The
things that matter most in our lives are not fantastic or grand. They are
moments when we touch one another, when we are there in the most attentive or
caring way. This simple and profound intimacy is the love that we all long for."
- Jack Kornfield from A Path with Heart
"Stop
yourself whenever you think you know the end of the story and wait in the
uncertainty. The answers are there waiting for a break in the fear-created
fog."
-Ann O'Shaughnessy
"If you
can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, but make allowance for their
doubting too"
- Rudyard Kipling from Poem "If"
"When
most people are euphoric...I start to panic. And when most people
are panicking, I am euphoric."
- Warren Buffet
"Tough
times never last, tough people do."
- Dr. Robert Schuller
You do
not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles
through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves. Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on. Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep trees, the
mountains and the rivers. Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again. Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers
itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting
-- over and over announcing your place in the family of things.
Mary
Oliver
It's
December again and another year is ending. Whatever has transpired in your life
this year, both good and bad, it is now time to lay it to rest and say "thank
you" and "goodbye".
It's
"Winter" in northern California. I've pulled out my wool sweaters, rain boots
and long underwear. Winter comes late here and doesn't last long, so we must
cherish the couple months we have.
I grew up in the Midwest where winters
were too long and dark.
I've always thought it odd that at this time of
year when I am inclined toward "introspection", it's the season to attend
parties, celebrations and social events. I strive to honor that part of me that
wants to go within, that wants to hibernate.
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