Master of my Fate

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
~ Invictus, by William Ernest Henley.

Secret of Death

"The great secret of death, and perhaps its deepest connection with us, is this: that, in taking from us a being we have loved and venerated, death does not wound us without, at the same time, lifting us toward a more perfect understanding of this being and of ourselves."  Rilke

Inner Work

"Real and abiding consciousness change doesn't just happen.  We have to work for it, in our own hearts and in the world.  I am just as impressed by the inner work that each one of us does as I am by the work we do in the world.   By inner work, by spiritual work, I mean living the examined life; watering the seeds of wisdom, confronting our shadowy parts, because I'm telling you, inside each one of us is our own little mean mini-Maciavilli.   It takes work to tame our mini-Maciavilli.  It takes spiritual work that quiets the reactivity of the mind and expands the heart in wider cirlces.  It takes psychological inquiry to heal our family wounds and uncoil our unconscious ego urges to dominate and punish.  Without this kind of inner work our primal, tribal reactivity waits in the wings and it takes over when crisis' loom.  I'm not saying the point is to become some egoless saint.  I'm just asking you to consider trying to change yourself even as you try to change the world because how we do what we do is as important as what we do."  Elizabeth Lesser

Women and Healing

"A period of healing from childhood wounds frequently occurs for women in their mid-thirties and early forties as the profound changes leading to menopause begin.   I call this seven year period in the feminine life cycle "turning straw into gold".   Therapists often notice that old memories of emotional and physical abuse surface during this period preceding midlife.   It is a miracle of feminine biology that we undergo mental housecleaning in preparation."   Joan Borysenko

Change

"It is startling that we desperately hold on to what makes us miserable.   Our own woundedness becomes a source of perverse pleasure and fixes our identity.   We do not want to be cured, for that would mean moving into the unknown.  It seems we are destructively addicted to the negative."   John O' Donahue

Love

"There are many people who love each other, who belong with each other, but their disappointment with each other, or the wounds they have caused each other, hold them out of reach from each other.   Wouldn't it be great if they could risk again coming in on a wave of new hope to the shore of each other's lives?"  John O' Donahue