“I never saw an ugly thing in my life: for let the form of an object be what it may, – light, shade, and perspective will always make it beautiful.” ~ John Constable. I know without a doubt that my life would have been very different had I not been transplanted at an early age […]
“Life may have plans that will completely overthrow your pettiness.” ~ Jeetendra. I learned to read when I was very young but of course I would stumble against unusual words. For some reason I can remember learning to say the alphabet in phonetic style rather than naming the letters, so that one day I was […]
“Adopting the right attitude can convert a negative stress into a positive one.” ~ Hans Selye. I don’t know when I became a worrier. It would be interesting to know if it was in my nature, or if it was nurtured. I often laughed at a story I told of my mother, who, one night […]
“The force that drives the water through the rocksDrives my red blood…” ~ Dylan Thomas. Some Friday mornings my messages have been written in my head in advance, sentences constructed, thoughts pouring out of me onto the page. Other weeks I struggle, reaching for stories and memories to weave together into a cohesive form. Throughout […]
“Poetry is thoughts that breathe, and words that burn.” ~Thomas Gray. My father was a man that many confided in. Whether it was because of his profession (a minister and teacher) or personality, he had a ready ear, and gentle words of advice. Of course, as his kids, we may have heard words that were […]
“We have, I fear, confused power with greatness.” ~ Stewart Udall. The year after Jamaica attained Independence from the colonial power of Britain, my father bravely (with his entire family and all our worldly goods) took us across the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean island of Jamaica. I was the youngest, so I had very […]
“The mills of the gods grind slowly, but they grind small.” Sextus Empiricus. The first time I had anything to do with changing gears in a manual (stick shift) car, I was about nine or ten. A group of us children were driven to school in an Austin Cambridge, by the uncle of one of […]
“I have forgotten much, but still remember Poinsettia’s red, blood-red, in warm December.” ~ Claude McKay. When I left England at age almost eight, it was a rainy, damp place. Skies and buildings were drab and grey. I am sure there was sunshine, occasionally, but it was in sharp contrast to the tropical island we […]
“There is a higher court than courts of justice and that is the court of conscience. It supercedes all other courts.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi. Early in my marriage, my home was a place where there would be consequential arguments about significant topics like historical and social injustice. Friends who came over would be engaged in […]
“People find meaning and redemption in the most unusual human connections.” ~ Khaled Hosseini. I have always believed in the mind-body connection, understanding that the whole body is connected, in ways we can only begin to imagine. I often recommend practices that help to still the ‘monkey mind’, one that jumps from thought to thought, […]
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