Why Write?

Connection, Joy, Writing 0

We also write to know that we are not “the only ones” thinking and feeling what we do.  We discover and interpret the world, and perhaps live life more richly and rarely — because of the writing.

I write and share stories to experience life more than once.  In the writing and telling of my stories, others read, listen and respond to me and my words.

Most of all, I write because of the joy it creates.  Writing creates connections and magic and certain kinds of permanent bliss.  I can write myself in and out of moods and experiences, and create new places to live in my mind.  It’s kind of like pole vaulting with a pen.

— Sark, Juicy Pens and Thirsty Paper, p. 27

Haunted by Goodness

God, Joy, Life 0

It strikes us that to hope in the kind of goodness that would set our heart free, we must be willing to allow our desire to remain haunted.  This side of the Fall, true goodness comes by surprise, the old writings tell us, enthralling us for a moment in heaven’s time.  They warn us it cannot be held.  Something inside knows they are right, that if we could do so, we would set up temples to worship it and the Sacred Romance would become prostitution.  We understand that we must allow our desire to haunt us like Indian summer, where the last lavish banquet of golds and yellows and reds stirs our deepest joy and sadness, even as they promise us they will return in the fragrance of spring.

— Brent Curtis & John Eldredge, The Sacred Romance, p. 140

Angry or Joyful

Joy, Letting Go, Life, Peace 0

Starting arguments, blaming others, or internalizing anger is not the way to go through life.  Treat the problem knowing that you will get through it, and you will be a better person because of it.  Remember, you can spend your life being angry or joyful.  You control only one thing: your thoughts.  So find the serenity within yourself.  Or as my wife says, “Never go to bed mad.  Stay up and fight.”  Keep your sense of humor, express your feelings, and recognize your power, and you will spend more time at peace than at war.

— Bernie Siegal, M.D., Love, Magic & Mudpies, p. 186

Enjoy the Wait

Joy, Letting Go 0

While waiting for direction, we do not have to put our life on hold.  Let go of anxiety and enjoy life.  Relax.  Do something fun.  Enjoy the love and beauty in your life.  Accomplish small tasks.  They may have nothing to do with solving the problem, or finding direction, but this is what we can do in the interim.

— Melody Beattie, The Language of Letting Go, p. 355

Up to Us

Joy, Life 0

It’s up to us to determine our happiness.   No one else is in charge.  No one else is to blame.  No one else gets the credit.  Our happiness is tied to our willingness to be responsible for our own moods.  That’s a certainty — one of few in this life.  It’s also a certainty that any happiness we feel in the company of others is not the result of their attention, their happiness or good fortune, or their commitment to us.  It’s the result of our commitment to ourselves.  Let’s be grateful for that!  Accepting this, accepting that we are responsible for ourselves and ourselves alone, is the key to allowing the rest of our lives to unfold as they were meant to do.

— Karen Casey, Change Your Mind and Your Life Will Follow, p. 51

What Now?

Joy, Life 0

Writing a novel and living a life are very much the same thing.  The secret is finding the balance between going out to get what you want and being open to the thing that actually winds up coming your way.  What now is not just a panic-stricken question tossed out into a dark unknown.  What now can also be our joy.  It is a declaration of possibility, of promise, of chance.  It acknowledges that our future is open, that we may well do more than anyone expected of us, that at every point in our development we are still striving to grow.  There’s a time in our lives when we all crave the answers.  It seems terrifying not to know what’s coming next.  But there is another time, a better time, when we see our lives as a series of choices, and What now represents our excitement and our future, the very vitality of life.  It’s up to you to choose a life that will keep expanding.  It takes discipline to remain curious; it takes work to be open to the world — but oh my friends, what noble and glorious work it is.

— Ann Patchett, What Now? p. 76-78

Transformation

Growth, Joy, Life 0

If you meet with selfishness, joyfully call it a chance to be unselfish yourself.  Practice the unselfish attitude which is so obviously lacking in some particular person or situation, and lovely, unselfish things will begin springing up all around you.  Instead of saying in thought, “what irritating, thoughtless neighbors,” begin calling them to yourself “delightful, potential friends and companions.”  Just as though you wave a magic wand over them, they will certainly become that if you persist long enough, or else they will move away and be replaced by delightful companions.  For you are waving a magic wand over yourself, remember, changing yourself into the nature of the name you give, so that people of the same nature will gravitate to you.

That, of course, is the whole secret and key.  What you think, you yourself become in spirit.  Spirits are continually attracted to, and gravitating towards, other spirits that think, desire, and feel the same kind of things as themselves.  To think only of good things continually attracts other good and loving spirits to you in the real world of spirit or thought as you strengthen and bless one another.  The reverse happens if you think and feel unkind or unloving things.

— Hannah Hurnard, Eagles Wings to the Higher Places, p. 66-67

A Life of Loving

Joy, Life, Love 0

Loving others will definitely improve your life right now.  Take that passion that is God’s gift to you and lavish it on others.  Think of yourself as being loved, because you are.  God loves you, and probably many others do as well.  Once you move from focusing on an absence of love to recognizing the abundance of love already within, you will stop postponing happiness.  A life of loving is available now.

— Mary Manin Morrissey, No Less Than Greatness, p. 72

Healthy Selfishness

Growth, Joy, Life 0

Some healthy selfishness now can rekindle the excitement and joy in your life — feelings that are nearer to the surface than you might imagine.  Best of all it can help you realize some of your most private and most precious dreams — now, while there’s still time.

— Dr. Rachael Heller and Dr. Richard Heller, Healthy Selfishness: Getting the Life You Deserve Without the Guilt, p. 53