Lightly Child, Lightly

~ Live & Learn

Maybe I don’t need to be doing as much as I have been doing, on the level of trying to push my life down one path or another. And maybe there are some areas of life in which one never knows. Or maybe part of me thinks that when it comes to something as profound as a human life existing or not, it would be wrong to take it too strongly in my hands, or decide too vigorously either way.

~ Sheila Heti, How Should a Person Be?: A Novel 

Notes:

  • Photo – Sean Ellis with “Light” (via Mennyfox55). 
  • Prior “Lightly child, lightly” Posts? Connect here.
  • Post Title & Inspiration: Aldous Huxley: “It’s dark because you are trying too hard. Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly. Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply. Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them.”

19 thoughts on “Lightly Child, Lightly”

    1. Yes, like:

      “Faith is in you whenever you look
      At a dewdrop or a floating leaf
      And know that they are because they have to be.
      Even if you close your eyes and dream up things
      The world will remain as it has always been
      And the leaf will be carried by the waters of the river.”

      – Czesław Miłosz, from “New Faith,” The Collected Poems: 1931-1987 (Ecco, 1988) (via Schonwieder)

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  2. You know what?
    I don’t even dare clicking in Sheila Heti’s link because I just KNOW I’d be in for another book or four to put on my Mount Zion high pile of books I should be reading before I’m totally blind…. It’s perfect in every way (and a goal I hope to have as nearly achieved as I will ever….) Have a perfectly wonderful day, you master of happy/sad/meaningful pairings 🙂

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  7. As I struggle between wanting to return to my blog and the limitations that constrain me (most of them – no, all of them – of my own design), I hear this chorus sung in my head (arguably the lyrics aren’t as good)

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        1. Mimi I can see your point – I’m the same, after an absence of over one year on the photosite Flickr (the dinosaur of photosites) I too think that – should I go back (and I want to), it would have to be with a flawless, mind-blowing, state-of-the-art photo & text…. and therefore it hasn’t happened (yet). Courage! You’ll be there when YOU decide the time is right – as will I (I hope!)…. Happy and peaceful Christmas to you

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          1. Great minds vacillate alike!😉. For what it’s worth, I’m pretty confident I’m not going to achieve anything close to perfection (I see you nodding)…I just have to m. usterthe courage and confidence sufficient to put a part of myself out there. And hope that it’s worthwhile. And I know to my toes that whenever you decide you’re ready, it’s going to be awesome…Wishing you joy and peace and always, love

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          2. Why this constant oscillation? How can one week it seem like such a good idea—and the next week it seems so wrong? How much has my deliberation won me in terms of the path of my life? Desire stems not from deliberating over what you want—it comes from someplace deeper. You can’t make something come that at the same time you don’t want. That push and pull creates nothing. It will continue to create nothing for all of time. Anywhere in your life where there is push and pull—look away from it to someplace else, to where the energy is going in one direction. Find your way into that stream and propel your life from there.

            ~ Sheila Heti, Motherhood: A Novel (Henry Holt and Co., May 1, 2018)

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