Category: civil graces
Who Are You?
“If you don’t recount your family history, it will be lost. Honor your own stories and tell them too. The tales may not seem very important, but they are what binds families and makes each of us who we are.”-Madeleine L’Engle When I speak of my dad, I refer to him as one of my giants. My earliest memories are of my dad sitting … Read More Who Are You?
Resolute & Embodiment
“That we find freedom, aliveness, and power not from what contains, locates, or protects us but from what dissolves, reveals, and expands us.”― Eve Ensler, Insecure at Last I’ve started to dream about the posts I will write. Words come to me as I sleep, and I have to quickly scribble the thoughts so they don’t escape my memory. It’s like the Universe knows my … Read More Resolute & Embodiment
Your Compass
“The way to find your own North Star is not to think or feel your wayforward but to dissolve the thoughts and feelings that make you miserable. You don’t have to learn your destiny–you already know it; you just have to unlearn the thoughts that blind you to what you know.”-Martha Beck When my son, Jack, was four years old, he became my teacher. … Read More Your Compass
Authentic
“I know for sure that we each contribute to the whole of what it means to be a human on earth. The fullness of our humanity can be expressed only when we are true to ourselves. Your real job on earth is to become more of who you really are. To live to the highest degree what is pure, what is honest, what is … Read More Authentic
Build A Bigger Table
“Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star.” ― Henry David Thoreau, Walden If you have read any of my posts or my book, you know I am intrigued by the deeper meaning behind the words that we use every day. Looking at the etymology or origins of words often … Read More Build A Bigger Table
The Inward Voyage
“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a … Read More The Inward Voyage
Wings of Freedom
“Be as a bird perched on a frail branch that she feels bending beneath her, still she sings away all the same, knowing she has wings.” -Victor Hugo One of the most essential efforts today is to rebuild and heal our human infrastructure and find our way back to one another. Despite all that is happening around us, to realize our shared humanity is … Read More Wings of Freedom
Work that is Real
I started thinking a lot about leadership and how too many are in the news for shirking their responsibilities or making outright lies. It is easy to believe that “that’s just the way it is,” but I would have to disagree. There are way, way more of us doing the work that needs to be done each day. Though we don’t make the headlines … Read More Work that is Real
Standing Together
“The nation is not divided. You go out there and take a look and talk to people; you have fringes on both ends. But it’s not nearly as divided as we make it out to be, and we have to bring it together.” -President Joe Biden It has been a challenging couple of years to write about “not being a divided nation” because there … Read More Standing Together
Are We Willing?
“We cannot expect to change what’s in the world unless we first awaken what lies deeply within.” -Dr. Tererai Trent “Is this America?” That is the question that has been posed to us in the impeachment trial this week, and it is an essential question. As much as it falls on the shoulders of our elected leaders, it lands upon each of us to … Read More Are We Willing?
What lies beneath it all
“And so to love this country and to love humanity is to push humanity constructively to be a better form of itself, and there’s no way we’re going to be a better form, there’s no way we can build a better humanity, while we still have on the shackles of racism.” –Ibram X. Kendi Today Officer Brian Sicknick lies in state at the United … Read More What lies beneath it all
Where Do We Go From Here?
“But dignity is also corroded by poverty no matter how poetically we invest the humble with simple graces and charm. No worker can maintain his morale or sustain his spirit if in the market place his capacities are declared to be worthless to society.” ― Martin Luther King Jr., Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? “Do you feel depressed? Am I the … Read More Where Do We Go From Here?