”Understand me…I do not have time for things that have no soul.”
– Charles Bukowski
Things That Have No Soul
The In Between
“I don’t think we talk enough about the in betweens. The part when you know you want to change something but don’t yet know how, don’t yet feel strong enough, don’t yet know what your first step is. So to the people in the in betweens, don’t be disheartened, don’t give up. You’ve done the hard part. Now just take it one small step at a time.
– allyislia
Fear
“Sometimes fear does not subside and you must do it afraid.”
– Elisabeth Elliot
Article on Friendship
“Friendship insecurity remains a final hurdle in how I interact in the world, but I’m realizing that if I want close, family-level friendships, I need to act as if I am already in them. Even if it brings me discomfort to text my friend an unprompted update about my life so they will feel more inclined to text me about one of theirs in the future. While most of my friends’ behaviors haven’t drastically changed overnight in response, I remain hopeful that I am slowly moving toward tighter bonds. And my growing friendship with my neighbor is shifting into the type of dynamic I’ve been so hungry for — much to my delight.”
– By Allison Raskin
Lovely read about Adult Friendship. Stumbled upon thanks to this thoughtful TikTok.
Call To Creative Work
“The most regretful people on earth are those who felt the call to creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and uprising, and gave to it neither power nor time.”
― Mary Oliver
The Ability to Observe
“The ability to observe without evaluating is the highest form of intelligence.”
– Jiddu Krishnamurti
Collective Change
“Without inner change there can be no outer change, without collective change, no change matters.”
-angel Kyodo williams
Creativity
“Creativity is an active engagement with the unknown, it’s risk-taking, it’s curiosity, it’s exploration, it’s discovery, it’s mystery. It’s all of that.”
– Esther Perel
Freedom
“I think freedom, ideally, is being able to choose your responsibilities. Not not having any responsibilities, but being able to choose which things you want to be responsible for.”
– Toni Morrison
The Most Important Decision
“The most important decision you will ever make is to be in a good mood.”
– Voltaire
To Be Hopeful
“To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.
What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.
And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”
― Howard Zinn
Creativity
“Creativity is intelligence having fun.”
– Albert Einstein
Assume Lack of Context
“The person you’re working with might not know what you know, might not see what you see.
It’s tempting to begin where we are.
But it’s more useful to begin where they are.”
The Guest House
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
The Elephant in the Room
The room is
almost all
elephant.
Almost none
of it isn’t.
Pretty much
solid elephant.
So there’s no
room to talk
about it.
– Kay Ryan
Trader Joe’s Wisdom
“The faster you’re moving the more you’re in fear. The more you’re in fear, the more you’re thinking about yourself. The more you’re thinking about yourself, the less compassion and kindness you have for others.”
From this Reel.
Very Well Then
Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)
-Walt Whitman
Less Afraid
“It’s hard not to be afraid. Be less afraid.”
– Susan Sontag
(via)
Moving through that fear
“Moving through that fear, finding out what connects us, revelling in our differences; this is the process that brings us closer, that gives us a world of shared values, of meaningful community.”
– bell hooks
40 by Frank Chimero
I absolutely love these learnings by Frank Chimero.
For My Wife, Reading in Bed
I know we’re living through all the dark we can afford.
I’ll match your inward quiet, breath for breath.
Thank goodness, then, for this moment’s light
What else do we have but words and their absences
and you, holding the night at bay
– a hint of frown,
those focussed hands, that open book.
to bind and unfasten the knotwork of the heart;
to remind us how mutual and alone we are, how tiny
and significant? Whatever it is you are reading now
my love, read on. Our lives depend on it.
– John Glenday