Desirée

‘The story of my recent life.’ I like that phrase. It makes more sense than ‘the story of my life’, because we get so many lives between birth and death. A life to be a child. A life to come of age. A life to wander, to settle, to fall in love, to parent, to test our promise, to realize our mortality — and in some lucky cases, to do something after that realization.

We all have the power to change our negative thinking. You may not be able to stop the thoughts from occuring, but you are more than capable of replacing them when they do. When you have an annoying song stuck in your head, what do you do? You sing a different song.

We all have the power to change our negative thinking. You may not be able to stop the thoughts from occuring, but you are more than capable of replacing them when they do. When you have an annoying song stuck in your head, what do you do? You sing a different song.

In a world filled with hate, we must still dare to hope. In a world filled with anger, we must still dare to comfort. In a world filled with despair, we must still dare to dream. And in a world filled with distrust, we must still dare to believe.

I wanted a perfect ending. Now I’ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next. Delicious Ambiguity.

“Nothing is permanently perfect.

But there are perfect moments.

And the will to choose what will bring about more perfect moments.”

Your hurt. Your anger. Your pain. Your sorrow. Your frustrations. These are all there for a reason. Use them.

Be inspired.

Do something.

Change the world.

I think that if I ever have kids, and they are upset, I won’t tell them that people are starving in China or anything like that because it wouldn’t change the fact that they were upset. And even if somebody else has it much worse, that doesn’t really change the fact that you have what you have.

You can not avoid pain, but you can chose to overcome it.

Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it. Embracing our vulnerabilities is risky but not nearly as dangerous as giving up on love and belonging and joy—the experiences that make us the most vulnerable. Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.

Shame corrodes the very part of us that believes we are capable of change.

Over the last few hours I’ve allowed myself to feel defeated, and just like she said if you allow yourself to feel the way you really feel, maybe you won’t be afraid of that feeling anymore.

Risk more than others think is safe, care more than others think is wise, dream more than others think is practical, expect more than others think is possible.

We do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us something is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch. Once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit.

Perhaps we don’t like what we see: our hips, our loss of hair, our shoe size, our dimples, our knuckles too big, our eating habits, our disposition. We have disclosed these things in secret, likes and dislikes, behind doors with locks, our lonely rooms, our messy desks, our empty hearts, our sudden bursts of energy, our sudden bouts of depression. Don’t worry. Put away your mirrors and your beauty magazines and your books on tape. There is someone right here who knows you more than you do, who is making room on the couch, who is fixing a meal, who is putting on your favorite record, who is listening intently to what you have to say, who is standing there with you, face to face, hand to hand, eye to eye, mouth to mouth. There is no space left uncovered. This is where you belong.

The first key [to recovery] is hope, motivation and patience. You need to know you can get there, that you can be recovered, that it takes a long time. And you need to continually reevaluate your motivation. Other keys: finding meaning and purpose. Conscious eating — listening to your body, getting awareness of hunger and fullness back in your life. Learning how to challenge the critical eating-disordered voice inside yourself and strengthening your healthy core self. Exploring with someone you trust what’s fueling your eating disorder. Really looking for the underlying issues, so you don’t get rid of your symptom only to have it pop up again.

To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.