All thinking that is imbued with wonder is graceful and gracious thinking

<< There is breakage within us and it is what makes us human and vulnerable. There is nothing more sinister than someone whose mind seems to be an absolute circle; there is a helpless coldness and a deadly certainty about such a presence.

I often think that there is, in every life, some haunted room that we never want to go into, and that we do our best to forget was there at all.

We put terrible pressure on our minds. When we tighten them or harden our views or beliefs, we lose all the softness and flexibility that makes for real shelter, belonging, and protection.

Sometimes the best way of caring for our soul is to make flexible again some of the views that have hardened and crystalized our mind; for these alienate us from our own depth and beauty.

“Forgive us as we forgive others,” we say without flinching.

“You shall love your neighbor as you love yourself,” is another one we hear without hearing.

We will never break down the door to that haunted room that we never want to go into, and that we do our best to forget was there, at all with our mind, or with our will.

Only with the gentle coaxing of the Imagination will that door be opened to us, only if we sit in love for ourselves can we love anyone else … RuPaul said so … so did Jesus. Let’s be more like RuPaul and Jesus … Then when we finally break down the door to that haunted room that we never want to go into, and that we do our best to forget was there at all, THROUGH LOVE, we will be given back the gift again of a part of ourselves that either we or someone else had forced us to drive away and reject.

There is a lovely idea in the Celtic tradition that if you send out goodness from yourself, or if you share that which is happy or good within you, it will all come back to you multiplied ten thousand times.

In the kingdom of love there is no resentment, there are no grudges, there is only the stillness of forgiveness. If you don’t feel “forgiveness,” then the rushing waters of love will cleanse you and drown out the noise and the pain and the hurt and bring you to a brand new fresh day.

The love replenishes itself, just like the joy does, fresh each morning. The more love we give away, the more love we will have.

~a lot of this is John O’Donohue