“If you see my truth as a sign of disrespect (because it conflicts with your truth), then nothing I can ever say can ever have an effect that isn't negative. Anything I say--voicing any other way of looking at things-- seems like defensiveness, entrenched obstinacy, disrespect. So I didn't contradict anything. Anything. I just took it all in.” LoveTruthTrustCommunicationPerspectiveListeningConflictRespectDisrespectMist Clears Author:Shellen Lubin
“The 'originalism' of which they speak (they being the Supreme Court, the Federalist Society, and affiliated lawyers and politicians) treats the constitution like Evangelists treat the bible: they cherry-pick at whim which tenets they will uphold and which they will ignore, and, also, which they will distort so the text seems to agree with whatever it is they're claiming. Of course, it's as absurd to believe there is only deep truth to be found by trying to get into the mindset of a privileged white slave-owning land-owning cis male founder of this country as there is by trying to get into the mindset of whoever you believe wrote down the various pieces of the bible, both old and new testaments. And now they're chopping down the cherry tree out in the open with us all watching (well, watching only when we're not getting felled along with the branches) and they're speaking the truth about their intentions in a document called Project 2025. We all must read it carefully, read it and weep, weep and get angry, get angry and build strength, and then do all we can to stop them. It's now, baby, or never.” TruthStrengthConstitutionCrisisManipulationSupreme CourtEvangelismDistortionCherry Picked Originalism Author:Shellen Lubin
“Truthiness. Alternative facts. White lies. All kinds of deceptions that ultimately do not serve. Tell someone you love a meal they've made that you actually loathe and you may be eating it for the rest of your life (or will you end the very relationship rather than expose your ostensibly harmless untruth)” FactsTruthOpinionHonestyLiesDeceptionManifestationAccountabletofacts Author:Shellen Lubin
“America, you whitewash history, literally, and leave out much of its meaning and discovery. And, as we try to get better at uncovering these truths, so many who want to pretend otherwise fight and legislate to push them back underground, to once again bury them. There are so many discoveries that have been found and made, and then buried and left for us to re-find (or not)--discoveries about autonomy and equality and peace and compromise and respect for all the creatures who inhabit the planet and the planet itself. Our written history has destroyed the voices of the people from whom we stole this land and the voices of those whose lives we stole to build it, the voices of women and children and people whose skin color or language or belief system did not fit the status quo of the time and place where they lived. All were destroyed because it did not serve some lust for power or control or just because the people in charge of such things really did not believe they were very important, or refused to believe that they should be.” TruthAmericaHistoryPowerRespectDiscoveryEqualityControlAutonomyDecoration Day Author:Shellen Lubin
“In the greatest hell-- in the fiercest freeze-- the search for truth focuses, the struggle for change empowers, the quest for understanding and connection opens our hearts, the creative venture dances within and without, and we find a way. We will find a way.” TruthUnderstandingChangeCreativityStruggleFocusEmpowermentPersistenceConnectionHell Freezes Over Author:Shellen Lubin
“Movement. Action. Curiosity. Discovery. Sometimes being stuck means going deep and deep discoveries are made there, but sometimes stuck is just stuck and some kind of movement is required to get things going.” TruthActionChangeMovementDiscoveryCuriosityDeepGetting Unstuck Author:Shellen Lubin
“How much of our independence is and has always been the exploitation of others, the abuse of others? Today I'm in awe of how women of color are leading the way to not accepting it anymore” TruthChangeHistoryDignityAbuseStructureInequalityExploitationRefusalInterdependence 4 All 4 Ever Author:Shellen Lubin
“For this Rosh Hashonah--the Jewish New Year-- this is what I am reflecting on: Sh'mirat Ha'Lashon, guarding our speech. These are not the worst possible times our country has known but it may well be leading to them. While we are holding out for truth, freedom, and equity/parity/diversity/inclusivity, we must also hold out for (and require from ourselves) gentleness, compassion, empathy, and perspective.” TruthFreedomCompassionPerspectiveSpeechDiversityEmpathyEquityInclusivityShanatovah Author:Shellen Lubin
“I sat still for awhile, and I saw something when the mist cleared that I had never fully seen before. If you see my truth as a sign of disrespect (because it conflicts with your truth), then nothing I can ever say can ever have an effect that isn't negative... So I didn't contradict anything. Anything. I just took it all in. And then, yes, I get to go back to my world and do with it what I will. I wouldn't do it for just anyone. But for them, it was worth it. It was so worth it.” LoveTruthVisionListeningDisciplinePrioritiesClarityAutonomyDisrespectMist Clears Author:Shellen Lubin
“The means determining the end suits me much better than the end justifying the means, and feels much more true even if so much of what we end up setting in motion are the unexpected, unknowable consequences of our choices. I don't mean the choice is simple. I mean that the necessity is. We have to make a choice.” TruthChoicesDecisionBraveryClarityChoiceConsequencesNecessitySimple Choice Author:Shellen Lubin
“Independence is a myth rooted in--and perpetuated by--privilege. There is no independence, only interdependence.” TruthSocietyReflectionStructurePrivilegeMythIndependence DayInterdependence 4 All 4 Ever Author:Shellen Lubin
“Might the safest space be this: Safe from having to wear your armor. Safe from having to laugh off your pain. Safe to laugh at your pain, at yourself. Safe to know your truth... Safe to feel... Safe to disagree... Not safe from struggling with the conundrums of life, Safe to struggle with them To sit in the dis-comfort of no-extremes... Safe to spin through all the chaos... And feel the shoulder of another traveler... And know you are not alone. You are not alone.” TruthFeelingCompanionshipTravelingSafe SpaceConundrumsDis Comfort Author:Shellen Lubin
“Let us honor the complexity of experience and exploration, for every experience has the potential for exploration, wide and/or deep, and every exploration is a complex experience with inherent discoveries and, too, destructions.” TruthNatureHonorDiscoveryDestructionExperiencePotentialExplorationExplorers Day Author:Shellen Lubin
“You can't truly hear and remain untouched. You can't truly think and remain unaltered.” TruthConnectionThinkTouchHearAlterThinking Through Author:Shellen Lubin
“We artists can't be stopped because we live and breathe to speak our truth to write our truth to paint, and sing, and dance what we see, what we feel, what we know inside. And we will always keep trying to find a way to reach some kind of audience, even if it's in a dingy basement. And for those whose art is the jest? Our beloved jesters (can they eliminate the comedians' platforms)? They dance on the line between reportage and art. But they may be the most dangerous of all to the looming autocracy, because they make people laugh at the king (the one thing he most cannot stand). And as the people laugh, they're also learning the truth: the king has no clothes.” LifeTruthAudienceDangerPerspectiveDanceLaughArtistsStill Functioning Author:Shellen Lubin
“What brings you relief? Speaking your truth, crying your grief, or not needing to speak? Reading, writing, playing games, dancing, or doing nothing at all? Listening to songs, or piano etudes, or complete silence? Darkness or candlelight or bright beating sun? Blues, reds, yellows, many colors, or no color at all? Hot or cold water? Immersed or pouring over you? Tasting something crunchy, or sweet and smooth? The scent of jasmine, or cucumber, or musk? Someone touching you gently, or going deep, or being utterly and completely alone? We are all different... When the quality of the overload changes, so does the quality of relief.” WritingTruthReadingSilenceDarknessSunSolitudeDanceCryingRebalance Through Relief Author:Shellen Lubin
“Witnesses. Help us see how others see. Help us see ourselves from another vantage point, a larger landscape, a different view. Witnesses. Reality checks. Mirrors. Cameras. Other lenses. Different views. They can save us from our worst possible choices or from participating in someone else's.” RealityTruthVisionSupportAwarenessPerspectiveReflectionClarityWitnessDifferent View Author:Shellen Lubin
“...important truths, perspectives, and awarenesses may feel harsh no matter how 'nicely' they are stated, and so, we can't always be nice” ImportantRealityTruthAwarenessHonestyPerspectiveTruthsIs It Nice Author:Shellen Lubin