“Tomorrow belongs to those of us who conceive of it as belonging to everyone, who lend the best of ourselves to it, and with joy.”

“When the poem, which is life, carries so much violence, how do you not reenact that violence—or try not to? What choices do you make in your revisions? Those kinds of questions were really important to me and remain so. I think, now, I’m also interested in: how do you carry these histories, realities, and somehow make a life force, some kind of vital energy? Two true things can happen at once, which can be like a glitch between two words that feels like an energy that is not consumed by grief, but informed by it. Sometimes it’s an image. But it’s really about holding onto a kind of fullness of imagination that’s not only shaped by brutality, because that is the condition of it all. There are other responses that I’m trying to cultivate which have to do with what gives you breath or takes you by beautiful surprise or allows some measure of music for a moment.”

“Contemplation is about learning to see, learning to behold the deepest, most encompassing reality. This is a type of seeing that takes the world seriously on its own terms. You’re not trying to tell a symbolic or metaphorical story about the tree or the river or the sky. You’re allowing it to be what it is, without imposing on it, and you’re acknowledging that it has incalculable value and beauty and power. That’s the object of your contemplation. […] Contemplation is slowing down, getting quiet, allowing what you’re gazing upon to enter you, to shape you. It’s awareness of who we are in relation to the all, the whole, the immensity.”

“Do not wait for praise. Do not even wait for understanding. Wait only for the work itself to unfold. That must be enough.”

[“When our demands for love become compulsive or insatiable, we have a clue that we doubt our own lovability. For when we doubt that we are lovable, we often need to see it proved over and over. This seems narcissistic on our part, but viewed from a more compassionate perspective, it may suggest that we have a low opinion of ourselves. Indeed, the need to be seen as special can be a compensation for feeling unloved. How can we overcome our self-doubt? Through a simple practice: act lovingly. Lovability is actually the other side of the coin of loving. People who believe they are lovable are people who love. People who love are more likely to be loved. This involves letting go of ego, but it also requires a unique frame of mind: When any conflict or issue arises between ourselves and someone else, we ask not how to win but how to summon up a loving intent and how to act on it. Our immediate question is “How can I be as loving as possible in this circumstance?”]

Been having the sorta exhaustion where I couldn't fight sleep if I tried. And I'm learning not to try. [Let it take you. It loves you for real.]