Last summer’s reeds are all engraved in ice as is your image in my eye; dry frost glazes the window of my hurt; what solace can be struck from rock to make heart’s waste grow green again? Who’d walk in this bleak place? -Sylvia Plath, from “Winter Landscape, with Rooks” Sometimes—usually in the winter—I feel drawn to Sylvia Plath, and to this poem … Read More Bleak Places
Thinking is only a small part of our consciousness. -Eckhart Tolle Most of us would agree with Descartes statement: I think therefore I am. The unconscious process goes something like this—when a thought arises, whether it is as simple as I really want another piece of cake or as reproachful as I’m a horrible friend, we usually accept it as truth. Then, when … Read More I think therefore I am?
He did not know that the new life would not be given him for nothing, that he would have to pay dearly for it, that it would cost him great striving, great suffering. But that is the beginning of a new story—the story of the gradual renewal of a man, the story of his gradual regeneration, of his passing from one world into another, … Read More Your Story
I don’t know where prayers go, or what they do. Do cats pray, while they sleep half-asleep in the sun? Does the opossum pray as it crosses the street? The sunflowers? The old black oak growing older every year? I know I can walk through the world, along the shore or under the trees, with my mind filled with things of little importance, in full self-attendance. A condition I can’t really call being alive. Is a prayer … Read More While we are standing…
Everyone you see, you say to them, ‘Love me’. Of course you do not do this out loud, otherwise Someone would call the cops. Still, though, think about this, the great pull To connect. Why not become the one who lives with a Full moon in each eye that is Always saying With that sweet moon language What every other eye In this world … Read More Seeing with new eyes
The greater the artist, the greater the doubt. Perfect confidence is granted to the less talented as a consolation prize. -Robert Hughes I have far more questions now in my forties, than I did in my teens and twenties—when I was convinced of so many things. Robert Hughes, an art-critic and writer, was referring here specifically to the artistic process, but I think … Read More Masterpiece
After having been standing by the gate of the garden for a long time, Siddhartha realized that his desire was foolish, which had made him go up to this place, that he could not help his son, that he was not allowed to cling to him. Deeply, he felt the love for the run-away in his heart, like a wound, and he felt at … Read More To Blossom and Shine
How you love yourself is how you teach others to love you. -Rupi Kaur It’s that time of year again—when we gather together with family and friends to celebrate, reminisce, and enjoy egg nog and mulled wine. It sounds pretty romantic, and sometimes it is, but sometimes it definitely isn’t. Sometimes we can be overwhelmed by competing needs and struggle with our boundaries being … Read More How you love yourself
There are many ways we grow as human beings; but two that have always been there is that we are broken open or we willfully shed, and usually it’s a mix of both. -Mark Nepo Every day when I walk my much-loved dog Riley, I see the trees become more and more bare, and I see soggy yet colorful leaves covering the sidewalks … Read More Willfully Shedding
The child of tomorrow I realized may actually be ahead of us in sensing not what is new but what is essential. -Pico Iyer How often do we ask ourselves this question? Usually we are too busy, so it’s only when life throws us a curve ball that we are invited to step back and re-think what we think. Or, you can have a … Read More What is essential?
What keeps us alive, what allows us to endure? I think it is the hope of loving, or being loved. I heard a fable once about the sun going on a journey to find its source and how the moon wept without her lover’s warm gaze. We weep when light does not reach our hearts. We wither like fields if someone close does not … Read More Raining Kindness
I naively believe that self-love is 80 percent of the solution, that it helps beyond words to take yourself through the day as you would with your most beloved mental-patient relative, with great humor and lots of small treats. -Anne Lamott I love reading Anne Lamott. Her books are tonic for the weary soul. They make me laugh and cry—and usually both at the … Read More Laughter and Treats
