The dark of our long New England winter is the perfect time to clear what no longer serves us well, and to listen to our heart as we set our goals and aspirations.
The last couple of years, I’ve found it really helpful to work withDanielle LaPorte’s Desire Map process, Ink + Volt’s planners, and returning frequently to the wisdom of Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estesto stay grounded in my…
SLYTHERIN: “If you have never been called a defiant, incorrigible, impossible woman … have faith. There is yet time.” –Clarissa Pinkola Estés (Women Who Run With the Wolves)
“Most persons who have been through hell of various kinds—war, massacre, assault, torture, profound sorrows—will tell that, even though they still feel sick with the weight of it all, and perhaps also ill with regrets of one kind or another—they are nevertheless learning how to swim strong to reach the able raft of the soul. Though there is something to be said for those rare heroes and heroines who sit on the undisturbed shore enjoying the intense beauty of the soul rise, I am more on the side of those who must swim the torrents while crying out for help. In all, they are striving hard not to drown before they can reach the safety of the soul’s arms. And most who have been so deeply harmed will tell you that, all the while they are swimming, they feel their own soul is rowing toward them with the strongest, deepest of strokes that can only come from One who loves without limits.”
—Clarissa Pinkola Estes, from her introduction to the 2004 edition of The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell
“All the “not readies,” all the “I need time,” are understandable, but only for a short while. The truth is that there is never a “completely ready,” there is never a really “right time.“ There comes a time when one simply hopes for the best, pinches one’s nose, and jumps into the abyss. If this were not so, we would not have needed to create the words heroine, hero, or courage.”
— Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Women Who Run With the Wolves
“You are not lost. You are here. Stop abandoning yourself. Stop repeating this myth about love and success that will land in your lap or evade you forever. Build a humble, flawed life from the rubble, and cherish that. There is nothing more glorious on the face of the earth than someone who refuses to give up, who refuses to give in to their most self-hating, discouraged, disillusioned self, and instead learns, slowly and painfully, how to relish the feeling of building a hut in middle of the suffocating dust.” — Heather Havrilesky, Ask Polly
this tumblr text post:
“To live in this world you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go.” — Mary Oliver
From an interview with Kazu Makino:
Instructions On Not Giving Up, Ada Limon:
And this poster by Yumi Sakugawa
“You have to believe, in your heart, that even if you don’t work hard and exercise and think positive thoughts and make new friends and march triumphantly into the future, you are still enough. You will always have bad days. Being broken doesn’t make you a loser. You can crumble, and you will still be enough. Make that your religion moving forward. You are here to feel this moment. You are not here to become someone better. You are not here to impress or compete. You are not here to prove yourself. You are here to savor this life. Let down your guard. You are already enough. Believe it.” — Heather Havrilesky
“The first feminist gesture is to say: “Ok. They’re looking at me. But I’m looking at them.” The act of deciding to look, of deciding that the world is not defined by how people see me, but by how I see them.” -Agnès Varda
lyrics from the song Grow by The Oh Hellos:
“The world’s otherness is antidote to confusion, that standing within this otherness—the beauty and the mystery of the world, out in the fields or deep inside books—can re-dignify the worst-stung heart.” — Mary Oliver
“I hope you will go out and let stories, that is life, happen to you,and that you will work with these stories from your life–not someone else’s life–water them with your blood and tears and your laughter till they bloom, till you yourself burst into bloom. That is the work. The only work.” — Clarissa Pinkola Estes
