Making a Mark

“I always had hopes of being a big star. But as you get older, you aim a little lower. Everybody wants to make an impression, some mark upon the world. Then you think, you’ve made a mark on the world if you just get through it, and a few people remember your name. Then you’ve left a mark. You don’t have to bend the whole world. I think it’s better to just enjoy it.”

--Dorian Corey

Children Need Release

Am I allowed to take up space? Am I allowed to ask for your attention? Am I welcome here? May I relax and put my attention to other things? 

Perilous Dark Path

"We seldom go freely into the belly of the beast. Unless we face a major disaster like the death of a friend or spouse or loss of a marriage or job, we usually will not go there. As a culture, we have to be taught the language of descent. That is the great language of religion. It teaches us to enter willingly, trustingly into the dark periods of life. These dark periods are good teachers. Religious energy is in the dark questions, seldom in the answers. Answers are the way out, but that is not what we are here for. But when we look at the questions, we look for the opening to transformation. Fixing something doesn't usually transform us. We try to change events in order to avoid changing ourselves. We must learn to stay with the pain of life, without answers, without conclusions, and some days without meaning. That is the path, the perilous dark path of true prayer."

---Richard Rohr, Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer

Wishes

 "If wishes were fishes, we'd all cast nets." 

 - Scottish Proverb 

To Mistake the Footprints for the Animal Itself

"The great curse of fundamentalism, which appears in virtually all religions and ideologies, is to mistake the footprints for the animal itself. The instant a scripture or a doctrine or a dogma becomes more than an indication, and in practice becomes an inflexible external standard, the real problems of religion appear. Fundamentalism... becomes intolerant in its circular reasoning, imprisoned behind its protective barricades, fearful of sincere questioning and honest doubt, and finally abusive and even murderous."

--Addison Hodges Hart, The Ox-Herder and the Good Shepherd: Finding Christ on the Buddha's Path 

The Power of Awareness

 "What is real to me is the power of our awareness when we are focused on something beyond ourselves. It is a shaft of light shining in a dark corner. Our ability to shift our perceptions and seek creative alternatives to the conundrums of modernity is in direct proportion to our empathy."
 - Terry Tempest Williams

Practice, Practice, Practice

"The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven's sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something." 

- Kurt Vonnegut

River Stones

 

Watercolor Play

The Older I Get, the More I Want to Disappear

 "You know, it is good to hide your brilliance under a bushel, to be anonymous, to love what you are doing and not to show off. It is good to be kind without a name. That does not make you famous, it does not cause your photograph to appear in the newspapers. Politicians do not come to your door. You are just a creative human being living anonymously, and in that there is richness and great beauty."

 - Jiddu Krishnamurti

 Admittedly I don't want to disappear entirely, or this blog wouldn't exist. But increasingly the point of blogging is a conversation with myself and anyone else who happens along, rather than being found and known, critiqued or quoted, by many readers.