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">This is everything I've learned about marriage: <span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: italic; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">nothing</span>.</span></div>
<div class="p2" style="border: 0px; font-family: "pt sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">
<span class="s1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1" style="border: 0px; font-family: "pt sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">
<span class="s1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Only that the world out there is complicated,</span></div>
<div class="p1" style="border: 0px; font-family: "pt sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">
<span class="s1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">and there are beasts in the night, and delight and pain,</span></div>
<div class="p1" style="border: 0px; font-family: "pt sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">
<span class="s1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">and the only thing that makes it okay, sometimes,</span></div>
<div class="p1" style="border: 0px; font-family: "pt sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">
<span class="s1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">is to reach out a hand in the darkness and find another hand to squeeze,</span></div>
<div class="p1" style="border: 0px; font-family: "pt sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">
<span class="s1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">and not to be alone.</span></div>
<div class="p2" style="border: 0px; font-family: "pt sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">
<span class="s1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1" style="border: 0px; font-family: "pt sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">
<span class="s1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">It's not the kisses, or never just the kisses: it's what they mean.</span></div>
<div class="p1" style="border: 0px; font-family: "pt sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">
<span class="s1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Somebody's got your back.</span></div>
<div class="p1" style="border: 0px; font-family: "pt sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">
<span class="s1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Somebody knows your worst self and somehow doesn't want to rescue you</span></div>
<div class="p1" style="border: 0px; font-family: "pt sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">
<span class="s1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">or send for the army to rescue them.</span></div>
<div class="p2" style="border: 0px; font-family: "pt sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">
<span class="s1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1" style="border: 0px; font-family: "pt sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">
<span class="s1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">It's not two broken halves becoming one.</span></div>
<div class="p1" style="border: 0px; font-family: "pt sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">
<span class="s1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">It's the light from a distant lighthouse bringing you both safely home</span></div>
<div class="p1" style="border: 0px; font-family: "pt sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">
<span class="s1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">because home is wherever you are both together.</span></div>
<div class="p2" style="border: 0px; font-family: "pt sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">
<span class="s1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1" style="border: 0px; font-family: "pt sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">
<span class="s1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">So this is everything I have to tell you about love and marriage: <span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: italic; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">nothing</span>,</span></div>
<div class="p1" style="border: 0px; font-family: "pt sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">
<span class="s1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">like a book without pages or a forest without trees.</span></div>
<div class="p2" style="border: 0px; font-family: "pt sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">
<span class="s1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1" style="border: 0px; font-family: "pt sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">
<span class="s1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Because there are things you cannot know before you experience them.</span></div>
<div class="p1" style="border: 0px; font-family: "pt sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">
<span class="s1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Because no study can prepare you for the joys or the trials.</span></div>
<div class="p1" style="border: 0px; font-family: "pt sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">
<span class="s1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Because nobody else's love, nobody else's marriage, is like yours,</span></div>
<div class="p1" style="border: 0px; font-family: "pt sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">
<span class="s1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">and it's a road you can only learn by walking it,</span></div>
<div class="p1" style="border: 0px; font-family: "pt sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">
<span class="s1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">a dance you cannot be taught,</span></div>
<div class="p1" style="border: 0px; font-family: "pt sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">
<span class="s1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">a song that did not exist before you began, together, to sing.</span></div>
<div class="p2" style="border: 0px; font-family: "pt sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">
<span class="s1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1" style="border: 0px; font-family: "pt sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">
<span class="s1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">And because in the darkness you will reach out a hand,</span></div>
<div class="p1" style="border: 0px; font-family: "pt sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">
<span class="s1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">not knowing for certain if someone else is even there.</span></div>
<div class="p1" style="border: 0px; font-family: "pt sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">
<span class="s1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">And your hands will meet, </span><br />
<span class="s1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">and then </span>neither of you will ever need to be alone again.</div>
<div class="p2" style="border: 0px; font-family: "pt sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">
<span class="s1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div>
<br />
<div class="p1" style="border: 0px; font-family: "pt sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">
<span class="s1" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">And that's all I know about love.</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-789275509229238294.post-80469252056824092172019-10-22T22:57:00.001-04:002019-10-22T22:57:51.582-04:00This very important post from Elizabeth Gilbert will have you sticking to your dreamsDear Ones:
<br>
<br>In the early 1990s, I was an unpublished aspiring writer, living in
<br>New York City...which meant that I was a waitress.
<br>
<br>I worked at a cheap Italian cafe in the Village. This was the only job
<br>I've ever held that I can honestly say I hated.
<br>
<br>I didn't hate my job because I felt that waiting tables was below me.
<br>(On the contrary — I'd been doing that kind of work for years, and I
<br>usually enjoyed it.) No, I hated my job because the managers of the
<br>restaurant were angry, scary people. The whole environment at this
<br>establishment was aggressive and foul. Everyone working at that
<br>restaurant was unhappy and oppressed, and — although I tried — I
<br>could not seem to make friends with anybody...neither the customers
<br>nor the staff. But the money was good, and I had some control over my
<br>hours, which meant that I could work on my writing.
<br>
<br>I was living in a tiny apartment in the East Village with a window
<br>that faced a brick wall. I had two roommates who liked to party. My
<br>boyfriend had just left me. I didn't own a car (duh, obviously) and
<br>the money I made from tips just barely covered my rent.
<br>
<br>My dream that year was to attend the famed Bread Loaf Writing
<br>Workshop, located in the mountains of Vermont, on the campus of
<br>Middlebury College. This would be a chance for me to be taught by
<br>published authors, and to mingle with agents and editors. And it would
<br>be an opportunity for me to work on my short stories along with other
<br>aspiring writers, and perhaps to find my tribe. Best of all, going to
<br>Vermont for six weeks would get me out of the city during the hottest
<br>and most miserable days of a New York City summer.
<br>
<br>But here's the thing: I couldn't afford the tuition for Bread Loaf.
<br>
<br>I could not BEGIN to afford that tuition. It was incredibly expensive.
<br>My only option, then, was to apply for one of the two scholarships
<br>that were offered that year. If I were accepted on a scholarship
<br>basis, I would be able to attend Bread Loaf ... but here was the
<br>catch: I would need to earn my keep at the retreat by working as a
<br>waitress. (Irony alert!)
<br>
<br>In other words: If I were accepted on scholarship, I would literally
<br>be SERVING the other attendees who were wealthy enough to afford full
<br>tuition.
<br>
<br>NO PROBLEM.
<br>
<br>I worked for weeks on my application for that Bread Loaf waiter/writer
<br>scholarship. I wanted it SO BAD. I remember ending my essay with this
<br>line: "I may not be the best writer who has ever applied for this
<br>position, but I can guarantee you that I am the best waitress." I
<br>felt certain they would take me, just based on that line alone!
<br>
<br>I wasn't accepted, though.
<br>
<br>So...do you know what I did next?
<br>
<br>I didn't go.
<br>
<br>I did not go to Bread Loaf, for exactly the same reason that I had not
<br>applied to graduate schools, and for exactly the same reason that I
<br>wasn't traveling through Europe, or living in a better apartment —
<br>because it was beyond my means.
<br>
<br>Instead, I stayed in the East Village during that swelteringly hot
<br>summer, looking out my window at that goddamn brick wall, listening to
<br>my roommates getting drunk and having sex, working at my toxic
<br>restaurant job with the mean bosses...and writing.
<br>
<br>I never stopped writing.
<br>
<br>And can you guess what miraculous thing happened to me by the end of that year?!
<br>
<br>Nothing. Absolutely nothing miraculous happened.
<br>
<br>By the end of that year, I was STILL an unpublished writer, working as
<br>a waitress. And I still couldn't afford Bread Loaf. And they still
<br>didn't want me on their campus. Not even as a waitress.
<br>
<br>But here is what I want you to understand: I never stopped writing.
<br>
<br>In my attic today, I have notebook after notebook filled with the
<br>writing that I produced during those years. Many of those stories
<br>would later appear in my first book, PILGRIMS.
<br>
<br>I consider those years to be the most generative and important period
<br>of my entire creative life. It was a time when I was fully and
<br>stubbornly focused on mastering this craft — and I did most of it
<br>alone in a small room, looking at a brick wall, with no promise of
<br>reward. Nobody cared about the contents of those notebooks except me.
<br>I do not recall ever expecting anyone to care. It would not have
<br>occurred to me that anyone else was supposed to care.
<br>
<br>I just kept writing — and eventually I found my way to becoming an
<br>author, by other means.
<br>
<br>To this day, I hold no hostility toward the good people at the Bread
<br>Loaf Writing Workshop in Middlebury, Vermont. They had a business to
<br>run — and giving me what I wanted (just because I wanted it) was not
<br>their business. Nurturing my destiny as a writer was MY obligation,
<br>not theirs.
<br>
<br>I understood all this, even back then — even though I was just a kid.
<br>
<br>If you are holding ANYBODY in this world responsible for your life who
<br>is not you, quit it.
<br>
<br>Let nothing stop you from your work.
<br>
<br>Onward,
<br>LG
<br>
<br>Elizabeth GilbertUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-789275509229238294.post-62759238578766131852019-10-21T20:59:00.001-04:002019-10-21T20:59:41.341-04:00Small kindnesses, by Danusha Laméris<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jt00V3gz8gY/Xa5UfoOBz-I/AAAAAAAANic/b-rjNzryZBorpiB1cy59Ia7AXbMPyveawCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/C9C8B872-61E2-469E-B35E-55FF3BA1E695-781411.JPG"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jt00V3gz8gY/Xa5UfoOBz-I/AAAAAAAANic/b-rjNzryZBorpiB1cy59Ia7AXbMPyveawCK4BGAYYCw/s320/C9C8B872-61E2-469E-B35E-55FF3BA1E695-781411.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_6750425793823887330" /></a></p>Small Kindnesses
<br>by Danusha Laméris
<br>
<br>I've been thinking about the way, when you walk
<br>down a crowded aisle, people pull in their legs
<br>to let you by. Or how strangers still say "bless you"
<br>when someone sneezes, a leftover
<br>from the Bubonic plague. "Don't die," we are saying.
<br>And sometimes, when you spill lemons
<br>from your grocery bag, someone else will help you
<br>pick them up. Mostly, we don't want to harm each other.
<br>We want to be handed our cup of coffee hot,
<br>and to say thank you to the person handing it. To smile
<br>at them and for them to smile back. For the waitress
<br>to call us honey when she sets down the bowl of clam chowder,
<br>and for the driver in the red pick-up truck to let us pass.
<br>We have so little of each other, now. So far
<br>from tribe and fire. Only these brief moments of exchange.
<br>What if they are the true dwelling of the holy, these
<br>fleeting temples we make together when we say, "Here,
<br>have my seat," "Go ahead—you first," "I like your hat."Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0