swissmiss

When day comes, we ask ourselves:
Where can we find light
In this never-ending shade?
The loss we carry, a sea we must wade.
We braved the belly of the beast,
We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace,
And the norms and notions of what ‘just is’
Isn’t always justice.
And yet the dawn is ours before we knew it,
Somehow, we do it.
Somehow, we’ve weathered and witnessed
A nation that isn’t broken, but simply unfinished.
We, the successors of a country and a time
where a skinny Black girl, descended from slaves
and raised by a single mother,
can dream of becoming president
only to find herself reciting for one.
– The Hill We Climb, by Amanda Gorman

“Kindness multiplies and it enables possiblity. When we’re of service to people, we have the chance to make things better.”

Three types of kindness, by Seth Godin

“You are the sky.
Everything else –
it’s just the weather.”
– Pema Chödrön

“Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.”
– Frank Zappa

“I don’t think we’ve even seen the tip of the iceberg. I think the potential of what the internet is going to do to society, both good and bad, is unimaginable. I think we’re actually on the cusp of something exhilarating and terrifying… I’m talking about the actual context and the state of content is going to be so different to anything that we can really envisage at the moment. Where the interplay between the user and the provider will be so in simpatico, it’s going to crush our ideas of what mediums are all about… The idea that the piece of work is not finished until the audience come to it and add their own interpretation and what the piece of art is about is the grey space in the middle. That grey space in the middle is what the 21st century is going to be about.”
– David Bowie

“You must learn one thing. The world was made to be free in. Give up all the other worlds except the one in which you belong.”
― David Whyte

“Ride the horse you are given.
Let go the reins,
it is a sacred animal.
It will bring you home.
– Emerson

(via James)

“Your home is an extension of your energy field.
This is why practices
like cleaning your home,
rearranging furniture,
organizing your closet
and getting rid of objects that are
cluttering your space can have
a profound impact on your own mind,
body and spirit.”
— Maryam Hasnaa

“Love is not a feeling. It’s an ability.”
― Peter Hedges

“When I feel overwhelmed or stressed or lose my center, I draw on one or all of these things:

Be kind & be useful.

Slow way, way down.

Let the world speak to you.

Rest your mind on your breath.

I am only as good as the company I keep.

How can I best support my own vulnerability?

Compassion is the highest form of critical thinking.

My life—which includes my work—is only as good as I feel.

Try to put how you want to feel ahead of what you want to be or even do.

This is what I’m doing, this thing, right now; drop the words, stick with the feeling.

Be ready for opportunities & openings as they come along; change is the only constant.

Go toward the good—the good people, the good moments—& let the rest of the static, noise & drama fall away.

While we’re breathing—which is miraculous, and won’t be happening some day—all we’re doing is learning and growing. That’s all, learning and growing.

Follow your interests, wherever they lead will be somewhere that lights up your eyes, or floats your cork; notice when you get excited &/or confused by things, write down these moments & let them guide you.”

– Hope Hall

“What’s your favorite flavor of shit sandwich?” What Manson means is that every single pursuit—no matter how wonderful and exciting and glamorous it may initially seem—comes with its own brand of shit sandwich, its own lousy side effects. As Manson writes with profound wisdom: “Everything sucks, some of the time.” You just have to decide what sort of suckage you’re willing to deal with. So the question is not so much “What are you passionate about?” The question is “What are you passionate enough about that you can endure the most disagreeable aspects of the work?” Manson explains it this way: “If you want to be a professional artist, but you aren’t willing to see your work rejected hundreds, if not thousands, of times, then you’re done before you start. If you want to be a hotshot court lawyer, but can’t stand the eighty-hour workweeks, then I’ve got bad news for you.” Because if you love and want something enough—whatever it is—then you don’t really mind eating the shit sandwich that comes with it.”
― Elizabeth Gilbert

From the wonderful book Big Magic. It’s like rocket fuel for any creatively minded human.

“What do you love doing so much that the words failure and success essentially become irrelevant?”
– Elizabeth Gilbert

From the wonderful book Big Magic. It’s like rocket fuel for any creatively minded human.

“It seems to me that the less I fight my fear, the less it fights back. If I can relax, fear relaxes, too.”
– Elizabeth Gilbert

From the wonderful book Big Magic. It’s like rocket fuel for every creatively minded human.

“Recognizing that people’s reactions don’t belong to you is the only sane way to create. If people enjoy what you’ve created, terrific. If people ignore what you’ve created, too bad. If people misunderstand what you’ve created, don’t sweat it. And what if people absolutely hate what you’ve created? What if people attack you with savage vitriol, and insult your intelligence, and malign your motives, and drag your good name through the mud? Just smile sweetly and suggest – as politely as you possibly can – that they go make their own fucking art. Then stubbornly continue making yours.”
– Elizabeth Gilbert

From the wonderful book Big Magic. It’s like rocket fuel for every creatively minded human.

“Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love.”
— Rainer Maria Rilke

(via James)

“Hate is usually louder than love – in society and within ourselves. What will happen if we listen to the quieter voices?”
— Charles Eisenstein

“There are going to be people in your life who change your trajectory. They’re going to walk into your life for a moment, a lifetime, or anytime in between. And they’re going to disrupt something in your life. They’ll challenge you, they’ll shake your beliefs, they’ll trigger you and then stand by you as you work through your healing. These people will teach you and be taught by you. You’ll dance and play. You’ll see the softer sides that others don’t get to see. They’ll lay down markers on your life’s timeline. Markers that roar “I was here”. Pre me. Post me. They’re the life changers. The good type of change. Not the one that takes you away from yourself… but the one that brings you home. “
— Vienna Pharaon

“Find out who you are and do it on purpose.”
– Dolly Parton

(via)

“It’s not what you look for that matters, it’s what you see.”
— Henry David Thoreau

“A diamond is a piece of coal that stuck to the job.”
— Thomas A. Edison

(via)