Favourite Quotes Part 2

[Dutch Uncle]

 

[Dutch Uncle]

Anytime you're gonna grow, you're gonna lose something. You're losing what you're hanging onto to keep safe. You're losing habits that you're comfortable with, you're losing familiarity.

James Hillman

Quotes like these touch a specific nerve with me nowadays.
I am becoming acquainted with the idea that loss is an integral part of life. Well, of my life at least, but I think it goes further than that. This is such a taboo. I think that (western) society (and probably quite a few more) are so drenched in the idea that it's growth, Growth, GROWTH we're after, that the whole idea of loosing something has left the collective awareness. It is shunned upon.
"Oh, get over it already!" is  about as much recognition you can expect to get. If you're 'lucky'...

Familiarity has also gotten quite a specific new meaning to me. My FOO. A big part of my journey to healing is accepting that loosing Family-arity might well be the loss I'm not compelled to grief for/over much longer. It was a pretty lousy Family after all. Hey, it still IS a pretty lousy Family. If only it just 'was' one...
I may grief for as long I need to.
But then let it go, lose it. It could be OK to do that.
An alien concept to me.

I hope I'm not too gloomy here. I try to see the cheerful side of it. As does the quote, IMHO.

[MaryAnn]

Hi Woodsgnome,

This is an excellent quote and one that helped me come to terms with the changes in my life as I work to recover, find happiness.

"The greatest lie of all is the feeling of firmness beneath our feet. We are at our most honest when we are lost."...Soren Kierkegaard.

This quote is all too true.  I have been living for everyone else but not for myself.  I have lived the lie, it shattered, and now realize I was lost all along.  But with that comes honesty as you search to find out who you really and find your true purpose in life, no matter how big or small that might be. 

Maybe losing my job is the wake up call I needed all along to force me to move, to survive, to deal with the changes that I have been procrastinating in making out of my own fears.

Thank you!
Mary Ann 

[Dutch Uncle]

The two most powerful words when we're in a place of struggle are "me too".

Brene Brown

[Jdog]

Dutch-

Excellent quote, and so easy to forget that others everywhere are hurting at the moment we are hurting. Brene Brown is a terrific and inspiring person, IMHO.  YouTube videos are well worth watching.

[MaryAnn]

One must learn to love.— This is what happens to us in music: first one has to learn to hear a figure and melody at all, to detect and distinguish it, to isolate it and delimit it as a separate life; then it requires some exertion and good will to tolerate it in spite of its strangeness, to be patient with its appearance and expression, and kindhearted about its oddity:—finally there comes a moment when we are used to it, when we wait for it, when we sense that we should miss it if it were missing: and now it continues to compel and enchant us relentlessly until we have become its humble and enraptured lovers who desire nothing better from the world than it and only it.— But that is what happens to us not only in music: that is how we have learned to love all things that we now love. In the end we are always rewarded for our good will, our patience, fairmindedness, and gentleness with what is strange; gradually, it sheds its veil and turns out to be a new and indescribable beauty:—that is its thanks for our hospitality. Even those who love themselves will have learned it in this way: for there is no other way. Love, too, has to be learned.

Friedrich Nietzsche

Lol, MaryAnn 

[Dutch Uncle]

Nice one! 

[Dutch Uncle]

In honor of Johan Cruyff, Dutch Football (Soccer) Genius and Wizard, who died today, and was famous as well for his unfathomable wisdom in many quotes:

"Voetbal is simpel, maar simpel voetballen blijkt vaak het moeilijkste wat er is."

"Football is [a] simple [game], but [to play] simple football often proves to be the most difficult thing there is."

"Ik ben overal tegen. Tot ik een besluit neem, dan ben ik ervoor. Lijkt me logisch."

"I have reservations to anything. Up to the point where I make a decision. Then I'm all for it. Seems logical to me."


Probably the one that is most relevant to us here:

"Je gaat het pas zien als je het doorhebt."

"You will only see it when you get it."


And the one to honor the man himself:

"In zekere zin ben ik waarschijnlijk onsterfelijk."

"In a way, I'm probably immortal."

RIP, Johan Cruyff. 

[Dutch Uncle]

Owning our story can be hard, but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it.

Brene Brown

I still have a book of her sitting on my shelf. I'll get around to it someday. I have a feeling she knows 'stuff'. 

[Dutch Uncle]

Another "Storm" quote:

"She stood in the storm, and when the wind did not blow her away, she adjusted her sails."

Elizabeth Edwards

[woodsgnome]

"When you use the word should, you are arguing with reality."
  ---Tara Brach

So many of my conundrums float around what I call 'shoulding' (I should be better...I should do this...etc); which often warps into self-talk: "It shouldn't have happened"; accompanied by "if only" and more on a spiral of grief and remorse.

Which is alright, really--it's okay to not be or feel okay . We seem to use 'should' as a defense against the unthinkable, after all. It's especially hard to grasp what happened in cptsd and harder still to try to overcome it. We naturally try to defeat its effects and can exhaust ourselves, or relax and accept the refreshing trip into a new dawn.

Recovery is so tricky, like a fragile climb on slippery rocks. Perhaps taking all the 'shoulding' out of the mix can at least help us unload some of the shame and guilt we've dragged along on the journey. 

[Jdog]

Than, you Woodsgnome.  I love Tara Brach and I love the idea of taking our shoulding down a notch.  My head goes there too often!

[Dutch Uncle]

Speak your truth even if your voice shakes.

Robin Sharma

[Danaus plexippus]

"Without hope and love what remains for me in this life. The sorrow which has fallen on my heart will find tranquility only in the sleep of the tomb. Flower of love. Oh my hope. Ah, life from now on will be full of sorrow. Think no more of those years that blossomed with love and hope. Oh beautiful blessed dream of peace an contentment. - Bellini: I Puritani

[Kizzie]

When inward tenderness
Finds the secret hurt,
Pain itself will crack the rock
And, Ah! Let the soul emerge.

- Rumi