Anne Lamott
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Forgiveness
“Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs.” ~Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre I’ve been preparing for an upcoming journaling workshop that I’ll be leading on the topic of growing older with courage and grace. In every resource I’ve studied for this program, “forgiveness” is listed as essential to our wellbeing as we age. Everyone struggles with grudges, emotional wounds, or petty grievances. But as Anne Lammott writes in Traveling Mercies, “Not forgiving is like drinking rat poison and then waiting for the rat to die.” Forgiving someone who hurt you doesn’t always mean that the damaged relationship will return to normal — or even resume…
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How will you spend today?
“Your problem is how you are going to spend this one odd and precious life you have been issued. Whether you’re going to spend it trying to look good and creating the illusion that you have power over people and circumstances, or whether you are going to taste it, enjoy it, and find out the truth about who you are.” ~Anne Lamott Lately I’ve read some interesting articles about the dubious trade-offs we make when we craft our personal brand on social media. Or when we spend hours scrolling Facebook or Instagram instead of making real plans to socialize in person. Psychologists and researchers are sounding a wake-up call: Social…
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The gift of noticing beauty
“How does appreciating spring help the people of Ukraine? If we believe in chaos theory, and the butterfly effect, that the flapping of a monarch’s wings near my home can lead to a weather change in Tokyo, then maybe noticing beauty — flapping our wings with amazement — changes things in ways we cannot begin to imagine. It means goodness is quantum. Even to help the small world helps. Even prayer, which seems to do nothing. Everything is connected.” ~Anne Lamott
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Packing for the trip
“The road to enlightenment is long and difficult, and you should try not to forget snacks and magazines.” ~Anne Lamott, Traveling Mercies, Some Thoughts on Faith Photo by Cindy La Ferle
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Confessions of a recovering perfectionist
“Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life.” ~Anne Lamott I ordered the garden plaque as soon as I saw it in a mail-order catalog. Crafted from terra cotta, it announces in bold letters: EMBRACE IMPERFECTION. Today the plaque hangs on a brick wall just outside my garden room window, where I can view its reassuring message every day. Come to think of it, I should have ordered duplicates to use as decorative reminders throughout the house. I’ve battled perfectionism most of my life. My finely honed nit-picking skills — inherited from my mother — serve me…
