Tuesday Inspiration…

As I navigate my own grief…I find inspiration & comfort in the words of those who have done the same.

“You will lose someone you can’t live without,and your heart will be badly broken, and the bad news is that you never completely get over the loss of your beloved. But this is also the good news. They live forever in your broken heart that doesn’t seal back up. And you come through. It’s like having a broken leg that never heals perfectly—that still hurts when the weather gets cold, but you learn to dance with the limp.”
― Anne Lamott

“Only people who are capable of loving strongly can also suffer great sorrow, but this same necessity of loving serves to counteract their grief and heals them.”
― Leo Tolstoy

“The darker the night, the brighter the stars,
The deeper the grief, the closer is God!”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky

“It’s so curious: one can resist tears and ‘behave’ very well in the hardest hours of grief. But then someone makes you a friendly sign behind a window, or one notices that a flower that was in bud only yesterday has suddenly blossomed, or a letter slips from a drawer… and everything collapses. ”
― Colette

“Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak knits up the o-er wrought heart and bids it break.”
― William Shakespeare

“Deep grief sometimes is almost like a specific location, a coordinate on a map of time. When you are standing in that forest of sorrow, you cannot imagine that you could ever find your way to a better place. But if someone can assure you that they themselves have stood in that same place, and now have moved on, sometimes this will bring hope”
― Elizabeth Gilbert

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Tuesday Inspiration…

Inspired by being true to myself on this Tuesday…

…Here’s to being nobody but yourself today!!

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Literature Snippet…

“Whenever you want to achieve something,

keep your eyes open, concentrate and make sure

you know exactly what it is you want.

No one can hit their target with their eyes closed.”

—Paulo Coelho, The Devil and Miss Prym

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Outpouring of Everything Good…

Do you still write letters…snail mail is certainly not as popular in a world of texts, email, Facebook, and all the other forms of technology.  But coming home to a hand-written letter or card in the mail fills me with such joy & happiness.  I try my best to send out my own letters as often as I can in the hope of spreading a little joy to my friends & family. 

Maybe that’s why I’m quite taken with the site Letters of Note and especially with this particular letter…

In November of 1958, John Steinbeck — the renowned author of, most notably, The Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden, and Of Mice and Men — received a letter from his eldest son, Thom, who was attending boarding school. In it, the teenager spoke of Susan, a young girl with whom he believed he had fallen in love.

Steinbeck replied the same day. His beautiful letter of advice can be enjoyed below.

(Source: Steinbeck: A Life in Letters; Image: Thom and John Steinbeck with their father in 1954, courtesy of UC Berkeley.)

New York
November 10, 1958

Dear Thom:

We had your letter this morning. I will answer it from my point of view and of course Elaine will from hers.

First—if you are in love—that’s a good thing—that’s about the best thing that can happen to anyone. Don’t let anyone make it small or light to you.

Second—There are several kinds of love. One is a selfish, mean, grasping, egotistical thing which uses love for self-importance. This is the ugly and crippling kind. The other is an outpouring of everything good in you—of kindness and consideration and respect—not only the social respect of manners but the greater respect which is recognition of another person as unique and valuable. The first kind can make you sick and small and weak but the second can release in you strength, and courage and goodness and even wisdom you didn’t know you had.

You say this is not puppy love. If you feel so deeply—of course it isn’t puppy love.

But I don’t think you were asking me what you feel. You know better than anyone. What you wanted me to help you with is what to do about it—and that I can tell you.

Glory in it for one thing and be very glad and grateful for it.

The object of love is the best and most beautiful. Try to live up to it.

If you love someone—there is no possible harm in saying so—only you must remember that some people are very shy and sometimes the saying must take that shyness into consideration.

Girls have a way of knowing or feeling what you feel, but they usually like to hear it also.

It sometimes happens that what you feel is not returned for one reason or another—but that does not make your feeling less valuable and good.

Lastly, I know your feeling because I have it and I’m glad you have it.

We will be glad to meet Susan. She will be very welcome. But Elaine will make all such arrangements because that is her province and she will be very glad to. She knows about love too and maybe she can give you more help than I can.

And don’t worry about losing. If it is right, it happens—The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away.

Love,

Fa

I’m so struck by this letter…not only for Steinbeck’s honest thoughts & wisdom, but more so for his obvious, unconditional love for his own son.  Such a sweet testimony of parental love!  The act of writing the letter the day he received the note from his son is proof of love in action as well as words.

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There is Love to be Had…

I find these words from Bob Marley reassuring as I start to dip my toes back into the world of dating once again…

…I haven’t always had the best examples of relationships & love set out in front of me, which tends to make me a bit leary in the dating department.  But I’m hopeful one day that will change & I will be strong enough to “love hard when there is love to be had.”

 Have you received a piece of advice about dating, love, relationships, etc that has resonated with you?  Do you have your own wisdom to share?  I sure would be eager to hear…

In the meantime here is another bit of insight I’ve found enlightening:

“you learn how to love, by loving yourself. because some days it comes easily, and some days its much harder than it should be. you learn that love is patience. and overwhelming kindness. that love is acceptance and forgiveness and the strength to try again tomorrow. and if you can’t love yourself in that way that is whole and broken and completely exhausting, then you have no hope at ever loving another living soul.”

~Sharlyn Emily, via here

…Hope that on this Thursday I can begin to learn to love myself in a way that is whole and broken and completely exhausting!

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