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Pain and hate

Why do people cling to their hateful ideas? James Baldwin once explained, “I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.”

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Habits?!

I heard an interview with the author Anthony Dorr recently, and he referred to an old saying that is worth repeating. “Habits are cobwebs at first, cables at last.” –Joy

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Perfect and neurotic

After reading an interview with Anne Lamott in the March 7, 2021, issue of The Dallas Morning News, I suddenly realized that I have spent a great deal of time being either perfect or neurotic—or, probably, more accurately, being neurotic while trying to be perfect. “At some point, you realize that we all have dual […]

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We made it

“When this day is over and the night takes us, allow yourself a deep breath. Because we made it through this day….There will be another one along tomorrow,” says Frederik Backman in his book Anxious People. I heard Frederik Backman speak at an Arts & Letters virtual presentation, and I couldn’t resist reading his book.

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Merry and mellow

Sing apples and peaches and pears! Sing orange and scarlet and yellow! Sing green turned to glory To tell us the story That autumn is merry and mellow! –Alice Henderson We’re wishing you some mellow-ness this week!

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Irritated?

I’ll admit it. The person I am staying-in-place with sometimes irritates me. However, I smiled, when a friend reminded me: “The person irritating you may be the person you are irritating.” –Joy

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An inescapable network

One of my favorite Martin Luther King quotes is this one. “All life is interrelated. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality–tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” I heard someone repeat this quote last week on a TV news show. Doesn’t it ring true today […]

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Read a book

What do people need more than anything now? Books, says author Emma Straub. “What are we all doing in our quarantines? We’re figuring out how to walk out the door without walking out the door. Reading a book is the best way to do that.” Straub talked about her new book All Adults Here in […]

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Drink and be whole

Poetry helps me when I feel stressed or anxious. Recently—I can’t remember where or when—I heard someone quoting Robert Frost. “Here are your waters and your watering place. Drink and be whole again beyond confusion.” I like the message. What makes me feel less stressed and less anxious? A poem. A walk. A phone conversation […]

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I am not okay

I am okay. That’s what I frequently tell friends when they ask how I am doing during this coronavirus pandemic. And, I am okay—almost all of the time. But, sometimes I am not okay. Recently, a friend said that she had read an interview with a mental health expert who stressed that it is okay […]

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