oh the humanity
“My mission, should I choose to accept it, is to find peace with exactly who and what I am. To take pride in my thoughts, my appearance, my talents, my flaws and to stop this incessant worrying that I can’t be loved as I am.”
— Anais Nin
I’m finding the thing about letting go of the illusion that it could have been different vexing, provocative, and potentially transformative. But not easy. I’ve been chewing on it since you posted it.
– William Robertson
FITTING IN
Square peg, round hole.
I attempt to mould myself to shape
only to revert,
and have to try again to fit.
So, I wonder about giving up.
Unlearning all that I have learned to conform,
and maybe stand out instead.
Yes, today
I dropped the mask,
as I once again tripped.
But no grief.
I think I learned instead
that growth might be mispresented.
That true gain may be in the releasing of pretence.
The safe definitions,
and distracting finery
to disguise our differences,
what need do we have of these?
Yes, I wonder about
shedding the trappings of success,
stored for false assurance.
And instead, undressing,
stepping out and owning
the full sum of my truth.
Square peg, round hole.
Humility, that hard honest lesson,
has a welcome voice,
‘Accept yourself’, it says.
‘Allow shame to fall.’
Ana Lisa de Jong
Living Tree Poetry
June 2018
THE INNER LIFE
Our time is hungry in spirit. In some unnoticed way we have managed to inflict severe surgery on ourselves. We have separated soul from experience, become utterly taken up with the outside world and allowed the interior life to shrink. Like a stream that disappears underground, there remains on the surface only the slightest trickle. When we devote no time to the inner life, we lose the habit of soul. We become accustomed to keeping things at surface level. The deeper questions about who we are and what we are here for visit us less and less. If we allow time for soul, we will come to sense its dark and luminous depth. If we fail to acquaint ourselves with soul, we will remain strangers in our own lives.
John O’Donohue
Excerpt from BEAUTY
The hardest thing about hard times is this: You know you’re not in control anymore. (But ask yourself something: Were you ever?) You have to make big changes before you’re ready or suddenly question what you thought you knew. But it’s possible to turn even the most upsetting situations into opportunities for growth if you can muster enough willingness, trust, faith, patience and surrender. Here’s why these qualities are so essential if we are to transcend our troubles.
Willingness
This is the all-important ingredient for making it through tough times. You must be willing to do what you believe you cannot, and acknowledge what you’ve avoided. Yes, this can be painful, but when you are unwilling to see things—and people—as they are, you can’t deal with the problem, and I can guarantee your situation will be prolonged.
Trust and Faith
Very often people confuse these two principles, but they’re very different. Trust is the belief that you can get through anything, and faith is the energy that grows from that trust, helping you carry on until things get better. You can’t have the latter without the former.
Patience
This is the capacity to accept and tolerate difficulty without anger or sorrow—and it’s your lifeline when you find yourself in the midst of a hard time. In the same way that we are unable to rush the sunrise or the unfolding of the seasons, we can’t force ourselves through a challenging experience in less time than we need to learn, heal or grow. Patience makes our difficulties pass as gently as possible.
Surrender
It’s not about giving up or bowing down. It’s about holding on to the knowledge that something bigger and more powerful than you is at work beneath the surface of your experience, and that it will take you exactly where you need to be. Now, in hard times, surrender is probably the greatest challenge you will encounter because it’s so hard to accept uncertainty. But that, my beloved, is the point. You don’t know what’s to come, but you must know that whatever happens, you will be okay.
💞
Iyanla Vanzant
Read more: http://www.oprah.com/inspiration/increasing-resilience-get-through-hard-times#ixzz5HIRYuiOX
Jeff Brown Quote memes from Pinterest / Jeff Brown books available on Amazon!
life: acoustic & amplified 