We’re living in what’s been termed “the age of loneliness”: we’re more connected than ever before, and simultaneously, more isolated. We rely on social media in place of face-to-face contact. We bemoan the deterioration of conversation as we spend more time looking down at our screens than up at the people we’re talking to. But, really, the problem is that we do not give ourselves permission to talk about the things that truly matter.
One of our biggest sources of resilience in combating loneliness is what psychologists call “common humanity”: the degree to which you see your struggles as part of the human experience. “To feel less lonely in your stress, two things help,” writes Stanford psychologist Kelly McGonigal. “The first is to increase your awareness of other people’s suffering. The second is to be more open about yours.” -- Jennifer Bailey                                                             > > > Read more

Let us be women to lay down our words,
            our sharp looks, our ignorant silence and towering stance
            and fill the earth with extravagant Love.
Let us be women who Love.
Let us be women who make room.
Let us be women who open our arms and invite others into an
            honest, spacious, glorious embrace.

The Opening of Eyes
That day I saw beneath dark clouds
the passing light over the water
and I heard the voice of the world speak out,
I knew then, as I had before
life is no passing memory of what has been
nor the remaining pages in a great book
waiting to be read.
It is the opening of eyes long closed.
It is the vision of far off things
seen for the silence they hold.
It is the heart after years
of secret conversing
speaking out loud in the clear air.
It is Moses in the desert
fallen to his knees before the lit bush.
It is the man throwing away his shoes
as if to enter heaven
and finding himself astonished,
opened at last,
fallen in love with solid ground. ​
-- David Whyte

Two seeds lay side by side in the fertile soil.
The first seed said, “I want to grow! I want to send my roots deep into the soil beneath me, and thrust my sprouts through the earth’s crust above me … I want to unfurl my tender buds like banners to announce the arrival of spring … I want to feel the warmth of the sun on my face and the blessing of the morning dew on my petals!”

And so she grew…

The second seed said, “Hmmmm. If I send my roots into the ground below, I don’t know what I will encounter in the dark. If I push my way through the hard soil above me I may damage my delicate sprouts … what if I let my buds open and a snail tries to eat them? And if I were to open my blossoms, a small child may pull me from the ground. No, it is much better for me to wait until it is safe.”

And so she waited…until a yard hen scratching around in the early spring ground for food found the waiting seed and promptly ate it. [1]
​
The fear of danger is what keeps people from pursing an active, passionate life — thus, they are not truly living but just surviving. But to just survive is close to being dead, and what is the point of playing dead before you’ve actually died? You will die anyway, sooner or later, so choose to live fully and intensely, savoring every single moment, before it’s too late.

​“If we can be mindful, thoughtful, and soulful, what would it mean to be bodyful? For me bodyfulness would mean . . . that each morning I would awaken and listen for how my body wanted to be nourished that day, through food, movement, and the pleasure of touch.” --- Christine Valters Paintner