Help, Thanks, Wow, the most recent book from spirituality writer Anne Lammott, is filled with these small tidbits of wisdom. The book is short and sweet and hit me with its simple and profound approach to prayer. Lamott, a recovering alcoholic with crazy dreads, brings her unique experience to her writing - she has her eyes open to the good and the bad and embraces it all in this book. She writes about a day trip with two friends, one of whom is suffering from ALS and can no longer speak. She is saddened by the decline of her friend's health, yet their time together makes Lamott reflect "I was so glad and so grateful to be there with them that day -- euphoric." This book is a great guide to communicating your needs, gratitude, and awe to God - however you define or experience him or her. Lamott is great about welcoming all different expressions and interpretations of God. Loved her and love her latest book.
If we stay where we are, where we're stuck, where we're comfortable and safe, we die there. We become like mushrooms, living in the dark, with poop up to our chins. If you want to know only what you already know, you're dying. You're saying: Leave me alone; I don't mind this little rathole. It's warm and dry. Really, it's fine.
When nothing new can get in, that's death. When oxygen can't find a way in, you die. But new is scary, and new can be disappointing, and confusing -- we had all this figure out, and now we don't.
New is life.