Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be. Grandma Moses
At the Level of Daily Life, There is Loss
At the level of daily life, there is loss. If we spiritualize it away, we cannot use it to grow. …This usually means allowing ourselves to be touched by life, to participate in it. We learn by experience. The unexperienced life does not teach anybody anything. There are no spiritual shortcuts. Rachel Naomi Remen.
The Next Best Thing to Winning Is Losing!
The next best thing to winning is losing! At least you’ve been in the race. Nellie Hershey Tullis
LifeStick
When we make things with our hands that represent our inner process, the practice of making them helps us grasp that lasting healing, growth and change don’t happen in an instant. They take time, creativity and action, the same as crafting our symbolic objects does. ScrapLady Sharon
Consciousness Brings More Pain, but It Also Brings More Joy
Consciousness brings more pain, but it also brings more joy. Because as you go further into the desert—if you go far enough—you will begin to discover little patches of green, little oases that you had never seen before. And if you go still further, you may even discover some streams of living water underneath the sand, or if you go still further, you may even be able to fulfill your own ultimate destiny. Scott Peck
How to Transform as You Come Back From Adversity
Hannah, a doll made from a stray sock, is quite a helpless creature. Hannah sometimes has days with her face in the dirt, like a caterpillar. When she can’t take any more of life’s dirt, she creates a cocoon for herself, Where she can heal, rejuvenate and recreate herself. But eventually the cocoon becomes a prison, and she finds a way to break out. As she emerges, she discovers that while cocooning, she has been transformed. Hannah is helpless no longer; she can fly wherever she pleases. Helpless Hannah has become the Comeback Queen! By following Hannah’s process …
Wilderness – a Place of Learning, Spiritual Growth and Understanding
Ironically, according to ancient legend, the word Wilderness didn’t conjure up a place of punishment, but rather a place of learning, spiritual growth, understanding, healing and accomplishment. It referred to a wellspring of Divine energy in the guise of despair, hardship and pain; your experience in the wilderness was designed to prepare or propel you toward your destiny. Or pry you loose from whatever was keeping you from it. Sarah Ban Breathnach
Providence
Providence has hidden a charm in difficult undertakings, which is appreciated only by those who dare to grapple with them. –Anne-Sophie Swethine
Our Way Is Not Soft Grass
Our way is not soft grass, it’s a mountain path with lots of rocks. But it goes upwards, forward, toward the sun. Dr. Ruth Westheimer
We Cannot Go Back. We Can Only Go Forward
We cannot go back. We can only go forward. To go back to Eden would be like trying to return to our mother’s womb, to infancy. Since we cannot go back, we must grow up. We can only go forward through the desert of life, making our way painfully over parched and barren ground into increasingly deeper levels of consciousness. Scott Peck