Where would you begin?
Where would you end?
— Joyce Maynard, Count the Ways: A Novel (William Morrow (July 13, 2021)
Notes:
- Book, recommended.
- Kirkus Book Review: Maynard creates a world rich and real enough to hold the pain she fills it with.
Tag: start
Monday Morning Wake-Up Call… I’m Up! Ta – Dah!
Photo: Bird is a Stilt. Stilt is a common name for several species of birds in the family Recurvirostridae, which also includes those known as avocets. They are found in brackish or saline wetlands in warm or hot climates. They have extremely long legs, hence the group name, and long thin bills (via Your Eyes Blaze Out)
Monday Morning Wake-Up Call
This is the time to be slow…
Try, as best you can, not to let
The wire brush of doubt
Scrape from your heart
All sense of yourself
And your hesitant light.
Time will come good;
And you will find your feet
Again on fresh pastures of promise,
Where the air will be kind
And blushed with beginning.
~ John O’Donohue, in “To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings”
Notes: Poem via MindfulBalance. Photo: “I am curious” by Olafur Eliasson (via thisisnthappiness)
Monday Morning Wake-Up Call
On the other hand, you could just relax and realize that, behind all the worry, complaint and disapproval that goes on in your mind, the sun is always coming up in the morning, moving across the sky, and going down in the evening. The birds are always out there collecting their food and making their nests and flying across the sky. The grass is always being blown by the wind or standing still. Food and flowers and trees are growing out of the earth. There’s enormous richness. You could envelop your passion for life and your curiosity and your interest. You could connect with your joyfulness. You could start right now.
~ Pema Chodron, The Wisdom of No Escape: And the Path of Loving Kindness
Notes: Quote – Thank you Beth @ Alive on All Channels. Portrait of Chodron
Monday Morning Wake-Up Call
I still wasn’t sure exactly what form the painting would take. But I did know how I should begin. Those first steps—which brush to use, what color, the direction of the first stroke—had come to me out of nowhere: they had gained a foothold in my mind and, bit by bit, taken on a tangible reality of their own. I loved this process.
~ Haruki Murakami, Killing Commendatore: A Novel. (Knopf, October 9, 2018)
Photo: cnd.ha (via Your Eyes Blaze Out)