Quote (s)

I've been reading for class this weekend and these passages all struck me as wonderful.

"A sukkah is a ceremonial replica of the nomadic huts the biblical Israelites used during their wandering through the desert. It took them forty years...to shift the horizon so that a new way of being, a new terrain of communal identity, moral commitment, and political freedom, could 'show up' for them. During the days and nights of celebrating Sukkot, Jews are encouraged to build and actually live in a sukkah. The tradition says that a sukkah should be built so that one can look up through the palm leaves of the roof, into the night sky, and see the stars. By sleeping under the stars, the rabbis hoped to emphasize the wandering, impermanent, and fleeting moment that is a human life, to confront the dangers and material deprivations involved in revolution, and to acknowledge the ultimate values of human relationship...and freedom."

"Living is a passage untamed by our yearnings for certainty and permanence."

"Ours is an uncertain and impermanent fate, but one that allows us room to struggle, fight, imagine, dream, wish - to build, ever anew, the cultural bridge that keeps us aloft. We must build and rebuild it, even as we walk upon it, depending upon it for support. Our limitation, then, is also our strength: we live in an interdependent, interpenetrating world of tradition and change, communalism and individuality, confidence and confusion, authority and uncertainty. The source of our confusion and fear is also the source of our significance."

"We give ourselves over to building that which must be continually resculpted and reconfigured. We must build bridges, not idols. Life is in the wandering."

---Philip Cushman
(Constructing the Self, Constructing America: a Cultural History of Pscyhotherapy.  Pg 330-331)

2013 Intentions: First Quarter Grades

No phone whilst driving.  Um yea. No. I haven't done much improvement here at all so far. Sticking to mostly stoplights but still. Not good enough. F

No honking. I have only honked in the friendly "beep beep" way and it was after the light had been green for a whiiiiiiiile. A

No gift cards. I've only given 1 gift card and it was for a co-worker's baby shower. I found it hard to give a personal gift when I didn't really know her that well. B+

Get back to paper and pen. I have written some some things but I haven't been diligent at all. I was reading through some old journals last night and found myself wishing I had done a better job of documenting my life...especially the last 2 years. D-

Finish Strong. I'm trying. I've still got a 4.0 next to my name, but that's not an accurate reflection of my best efforts. It's just a nice bonus. B-

Surrender. After some brief moments of freaking out, I have cannon-balled into some major risks. I quit my job. I am dating a wonderful boy. I am seeing clients and preparing for my future career. I am letting the future unfold with as little control as possible. It is freeing. A

Take care of yourself. This has been tricky. It's already April and there is no consistent rhythm in my life. There is nothing anchoring me right now. I'm doing my best to squeeze in walks, yoga, healthy eating and rest. I'm doing alright-ish. B-

No Taco Bueno. AHEM: No TB since November. And I'm really proud that my fast-food experiences have been limited to Chik-Fil-A salads and 1 unavoidable trip to Taco Mayo. BAM. A-

Spend more time being present in your life than a presence on social media. This has been a super interesting intention. There have been many moments where I've caught myself reaching for my phone to take a picture to show off later or tweet something that makes me feel good about myself. Instead, I've tried to put my phone back down and soak in the sunset instead of take a picture of it. Soak in the moment I'm experiencing instead of tweet about it. Send a card on a birthday instead of type on a FB timeline. I won't pretend that it's been easy. But when that little voice pops up and asks why I want to take a picture or tweet, it makes following through a choice instead of a mindless act. I like that. B+

That's all I've got.