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Others

“In order to be the person I want to be, I must strive, hourly, against the drag of the others.” — Mary Oliver, Sand Dabs, Four* Some of them mean well, wanting nothing but the best for us. Some don’t care a lick about what we want, only that a glow might reflect on them….

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Building Familiarity

Everything that was broken hasforgotten its brokenness. I livenow in a sky-house, through everywindow the sun. Also your presence.Our touching, our stories. Earthyand holy both. How can this be, butit is. Every day has something init whose name is Forever.— Mary Oliver, Felicity Recently I received a new laptop computer from the company I work…

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Stories in Time

Now through the white orchard my little dogromps, breaking the new snowwith wild feet.Running here running there, excited,hardly able to, stop, he leaps, he spinsuntil the white snow is written uponin large, exuberant letters,a long sentence, expressingthe pleasures of the body in this world.Oh, I could not have said it bettermyself.— Mary Oliver, The Storm…

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We Begin Again

You always have two options.You can push harder.You can remove friction.— Greg McKeown We all know where we should push harder in our lives to reach personal goals. We also ought to think more about elimination. Shedding ourselves of artificial expectations and dreams that don’t resonate. Moving away from habits, tasks, people or careers that…

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Diligent Awareness (Life as a Poem)

“The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware. In this state of god-like awareness one sings; in this realm the world exists as poem.” ― Henry Miller, The Wisdom of the Heart “Imagine that you’re unwell and in a foul mood, and they’re taking…

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To Be On Our Way

In the deep falldon’t you imagine the leaves think howcomfortable it will be to touchthe earth instead of thenothingness of air and the endlessfreshets of wind? And don’t you thinkthe trees themselves, especially those with mossy,warm caves, begin to thinkof the birds that will come – six, a dozen – to sleepinside their bodies? And…

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Reach

To understand many things you must reach out of your own condition. — Mary Oliver, Leaves and Blossoms Along the Way There’s a place for nuance. There’s a place for understanding. And above all, there’s a place for meeting in the middle. This inclination to receptiveness runs counter to the toxic stagnation of self-centered. There…