"and you can quote me"

2011-10-07T19:04:00.000-07:00

"You weren't created just to get your heart broken so God could laugh about it with his friends at a cloud bar."
~Théo Burkhardt, to me

2011-05-03T20:04:00.000-07:00

"A human being is part of a whole called by us, the Universe."
~Albert Einstein (thanks Jamie)

2011-03-30T10:11:00.001-07:00

"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on."
~Robert Frost (thanks Sara)

2011-03-04T19:02:00.000-08:00

"woman next to me, 70 maybe. reading a book called Carnal Innocence. peeped some excerpts. holy cow."
~DCM, to me, via text, regarding his flight from Oakland to LA

2011-02-22T14:22:00.000-08:00

"How we got to be who we are and what we are today is of supreme unimportance compared with coming together to get out of the mess we have made of our world."
~Jane Goodall, when asked where she stands on Darwinism vs. creationism

2011-02-17T07:19:00.000-08:00

"You were born with an energy and passion for doing what you believe in. In fact, you've been thinking big and reaching high and doing more for as long as I can remember. And this world needs you... your courage and truth, your caring mind and heart, your imagination and talents, your smile and your voice. I'm really proud of you, you know. And I love you with all my heart!"
~personalized Valentine's Day card from my mom and dad (I'm a lucky daughter)

2011-02-16T06:36:00.000-08:00

"When we are together it occurs to me how glorious life can (and is intended to) be. So much is possible. The things that lie ahead are going to exceed even our wildest imaginings simply because what lies inside us is limitless. Thank you for helping me taste the infinite."
~me, to my dear friend's Donnie and Elaine

2011-02-15T07:51:00.000-08:00

"A tale is told of a teacher and his disciples watching a tightrope walker who was so absorbed in what he was doing that they asked their teacher what it was that riveted the aerialist's gaze to this seemingly foolish performance. The teacher answered, 'I cannot say why this man is risking his life. I only know that while he is up there, he is not thinking of the gold coins he is earning by walking the rope--for if he did, he would fall."
~Sheldon Kopp, All God's Children Are Lost, But Only a Few Can Play the Piano

2011-02-14T06:05:00.000-08:00

"Words cannot describe what I have to look forward to being in your life."
~Joseph Kalish, love ever after (thanks Mel)

2011-02-13T07:48:00.000-08:00

"If we want to be creative, we must learn to care less about how we will look in the eyes of others than what we feel about what we are doing. For the audience, an artistic production is only a public event; for the artist, it is a personal experience. But it is not the outcome but our input that counts. The rewards for our work come from the individual efforts we put into them. Public acceptance is simply a fringe benefit."
~Sheldon Kopp, All God's Children Are Lost, But Only a Few Can Play the Piano

2011-02-12T07:34:00.000-08:00

"you were like.. a firework show
in our living room
pow pow pow
dazzling / loud / not sure what to think about a firework show in your living room
you want it in the sky
or at least... you.... are used to it being in the sky"
~Melanie Caselas, via chat, on meeting me for the first time (I took it as a compliment)

2011-02-11T07:34:00.000-08:00

"Many people believe that the best way to serve God is exemplified by the followers of traditional religion, that is those who affirm their spirituality by leading austere lives, devoted to studying sacred scriptures and immersing themselves in ritual prayer. The spiritual way that moves me most is both more mystical and more personal than this traditional approach. It is the way of ordinary people leading active, everyday lives and honoring the higher power within themselves by meeting others lovingly. If we believe that God made us as we are 'because He does not want people to be caged in their lusts, but to be free in them,' we serve Him by engaging in earthly delights with heartfelt devotion."
~Sheldon Kopp, All God's Children Are Lost, But Only a Few Can Play the Piano

2011-02-10T07:28:00.000-08:00

"Meeting as two people who are soulfully dedicated to sharing their real selves, each releasing divine sparks, creates the intimacy and warmth needed for the personal growth of both of us... We each must find our own way, but the openness and caring of intimate companions makes being on our own easier to bear."
~Sheldon Kopp, All God's Children Are Lost, But Only a Few Can Play the Piano

2011-02-09T07:24:00.000-08:00

"You can rake the muck this way, rake the muck that way--it will always be muck. Have I sinned or have I not sinned? In the time I am brooding over it, I could be stringing pearls for the delight of Heaven."
~Martin Buber

2011-02-08T07:20:00.000-08:00

"Only by setting aside our idealized image of who we imagine we should be, can we allow the emergence of that awkward combination of strength and weakness that is our true self. The tension between the creative and destructive, light and dark, holy and horrible, generates the energy required to propel our growth and development. We all struggle with these inner contradictions, each in his or her own way. Both spiritual and personal growth are individual attainments. As Martin Buber notes, what kind of God would make us all so different and then allow only one way to serve Him?"
~Sheldon Kopp, All God's Children Are Lost, But Only a Few Can Play the Piano

2011-02-07T07:16:00.000-08:00

"When we attempt to hide whatever we imagine might appear eccentric or weird, we also risk obscuring the richness of any exceptional aspects of who we are. We each have something precious in us that does not exist in anyone else. The universal human possibilities are uniquely combined in each particular person. The colorfulness of our individual personalities shows up clearly when we carefully observe which way our own hearts draw us and then choose to walk this personal path with all our strength. The true value of our accomplishments is that we each bring them about in our own way and by our own efforts."
~Sheldon Kopp, All God's Children Are Lost, But Only a Few Can Play the Piano

2011-02-06T07:05:00.000-08:00

"Once we begin to risk living openly and in good faith, we may lose interest in trying to figure out what's right and what's wrong and get on with living a life that is worthwhile to us, regardless of what it might mean to others."
~Sheldon Kopp, All God's Children Are Lost, But Only a Few Can Play the Piano

2011-01-14T05:31:00.000-08:00

"When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us."
~Helen Keller

2011-01-12T05:03:00.000-08:00

"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing."
~Helen Keller

2011-01-10T05:15:00.000-08:00

"Do you recall, from your childhood, how very much this life of yours has longed for greatness? I see it now, how from the vantage point of greatness it longs for even greater greatness. That is why it does not let up being difficult, but that is also why it will not cease to grow."
~Rainer Maria Rilke (thanks Sara)

2011-01-09T05:04:00.000-08:00

"You can never argue with buttery saltiness."
~Ron Toews, aka Dad, on enjoying the simple things

2011-01-08T17:02:00.000-08:00

"I cannot afford to waste my time making money."
~Louis Agassiz (thanks jG)

2011-01-01T18:07:00.000-08:00

"Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true."
~Lord Alfred Tennyson (thanks Anna)

2010-12-20T18:41:00.001-08:00

"If you want to have a life, you will have to build one."
~Elaine Reid, Important Tips

2010-11-23T12:17:00.000-08:00

"You can use a challenge to awaken you, or you can allow it to pull you into even deeper sleep."
~Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now

2010-11-18T06:56:00.000-08:00

"In my learned opinion, often the best thing you can do for a wound is to pour saltwater in it."
~Anna Groth-Shive, Endless Yeses

2010-11-17T18:48:00.000-08:00

"One never reaches home, but wherever friendly paths intersect the whole world looks like home for a time."

~Hermann Hesse (thanks Mark)

2010-10-27T20:20:00.000-07:00

"You look strong enough to break a calf over your knee, happy enough to eat it like a watermelon."
~John Steinbeck (thanks Anna)

2010-10-22T11:45:00.000-07:00

"I want a million dollars!"
~me to The Universe

"No, you have a million dollars, thank you Universe."
~Elaine Reid, correcting my statement for me

"Oh, ok... I have a million dollars, thank you Universe. Please send me map."
~me

2010-10-03T12:40:00.000-07:00

"I have this fear that I'll never overcome my fear."
~Elaine Reid, to me, while eating oatmeal

2010-10-02T21:00:00.000-07:00

"I by no means am done discovering, but I have seen the outlines of my shore. It took me so long just to arrive at the knowledge that the destination I seek is in fact there -- but it's not some distant island I'm sloshing at sea to reach, it is in me. So close. So far. Slowly I add a new coordinate to my map. X moves around marking a different spot each day. Some days I am courageous enough and patient enough and strong enough to unearth the treasure, and some days I stay anchored in the boat, shivering in the cold of my own fog. I let myself have those days. I am learning to let myself have all the days, the glittering gold and ruby days, the gray and unfriendly days too. They are all my days. I am all my days. What matters is that I believe in my island, and it's not even about reaching it, it's about knowing it's there."
~me, hopeful romantics

2010-09-29T07:19:00.000-07:00

"Cities offer up a lot of space to not park in."
~Ron Toews (aka Dad), on trying to find a parking spot in Seattle

2010-09-28T07:18:00.000-07:00

"Today is just a good day in disguise."
~Paul Venghaus (thanks JG)

2010-09-27T19:16:00.000-07:00

2010-08-28T21:38:00.000-07:00

"Love is life. All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love. Everything is united by it alone. Love is God, and to die means that I, a particle of love, shall return to the general and eternal source."
~Leo Tolstoy (thanks Mom)

2010-08-25T21:53:00.001-07:00

"Patience has its limits. Take it too far and it's cowardice."
~George Jackson (thanks Mel)

2010-08-21T14:09:00.000-07:00

"Trust your heart if the seas catch fire, live by love though the stars walk backwards."
~e.e. cummings (thanks Mom)

2010-08-14T09:03:00.000-07:00

"Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life, and it is the main obstacle between you and a shitty first draft. I think perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping-stone just right, you won't have to die. The truth is that you will die anyway and that a lot of people who aren't even looking at their feet are going to do a whole lot better than you, and have a lot more fun while they're doing it."
~Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird

2010-07-29T18:43:00.000-07:00

"There are so many clues and feelings in the world that it makes a mystery and a mystery means there's a puzzle to be solved. Once you think like that you're hooked on probably finding a meaning, and there' many avenues in life where we're given little indications that the mystery can one day be solved. we get little proofs, — not the big proof — but the little proofs that keep us searching."
~David Lynch (thanks Sara)

2010-07-13T14:41:00.001-07:00

"Speak the following lines out loud:
I love everything about me
I love my uncanny beauty and my bewildering pain
I love my hungry soul and my wounded longing
I love my flaws, my fears, and my scary frontiers

I will never forsake, betray, or deceive myself
I will always adore, forgive, and believe in myself
I will never refuse, abandon, or scorn myself
I will always amuse, delight, and redeem myself"
~Rob Brezsny

2010-07-08T13:48:00.000-07:00

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. The world needs people who have come alive.”
~Howard Thurman (thanks Mel)

2010-07-06T20:25:00.000-07:00

"To become wise, one must wish to have certain experiences and run, as it were, into their gaping jaws. This, of course, is very dangerous; many a wise guy has been swallowed."
~Friedrich Nietzsche (thanks Elaine)

2010-06-30T22:20:00.001-07:00

"All lovers live by longing, and endure; summon a vision and declare it pure."
~Theodore Roethke

2010-06-25T23:11:00.000-07:00

"Be yourself; everyone else is already taken."
~Oscar Wilde

2010-06-22T06:17:00.000-07:00

"Look for the truth, whatever the truth may be--good, bad, or unsettling."
~Martha Graham, Blood Memory

2010-06-21T13:16:00.000-07:00

"I know my deadline for deciding when my deadline will be, will be soon."
~Jamie Masters, on setting deadlines

2010-06-14T15:26:00.001-07:00

"I can move objects with my mind if I use my hands."
~Demitri Martin (thanks Joey)

2010-06-13T21:22:00.000-07:00

"This head dangle is definitely pushing the red wine around."

~John Gillilan, after hanging upside down

2010-06-11T00:29:00.000-07:00

"But friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life; and thanks to a benevolent arrangement of things, the greater part of life is sunshine."

~Thomas Jefferson (thanks Anna)

2010-06-10T00:27:00.000-07:00

"Don't ask what are you good at. Ask what are you good for. Or just ignore both sentences."
~Elaine Reid, Important Tips

2010-06-07T18:14:00.000-07:00

"Beginnings are only difficult without any action."
~Byron (thanks Mel)

2010-05-27T09:45:00.000-07:00

"Win as if you were used to it, Lose as if you enjoyed it for a change."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson (thanks Mel)

2010-05-26T12:53:00.000-07:00

"I feel more like a kid than I did when I was a kid."
~Donnie Logan

2010-05-25T11:32:00.000-07:00

"You are not in the universe; the universe is in you."
~Deepak Chopra

2010-05-24T07:27:00.000-07:00

"The only thing better than butter, is fancy butter."
~Elaine Reid

2010-05-23T07:40:00.000-07:00

"I still know in my heart with full confidence that I will be celebrating your 87th birthday with you in 1 week and 57 years."
~Taylor Rice, to me, via email

2010-05-22T06:03:00.000-07:00

"Babbling is how the brook eventually reaches the ocean."
~me to Elaine Reid as she was apologizing for babbling

2010-05-21T09:27:00.000-07:00

"There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and there is only one of you in all time. This expression is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium; and be lost. The world will not have it.

It is not your business to determine how good it is, not how it compares with other expression. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open.

No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others."
~Martha Graham (thanks Ry)

2010-05-20T08:52:00.000-07:00

"Doors do not open when you stare at them and think about them, but rather when you turn the knob."
~Ilana Turner

2010-05-19T08:50:00.000-07:00

"Don’t bend; don’t water it down; don’t try to make it logical; don’t edit your own soul according to fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly."
~Franz Kafka (thanks Elaine)

2010-05-18T10:40:00.000-07:00

"Faith is not a state of fearlessness, but rather an ability to hold fear with the power of our awareness and not lose touch with that in us which is more than whatever we are afraid of."
~Richard Moss, M.D., The Mandala of Being

2010-05-17T09:43:00.000-07:00

"Sometimes I try and imagine new genres of music. That’s a tough one. It’s like closing your eyes and trying to picture a new color. Surely the rainbow has accounted for every color already, right? Flying Lotus feels like he stuck a crowbar between yellow and green and is wedging them apart to make room for a new color. This color doesn’t have a name yet, but it’s there. Eventually it will have a name and Skittles will add it to their lineup."
~John Gillilan, ...And the World Laughs With You

2010-05-14T14:59:00.000-07:00

"Inside every human being there is an overarching theme, a template for heroic living, a god or a goddess in embryo that yearns to be born. This is who we were meant to be, the self that we deny ourselves because most of us cannot see the field of limitless potential that is open to us. This is our best self, the egoless self, that bit of the universe acting through us for the good of all."
~Deepak Chopra

2010-05-13T10:48:00.001-07:00

"It's always complicated when you go to Kansas."
~Rosalee Toews (aka Mom), after her and my father drove 3,000 miles to spend one day in Southwestern Kansas for my grandmother's birthday

2010-05-03T06:12:00.000-07:00

"Rock n' roll ain't easy, but that don't matter none 'cause you ain't got a choice. Make music or turn to dust."
~me, hopeful romantics

2010-05-02T11:25:00.000-07:00

"A relationship is an energetic alchemy that two or more people create together which has the potential to accentuate the closeness or distance of each from his or her true self. How close to, or how far from, our true selves we live determines the quality of the relationships we create."

~Richard Moss, MD, The Mandala of Being

2010-05-01T17:41:00.000-07:00

"What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and in intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness. It is the harder because you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it. 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

2010-04-30T10:43:00.001-07:00

"Yeah, I took Spanish class, but I couldn't understand what the teacher was saying."

~Elaine Reid, on why she can't speak Spanish

2010-04-29T06:48:00.000-07:00

"This is a word we use to plug
holes with. It's the right size for those warm
blanks in speech, for those red heart-
shaped vacancies on the page that look nothing
like real hearts. Add lace
and you can sell
it. We insert it also in the one empty
space on the printed form
that comes with no instructions. There are whole
magazines with not much in them
but the word love, you can
rub it all over your body and you
can cook with it too. How do we know
it isn't what goes on at the cool
debaucheries of slugs under damp
pieces of cardboard? As for the weed-
seedlings nosing their tough snouts up
among the lettuces, they shout it.
Love! Love! sing the soldiers, raising
their glittering knives in salute.

Then there's the two
of us. This word
is far too short for us, it has only
four letters, too sparse
to fill those deep bare
vacuums between the stars
that press on us with their deafness.
It's not love we don't wish
to fall into, but that fear.
this word is not enough but it will
have to do. It's a single
vowel in this metallic
silence, a mouth that says
O again and again in wonder
and pain, a breath, a finger
grip on a cliffside. You can
hold on or let go."
~Margaret Atwood

2010-04-28T06:15:00.000-07:00

"Seeing rows of people step outside of their cars on the highway (or the Interstate as they call it in Arkansas) still gives me the kid-giddies of having breakfast for dinner."
~SKL

2010-04-27T22:02:00.001-07:00

"As I lived according to the highest light that I had, I discovered that other light was given, and that I opened myself to receiving more light as I lived the light I had."
~Peace Pilgrim

2010-04-02T06:01:00.000-07:00

"Life's as kind as you let it be."
~Charles Bukowski, Hot Water Music

2010-04-01T10:57:00.000-07:00

"I looked at the deer and we both had an understanding -- we are both meat."
~Ron Toews, on his backyard epiphany

2010-03-31T15:15:00.000-07:00

"Life's no piece of cake, mind you, but the recipe's my own to fool with."
~Haruki Murakami, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

2010-03-30T17:06:00.000-07:00

"You need not leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. You need not even listen, simply wait. You need not even wait, just learn to become quiet, and still, and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked. It has no choice; it will roll in ecstasy at your feet."

~Franz Kafka

2010-03-29T17:22:00.000-07:00

"I appeal from your customs. I must be myself. I cannot break myself any longer for you, or you. If you can love me for what I am, we shall be the happier. If you cannot, I will still seek to deserve that you should. I will not hide my tastes or aversions. I will so trust that what is deep is holy, that I will do strongly before the sun and moon whatever inly rejoices me and the heart appoints. If you are noble, I will love you; if you are not, I will not hurt you and myself by hypocritical attentions. If you are true, but not in the same truth with me, cleave to your companions; I will seek my own. I do this not selfishly but humbly and truly. It is alike your interest, and mine, and all men's, however long we have dwelt in lies, to live in truth."

~Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance

2010-03-28T17:50:00.000-07:00

"Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire."
~Reggie Leach

2010-03-27T17:46:00.000-07:00

"Don't ask the barber whether you need a haircut."
~Daniel S. Greenberg

2010-03-26T17:42:00.000-07:00

"After ecstasy, the laundry."
~Zen statement

2010-03-25T17:40:00.000-07:00

"Quiet minds cannot be perplexed or frightened but go on in fortune or misfortune at their own private pace, like a clock during a thunderstorm."
~Robert Louis Stevenson

2010-03-24T17:33:00.000-07:00

"Try everything once except incest and folk dancing."
~Thomas Beecham

2010-03-23T17:26:00.000-07:00

"I, the fiery light of divine wisdom,
I ignite the beauty of the plains,
I sparkle the waters.
I burn the sun and the moon and the stars,
With wisdom I order all rightly.
I adorn the earth.
I am the breeze that nurtures all things green.
I am the rain coming from the dew
That causes the grasses to laugh
With the joy of life.
I call forth tears, the aroma of holy work.
I am the yearning for good."
~Hildegard of Bingen

2010-03-22T17:08:00.000-07:00

"This frail vessel thou emptiest again and again, and fillest it ever with fresh life. This little flute of a reed thou hast carried over hills and dales, and hast breathed through it melodies eternally new. . . Thy infinite gifts come to me only on those very small hands of mine. Ages pass, and still thou pourest, and still there is room to fill."

~Rabindranath Tagore

2010-03-21T17:08:00.000-07:00

"You can be sure that when the season is right, your desires will manifest."

~Deepak Chopra, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success

2010-03-20T17:18:00.000-07:00

"The hero is not fed on sweets

Daily his own heart he eats..."

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

2010-03-19T17:15:00.000-07:00

"Women. The world's largest untapped natural resource."

~care.org

2010-03-18T14:25:00.000-07:00

"You are born as freedom. It is just that you have been conditioned to forget it."
~Osho (thanks Elaine)

2010-03-17T17:13:00.000-07:00

"Where's my &*%@ing boyfriend?! He's so late. . . to my life!"

~Jamie Masters

2010-03-16T08:44:00.000-07:00

"Earthquakes show me who I am; and they show that I'm scared little bitch."
~Elaine Reid

2010-03-15T17:04:00.000-07:00

"You must learn to get in touch with the innermost essence of your being. This true essence is beyond the ego. It is fearless; it is free; it is immune to criticism; it does not fear any challenge. It is beneath no one, superior to no one, and full of magic, mystery, and enchantment."

~Deepak Chopra, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success

2010-03-14T20:30:00.000-07:00

"A bone to the dog is not charity. Charity is the bone shared with the dog, when you are just as hungry as the dog."
~Jack London

2010-03-13T08:41:00.000-08:00

"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you."
~Rashi

2010-03-12T20:48:00.001-08:00

“I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.”
~Mother Teresa

2010-03-11T20:24:00.000-08:00

"I have the strangest dreams about people below the waste."
~Matthew Oden

2010-03-10T20:31:00.000-08:00

“The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.”
~Jack London

2010-03-09T14:17:00.000-08:00

"My entire being feels like an exposed nerve; raw and caught in a cold wind." ~Anna Groth-Shive
...

"Good. that means you are alive." ~me

2010-03-08T22:17:00.001-08:00

"A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it."
~Jean de La Fontaine (thanks jG)

2010-03-07T06:16:00.000-08:00

*photo from Clinton Hill Chill

2010-03-06T07:41:00.000-08:00

"And I miss him. Of course I miss him: our nest, my love, my heart. But he’ll be back soon enough. Every moment until then I just feel. I feel the wind, I feel the sun, I feel inspired. I feel excited."
~Mel Caselas, on her away-on-tour-rock-star-boyfriend, Kelcey (who is coming home in 6 days!)

2010-03-05T06:48:00.000-08:00

"Love is a precious gift 2b shared&treasured&be very gr8ful 4! A quote i found&really like it's simple truth&wisdom 'love matters more.' HUGS&<3!"
~Rosalee Toews (aka Mom), a text in her very unique and special style. Happy birthday Mom! I love you!