Thoughts on Happiness
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“Happiness is a butterfly, which, when pursued, is always just beyond our grasp; but which, if we sit down quietly, may alight upon us.” —Nathaniel Hawthorne This quote is often attributed to Hawthorne. It is sometimes attributed to Thoreau. Many…
Given the state of affairs in Nashville – a heady brew (or frozen mix?) of fatigue, frustration, and relief, for some – it seems the right moment to share an exciting opportunity. Something to think about on these frigidbitter days……
The world is broken and sparkling. My friends, displaced from their homes, tell me first about the trees – bending and breaking under the weight of their own beauty. It’s a horror show – and also magnificent – the…
Winter Storm Fern has disrupted life for approximately 230 million people in the United States. C.S. Lewis and Oliver Burkeman have a few things to say about interruptions… From Meditations for Mortals, by Oliver Burkeman… What’s an interruption, anyway?…
Seems like everyone I know is buzzing about Theo of Golden by Allen Levi or The Correspondent by Virginia Evans. They’re on my list! But today, I’d love to tell you about a stirring novel I recently read with a…
Last week’s foray into German words for post-Christmas feelings made me go hunting for a book I had half-forgotten, The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows. “Its mission,” writes author John Koenig, “is to shine a light on the fundamental strangeness…
I took the ornaments off the tree and put them on the glass-top table in the sunroom. I felt ineffably sad doing so. The ornaments rested on the table for several days. I felt overwhelmingly lazy and sluggish about getting…
I’m starting the new year with this question in mind. Oliver Burkeman, in Meditations for Mortals, suggests it as an approach to just about everything. Hear him out! It’s genius. “Not everything that is more difficult is more meritorious.” -Attributed…
Mary Oliver shows me the way. Where Does the Temple Begin, Where Does it End? There are things you can’t reach. But you can reach out to them, and all day long. The wind, the bird flying away. The idea…