Inner Knowing

by Jane Tornatore | Jan 30, 2010 | Musings | 0 comments

I was recently listening to a speaker who asked us what we would share, if we knew we had one minute to live. What is the most important thing we know? I realized I would tell people to listen to yourself for your answers. As long as we look to others for answers, for our sense of worth, we will always be off balance.

I spent much of my life believing others knew what was best for me. I remember a watershed moment, about 10 years ago, when I first questioned that belief. I was on Edisto Island, in South Carolina, with four dear friends from college years. Several of them were offering me advice on how to get a relationship, or have children, or something along those lines. I realized they were offering me their answers. I also realized they did not know what was best for me. That was the first time I consciously held that knowledge.

Since then my trust in my own knowing has continued to grow. I still have times of confusion, and times when I ask others their opinion, but I no longer believe they know me better than I know myself. Their thoughts can spark new ideas, or point out something I had forgotten, but they cannot give me my answers.

With that knowing I have come more into my own sovereignty—and my friends no longer are burdened by figuring out what I need to do.

Poems and Quotes that Inspire Me

by Jane Tornatore | Jan 30, 2010 | Musings | 0 comments

“The effect of one good-hearted person is incalculable.”

Oscar Arias

He who binds to himself a Joy,
Does the winged life destroy;
He who kisses the Joy as it flies,
Lives in Eternity’s sunrise.

William Blake

“We are fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance.”

Japanese Proverb

What is this group magic…

The humility to be real in front of others

when we speak, we speak for many…

when we hear, we hear for many…

Jennifer Wells

“When death finds you, let if find you alive.”

African Proverb

“He who knows others is clever;
He who knows himself has discernment.”

Lao-Tzu (604-531 B.C.)

Grief and Transcendence

There is magic
in sitting in the wild, raging,
ravishing stillness of grief.

BG

“When you try to control the outcome, you lose the potential for wonderment.”

Gerry Gramek

I catch
the maple leaf
then let it go.

John Wills

“Wellness is not about health–It is about attitude.”

Bernie Segal

“One does not discover new lands without consenting
to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.”

Andre Gide

Thirst

The uses of Sorrow
(In my sleep I dreamed this)
Someone I loved once gave me
a box full of darkness.
It took me years to understand
that this too was a gift.

Mary Oliver