Anne Lamott is an American teacher, speaker, and author of numerous novels and nonfiction books. Her writings and teachings cover subjects such as faith, Christianity, and sobriety.
CLEAR ALL
If you bring forth what is within you it will save you. If you do not, it will destroy you.
1
Since in order to speak, one must first listen, learn to speak by listening.
2
Stay a verb—don’t become a noun.
4
Life’s work is to wake up, to let the things that enter into the circle wake you up rather than put you to sleep. The only way to do this is to open, be curious, and develop some sense of sympathy for everything that comes along, to get to know its nature and let it teach you what it will.
3
. . . it is almost always the case that whatever has wounded you will also be instrumental in your healing.
Respect the fact that all you do and are now has evolved for a good reason and serves an important purpose.
It is only the mature person—the man or woman who is not conditioned by compulsive likes and dislikes, habits and opinions—who is really free in life. Such people are truly spontaneous.
Learning any new skill involves relatively brief spurts of progress, each of which is followed by a slight decline to a plateau somewhat higher in most cases than that which preceded it . . . the upward spurts vary; the plateaus have their own dips and rises along the way. . . .
Indecision leads to inaction, which leads to low energy, depression, despair.
Avoidance will make you feel less vulnerable in the short run, but it will never make you less afraid.