listening to shame

Some of you might remember Brené Brown's TED Talk on vulnerability from a year back. Here's a new one, again on shame and vulnerability.


I've had the toughest, longest day at the library and lately it seems my life is made up of books, fear and disappointment. This talk made me cry in the best possible way, the sort of crying that heals all wounds. For the past year I've kept rewatching her first talk, now I have even more to return to, again and again.

I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet. 

Mahatma Gandhi

things i know but don't yet understand #5

Better a broken heart than no heart at all. 

(From the 2011 Doctor Who Christmas Special)

(So you know how sometimes the simplest words formed into the simplest sentences to communicate the simplest thoughts somehow reach out and knock at your rib cage and you kind of have to catch your breath for a moment because it's spectacular how honestly truths can be told?

This is one such example. From Doctor Who. (Again.) And I don't care how unintellectual it may be to quote a sci-fi show, because somehow Doctor Who manages to bowl me over time after time with things like this, the quiet wonderful sentences that somehow squeeze their way into my consciousness and lodge themselves in the folds of my brain, only to be recovered months later, when they make me choke up with remembrance.)

May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art - write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself. 

Neil Gaiman 

(The weird thing about this new year is that I have absolutely no idea where it'll take me. 

After the coming May, all bets are off.)

great places

Congratulations!

Today is your day. 

You're off to Great Places! 

You're off and away! 

You have brains in your head. 

You have feet in your shoes. 

You can steer yourself 

any direction you choose. 

You're on your own. And you know what you know. 

And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go. 

Dr. Seuss: Oh, the Places You'll Go!

thursday words

Rain, rain, exams, rain, rain.

Also my hand hurts from knitting too much.

I'm a bit how do you words right now as you can see, and amazingly uninspired.

But actually being uninspired and kind of lazy allows for some little delights: I've been dancing a lot lately, silly little dances while waiting for the toaster to ping or the water to boil or while drying my hair. Also I've been listening to musical theatre soundtracks rather a lot and singing staccato versions of Good Morning Baltimore while brushing my teeth. So it's not all doom and gloom, as they say.

I guess what I'm trying to say is maybe it's not so bad to make a habit out of making a fool of yourself in private. (And who knows, maybe I'll go public with my act one of these days, windmill kick my insecurities in the face.)

Promise me you'll always remember: you're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. 

A.A. Milne

things i know but don't yet understand #3

You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.

Siddhartha Gautama

(So here's how it went: I was supposed to write a post on how bored I am with inspirational quotes and how empty and insipid they feel right now. And then I stumbled across this and the words hit me right in the guts and 

the tears dripped off my chin before I even realised I was crying. 

Maybe I'll save the intended post for later.)

things i know but don't yet understand #2

And now that you don't have to be perfect, you can be good. 

John Steinbeck

(found here)

33 ways to stay creative

(found here)

i have nothing to add to this

To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and to endure the betrayal of false friends. To appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

(found here)

a bit of wanderlust

Oh if only all commercials were romantic, wanderlust-inducing short films.

things that are nice

Peonies. 

This song, and this one too. (And okay, one more for the road.)

Books that are so sublime I can't bear to watch the films made of them, because the book would never be the same for me again. (The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje is a prime example. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close will probably be another.)

Things that we owe to Shakespeare.

Stephen Fry on language. (I've recently discovered Stephen Fry's podcasts, which make me wish my trips to and from school were longer. They're still available for download on iTunes, if you're interested.)

This quote.

We accept the love we think we deserve.

Stephen Chbosky: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

(Also known as the hipster manual of 

angst-ridden teenagerhood. 

But who's to judge truths like this?)

kisses are a better fate than wisdom

e.e. cummings

It takes courage to grow up and turn out to be who you really are.


e.e. cummings

a reminder

"The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection, that one is sometimes willing to commit sins for the sake of loyalty, that one does not push asceticism to the point where it makes friendly intercourse impossible, and that one is prepared in the end to be defeated and broken up by life, which is the inevitable price of fastening one's love upon other human individuals."



George Orwell

(i find this strangely comforting)

"Sometimes you climb out of bed in the morning and you think, I'm not going to make it, but you laugh inside, remembering all the times you've felt that way."

Charles Bukowski 

move

One of the most stunningly beautiful videos I have ever seen. (And oh, the things I'd give to go travelling right now.)