Month: April 2015

Some trees head for the heights, growing straight up as fast as they can. Others prefer to branch out lower to the ground, and some only manage to ever grow a few gnarled sticks—but live for thousands of years.

What is your style of growing?

“Wounding and healing are not opposites. They’re part of the same thing. It is our wounds that enable us to be compassionate with the wounds of others. It is our limitations that make us kind to the limitations of other people. It is our loneliness that helps us to find other people or to even know they’re alone with an illness. I think I have served people perfectly with parts of myself I used to be ashamed of. ”
―Rachel Naomi Remen

How have you served people with parts of yourself you used to be ashamed of?

Antoine de Saint-Exupery writes that: “Love does not consist in gazing at one another, but in looking outward together in the same direction.” But it might just be that love could consist of standing together and looking outward in different directions.

Who do you love for their view of the world that is very different than yours?

Some view society as a manicured lawn. They treat unconventional people as weeds to be mowed down or poisoned. A more eco-friendly design is to see everyone as wildflowers and let them bloom. Then our society could resemble a beautiful butterfly garden.

How do you help cultivate the unconventional?

A shadow casts a distorted image, taller or shorter depending on the angle of the sun. Details are lost, and as anyone who has played with making shadow images on a wall knows, you can end up with shadows that look like things that really aren’t even there. And yet, when we’re walking around, our shadows are the only way we can see ourselves.

How might your image of yourself be distorted from what other people see?