A Life in Light: Meditations on Impermanence

could choose to stop making myself unhappy by waiting for something that would never happen. I could declare a truce with my own neediness and simply walk away from it. I could end my argument with reality and accept life as it is. This heart/mind insight comforted me.

Pain, like almost everything else, is impermanent. Receiving love is impermanent, but giving love can be permanent.

always have the choice to behave well, no matter the circumstance.

One definition of adulthood is that we can see our parents as people, independent of their relationships with us.

How do we lead a good life in all circumstances?

good people act on behalf of others and that the most satisfying work is devoting oneself to a great cause.

Expensive hotel rooms and bouquets of flowers were no substitute for watching the stars blink on and the sun and moon rise. Kind people in book lines did not keep me from missing my friends. To feel truly alive, I needed the sights, sounds, and smells of home.

discovered I was a person who only did well around familiar people in my own territory. I needed that grounding to stay calm and to sleep at night.

I was accepting impermanence and moving in gratitude for what was present.