December 2021

“I may not have gone where I intended to go,
but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.”

Douglas Adams

November 2021

“Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.”

Leonard Cohen, from his song Anthem

October 2021

“There is only one happiness in this life: to love and be loved.”

George Sand

Sept 2021

“For listening to the stories of others, is a kind of water that breaks the fever of our isolation.
If we listen closely enough, we are soothed into remembering our common name.”

Mark Nepo

August 2021

“Don’t die with the music still in you.”

Wayne Dyer

July 2021

“It is said that before entering the sea
a river trembles with fear.

She looks back at the path she has traveled,
from the peaks of the mountains,
the long winding road crossing forests and villages.

And in front of her,
she sees an ocean so vast,
that to enter
there seems nothing more than to disappear forever.

But there is no other way.
The river can not go back.

Nobody can go back.
To go back is impossible in existence.

The river needs to take the risk
of entering the ocean
because only then will fear disappear,
because that’s where the river will know
it’s not about disappearing into the ocean,
but of becoming the ocean.”

“Fear” Khalil Gibran

June 2021

“Revolutionary Love

Definition:
To be brave enough to look at anyone around me and to say you are a part of me
I do not yet know.
I will let your story into my heart.
I will let your grief into my heart and I will fight for you when you are in harm’s way.”

Valerie Kaur

May 2021

“There’s an inner universe as vast and mysterious as the outer. This includes images, archetypes, subtle feelings, intuitions and an inner realm of wisdom that is always available to us.”

Dr. Roger Walsh

April 2021

“When you’re young, the territory of the psyche is like a vast estate, with rolling hills, forests and plains, swamps and meadows. So many things can be experienced, expressed, wanted, and loved.

But as life goes along, most people pull back from major parts of their psyche. Perhaps a swamp of sadness was painful, or fumes of toxic wishes were alarming, or jumping exuberantly in a meadow of joy irritated a parent into a scolding. Or maybe you saw someone else get in trouble for feeling, saying, or doing something and you resolved, consciously or unconsciously, to Stay Away From That Place Forever.

In whatever way it happens, most of us end up by mid-adulthood living in the gate house, venturing out a bit, but lacking much sense of the whole estate, the great endowment of the whole psyche. Emotions are shut down, energetic and erotic wellsprings of vitality are capped, deep longings are set aside, sub-personalities are shackled and silenced, old pain and troubles are buried, the roots of reactions – hurt, anger, feelings of inadequacy – are veiled so we can’t get at them, and we live at odds with both Nature and our own nature.

Sure, the processes of the psyche need some regulation. Not all thoughts should be spoken, and not all desires should be acted upon! But if you suppress, disown, push away, recoil from, or deny major parts of yourself, then you feel cut off, alienated from yourself, lacking vital information about what is really going on inside, no longer at home in your own skin or your own mind – which feels bad, lowers effectiveness at home and work, fuels interpersonal issues, and contributes to health problems.”

Rick Hanson,  Let It R.A.I.N., Just One Thing

March 2021

“Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded.  It’s a relationship between equals.
Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. 
Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.”

Pema Chodron

February 2021

“Past and Present I know them well; each is a friend and sometimes an enemy to me. 
But it is the quiet, beckoning Future, an absolute stranger, with whom I have fallen madly in love.”

Richelle E. Goodrich, “Slaying Dragons”

January 2021

“Whether you are having the best New Year ever or you are struggling right now, the essence of spiritual life, in my experience,
is to always begin again—again and again—from wherever we find ourselves.
Each new moment is a chance to open our hearts and to turn an affectionate gaze on ourselves, others, and our surroundings.
Each new moment is a chance to say something true and vulnerable and meet someone in a deeper way.
Each new moment is a chance to start again and take some type of action that feels loving and life-giving.”

Tami Simon, Founder and Publisher, Sounds True