Tag: hope

20 rules for dreamers

face2facewiththeskyLeave a comment
  1. There is no right answer.
  2. Start with options.
  3. Choose flow over force….
  4. …but force if necessary with value-driven action.
  5. The first two hours are a warm up.
  6. Anything can be done ten minutes at a time.
  7. Accept the possibility of making no progress, or a mistake, or a shitty first draft.*
  8. One thing at a time.
  9. Even the greats don’t know what they’re doing half the time.
  10. If you’re not facing your fear, you’re not working.
  11. Limitations are opportunities for creative solutions.
  12. This isn’t about feeling good.
  13. It’s about getting on with your life.
  14. Negative thoughts can be written down, tape recorded, or otherwise set aside so that you can get back to work.
  15. Leave room for what you can’t imagine.
  16. It doesn’t have to make sense.
  17. You don’t have to achieve anything.
  18. Final grades are based 50% on effort and 50% on self-honesty.
  19. It’s okay to take it slow.
  20. Make your own rules.

* See Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott.

rooting

face2facewiththeskyLeave a comment

child
no matter how deeply
you have been wounded
remember:

one day a seed
will come along

take root exactly
where it hurts the most

slumber
in darkness until
you open up

and allow enough light
to reach it;

once you do that
nothing will stop
its furious
motion

its transformation
of dark matter
into something altogether
unexpected.

beyond happiness

face2facewiththeskyLeave a comment

maybe it’s a relief to be unhappy
because trying to be happy all the time is exhausting.

maybe there’s a place beyond happiness and unhappiness.

not between.

not in the middle.

BEYOND.

BEYOND = accepting both happiness and unhappiness.

they are part of every day.

expect them.

you don’t have to welcome them.

you don’t have to be glad to see your old friend unhappiness.

but if you’re upset, be upset.

if you need to cry, cry.

maybe if you allow them to be there
your tears will dissolve.

remember, your tears won’t dissolve into happiness.

don’t fall into that trap—
doing your spiritual work and still waiting for perfect happiness.

my hope for you is that you come to a place where you’re unhappy—
and THAT’S OKAY.

you haven’t done anything wrong
unless being human is wrong.

do not mistake peace for happiness.

peace is not a utopian state of ecstasy, pleasure or even comfort.

peace “goes beyond understanding.”

i can tell you this much—you know it when you feel it.

your heart settles
and your body is lighter.

gravity is less of a burden.

and even if things aren’t good, they’re still alright.

no matter what, my hope for you
is that you find a place inside yourself
BEYOND yourself
where you can finally rest.

one day you will dance.

face2facewiththeskyLeave a comment 
it is right for the human spirit to have endured something.
this is why we must not shelter ourselves overmuch.
it is something to have been in distress

yet find yourself undeniably alive.
to have fasted
 & find yourself still whole.
to have been panic stricken

yet find your legs standing.
but if by chance they give way beneath you
 & you don’t get up for an hour
 a day
 or even a decade
 it doesn’t matter
 so long as there is a day that comes 
that you dance.
my own grandmother
 bedridden
danced under the covers.