25-01-12 - 25-01-18 QOTW
Image description: the sky and sun as viewed through broken glass. Photo by Charles Earl
Sunday
The universe is warped / that is why all of us seek each other / The universe is growing fast / that is why all of us are uneasy.
Shuntaro Tanikawa as quoted by
in The power of enjoyment: 10 things worth sharing this weekMonday
What an astonishing thing a book is. It’s a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you’re inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic.
Carl Sagan as quoted by
in The power of enjoyment: 10 things worth sharing this weekTuesday
We learn early we’re just dots
seen from a great height.
Amy Gerstler as quoted by Maggie Smith on Instagram and in the poem “Seven Disappointments (2)” in Blackbird.
Wednesday
When the ceiling caves in, it’s easy to feel hopeless. When we read the news and see so much suffering—all our manmade atrocities, our wars and our politics, our fears and our fury—it’s temping to descend into despair. But the truth is, we live in a beautiful world, full of joys big and small, full of moments of magic. And it’s important to turn our eyes to those moments of magic, and even to cultivate them—not as a head-in-the-sand moment, not as escapism, but as a necessary reminder that suffering isn’t all there is. There is goodness and kindness and joy and light. There is magic—the tiny miracle of a delicate wisp of a bird nibbling on a strawberry in your palm.
, The Isolation Journals: A New Year's Journaling Challenge- Day One: Belief in MagicThursday
this is happiness: being clear about what matters and taking my red pen to the rest of it. It amazes me now to think about how simple my life is right now, and by simple I don’t mean easy; I mean pared down. It’s people I love, work I love, and experiences that excite and inspire me. Love. Art. Community. That’s it.
, For Dear Life with Maggie Smith: Pep Talk- On Taking a Red Pen to Your LifeFriday
It is a kind of love, is it not?
How the cup holds the tea,
How the chair stands sturdy and foursquare,
How the floor receives the bottoms of shoes
Or toes. How soles of feet know
Where they’re supposed to be.
Pat Schneider, the Patience of Ordinary Things as quoted by Ronna Bloom on IG.
Saturday
In the Irish language, one way to say to cuddle is
croí isteach a dhéanamh le chéile which means to bring hearts in together.
Pronunciation - kree ish-chah a yan-uhv leh kay-luh
Listen here: abair.ie/ga
Briana Ní Loinsigh, @foghlaimeoir
If you have inspiring and intriguing quotes to share, please reach out. I’d love to include them here.
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I love your description of a simple life. That is exactly how I view it. If only my twenty year old self would have known but how could she right? Have a great weekend.