writing : blog
If you have watched TV commercials for the new teeniny microscopic MacBook Air, perhaps you will recognize this song by Yael Naim. Come, let’s ride brightly painted inner tubes, play cymbals in a field of sunflowers, sing with a gorgeous Israeli-French accent, and realize that there is a whole big world out there, ripe for the dancing and for the…
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Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known. -Carl Sagan In 2008, I want to be a jijnasu, a seeker of wisdom, an inquirer. When I was preparing to talk with Billy Collins the other day (doesn’t that sound casual?), Mr Brilliant was holding the paper bag while I hyperventilated, metaphorically speaking, helping me think about what questions I wanted…
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We were born to unite with our fellow men, and to join in community with the human race. -Cicero As this third year of 37days ends, I’ve spent this last week reading again the comments left on this site in 2007—and visiting the websites of their authors, as well as re-reading the hundreds of emails I’ve received from 37days readers…
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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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“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.” – Lao Tzu Sometimes taking flight takes letting go. Letting go takes faith. Faith takes letting go. It all requires wings. And so it goes. As Kierkegaard has said, “Without risk there is no faith, and the greater the risk, the greater the faith.” Flying begins…
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"I am a part of all that I have met." – Tennyson The end of a year brings closure of many kinds. Some involve owning what didn’t get done that year; others involve thankfulness, still others center on the celebration of things accomplished, friendships deepened, things and people let go of, even. As this second year of 37days ends, I…
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“The eye is the first circle; the horizon which it forms is the second; and throughout nature this primary figure is repeated without end. It is the highest emblem in the cipher of the world.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays -"Circles” Let’s imagine that all learning takes place in a dense, primordial forest, like the one you drive through on…
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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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“Life is a verb.” – Charlotte Perkins Gilman I learned to read by painstakingly pronouncing the rambunctious adventures of two knee-socked, slightly irritating, good-as-gold, simple-minded, very white, and really downright boring children named Dick and Jane. The text for one of those primers begins “See Dick. See Dick run. See Dick play. See Dick run and play.” Dick seems mighty…
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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.
