I must be a Miffo, a freak, a delay, a hindrance, and a failure. A concept of unrest. As if I can collect all of me in this muddle, I attempt to tell myself Pull it together. But pity takes over, grabs me by the arm, and reminds me that I am a monstrosity.

—  Szilvia Molnar, The Nursery: A Novel (Pantheon, March 21, 2023) 

It is in your power to direct your thoughts; it is in your power to keep your soul in peace.

― Joseph Murphy, The Power of Your Subconscious Mind (1963) (Way to Success, October 11, 2019)

Love comes with sacrifices. The important kind of love does not exist without the existence of certain losses. It remains to be seen which loss is possible enough to bear, to endure, to relinquish.

— Szilvia Molnar, The Nursery: A Novel (Pantheon, March 21, 2023)

We are endless loops of repetition.

— Szilvia Molnar, The Nursery: A Novel (Pantheon, March 21, 2023)

Something precious is lost if we rush headlong into the details of life without pausing for a moment to pay homage to the mystery of life and the gift of another day.

- Kent Nerburn, Small Graces: The Quiet Gifts of Everyday Life  (New World Library, Oct 14, 2010)

Monday I was told I was good.
I felt relieved.
Tuesday I was ignored.
I felt invisible.
Wednesday I was snapped at.
I began to doubt myself.
On Thursday I was rejected.
Now I was afraid.
On Saturday I was thanked
for being me. My soul relaxed.
On Sunday I was left alone
till the part of me that can’t
be influenced grew tired of
submitting and resisting.
Monday I was told I was good.
By Tuesday I got off the wheel.

~Mark Nepo, “Thinking like a Butterfly” in The Way Under the Way: The Place of True Meeting (Sounds True; November 1, 2016)  (via Make Believe Boutique)

Beware, O wanderer, the road is walking too, 
said Rilke one day to no one in particular
as good poets everywhere address the six directions. 
If you can’t bow, you’re dead meat. You’ll break
like uncooked spaghetti. Listen to the gods.
They’re shouting in your ear every second.

—  Jim Harrison, from ”Beware, o wanderer, the road is walking too” in After Ikkyu and Other Poems (Shambhala; August 20, 1996) (via The Hammock Papers)

Walking itself is the intentional act closest to the unwilled rhythms of the body, to breathing and the beating of the heart. It strikes a delicate balance between working and idling, being and doing. It is a bodily labor that produces nothing but thoughts, experiences, arrivals.

— Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of Walking (Viking, April 10, 2000) (via Alive on All Channels)

In “The Life We’re Looking For,” I define a person as a heart-soul-mind-strength complex designed for love. The world we’ve built using technology is less and less good for the most important thing about us, which is our design for love. From the moment we come into the world, what we are most looking for, most in need of, most designed to learn to give and receive from others, is love — intimate, profound, mutual relationships of giving and receiving, even at great cost to ourselves. That is truly what love is. In the psychiatrist Curt Thompson’s beautiful phrase, we’re all “looking for someone looking for us.” None of us were born looking for a screen. We were all born looking for a face.

— Andy Crouch, from “Nurturing Our Relationships in a Digital World” (The New York Times · Interviewed by Tish Harrison Warren · June 4, 2023)

This rage doesn’t understand proportions, but, like me, it is also a coward, it gives up too quickly and folds into sadness. It’s equally as tired as I am.

— Szilvia Molnar, The Nursery: A Novel (Pantheon, March 21, 2023)

Cygnet with Mom & Dad. 46° F. 5:45 am. June 4, 2023. Cove Island Park, Stamford, CT. (@dkct25)