I remember so much. And then I think how useless my memories are. It was Camus, wasn’t it, who wrote that the sorrow of exiles is to live with a memory that serves no purpose.
Category Archives: Life
Want
To be in love with someone is to want them to want you back.
A deep-seated fear
It’s painful to write. It’s painful to take a clear look at your finances, at your health, at your relationships. At least it’s painful when you have no confidence that you can actually improve in those areas. I would not speak for anyone else, but most of my distractions … are traceable to a deep-seated fear that I may not ultimately prevail.
8 Tips for Feeling Happier During an Unhappy Time
- Remind yourself of reasons to be grateful.
- Remember your body.
- Do something fun.
- Take action.
- Look for meaning.
- Connect with friends and family.
- Make something better.
- Act toward other people the way you wish they’d act toward you.
Portable Things
I find [a] portable existence often quite enjoyable, (even though it exists in opposition to my need for a permanent home). I have always been drawn to (read: obsessed with) portable things, campers, suitcases, compact living spaces, yurts, teepees, etc. So I suppose it fulfills something in me that yearns for a kind of “lightness”, spontaneity, and adventure (living in the unknown). And I’m fascinated with how it actually helps and impacts my books in many ways. The work becomes influenced by the randomness of the location indirectly.
A reminder of the world outside
[In The Things That Needed Doing, Sean] Manning reveals how the small screen acts as a panacea, but more important, as a reminder of the world outside. Death and dying are big moments in life, moments that are near unbearable. It’s comforting to know that the world does and will keep revolving as we go through them. In modernity, sometimes it’s the dulcet tones of bad television that tell us so.
Witness
[W]e need a witness to our lives. There’s a billion people on the planet. What does any one life really mean? But in a marriage, you’re promising to care about everything — the good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things. All of it, all the time, everyday. You’re saying, ‘Your life will not go unnoticed, because I will notice it. Your life will not go unwitnessed, because I will be your witness.’
—from Shall We Dance
Expectations
You don’t stop loving somebody just because they don’t live up to your expectations.
—Joan Dickinson to Anthony Lawrence
in The Young Philadelphians
Attached
I know how to leave one life for another but the older I get the more difficult it becomes, the more attached I am to what I leave behind. I am tired of having to get through this and that and that other thing. I don’t think I have much get through left.
Get enough sleep
(These were billed as “8 Tips to Beat Holiday Stress” but seem like good advice anytime. Of course, she had me as soon as she put sleep first ;-))
- Get enough sleep.
- Exercise.
- Stay in control of your eating.
- Take your time; plan ahead.
- Learn from the past.
- Make time for real fun.
- Behave yourself!*
- Fill your heart with love.
*This one’s basically “Don’t be a grouch.” Yep, that’s a hard one!
The Remainder Table 