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Significant Quotes


mfh

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I did one of these topics a long time ago. If you are like me you find quotes that you just know will touch someone else here. I find them all the time especially on Pinterest and various websites. Why not add those to this topic and share them with others. Here is the first one:

"When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving much advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a gentle and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares" . - Henri Nouwen

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Mary, Henri Nouwen is one of my all time favorites! I am going to have to give this thread some thought...

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Mary, Henri Nouwen is one of my all time favorites! I am going to have to give this thread some thought...

I agree, Kay, I think I have read most of what he has written over the years.

http://www.henrinouwen.org/

Mary

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The one that touches me the most is one you have on your signature, I saw it my first day on this board and it has given me a lot of hope and reminded me that Arthur will ALWAYS be with me and I will never be truly alone. It is what inspired my memorial tattoo of his name inside a heart....

“I carry your heart with me (I carry it in my heart) I am never without it (anywhere I go you go, my dear; and whatever is done by only me is your doing, my darling)

I fear no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) I want no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true) and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows (here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide) and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

I carry your heart (I carry it in my heart)”

E.E. Cummings

The rest of these are things I saved in PinTerest.

In all things it is better to HOPE than to DESPAIR.

Von Goethe

Grief is not a disorder, a disease or a sign of weakness. It is an emotional, physical and spiritual necessity, the price you pay for love. The only cure for grief is to grieve.

Earl Grollman

To love life, to love it even when you have no stomach for it and everything you’ve held dear crumbles like burnt paper in your hands, your throat filled with the silt of it. When grief sits with you, its tropical heat thickening the air, heavy as water more fit for gills than lungs; when grief weights you like your own flesh only more of it, an obesity of grief, you think, How can a body withstand this? Then you hold life like a face between your palms, a plain face, no charming smile, no violet eyes, and you say, yes, I will take you I will love you, again.

Ellen Bass

Grief isn’t something you get over it’s something you get through.

Alan Pedersen

We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.

Joseph Campbell

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Lina, each one of your quotes is so significant. I do like Grollman's wisdom so much. Here are some more. I have collected quotes for as long as I can remember. Only in the last two years+ however, have they focused so much on grief and loss. I am off to a Soul Collage Art Workshop for the day. I KNOW there will be tears, insights, others searching. It will be a small group all strangers but one. Keep on keeping on.

Peace, Mary

I do not know who wrote this one: There is always a duality in grief....the ups anddowns, the darkness and the light. In the beginning the darkness pervadeseverything but the light is nontheless there. They companion each other side byside. Over time the light begins to grow brighter around the darkness but thereis no absolute separation. The duality remains. They walk hand in hand forever,together.

From Transcending Loss: You are forever changed after a major loss. Youcannot expect to be the same person any longer. If people ask when you'll beyour 'old self' again, you need to let them know that a new self is emerging.You might not know yet who that new self is, but you will gradually live intothe answer. Know that even as you're changed by loss, you have also beenchanged by a profound love that lives within you still.

From Stepping Through Grief on Facebook: You will carry the scars of your grief forever.They line the inner corridors of your heart, alongside the golden threads oflove, interwoven into each and every beat of life

"The thing that is really hard, and reallyamazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becomingyourself" ~ Anna Quindlen

Do not know source: "Let theexpectations of others brush past you easily and allow yourself to be you inyour grief, in your healing and in your life. The worst has happened, there isnothing else that could batter you so...so let that be your infinite strength."

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Mary, dear, I'm so pleased that you've started this thread. Like you, I love quotations about grief and loss ~ the ones that speak to me and touch my heart ~ and I've been collecting them for many, many years. Readers will find them on these pages of my Grief Healing website:

Comfort for Grieving Hearts

Comfort for Grieving Animal Lovers

And like you, Lina, I've also begun using Pinterest for the same purpose:

Grief Healing

Pet Loss

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I like this one. By Nicholas Evans, from The Smoke Jumper. A poem which I can't shorten:-

If I be the first of us to die,

Let grief not blacken long your sky.

Be bold yet modest in your grieving.

There is change but not a leaving.

For just as death is part of life,

The dead live on forever in the living.

For all the gathered riches of our journey,

The moments shared, the mysteries explored,

The steady layer of intimacy stored,

The things that made us laugh or weep or sing,

The joy of sunlit snow or first unfurling of the spring,

The wordless language of look and touch,

The knowing.

Each giving and each taking,

These are not flowers that fade,

Nor trees that fall and crumble,

Nor are they stone

For even stone cannot the wind and rain withstand

And mighty mountain peaks in time reduce to sand.

What we were, we are.

What we had, we have.

A conjoined past imperishably present.

So when you walk the woods where once we walked together

And scan in vain the dappled bank beside you for my shadow,

Or pause where we always did upon the hill to gaze across the land,

And spotting something, reach by habit for my hand,

And finding none, feel sorrow start to steal upon you.

Be still.

Close your eyes.

Breathe.

Listen for my footfall in your heart.

I am not gone but merely walk within you.

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Mary, dear, I'm so pleased that you've started this thread. Like you, I love quotations about grief and loss ~ the ones that speak to me and touch my heart ~ and I've been collecting them for many, many years. Readers will find them on these pages of my Grief Healing website:

Comfort for Grieving Hearts

Comfort for Grieving Animal Lovers

And like you, Lina, I've also begun using Pinterest for the same purpose:

Grief Healing

Pet Loss

Marty, your site is so loaded with quotes and other links that are incredibly helpful to people. It is endless as you keep updating it. Thanks so much. I keep forgetting to tell you that when I go to www.griefhealing.com and try to click on the "quotes" link and also the "healing courses" links nothing happens. I tried it with Chrome, Explorer and Firefox...did not respond in any of them. It MAY be my software but seems strange. I know you would like to know. Peace, Mary

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Mary, dear, thank you for letting me know. Please try this: When you hover your mouse over the "Quotes" link on my site's home page, you should see two links in a drop-down list. One is labeled Comfort for Grieving Hearts and the other is Comfort for Grieving Animal Lovers. Those are the links you must click on in order to go to the pages indicated. The same is true for the Healing Courses link. Hover your mouse over it until the drop-down list appears, and three titles should appear, each one of which will lead you to the respective course. Please do try this, and let me know if it works for you.

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Mary, dear, thank you for letting me know. Please try this: When you hover your mouse over the "Quotes" link on my site's home page, you should see two links in a drop-down list. One is labeled Comfort for Grieving Hearts and the other is Comfort for Grieving Animal Lovers. Those are the links you must click on in order to go to the pages indicated. The same is true for the Healing Courses link. Hover your mouse over it until the drop-down list appears, and three titles should appear, each one of which will lead you to the respective course. Please do try this, and let me know if it works for you.

Well, now. In Firefox and Explorer it is perfect. I did not pay attention to the drop downs there since there was nothing in Chrome. Duh!

In Chrome, however, (my default browser) nothing happens when I click on those two links. IF I go to another page via another hyperlink and then click on Quotes or Courses, the drop down menus pop up to the right and well below the link row. Sort of out there in nowhere. Seems like a Chrome problem. Chrome has trouble with Wordpress blogs also, like Pat Bertram's. A comment on her site will often string down the page vertically with one word on each line. My website does that also in Chrome sometimes as friends have reported since Voice website is in Wordpress which I will not use for future websites. So...Chrome problem. And well, a "Mary is not too alert" sometimes problem. :) But it does affect your site. And I have no clue how to fix that. Chrome is great MOST of the time. It has it glitches which surprises me.

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That is very strange, Mary ~ I've been using Google Chrome as my default browser for over a year, and my site features work just fine for me. I'm not a computer geek by any means, so I have no explanation for you. Maybe one of our other members can chime in on this and offer some suggestions . . . While we're on the topic of computers, my operating system is Vista, and I did receive a rather disturbing notification yesterday about the Sidebar and Gadgets feature that came with Windows when I got my PC. I followed the advice in the article and removed the feature from my computer. Here's the link to the article, in case you're interested:http://nakedsecurity...idebar-gadgets/

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Marty, it would be great to know if anyone else who uses Chrome is having this problem. I will download it again and see if that fixes it. As for the gadget sidebar, thank you so much. I have Windows 7 and the warning applies to that also. Will fix it when I am back on my laptop. If I was starting over on computers, I would choose Mac. But this old dog is not up to learning new tricks so I will tolerate Microsaft with all it's issues. I will notify after I reinstall Chrome.

Mary

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I got rid of the sidebar in Win 7. Thanks for that. It was sort of a nuisance anyway and I never paid attention to it.

I downloaded Chrome twice to be sure and the same problem occurs. I hope someone else who uses Chrome posts. In the meantime I will check with some friends over the next several days and see if any use Chrome and ask them to go to these links. Weird! Maybe it is just my computer but that is weird also.

Enjoying Newsroom. It is on tonight.

Peace,

Mary

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This has been one of my favorite quotes for as long as I can remember...ever since I read Markings by Dag Hammarskjold way back when. It is a remarkable book. I made gigantic banners of this (2) for my sister's wedding in 1973. Bill and I used it at our wedding. And now I use it in my grief.

"For all that has been thanks. To all that shall be, Yes."

And another favorite:

Tears have a wisdom all their own. They come when a personhas relaxed enough to let go and to work through his (her) sorrow. They are thenatural bleeding of an emotional wound, carrying the poison out of the system.Here lies the road to recovery.

- F. Alexander Magoun

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I just hit "send" and off went my last issue of Voice. I then immediately went to check the 50+ emails in my inbox and the first one I opened was from http://www.dailyom.c...o/mydailyom.cgi (an email I get every day with new uplifting messages). You may enjoy subscribing. Anyway, I think the message that came in right after I finished my last deadline, my last push, is very appropriate:

Slowing down and listening to your own natural rhythm canquickly connect you to the Universe.

Nature's natural rhythms orchestrate when day turns to night, when flowers mustbloom, and provides the cue for when it is time for red and brown leaves to fallfrom trees. As human beings, our own inner rhythm is attuned to this universalsense of timing. Guided by the rising and setting of the sun, changes intemperature, and our own internal rhythm, we know when it is time to sleep,eat, or be active. While our minds and spirits are free to focus on otherpursuits, our breath and our heartbeat are always there to remind us of life'spulsing rhythm that moves within and around us.

Moving to this rhythm, we know when it is time to stop working and when to rest.Pushing our bodies to work beyond their natural rhythm diminishes our abilityto renew and recharge. A feeling much like jet lag lets us know when we'veoverridden our own natural rhythm. When we feel the frantic calls of all wewant to accomplish impelling us to move faster than is natural for us, we maywant to breathe deeply instead and look at nature moving to its own organictiming: birds flying south, leaves shedding, or snow falling. A walk in naturecan also let us re-attune is to her organic rhythm, while allowing us to moveback in time with our own. When we move to our natural rhythm, we can achieveall we need to do with less effort.

We may even notice that our soul moves to its own internal, natural rhythm –especially when it comes to our personal evolution. Comparing ourselves toothers is unnecessary. Our best guide is to move to our own internal timing,while keeping time with the rhythm of nature.

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  • 2 months later...

This is one of my favorite sites. I found Marty's 'Comfort for Grieving Hearts" before I joined this online site. Here is one quote that I'm meditating on: it is by Barbara Bloom - "When the Japanese mend broken objects, they aggrandize the damage by filling the cracks with gold. They believe that when something's suffered damage and has a history it becomes more beautiful. . ."

and Mary I thought I was the only one who new Dag Hammarskjold! :)

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I have a photo of a bowl like that and will send it later. I think it is on my Pinterest board...but I will send it. I love that saying. And I love Dag....His book 'Markings' is fantastic. Thanks, Mary

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Mary,

I think I did see the bowl on Pinterest. I was not familiar with that site until I started on this site. I really like this quote site as much as I like music. :) Looking to hear about your party. Anne

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  • 1 month later...

I came across this quote today and it just seemed so appropriate for you Mary -

Sometimes in life, you find a special friend. Someone who changes your life just by being part of it. Someone who makes you laugh until you can't stop. Someone who makes you believe that there really is good in the world. Someone who convinces you that there really is an unlocked door just waiting for you to open it. This is forever friendship. When you're down and the world seems dark and empty, your forever friend lifts you up in spirit and makes that dark and empty world suddenly seem bright and full. Your forever friend gets you through the hard times, the sad times and the confused times. If you turn and walk away, your forever friend follows. If you lose your way, your forever friend guides you and cheers you on. Your forever friend holds your hand and tells you that everything is going to be okay. And if you find such a friend, you feel happy and complete because you need not worry. You have a forever friend, and forever has no end.

This seems to be the friend Cathy is to you Mary. You are in my thoughts. Anne

- Unknown

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Thank you so much, Anne. I believe this is also true about my relationship with Bill. I really like this and thank you for your sensitivity. Love, Mary

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Krista Tippet moderates On Being on NPR...an excellent program where she interviews a variety of folks

This poem was read by Joanna Macy, philosopher and Buddhist scholar:

http://www.onbeing.org/program/wild-love-world/feature/let-darkness-be-bell-tower/1447

Mary

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Oh, I like the poem very much. I was just on NPR this morning and found an interview with Mary Oliver on her latest poems from 'A Thousand Mornings.' This one touched me - I will have to buy yet another book. :) And I really like this post site. Thank you for creating it. I'm sending you pictures of my newly planted trees and the change in my living room. I cried lots just because of the little changes I am making, but it was something Jim and I talked about. I just finally got the courage to do it. Anne

A THOUSAND MORNINGS

All night my heart makes its way

however it can over the rough ground

of uncertainties, but only until night

meets and then is overwhelmed by

morning, the light deepening, the

wind easing and just waiting, as I

too wait (and when have I ever been

disappointed?) for redbird to sing.

by Mary Oliver

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Anne, this is one of my favorites of Oliver's. I can't wait to see her...timing is awful as I just get in from my conference west of me and then have to drive the next day east to Milwaukee. But a friend is going with me and we shall enjoy the trip.

November is too busy. I keep learning this lesson over and over...so odd because it comes in "herds of days"....nothing much and then bam!

Peace to your heart. Thinking of you these days.

Mary

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Pete and I have almost all Mary Oliver's poems, and when we were in Priovincetown last October (where she lives, and what a lifetime ago that seems!) we bought another two. We bought Thirst, which was published after her partner of 40 years died, but were rather disappointed in that because having been admired by us for her Pantheist beliefs that volume seemed to be moving away from that. However I shall order her latest (books being my main indulgence these days). I envy you, Mary, in being able to hear her. Have you read the interview with her! I will try to find it and post it here.

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