Category: Uncategorized
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Look at yourself
Lucy learns new things about herself in Elizabeth Strout’s book Oh, William!. In an NPR interview, Strout comments: “You always think the other person’s not behaving the way you want them to, but, then you look at yourself and you realize: Well, maybe I’m not behaving the way they want me to, either.”
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Practice perseverance
There’s a pandemic, of course. And, I’m tired of it, of course. But, no matter, I plan to keep moving forward as much as possible. I’m practicing perseverance. As Marie Curie once said, “We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves.” –Joy
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Tolerate fools gladly?!
Be kind. Be kinder. That’s always a good resolution. And, here’s a timely resolution that I received on a Happy New Year 2022 postcard. “New Year’s resolution: To tolerate fools more gladly, provided they get the jab.” The postcard, of course, is a kindly reminder that we all need to get vaccinated and boosted. –Joy
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Speak up
One New Year’s resolution that I’ve made is to speak up—with a quiet, but forceful voice—and to speak up more often. As Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez advises, “They’ll tell you that you’re too loud, that you need to wait your turn and ask the right people for permission.” –Joy
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A Rabbit Day
I am busy! I made a pecan pie yesterday. I am decorating the house for Christmas today. Tonight, I am going to dinner at a restaurant that features Elizabethan carolers singing while they stroll from table to table. I am getting excited about Christmas. I think it’s a Rabbit Day—as described by M.H. Clark in…
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Moments of bliss
The leaves on one of the trees in my front yard are turning red. I am reminded of a quote from Emily Bronte: “Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree.” I wish you many moments of bliss during the coming holiday season. –Joy
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Be yourself?
To be yourself, you have to know yourself. In Brit Bennett’s book The Vanishing Half, Stella asks her teenage daughter Kennedy: “Why can’t you just be yourself?” “Maybe I don’t know who that is,” Kennedy answers. Stella understood, Brit Bennett writes. “That was the thrill of youth, the idea that you could be anyone.”
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Stuck?
Can you become a different person? Can you change who you are? Brit Bennett’s book The Vanishing Half, is about identity. Jude, one of the characters, says, “She had always known that it was possible to be two different people in one lifetime, or maybe it was only possible for some. Maybe others were just…
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Finding yourself?
How do you find yourself? How do you know who the best you is? Brit Bennett’s book The Vanishing Half, is about identity. One of the characters Stella, the twin who is born Black, but passes into the white world, thinks: “You didn’t just find a self out there waiting—you had to make one. You…