consistency/contradiction
“Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes)”
-Walt Whitman
It is never too late in the day…
…to change out of your sweats and actually get dressed.
It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance”
That which I believe to be true
1. We each possess the divine within us. There are times when it is smothered; there are times when it glows; there are times when it ignites; but it is always there.
2. It is nearly impossible to make decisions that will please everybody AND yourself. Sometimes the greater skill to master is accepting the disappointment/frustration/judgement of others.
3. If approached with a smile, strangers are often surprisingly friendly.
4. Attitude is incredibly powerful. It can make or ruin you. It is the lens through which every situation is viewed. If you can control your attitude, your life will be rich with adventure, entertainment, provision, and learning.
5. “Silence” is actually quite vibrant with sound.
6. Stretching is worth it.
7. Hydrating is worth it.
8. Breathing deep is worth it.
9. It is better to ask that person to dance anyway, even if they turn you down.
10. Sometimes you know someone does not want a hug. Sometimes you know that they do. But if you’re ever not sure, play it safe and hug them.
11. Words mean nothing and everything.
Words to live by…
Covenant-making is a uniquely human way to begin an alliance. Perhaps the greatest mystery of our humanness is the power to make and keep a vow. For in a vow you freely give yourself over to a permanent identity in the face of an unpredictable future. You will change, the person to whom you make the vow will change, your circumstances will change. Moreover, the person you vow to live with is in some ways the wrong person for you—no one ever marries the right person. But if you are a vow-keeper you are likely to do in the changing future what you promised in the unchangeable past. No other creature manages this. A dog can be born and become attached to a human master; only a human being can promise to create a permanent identity for himself or herself as a partner to another person.
The commandment calls us to be vow-keepers in defiance of our culture. Our culture urges us not to define our life in terms of past commitments but in terms of present needs and future possibilities. The command calls us to subordinate our needs and accommodate our possibilities to the special history we began when we vowed to be a partner in marriage.
—Lewis B. Smedes, Mere Morality: What God Expects from Ordinary People, “Respect for Covenant: Thou Shall Not Commit Adultery”
Bachata cures what ails ya.
On being an English major
Studying literature has taught me to be powerfully aware of the magic of a moment, the beauty of the mundane, and the influence of that which cannot completely be described.
