I Will Not Die an Unlived Life

us swing wide all the doors and windows

of our hearts on their rusty hinges

so we may learn how to open in love.

Let us see the light in the other and honor it

so we may lift one another on our shoulders

and carry each other along

Let holiness move in us

so we may pay attention to its small voice

and give ourselves fully with both hands.

What if we realized that instead of “things” getting better and better if we work harder and harder, that, like a seed, we will each in our own rhythm, go through endless cycles of gestation, birth, growth, death, and renewal?

“Self-care is never a selfish act—it is simply good stewardship of the only gift I have, the gift I was put on earth to offer to others. Anytime we can listen to true self, and give it the care it requires, we do so not only for ourselves, but for the many others whose lives we touch.”

—PARKER PALMER

May we all find the soil in which the seeds of our dreams can germinate into lives that are free of the limitations of our previous history, lives that are full and warm and rich with amazement.

we all find the soil in which the seeds of our dreams can germinate into lives that are free of the limitations of our previous history, lives that are full and warm and rich with amazement.

What are the living conditions that empower us instead of imprison us? What are the “no matter whats” in our environment that we need in order to grow an authentic and generous life?

What really matters to you? Your values are an activating intelligence in your life, guiding you toward the noble tasks that are yours alone to do. There are moments in all of our lives that reveal these values. Their significance lies not only in what meaning we make of them, but also what we allow those moments to make of us.

ask yourself, kindly, fervently, “What have I been given with which to give? Where do my talents and the needs of the world intersect?”

“There is as much guidance in what does not and cannot happen in my life as in what does.” He says we burn out not by giving away too much, as most of us think, but by trying to give what we don't possess. In other words, our limitations as well as our gifts are great indicators of where and how we should be living our purpose. None of us can do everything— the skill is in knowing how to capitalize on our strengths and allow our limitations to indicate what not to give.

When your son learns to read, the very first time, you must give him some honeycake, something sweet to eat. His mind will tie the two things together from that moment on—learning and sweetness.”