Clara Bensen > Quotes

“Maybe life as you know it has shifted. But just because you’re lost doesn’t mean you can’t explore.”
― Clara Bensen, No Baggage: A Minimalist Tale of Love and Wandering

“Magic happens when you head out into the unknown with wonder in your right hand and terror in your left.”
― Clara Bensen, No Baggage: A Minimalist Tale of Love and Wandering

“Life is about trust. Nothing happens until you take a step out. The universe gives nothing to those who do not trust.”
― Clara Bensen, No Baggage: A Minimalist Tale of Love and Wandering

“If the only thing I did for the rest of my life was treat others kindly, file manila folders, and sit on the porch watching the grass grow it would be enough. It had to be. I did the math. The number of people who actually achieve a significant legacy is trifling compared to the vast number who go from birth to death living relatively unremarkable lives (at least on the surface). And maybe that wasn't the failure I'd been conditioned to believe. Maybe there was something to be said in praise of an outwardly unremarkable life. Maybe there were deep everyday forms of magic that had nothing to do with profound acomplishments or a Twitter feed that resonated down through the ages.”
― Clara Bensen

“You might be surprised,' she laughed. 'Maybe life as you know it has shifted. But just because you're lost doesn't mean you can't explore.”
― Clara Bensen

“This was the rhythm of travel - exhausting marathons of movement punctuated by surprising moments of calm where time slowed and there was nowhere to be except right here, floating, eyes closed.”
― Clara Bensen, No Baggage: A Minimalist Tale of Love and Wandering

“You might be surprised,' she laughed. 'Maybe life as you know it has shifted. But just because you're lost doesn't mean you can't explore.”
― Clara Bensen, No Baggage: A Minimalist Tale of Love and Wandering

“It's easy to forget how much of travel is spent gazing - not at jaw-dropping monuments or museum exhibits - but out the dusty, scratched windows of boats, buses, planes, and trains.”
― Clara Bensen

“In addition to being statistically unlikely, perfectly fulfilled expectations are boring. We assume that we, in our infinite wisdom, are capable of imagining the best, most optimal outcomes for ourselves. But as it turns out, unfettered reality and unexpected detours are often the very things that force us to come into our own.”
― Clara Bensen, No Baggage: A Minimalist Tale of Love and Wandering

“I don't think I'm entirely on board with the 'do what you truly want to do' school of thought. Not without a little more nuance. There has to be an anchor in the wide-open space. Otherwise, 'doing what you truly want' isn't an authentic attempt at exploration -- it's just another hyper-individualistic credo masquerading as something grand. I mean we're all gung ho about pursuing personal freedom, but why do we want it? If we never constructively apply it to something beyond ourselves, and if it doesn't deepen our sense of connection and humanity, then what's the point?”
― Clara Bensen, No Baggage: A Minimalist Tale of Love and Wandering

“My unfurling began with stillness. Instead of sprinting from terror or trying to karate chop the emptiness away, I set out a welcome mat. If I was going to be mad, I might as well acquaint myself with madness. It was an open house for monsters and I turned none away. I sat breathing in and out, sometimes for hours, as a parade of pronged horns, sharp claws, and hungry jaws moved past, invisible bodies breathing hot against my neck. (p. 240)”
― Clara Bensen, No Baggage: A Minimalist Tale of Love and Wandering

“Everything is, in any event, fated to disappear. Judged against eternity, how little of what agitates us makes any difference.”
― Clara Bensen, No Baggage: A Minimalist Tale of Love and Wandering

“A choice to give myself to the world without any promise that life would make sense or end up with a neatly tied bow.”
― Clara Bensen, No Baggage: A Minimalist Tale of Love and Wandering