I always forget how important the empty days are, how important it may be sometimes not to expect to produce anything, even a few lines in a journal. A day when one has not pushed oneself to the limit seems a damaged damaging day, a sinful day. Not so! The most valuable thing one can…

“The encouraging thing is that every time you meet a situation, though you may think at the time it is an impossibility and you go through the tortures of the damned, once you have met it and lived through it you find that forever after you are freer than you ever were before.If you can…

  “Look into your own heart; discover what it is that gives you pain. And then refuse, under any circumstances whatsoever, to inflict that pain on anybody else.” -Karen Armstrong The Charter for Compassion, is a worldwide movement created by religious leader Karen Armstrong and dedicated to building a peaceful world through compassion. Take a…

OK, summer’s gone bye bye. Get over it! At least that’s what I tell myself. But it’s hard letting go of the long sunny days, chatting with good friends and family, and the relaxation — oops! — not so much on the relaxing since I’ve been writing all summer. But I’ve had some good porch…

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with…

“I’ve always told the musicians in my band to play what they know and then play above that. Because then anything can happen, and that’s where great art and music happen.” – Miles Davis It’s Jazz Week at Chautauqua, and the music is fabulous. Wynton Marsalis and his Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra are blowing away…

Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope. Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must he saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we are saved…

May I be no one’s enemy, and may I be the friend of that which is eternal and abides. May I wish for every person’s happiness and envy none. May I never rejoice in the ill fortune of one who has wronged me. May I, to the extent of my power, give needful help to…

“We need to find ways of sharing our intimate experiences of the Mystery, for we are one. It is through one another that we will know more of the Life that flows within us all. It is through sharing our fragments of insight that we will come to a fuller picture of the One that…

“It’s like, at the end, there’s this surprise quiz: Am I proud of me? I gave my life to become the person I am right now. Was it worth what I paid?” – Richard Bach