Lightly Child, Lightly.

Posted on by Live & Learn

It was one of the October days when to breathe the air is like drinking wine, and every touch of the wind against one’s face is a caress.

— Sarah Orne Jewett, “The Country of the Pointed Firs” (Houghton Mifflin, 1896)

Notes:

  • DK Photo. October 22, 2022. Calf Pasture Beach, Norwalk, CT
  • 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.

31 thoughts on “Lightly Child, Lightly.”

      1. so ok, we have another 3 wks or so …. but I remember vividly that in my time in the Toronto area, the very, very best thing was fall with colours i‘ve never seen better before or after!

        1. It’s a hard-won lesson for the goal-setting American worker: that as much as you might love your work, work won’t love you back. Despite the fondness you may feel for the people you work with, you are not a family.

          Ambition won’t fix our broken relationship with work, least of all for the ambitious worker in question…The next best thing…is to refuse to capitulate to employers’ demands at the expense of one’s personal well-being. Saying “no” is not a mark of belligerence, but a requirement for surviving modern life.

          — Kelli María Korducki, from “We’re Finally Starting to Revolt Against the Cult of Ambition” (nytimes.com, June 6, 2021)

          I live by the truth that “No” is a complete sentence. I rest as a spiritual act.

          — Anne Lamott, Plan B, Further Thoughts on Faith (Riverhead Books; April 28, 2006)

          You’ve got to be a minimalist to be a maximalist; if you want to be really good, master and thoroughly enjoy one thing, you’ve got to say no to many others.

          — Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness, The Passion Paradox: A Guide to Going All In, Finding Success, and Discovering the Benefits of an Unbalanced Life (Brilliance Audio; Unabridged edition (March 19, 2019)

          The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say “no” to almost everything.

          — Warren Buffet

          1. That’s all good and fine, my friend. And I am zero ambitious regarding work. It’s a means to a paycheque and I will never suffer from burnout because I won’t work stupid hours.
            No, work is not where I have overextended myself. I made the mistake of saying yes to a friend to dog sit her beast, during the busiest time at work. He is not an easy dog and my running between two houses is what’s doing me in!

  12. Do you want to change the title of the post to “Lightly Child, Lightly”? Or would that ruin things at this point if you had to repost it? Or … maybe you meant it to say “Light Child, Lightly” because of the beautiful way the light is shining on those trees?

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