“I believe that what self-centered men have torn down, other-centered men can build up.”
-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“IN THE HANDS OF MAN
He who creates a poison, also has the cure.
He who creates a virus, also has the antidote.
He who creates chaos, also has the ability to create peace.
He who sparks hate, also has the ability to transform it to love.
He who creates misery, also has the ability to destroy it with kindness.
He who creates sadness, also has the ability to to covert it to happiness.
He who creates darkness, can also be awakened to produce illumination.
He who spreads fear, can also be shaken to spread comfort.
Any problems created by the left hand of man,
Can also be solved with the right,
For he who manifests anything,
Also has the ability to
Destroy it.”
-Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem
May you find your solace even amidst chaos and uncertainty, at the abiding center of yourself, deep inside.
My solace is found in silence, writing, books, animals, simplicity, music, friendship, laughter and nature, yes, these are my places. Those sweet things that resonate to the core of being.
Yes, there is solace to be found.
“..i spill into
the kind of silence
only Khalil Gibran would understand.”
-Sanober Khan
“Writing is the supreme solace.”
-W. Somerset Maugham
“Find joy and solace in the simple, and cultivate your utopia by felling the Tao in every cubic inch of space.”
-Wayne Dyer
“Books can be a source of solace…”
-Michael Dirda
“I find solace in animals. I have a stray dog at home called Candy. I picked it up while I w as waiting at the airport one day. I always wanted to have a “macho” dog but got this sweet little thing instead.”
-Randeep Hooda
“Music has always been a great solace for me. It’s still something that gives me far more joy than movies, I must say. I love movies too. But somehow, music can transport you. There are so many different kinds of experiences you can have with music.”
-Allison Anders
“Is solace anywhere more comforting than in the arms of a sister?”
-Alice Walker
“Nature has been for me, for as long as I remember, source of solace, inspiration, adventure, and delight; a home, a teacher, a companion.
-Lorraine Anderson
“I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles.”
-Anne Frank
“Laughter heals, gives solace, and is life enhancing.”
-Liz Carpenter
How lovely to find quotes for each and every one of my special solaces….
“Death is nothing at all.
It does not count.
I have only slipped away into the next room.
Nothing has happened. Everything remains exactly as it was.
I am I, and you are you,
and the old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged.
Whatever we were to each other, that we are still. Call me by the old familiar name.
Speak of me in the easy way which you always used.
Put no difference into your tone.
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was.
Let it be spoken without an effort, without the ghost of a shadow upon it. Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same as it ever was.
There is absolute and unbroken continuity.
What is this death but a negligible accident? Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am but waiting for you, for an interval,
somewhere very near,
just round the corner.All is well.
Nothing is hurt; nothing is lost.
One brief moment and all will be as it was before.
How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again!”
-Henry Scott-Holland
Remembering Samantha, Ben, Stephanie, Nancy, and two of my friend’s Dads (Heidi and Judi)…. until me meet again!
Now the sweet season of introspection, quiet, peaceful snowscapes, good books, long nights, welcoming fires, warm hearths, cozy afternoons, wanderings, deepening, dreaming, awakening…
We celebrate this longest night with a glad heart, knowing that with each subsequent day, the sun will grace us with ever more moments of light. Each day more light.
May our lives, our very souls know this too; each day more light!
O Winter ruler of the inverted year… I crown thee king of intimate delights, fireside enjoyments, home-born happiness, and all the comforts that the lowly roof of undisturbed retirement, and the hours of long uninterrupted evening, know.”
-William Cowper
“Let us love winter, for it is the spring of genius.”
“it matters what voices you listen to, it matters what books you read, it matters what you buy, what you do with your money if you have it and how you interact with those who don’t have it, it matters who you surround yourself with and why, it matters where you put your life labor, it matters where you put your love labor, it matters where you put your creative labor and what you create and why, it matters what you let into your life and what you are willing to live with, it matters what your relationship to the planet is or isn’t, it matters how you respond to danger at the door…even if it’s at your neighbor’s door.”
