Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.
Mark Twain – 1835-1910 – Journalist-Lecturer-Novelist-Humorist
You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
Dr. Seuss – 1904-1991 – Author-Political Cartoonist-Illustrator-Poet-Animator-Filmmaker
“A good traveller has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.”
Lao Tzu
“There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature—the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.”
Rachel Carson
“Never cut what you can untie.”
Joseph Joubert
“Sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth because they don’t want their illusions destroyed.”
Friedrich Nietzsche
I Worried: Poem by Mary Oliver
“I worried a lot. Will the garden grow, will the rivers
flow in the right direction, will the earth turn
as it was taught, and if not how shall
I correct it?
Was I right, was I wrong, will I be forgiven,
can I do better?
Will I ever be able to sing, even the sparrows
can do it and I am, well,
hopeless.
Is my eyesight fading or am I just imagining it,
am I going to get rheumatism,
lockjaw, dementia?
Finally, I saw that worrying had come to nothing.
And gave it up. And took my old body
and went out into the morning,
and sang.”
Mary Oliver
“The purpose of listening across lines of difference is not agreement or compromise. It is understanding.”
“Deep listening is an act of surrender. We risk being changed by what we hear. When I really want to hear another person’s story, I try to leave my preconceptions at the door and draw close to their telling. I am always partially listening to the thoughts in my own head when others are speaking, so I consciously quiet my thoughts and begin to listen with my senses. Empathy is cognitive and emotional—to inhabit another person’s view of the world is to feel the world with them. But I also know that it’s okay if I don’t feel very much for them at all. I just need to feel safe enough to stay curious. The most critical part of listening is asking what is at stake for the other person. I try to understand what matters to them, not what I think matters. Sometimes I start to lose myself in their story. As soon as I notice feeling unmoored, I try to pull myself back into my body, like returning home. As Hannah Arendt says, ‘One trains one’s imagination to go visiting.’ When the story is done, we must return to our skin, our own worldview, and notice how we have been changed by our visit. So I ask myself, What is this story demanding of me? What will I do now that I know this?”
Valarie Kaur
“For nearly fifty years, I’ve been teaching canoeing up in Canada. The first rule is clearly the most important: the best way to learn is to get into the boat.”
Seth Godin, Where does creativity come from?
Highly recommend surrounding yourself with honorable, courageous, generous, supportive, no-bullshit women who make you want to show up to their level. Above all of changes I’ve made, and the personal work I’ve done, this has made the greatest difference in my life.
Jennifer Romolini (@jennromolini) November 11, 2020
The Internet is the most important single development in the history of human communication since the invention of call waiting.
Dave Barry
“Be patient with yourself, nothing in nature blooms all year.”
Unknown
