“Describing something is like using it – it destroys; the colours wear off, the corners lose their definition, and in the end what’s been described begins to fade, to disappear. This applies most of all to places. Enormous damage has been done by travel literature – a veritable scourge, an epidemic. Guidebooks have conclusively ruinedContinue reading “Comforting Thought: Describing versus experiencing places”
Category Archives: Comforting Thought
Comforting Thought The challenge of a life’s time and a lifetime
It may be when we no longer know what to do,
We have come to our real work,
and that when we no longer know which way to go,
We have begun our real journey.
Wendell Berry (b. 1934) is a poet, farmer, writer and activist.
Do you play in your real life? What does play mean to you?
Do you play in your daily life? What says “playtime” to you? It means reading 📚 a lot of books. Dancing around to music. Trying out cocktails or exotic teas with unusual flavours. Swimming in the ocean, I am very fortunate to live right next to the beach and I am grateful for this. LaughingContinue reading “Do you play in your real life? What does play mean to you?”
Comforting Thought: The Past
“The past is our definition. We may strive with good reason to escape it, or to escape what is bad in it. But we will escape it only by adding something better to it.”
~ Wendell Berry
Comforting Thought: Morning Poem by Mary Oliver
If it is your nature to be happy, you will swim away along the soft trails for hours, your imaginationalighting everywhere.” – Morning Poem by Mary Oliver
Comforting Thought: When Death Comes by Mary Oliver
“When it’s over I want to say: all my life, I was a bride married to amazement. I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.” – When Death Comes by Mary Oliver.
Comforting Thought: How to take a spiritual detox from damaging media messages
When we constantly hear that we should be smart, better connected, more productive, wealthier – you name it – it takes real courage to claim the time and space to follow the currents of our talents, our aspirations and our hearts, which may lead in a very different direction.
Comforting Thought: The interconnectedness of all living things
Everything in its right place One feels keenly the sense of interconnectedness of all living things: a sense of everything being in its right place. This is biology as teleology, rainforest as pocketwatch fallen open on the path- but instead of the hand of God crafting its workings, coevolution is the force by which theContinue reading “Comforting Thought: The interconnectedness of all living things”
Comforting Thought: Real love allows for failure
Real love allows for failure and suffering. All of us have made mistakes, and some of those mistakes were consequential, but you can find a way to relate to them with kindness. No matter what troubles have befallen you or what difficulties you have caused yourself or others, with love for yourself you can change, grow, make amends and learn. Real love is not about letting yourself off the hook. Real love does not encourage you to ignore your problems or deny your mistakes and imperfections, You see them clearly and you still opt for love.
Comforting Thought: Don’t resist or block off your feelings
Real love for ourselves, by definition includes every aspect of our lives – the good, the bad, the difficult, the challenging past. the uncertain future as well as all of the shameful, upsetting experiences and encounters that we’d just as soon as forget.
This doesn’t mean that we have to celebrate everything that’s happened to us or write thank you notes to people who have hurt us. But, like it or not, the emotional residue of our experiences is part of who we are.
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