“I am sure that if we can find reconciliation with our past – whether parents, partners or friends – we should try and do that. It won't be perfect, it will be a compromise . . . but it might mean acceptance and, the big word, forgiveness.”
Source: Christmas Days: 12 Stories and 12 Feasts for 12 Days
“You ought to appreciate some closed doors, so that you can never lose your joy.”
Source: Beyond the Closed Door: Unique Keys to Unlock Destinies
“[...]perhaps the secret of leading a life in which you would not always be worrying about things, or complaining about them, was to accept that there were people who just saw things differently from you and always would. Once you understood that, then you could accept the people themselves as they were and not try to change them. What was even more important, perhaps, was that you could love those people who looked at things so differently, because you realised that they were not trying to make life hard for you by being what they were, but were simply doing their best. Then, when you started to love them, love would do the work that it always did and it would begin to transform them and then they would end up seeing things in the same way that you did.”
Source: Precious and Grace
“I find myself making excuses for this kind of bullying behavior. Not everyone has been to college, learned trans 101, studied queer theory... But this is unfair to myself and other trans people. I've come to realize that understanding me isn't a matter of being an intellectual. Likewise, one doesn't have to be a radical to respect my feelings. Decent people consider how their comments affect others.”
“Don't expect anything from anyone unless you are prepared to accept denial.”
“The thing itself, the first thing, will never do us alone, we must be elaborating, improving, poeticising.”
“What keeps [friends] together? Common history, some shared conquests, a delight in ideas and people and living. But they will also be distinguished by their ability to listen to you. They will not be uncritical, but they will understand and accept you. You will be interested in each other's happiness and well-being.”
Source: Navigating Life: Things I Wish My Mother Had Told Me
“Being willing to feel my pain isn't another strategy I can use to avoid my pain. It is genuinely accepting that sometimes stuff really sucks. Sometimes life can really hurt. Sometimes this world isn't what I signed up for. Sometimes I still feel like I would do anything not to have these feelings and these thoughts... Willingness to allow suffering to be there is hard. Damn hard. And often frightening too. And the only thing harder is not being willing to allow suffering to be there.”
Source: Stuff That Sucks: A Teen's Guide to Accepting What You Can't Change and Committing to What You Can
“Figure out what you care about... and then care about it”
Source: Stuff That Sucks: A Teen's Guide to Accepting What You Can't Change and Committing to What You Can
“there’s more to liberation than trying to avoid discomfort, more to lasting happiness than pursuing temporary pleasures, temporary relief.”
Source: Living Beautifully with Uncertainty and Change