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Quote by Alice Weaver Flaherty

“The scientist in me worries that my happiness is nothing more than a symptom of bipolar disease, hypergraphia from a postpartum disorder. The rest of me thinks that artificially splitting off the scientist in me from the writer in me is actually a kind of cultural bipolar disorder, one that too many of us have. The scientist asks how I can call my writing vocation and not addiction. I no longer see why I should have to make that distinction. I am addicted to breathing in the same way. I write because when I don’t, it is suffocating. I write because something much larger than myself comes into me that suffuses the page, the world, with meaning. Although I constantly fear that what I am writing teeters at the edge of being false, this force that drives me cannot be anything but real, or nothing will ever be real for me again.”

Quote by Alice Weaver Flaherty

Book:The Midnight Disease: The Drive to Write, Writer's Block, and the Creative Brain
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The Midnight Disease: The Drive to Write, Writer's Block, and the Creative Brain

This book delves into the psychological and neurological underpinnings of the writing process, examining the challenges faced by writers and the factors that contribute to writer's block. It offers insights into the creative brain and the motivations behind the drive to write. more

Author

Alice Weaver Flaherty
Alice Weaver Flaherty

Alice Weaver Flaherty, born on June 21, 1963, is an accomplished author known for her profound insights and imaginative storytelling. Her works span various genres, including novels, essays, and poetry, and have gained her recognition and acclaim from readers and critics alike. more

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“For the community's quieter members, the call to humble listening is, seemingly paradoxically, a call to speak up. If others build an auditorium for you, you do them a disservice if you fail to sing. As we noted above, humble listening must declare itself: you are simply not listening well if you don't talk back. When your peers speak, they need to hear from you. At the very least, they need to know that they have been properly understood, and they often need to receive your comments and criticisms so that they can improve their ideas and arguments. The same is true when you speak up. In his "Prayer Before Study," Aquinas reminds us that we have been born into the "twofold darkness" of "sin and ignorance." As limited creatures who are prone to error, we all need to hear from others.”

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“One of the first serious spiritual practices I learned in my early twenties was to watch what I was talking about. It is unfortunate but not surprising that most people have no idea what they are saying, to whom, and the consequences of that on themselves and others. If we want to be happy; don’t gossip, don’t spread hate, don’t talk about other people, don’t spread fear, don’t complain, don’t relay stories which are detrimental to the well-being of those around us. That will cut out the vast majority of most people’s conversations. There is a time for honest, well-intentioned directness but it is not found in common conversation and it is a learned skill. Be a bringer of peace and healing. It’s a discipline, for sure, but one that will transform our lives.”

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“It is a strange and frightening discovery to find that the sacrificial life that Jesus is talking about is the giving up of our chains - to discover that what binds us is also what gives us comfort and a measure of feeling safe. Change, while it has promise, will take from us something we have found sweet. The image we have of ourselves may keep us from wholeness, but it has some very satisfying compensations. ... Not only does change threaten something deep in us and call into being all kinds of resistance, it also threatens our friends. They, too, prefer the status quo. They may find us difficult to put up with at times, but something in them is also threatened at the prospect of the real change in us. They would be glad to have us give upa few irritating habits, provided we stay essentially as we are.”

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“Celebrate yourself. Confess the person whom you are becoming in Christ. This is the confession of your light side. Many people find it easier to dig and probe the dark dimension of life than to come to grips with the resources that are theirs. When we do not recognize our gifts and strengths, our lives fail to sound notes of gratitude. the whole growth process is blocked. We are responsible and free only when we acknowledge our resources and the fact that light has actually penetrated our darkness and made us children of light. Where sin did abound, grace does much more abound. Our fundamental confession is who we are in Christ. the deepest confession anyone will ever make is this: I am a person in Christ Jesus. He has confronted me. His power has begun to flow into my life. I am a changed and changing creation. I am his, and I can witness to his grace and power, and to the strength and possibilities that are mine because of him.”

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