This book is a treasure. It has truly inspired me to try to write poetry. She has a lot of simple phrases (ideas) so well stated as in the title of this blog and a few longer ones like this:
“i want to apologize to all the women
i have called pretty
before i’ve called them intelligent or brave
i am sorry i made it sound as though
something as simple as what you’re born with
is the most you have to be proud of when your
spirit has crushed mountains
from now on i will say things like
you are resilient or you are extraordinary
not because i don’t think you’re pretty
but because you are so much more than that
This paragraph strikes me today because I also read an article about how to help kids get grit and the advice was if they do well, to tell them they are so “hard working” and not “smart.” The test groups that were told “hard working” did better on a much harder test given afterwards.
I picked the title because a friend’s child told me after they had two weeks alone at home that he hated living alone and never wanted to do it again. That scared me because I want him to be happy with himself and be confident in his journey – not afraid of reaching out to meet new friends – or to face his own fears. I sent him this quote.
Here is my first pass at trying this myself (no laughing) because part of what rupi does so well is capture everyday moments so well. With my shoulder surgery, I found myself every morning in the bathroom with my sweet husband doing my hair for me (and he is bald so this was not his strength!) and decided I wanted to write about that:
“Love is
a husband
doing my hair
daily for weeks
when I cannot.
I reassure him
I’ll still need him
when I’m better”
Well, it’s a start! Wasn’t there a book saying you have to practice something 10,000 times to be great. One down…..