A formula for confidence

Confidence is 10 percent hard work
            and 90 percent delusion.

                                Tina Fay, Vogue magazine

Pieces

On earth there is no heaven,    
        but there are pieces of it.

                 Jules Renard, Journal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Faith and Sense

The opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty.
Certainty is missing the point entirely.
Faith includes noticing the mess,
the emptiness and discomfort,
and letting it be there until some light returns.
Faith also means reaching deeply within,
for the sense one was born with,
the sense, for example, to go for a walk.

                Annie Lamott, Plan B

 

 

 

 

 

Poem: Adios

It is a good word, rolling off the tongue
no matter what language you were born with.
Use it. Learn where it begins,
the small alphabet of departure,
how long it takes to think of it,
then say it, then be heard.

Marry it. More than any golden ring,
it shines, it shines.
Wear it on every finger
till your hands dance,
touching everything easily,
letting everything, easily, go.

Strap it to your back like wings.
Or a kite-tail. The stream of air behind a jet.
If you are known for anything,
let it be the way you rise out of sight
when your work is finished.

Think of things that linger: leaves,
cartons and napkins, the damp smell of mold.

Think of things that disappear.

Think of what you love best,
what brings tears into your eyes.

Something that said adios to you
before you knew what it meant
or how long it was for.

Explain little, the word explains itself.
Later perhaps. Lessons following lessons,
like silence following sound.

                     Naomi Shihab Nye 

 

 

 

 

 

The best leader

A leader is best when people barely know that he exists,
not so good when people obey and acclaim him,
worst when they despise him.
Fail to honor people, They fail to honor you.
But of a good leader, who talks little,
when his work is done, his aims fulfilled,
they will all say, ‘We did this ourselves.’

Tao Te Ching or The Classic of the Way and its Power

 

 

 

 

Pseudocommunity or true community

An unconscious, gentle process
whereby people who want to be loving
attempt to be so by telling little white lies,
by withholding some of the truth about themselves
and their feelings in order to avoid conflict.
Pseudocommunity is conflict-avoiding;
true community is conflict-resolving.

    M. Scott Peck, The Different Drum: Community-making and Peace

 

 

 

 

 

A hard won education

You always learn a lot more
        when you lose than when you win.

                        African Proverb