writing : blog
Breathe-in experience,Breathe-out poetry.-Muriel Rukeyser I fervently pledged as a teenager that I would always remember how I felt then, that when I became a parent, I would remember what life was like then, what mattered then, what I worried about and laughed at then, and what I cried over then. I could not possibly ever forget. I would remember. But…
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Love means to love that which is unlovable, or it is no virtue at all. G.K. Chesterton Ah, Valentine’s Day. In the midst of the hearts and doilies and hand-rolled truffles made from rare Bolivian cocoa nibs with hot hot Argentinian chili powder and Australian wood opal rings from the Spirit of the Earth in Santa Fe and trips to…
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Sometimes we get the message we need. Reading zena musings this morning, I found Carla’s link to this: What would love do? It was written for me. And, perhaps, for you? [perhaps a knitted heart is the perfect image for this message, considering the ways in which knitting can ravel, or not. Image from here]
And no, that title isn’t a reference to overeating. In the U.S., today is Thanksgiving Day (and my friend Karrie Manson’s birthday, so a shout out to her for being so powerful that the nation stops when she ages). This year, I’m not spending Thanksgiving at a long table full of vegan alternatives to turkey, but hunched over a computer…
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“Among those whom I like or admire, I can find no common denominator, but among those I love, I can: all of them make me laugh.” -WH Auden, 1907 A few years ago one December, as I prepared to leave for a business trip, my husband John (aka Kurt Vonnegut’s Mr. Brilliant) went into the basement to install insulation beneath…
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“To receive everything, one must open one’s hands and give.” –Taisen Deshimaru “If my hands are fully occupied in holding on to something, I can neither give nor receive.” -Dorothee Solle One of the wisest people I know is a man named Eliav Zakay from Israel, CEO of a national youth leadership program there and formerly with the Israel Defense…
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"We don’t see things as they are. We see things as we are." -Anais Nin Coming home from Chicago two weeks ago, I was struck irretrievably ill in the cab on the way to the airport, that kind of I’ve- eaten- an- alien- food- poisoning- I’m- unable- to- stop- shaking nauseous kind of ill, the sort where you focus all…
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We all believe in equality, as long as it is equality with our superiors. What is the tipping point? I’ve long been fascinated by the fact that our Social Contract works—that people stop at four-way stop signs and allow the person to their right to move first, creating a sweet dance of understanding and civility. By the fact that social…
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“A lot of disappointed people have been left standing on the street corner waiting for the bus marked Perfection.” – Donald Kennedy Since leaving Freedom High School on Independence Boulevard with its (subtle) school colors of red, white, and blue and its aptly named football team (The Patriots, of course), I’ve carried a certain pair of pants around with me…
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“Be an opener of doors for such as come after thee, and do not try to make the universe a blind alley.” Ralph Waldo Emerson If you read last week’s 37days, you’ll know that my older daughter is at summer camp for almost 6 weeks. And if last summer is any indication, I’ll bet you a year’s worth of…
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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.
