“The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them.”
-Thomas Merton
this journey called life
“I do not wish for an easy life. I do not walk this earth imagining how much better my life could be if only this or if only that. I have drams I want to pursue, goals I want to accomplish and experiences I want to enjoy, but beyond any wanting, imagining and hoping I also nurture a quite space in my life for acceptable. A space where I can learn deeper into whatever might feel less than ideal and explore whether or not my initial judgements were accurate. Often times what I thought might be a source of unending woe turns out to be an incredible blessing”
Filed under Food For the Soul, Posts With Heart, Quotes, The Arts
The Many Forms of Love
Being on retreat at Kripalu have given me time for soul searching and reflecting. I read this today and it really spoke to me, so I thought I’d share:
“Give the kind of love you have” by Tamara Bailie
from Patti Digh’s book “What I Wish for You”
“One thing I wish I would have known earlier in my life is that….the love you take into your heart as you live your days is going to come from many different people. You hear often in stories and songs and movies about the ONE person whose love will be everything to you, who will be everything you ever needed. What you will find, however, is that people give you what they have. We are wired differently, and we will give our love differently. You will find people whose love feeds your mind, and people whose love feeds your sense of humor, and people whose love you can count on at 2am on a random Tuesday. When you let all of those different kinds of love into your spirit, it will smooth out the rough spots, filling in the tiny spaces left behind from moments of pain and misunderstanding. One person may not fill the role of providing every kind of love you need, and that is what makes life interesting. When you let different people play the parts they are best at playing, it allows them to simply be who they are when they are with you. And when you can give the kind of love you have to the world, you can simply be who you are, giving what you have to give.
People sometimes seem to let us down simply because they don’t seem to give us what we need. Try to remember that they are giving what they know, what they’ve been shown, and what they have. Many of us are carrying much more than we need, and sometimes all that we carry can keep us form seeing all that we are. You can lighten the load for people each time you offer acceptance of their stories, acknowledgement of their songs, and awareness of what makes them unique.
Hold onto them love people have to give, and let go of anything else they’ve handed you to carry. And keep your own carry-on bag as light as you can, so you can see who you are, where you’re going, and what you are leaving behind for the ones you love.”
Happy Earth Day!
From http://www.todaysletters.com/
Happy Earth Day peeps
There are no passengers on Spaceship Earth. We are all crew.
-Marshall McLuhan Communications theorist, educator, philosopher
Filed under Food For the Soul, Quotes
“No data in…
“No data in the world, no good vaccine, no potent medicine, will get to the poorest of the poor without you. There will be no equity without solidarity. There will be no justice without a social movement. And to see this growing social movement in my short career and lifespan is nothing more than stunning.”
Filed under Food For the Soul, Inspirational Individuals, Public Health, Quotes
Sunday Soul Searching
Residency is busy. 80 hour work weeks lead to feelings of disconnect from “the real world” and “reality.” I find a lot of balance in following blogs that inspire and challenge parts of my life that are more or less neglected in this moment. I bookmark many articles and thought provoking pieces. This is my new attempt to share on a more regular basis the pieces that make me say hmm…
On tap this week:
We can only give what we are capable of giving. We all have limits. Doing the best I can. A good read.
On finding forgiveness within yourself.
Filed under Food For the Soul, Quotes, Sunday Soul Searching
