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Quote by Wendelin Van Draanen

“But I wasn't mad or happy. And as I lay in bed trying to read, I realized that upset had been overshadowed by uneasy. I felt as though someone was watching me. I got so spooked I even got up to check out the window and in the closet and under the bed, but the feeling still didn't go away. It took me nearly until midnight to understand what it was. It was me. Watching me.”

Quote by Wendelin Van Draanen

Book:Flipped

Work

Flipped

This novel explores themes of self-discovery, friendship, and the transformative power of literature. It follows the lives of two sixth graders, Ally Barlow and Bryce Dallas Howard, who initially have a contentious relationship but gradually come to appreciate each other's company and shared interests in reading. more

Author

Wendelin Van Draanen
Wendelin Van Draanen

Wendelin Van Draanen is an American author known for his young adult literature. His works often explore themes of growth, friendship, and family relationships, and are highly appreciated by young readers. more

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“Closing The Cycle One always has to know when a stage comes to an end. If we insist on staying longer than the necessary time, we lose the happiness and the meaning of the other stages we have to go through. Closing cycles, shutting doors, ending chapters - whatever name we give it, what matters is to leave in the past the moments of life that have finished. Did you lose your job? Has a loving relationship come to an end? Did you leave your parents' house? Gone to live abroad? Has a long-lasting friendship ended all of a sudden? You can spend a long time wondering why this has happened. You can tell yourself you won't take another step until you find out why certain things that were so important and so solid in your life have turned into dust, just like that. But such an attitude will be awfully stressing for everyone involved: your parents, your husband or wife, your friends, your children, your sister, everyone will be finishing chapters, turning over new leaves, getting on with life, and they will all feel bad seeing you at a standstill. None of us can be in the present and the past at the same time, not even when we try to understand the things that happen to us. What has passed will not return: we cannot for ever be children, late adolescents, sons that feel guilt or rancor towards our parents, lovers who day and night relive an affair with someone who has gone away and has not the least intention of coming back. Things pass, and the best we can do is to let them really go away. That is why it is so important (however painful it may be!) to destroy souvenirs, move, give lots of things away to orphanages, sell or donate the books you have at home. Everything in this visible world is a manifestation of the invisible world, of what is going on in our hearts - and getting rid of certain memories also means making some room for other memories to take their place. Let things go. Release them. Detach yourself from them. Nobody plays this life with marked cards, so sometimes we win and sometimes we lose. Do not expect anything in return, do not expect your efforts to be appreciated, your genius to be discovered, your love to be understood. Stop turning on your emotional television to watch the same program over and over again, the one that shows how much you suffered from a certain loss: that is only poisoning you, nothing else. Nothing is more dangerous than not accepting love relationships that are broken off, work that is promised but there is no starting date, decisions that are always put off waiting for the "ideal moment." Before a new chapter is begun, the old one has to be finished: tell yourself that what has passed will never come back. Remember that there was a time when you could live without that thing or that person - nothing is irreplaceable, a habit is not a need. This may sound so obvious, it may even be difficult, but it is very important. Closing cycles. Not because of pride, incapacity or arrogance, but simply because that no longer fits your life. Shut the door, change the record, clean the house, shake off the dust. Stop being who you were, and change into who you are.”

“We are made of light photons, quantum electromagnetic energy, all within and around us. Live your life as such. To play it small is truly against our nature and non-beneficial to our physical, emotional and spiritual well-being. Why do anything against our very nature when we can take the step and leap into our greatness? It is effortless to live a life for and in support of life. Show us your light, represent your truth and never back down. Let us hear you roar, while you show us your light. Demonstrate your truth and set the way aglow for all. Society will follow in your footsteps, and all shall ignite in ecstatic high-vibrational energy and joy. Yes, we shall reclaim our birthright. It is happening and it is here. Now is the moment to glow.”