Category: advice
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Wonderful, but not perfect
Families are never perfect. Holidays are never perfect. The world is not perfect. This holiday season, I am going to enjoy my wonderful, but not perfect, family, and I am going to have a wonderful, but not perfect, holiday. –Joy
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On to Thanksgiving
The elections are over—or almost over–and I’m ready to move on to happy times. Let’s begin the holidays. At least, there are a few things we can agree on. As Nora Ephron once said, “The turkey. The sweet potatoes. The stuffing. The pumpkin pie. Is there anything else we can agree so vehemently about?” –Joy
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Ghastly goblins
Here’s my message for this year’s Halloween. “Be sure to vote to keep the ghastly goblins out of government!” –Joy
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No more secrets
“Secrets work on me like splinters. I like them out.” These words are from a delightful book by Michelle Huneven. It’s called Search, and it’s about a search committee looking for a new minister for a progressive California Universal Unitarian church.
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Being normal?
“My darling girl,” says Aunt Frances in Practical Magic, “when are you going to realize that being normal is not necessarily a virtue? It rather denotes a lack of courage.” I found this quote in the gift shop at the Albuquerque Museum. –Joy
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Take a break
Give yourself permission to relax, rest, do fewer projects, take a break, advises Lisa Congdon in her book You Will Leave a Trail of Stars. “You have “permission to take an intermission.” –Joy
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Think positive thoughts
“We are what we think,” Buddha once said. “All that we are arises with our thoughts. We make the world.” I found this quote in Lisa Congdon’s book You Will Leave a Trail of Stars. –Joy
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Go together
An African proverb advises, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” I found this quote in Lisa Congdon’s book You Will Leave a Trail of Stars. –Joy
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Just show up
Author Kate Bowler recently did a podcast with the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, who offered this advice when it comes to showing up for people in difficult times: Just. Show. Up.
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Purple people?
I am helping with a Girl Scout summer book club—and being around a bunch of eager, smiling girls makes me feel a bit happier. Recently, we read the book The World Needs More Purple People by Kristen Bell and Benjamin Hart. According to these authors, we all need to be more purple, and they define…