writing : blog
“At age 20, we worry about what others think of us. At 40, we don’t care what they think of us. At 60, we discover they haven’t been thinking about us at all.” -Jock Falkson I once designed a three-day conference on diversity for a professional organization whose members are school food service personnel—by their own definition, they are the…
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I’ve gotten quite a few requests for printable versions of 37days essays–thanks for your interest. I’m not savvy enough to figure out how to create a "printable version" button on the site, so unless some brave techie type person can help, I’ve resorted to creating PDF versions of the posts. They are available in the left column under "A few…
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“We invent what we love, and what we fear.” – John Irving A student of mine was murdered this week, on Wednesday. No, she was actually assassinated as she prayed at a Buddhist monastery in northern Thailand. The reports are that masked gunmen in black leapt from a van and shot her in the neck, then turned to shoot her…
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“Far away is only far away if you don’t go there.” -O. Povo When my friend Gay tells a story, it comes out like a hot knife through rich butter—all soft, fluid, full, with a drawl that makes you want to move to Mississippi and listen to a big bearded man in a scratchy green sweater read Faulkner out loud…
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"Two kinds of gratitude: The sudden kind we feel for what we take; the larger kind we feel for what we give." ~ E. A. Robinson I remember watching an Oprah show where her staff took the studio audience into a room full of left shoes. No right shoes, only the left ones. "They’re free," the staffers said, and the…
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“More grows in the garden than the gardener knows he has sown.” -Spanish Proverb Three stories circling one theme: The first story When my older daughter Emma was 5 years old, she admired the bracelet of a family friend—“I love that bracelet!” Emma told the woman excitedly one afternoon. “That’s so pretty! I love those colors!” Emma was ecstatic about…
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“If the desire to write is not accompanied by actual writing, then the desire must be not to write.” – Hugh Prather I hope you won’t mind this wee note to celebrate. 37days started a year ago today. It is the best job I never had. It began as a simple promise to myself. For years I made the usual…
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“And now let us welcome the New YearFull of things that have never been.” -Rainer Maria Rilke I started writing this on day 5 of a 3-day business trip. [As an aside, I’m pretty confident that I uncovered a Big Universal Truth on this trip: travel brings out the absolute very best in people.] Freezing rain and fog and fate…
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Patti Digh is the author of six books, including bestsellers Life is a Verb and Creative is a Verb. She travels the world teaching others about mindfulness: to live fully, love well, let go deeply, and make a difference. Patti's comments have appeared on PBS and in The New York Times, Fortune, the Wall Street Journal, the London Financial Times, and many other international publications. She writes a thank you note every morning.
