Tag Archives: resilience
The everyday struggle
“One wrestles with one’s dragons until the end of one’s life — it is a constant and eternal process. The crises in one’s life only show up in intensity what is going on every day. The crises are there, perhaps in order to illuminate the everyday struggle…so that one may be better prepared to fight, …
Up and doing
Let us, then, be up and doing, With a heart for any fate; Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labor and to wait. — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow If a few short words could sum up the past 18 months of Jeff’s life, it would be hard to find any more appropriate than these. The photo …
A sunny spirit
“Humor is the great thing, the saving thing. The minute it crops up, all our irritation and resentments slip away, and a sunny spirit takes their place.” — Mark Twain Of all the things that have helped us survive the past thirty years, and even before that, I would have to say that humor is …
Your own kind of music
“You’ve gotta make your own kind of music Sing your own special song Make your own kind of music Even if nobody else sings along.” — Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil This 1969 hit is a favorite of mine, as recorded by one of my all-time favorite vocalists, Mama Cass Elliot. I play this song …
Not destroyed
“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” — 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 (NIV) It’s a bit frightening, being this close to the edge of suffering and death. It’s not territory we chose to explore, but even from here, the view …
The inspiring force
“I was carried beyond myself by the inspiring force of urgent necessity.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry If you’ve been through anything especially difficult, harrowing or protracted and exhausting, chances are you’ve heard well-meaning people say “I don’t know how you do it” or “I could never do what you are doing.” It’s natural for them to feel that …
Connected to something bigger
“When everything around you is changing, turn to the part of you that doesn’t change, that is calm, centered, and connected to something bigger.” — Ariane de Bonvoisin Churchgoing people are accustomed to hearing various metaphors for faith. It’s spoken of as an anchor, a rock, a fortress, and a shield. It’s described as “the substance of things …
Defeat Despair 