Author: resolutewoman
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Living two lives
Sylvie, a character in Ann Napolitano’s book Oh Beautiful, realizes that she has been “compartmentalizing herself for a long time.” She was keeping secrets, living one life with some people and another life with William, being one person sometimes and another person at other times. Who was she? What did she want? I have compartmentalized.…
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Gratitude for life
William was “awash in gratitude for his life,” writes Ann Napolitano in her novel Hello Beautiful. How wonderful—to be awash in gratitude for your life!
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No secrets
In the book Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano, William is hospitalized after he tries to commit suicide. His psychiatrist tells him that his mantra must be: “No bullshit. No secrets.” That’s good advice for all of us.
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The comfort of friendship
Powerful winds toppled trees in our neighborhood this week, and we lost power. We were in the dark for 26 hours, but our lights came on at 7:30 one morning—just as we were leaving to have breakfast with our neighbor across the street—and she still cooked us breakfast even though our power had returned! As…
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More buried wisdom
I am sorting through more papers—and more papers. Getting ready for a major house renovation. More papers! And, I have found more words of wisdom. I have always liked this poem by Mary Oliver—especially the last two lines. “Tell me, what is it you plan to do With your one wild and precious life?” –Joy
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The wealth of the world
I am throwing away lots of papers, but I am finding a few treasures written on some of those papers. I wrote down this quote years ago when I visited the Library of Congress. “Books are the treasured wealth of the world,” Thoreau once said. –Joy
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Cease being afraid
I am cleaning! Throwing away papers. But, I found this quote that’s worth keeping—and repeating. “I would like…to see us take hold of ourselves, look at ourselves and cease being afraid,” Eleanor Roosevelt once said. –Joy
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My dog likes me
“I let the dog out or I let him in, and we talk some,” Kurt Vonnegut once said. “I let him know I like him, and he lets me know he likes me.”
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Allow all ideas
“If you are an American, you must allow all ideas to circulate freely in your community, not merely your own,” the author Kurt Vonnegut once said.
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What you pretend
“We are what we pretend to be,” the author Kurt Vonnegut once said. “So, we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”