Peace is joy at rest. Joy is peace on its feet. quoting her pastor in Salon, April 25, 2003

I'm human, you're human, let me greet your humanness. Let's be people together for a while.

Perfectionism is a mean, frozen form of idealism, while messes are the artist's true friend.

Rest and laughter are the most spiritual and subversive acts of all. Laugh, rest, slow down.

Everything takes me forever. It's all lurch, flail. I hope that is good news to you writers.

Radical self-care is quantum, and radiates out into the atmosphere, like a little fresh air.

My father was a writer, so I grew up writing and reading and I was really encouraged by him.

Where do we even start on the daily walk of restoration and awakening? We start where we are.

I like to read away as much of the afternoon as possible, until real life rears its ugly head.

If you have a body, you are entitled to the full range of feelings. It comes with the package.

After a while the middle-aged person who lives in her head begins to talk to her soul, the kid.

...because when people have seen you at their worst, you don't have to put on the mask as much.

I don't have very sophisticated taste in music. I listen to a lot of folk music. I like reggae.

My best teachers were mess, failure, death, mistakes, and the people I hated, including myself.

I think Jesus is divine love manifest on Earth, as it comes through the community of Christians.

I don't think you have time to waste not writing because you are afraid you won't be good at it.

One line of dialogue that rings true reveals character in a way that pages of description can't.

When we agree to being part of something bigger than our own wired, fixated minds, we are saved.

I've given guys blow jobs just because I've run out of things to talk about.' Oh, Rae. Who hasn't

...most of the time, all you have is the moment, and the imperfect love of the people around you.

I've written six novels and four pieces of nonfiction, so I don't really have a genre these days.

My idea of absolute happiness is to be in bed on a rainy day, with my blankie, my cat, and my dog.

For twenty years I have ached to go back home, when there was nobody there to whom I could return.

The worst part about celebrating another birthday is the shock that you're only as well as you are.

There is nothing as sweet as a comeback, when you are down and out, about to lose, and out of time.

That thing you had to force yourself to do-the actual act of writing-turns out to be the best part.

I naturally prefer the company of people who hold grudges, as long as they are not held against me.

It's so great to be able to make people laugh, because this is so often how we get our selves back.

My gratitude for good writing is unbounded; I’m grateful for it the way I’m grateful for the ocean.

Churches are good for prayer, but so are garages and cars and mountains and showers and dance floors.

I was raised by my parents to believe that you had a moral obligation to try and help save the world.

When I was a kid, our family used to watch 'Bonanza.' I really liked having a Sunday night TV ritual.

We're out there somewhere between the known and the unknown, trying to reel in both for a closer look.

Your experiences will be yours alone. But truth and best friendship will rarely if ever disappoint you.

The road to enlightenment is long and difficult, and you should try not to forget snacks and magazines.

If you have a problem you can solve by throwing money at it, you don't have a very interesting problem.

Here are the two best prayers I know: 'Help me, help me, help me' and 'Thank you, thank you, thank you.

... the reason life works at all is that not everyone in your tribe is nuts on the same day. [pp. 65-66]

Some people seem to understand this - that life and change take time - but I am not one of those people.

This business of having been issued a body is deeply confusing... Bodies are so messy and disappointing.

Lighthouses don’t go running all over an island looking for boats to save; they just stand there shining.

We all know we're going to die; what's important is the kind of men and women we are in the face of this.

... one of the immutable laws of being human is that the people who show up are the right people. [p. 65]

When hope is not pinned wriggling onto a shiny image or expectation, it sometimes floats forth and opens.

You get your intuition back when you make space for it, when you stop the chattering of the rational mind.

...It really IS easier to experience spiritual connection when your life is in the process of coming apart.

If I have a huge audience, I'd like a bigger audience; maybe slightly a slightly more illustrious audience.

We must not inflict life on children who will be resented; we must not inflict unwanted children on society.

For me, being a writer is not an altered state. It's very ponderous, and very - it's like being a shoemaker.

For me, Jesus is my cleft in the rock. He is my safest friend, my safe totally loving accepting big brother.

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