Quote of the Day

Just as driving on the right side of the road gives us the freedom to go anywhere, so accepting the natural law of constant change is our route to freedom.

-- Jack Kornfield, Buddha's Little Instruction Book, p. 60

Quote of the Day

My life has been my music, it's always come first, but the music ain't worth nothing if you can't lay it on the public.

-- Louis Armstrong

Quote of the Day

Music would be a gift that would help me understand that life is made up of all manner of serenity and despair, but that it is in how we choose to let those things pass through us that speak of our true character.

-- Jennifer Knapp, Facing the Music, p. 43

Quote of the Day

Whatever we say, we're always talking about ourselves.

-- Alison Bechdel

Quote of the Day

How we treat our fellow human beings is not a peripheral issue, sidelined by supposedly "good theology."  It's central.  It's everything.  I don't care whether you are Calvinist or Arminian, charismatic or Catholic, you can't demean women or bully the marginalized and still have "good theology."  Misogyny is bad theology.  Bulling is bad theology.  And it's time we start identifying them as such.

-- Rachel Held Evans, "Changing the Culture that Enabled Mark Driscoll: 6 Ways Forward"

Quote of the Day

I feel significant when I tell my stories, therefore I am.

-- Frank Schaeffer, Why I Am an Atheist Who Believes in God, p. 77

Quote of the Day

Rather than sitting on the sidelines and hurling judgment and advice, we must dare to show up and let ourselves be seen.  This is vulnerability.  This is daring greatly.

-- Brene Brown, Daring Greatly, p. 2

Quote of the Day

When wishes are few, the heart is happy.

-- Jack Kornfield, Buddha's Little Instruction Book, p. 57

Quote of the Day

It's no easy business to be simple.

-- Gustave Flaubert

Quote of the Day

None of us are at the end of what we experience.  It may feel like we are at times the target of sorrow or of anger, but these things must pass through us if we want to survive them.  We cannot keep joy to ourselves or love hidden away.  Nor can we harbor pain so deep it takes root.  We can set the love we have inside our hearts free to be enjoyed by those we hold dear.  We have in us the power to reshape the anger we experience into acts of forgiveness.

-- Jennifer Knapp, Facing the Music, p. 43

Quote of the Day

Autobiography is only to be trusted when it reveals something disgraceful.

-- George Orwell

Quote of the Day

If your pastor has little to no accountability, and if your questions about accountability are met with hostility, leave.

-- Rachel Held Evans, "Changing the Culture that Enabled Mark Driscoll: 6 Ways Forward"

Quote of the Day

This gorgeous universe would be such a waste if it were unobserved and unremembered.  Aren't we lucky that we're storytellers?  Isn't the universe lucky to have us!  

-- Frank Schaeffer, Why I Am an Atheist Who Believes in God, p. 76

Quote of the Day

The surest thing I took away from my BSW, MSW, and Ph.D. in social work is this: Connection is why we're here.  We are hardwired to connect with others, it's what gives purpose and meaning to our lives, and without it there is suffering.

-- Brene Brown, Daring Greatly, p. 8

Quote of the Day

Not getting what you desire and getting what you desire can both be disappointing.

-- Jack Kornfield, Buddha's Little Instruction Book, p. 56

Quote of the Day

A modern stoic knows that the surest way to discipline passion is to discipline time: decide what you want or ought to do during the day, then always do it at exactly the same moment every day, and passion will give you no trouble.

-- W. H. Auden

Quote of the Day

To me, music was the voice of our inner spirit, that when we call out, answers our deepest longings.

-- Jennifer Knapp, Facing the Music, p. 42

Quote of the Day

If you want to be more effective when sharing yourself and your work, you need to become a better storyteller.  You need to know what a good story is and how to tell one.

-- Austin Kleon, Show Your Work!, p. 95

Quote of the Day

An apology is for the benefit of the bully/abuser ... But it's a mistake to tell anyone in an abusive situation exactly when they should accept an apology. Until the victim is completely removed from [the] abusive situation and has had time to process what's happened on their own, what looks like beneficial forgiveness can actually enable the abuse cycle to continue. When the exchange of verbal apology and forgiveness allows abuse to continue it defeats the purpose and benefit of the forgiveness, which is to lessen the harm done to the victim… Forgiveness is renewable and not the same thing as trust which can be lost forever... If someone's been a victim of bullying at the hands of Mark Driscoll, for example, they are under no obligation to ever trust him again.

-- Dan Evans, "On Forgiveness and Abuse"

Quote of the Day

We have Jesus and his Enlightenment prophets to thank for the humanist ideas on which America was founded.  If you're one of the people Jesus is said to have favored -- a child, a woman, someone ill, a sex worker, someone regarded as untouchable, old, ugly, abandoned or "the other" in some way -- and you are being cared for by unbelievers, is Jesus' example being followed?  Or does Jesus only live in correct theology regardless of how little a Christian may care about your wellbeing?

-- Frank Schaeffer, Why I Am an Atheist Who Believes in God, p. 65-66

Quote of the Day

The level to which we protect ourselves from being vulnerable is a measure of our fear and disconnection.

-- Brene Brown, Daring Greatly, p. 2

Quote of the Day

There are no holy places and no holy people, only holy moments, only moments of wisdom.

-- Jack Kornfield, Buddha's Little Instruction Book, p. 52

Quote of the Day

It is a danger to wait around for an idea to occur to you.  You have to find the idea.

-- Gerhard Richter

Quote of the Day

The middle ground is not the place to go if you’re going to show courage and vision.

-- Cornel West