I write for the same reason I breathe –
because if I didn’t, I would die.
~Isaac Asimov
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#healing
#writing
#flow
Writing
Stay With That Shakiness
“Life is a good teacher and a good friend. Things are always in transition, if we could only realize it. Nothing ever sums itself up in the way that we like to dream about.
…To stay with that shakiness — to stay with a broken heart, with a rumbling stomach, with the feeling of hopelessness and wanting to get revenge — that is the path of true awakening. Sticking with that uncertainty, getting the knack of relaxing in the midst of chaos, learning not to panic — this is the spiritual path. Getting the knack of catching ourselves, of gently and compassionately catching ourselves, is the path of the warrior. We catch ourselves one zillion times as once again, whether we like it or not, we harden into resentment, bitterness, righteous indignation — harden in any way, even into a sense of relief, a sense of inspiration.”
~ Pema Chodron,
When Things Fall Apart
Heart Advice for Difficult Times
Gratitude for Time and Light
The Word
Down near the bottom
of the crossed-out list
of things you have to do today,
between “green thread”
and “broccoli,” you find
that you have penciled “sunlight.”
Resting on the page, the word
is beautiful. It touches you
as if you had a friend
and sunlight were a present
he had sent from someplace distant
as this morning—to cheer you up,
and to remind you that,
among your duties, pleasure
is a thing
that also needs accomplishing.
Do you remember?
that time and light are kinds
of love, and love
is no less practical
than a coffee grinder
or a safe spare tire?
Tomorrow you may be utterly
without a clue,
but today you get a telegram
from the heart in exile,
proclaiming that the kingdom
still exists,
the king and queen alive,
still speaking to their children,
—to any one among them
who can find the time
to sit out in the sun and listen.
~Tony Hoagland
in Sweet Ruin, 1992
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Image: Pacific Sun
by Nancy Lankston
A Clearing
“here is the month i decided to shed everything not deeply committed to my dreams. the day i refused to be a victim to the self-pity. here is the week i slept in the garden. the spring i wrung the self-doubt by its neck. hung your kindness up. took down the calendar. the week i danced so hard my heart learned to float above water again. the summer i unscrewed all the mirrors from their walls. no longer needed to see myself to feel seen. combed the weight out of my hair.
i fold the good days up and place them in my back pocket for safekeeping. draw the match. cremate the unnecessary. the light of the fire warms my toes. i pour myself a glass of warm water to cleanse myself for january. here I go. stronger and wiser into the new.”
~ rupi kaur
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#Beautiful
Get Still
Sometimes getting still and listening deeply is exactly what we need.
A Feminine Understanding
Becoming the Song of Me
“When we open the doorway to our awareness,
peel back the veil on our illusions,
there’s no going back and it’s nearly impossible to ignore.
I continue to ask myself:
what is the song of my heart’s deepest longing?
Each time I wake from a dream I gain a word,
a note, another phrase of that song.
And slowly, I am assembling.
Bringing the fragments of myself back together again.
Assembling the pieces of a song that is longing to be sung.
A life that is longing to become.”
~Kristen Roderick