As my friend Maud once said, "There are times when you must speak, not because you are going to change the other person, but because if you don't speak, they will have changed you." Melissa McEwan

This is really worth grappling with —

"My guess is that there's no such thing as "enlightenment." It's impossible for a human being to permanently own a perfect realization of the nature of reality. But if there is anything that comes close to resembling "enlightenment," it's the visceral sensation of feeling close to all living things, and experiencing an ever-renewing empathy and affinity for all living things." Dogen - 13th century Buddhist priest

“Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.” Dogen

"The body heals with play, the mind heals with laughter, the spirit heals with joy."

I can’t find a “for sure” author, but whoever said this was truly on to something . . .

"You can't heal people you love. You can't make choices for them. You can't rescue them. You can promise that they won't journey alone. You can loan them your map. But this trip is theirs." Laura Jean Truman

So poignant and so true —

"The impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful, it is destructive. Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes." Annie Dillard

. . . . we are all teachers.

"A fixer A fixer has the illusion of being causal. The server knows that he or she is being used in the service of something greater, essentially unknown. We fix something specific. We serve always the something: wholeness and the mystery of life. Fixing and helping are the work of the ego. Serving is the work of the soul. When you help, you see life as weak. When you fix, you see life as broken. When you serve, you see life as whole. Fixing and helping may cure. Serving heals. When I help, I feel satisfaction. When I serve, I feel gratitude. Fixing is a form of judgment. Serving is a form of connection." Unknown

"The work of the mature person is to carry grief in one hand and gratitude in the other and to be stretched large by them. How much sorrow can I hold? That's how much gratitude I can give. If I carry only grief, I'll bend toward cynicism and despair. If I have only gratitude, I'll become saccharine and won't develop much compassion for other people's suffering. Grief keeps the heart fluid and soft, which makes compassion possible." Francis Weller

Less is so often more — these words distill, in a mere 6 sentences, the mountains of words I’ve used to describe the immense value of grieving, healing and gratitude.

"When a living system is suffering from ill health, the remedy is found by connecting with more of itself." Francisco Varela, biologist, philosopher, and neuroscientist

In my practice, I see this truth with every person who learns to experience the mind/body in a more integrated way.