Shellen Lubin > Quotes

“Living with contradiction may be nothing new to humans, but acknowledging it, and accepting it are. Even the dictionary has trouble accepting a paradox, calling it 'two things that seem to be contradictory but may possibly be true.' But that's not a real paradox--a real paradox IS contradictory and IS true. So I don't even call them paradoxes anymore, I call them 'contradictory co-existing realities,' both in direct opposition to each other, both true at the same time.”
― Shellen Lubin

“After another deadly weekend,
mass shootings across the country,
we know--oh, how we know--how high the stakes,
how polarized the public:
the desperation for liberty, equality, and justice
and the rage and backlash against it.”
― Shellen Lubin

“You are not beginning again like a baby--
knowing nothing--
you are opening to the possibility that there is more to
explore, take in, discover, learn, embrace”
― Shellen Lubin

“She was one of the greatest losses, bell hooks...
a brilliant thinker, and writer,
and teacher,
reflective and brave and inspiring,
revolutionary ideas infused with ancestral wisdom,
always coming from a place of love,
which kept her in a world of possibility.”
― Shellen Lubin

“We need each other more than ever.
We cannot get through it alone,
find the hope to move forward and do
all we need to do
alone,
find the joy and beauty
alone
to have the incentive
to find the hope.”
― Shellen Lubin

“When demanded of those without power--
'if you said it more nicely maybe we would listen'--
'I can't hear you when you're so angry'--
'the ones who are nice are the ones who will get what they want'
(or, worse, the ones who are nice and pretty,
which, of course, also includes white, Christian, and 'classy')--
it is yet another subjugation,
yet another tool of oppression.”
― Shellen Lubin

“The tides are turning.
Everybody else is waking up,
becoming more awake, aware, seeking knowledge,
challenging the assumptions.
'They' call it 'woke' and demean it...

'They' may be--may aspire to be--the authorities,
may judge and smirk and wield their swords,
but 'everybody else' knows what's really happening.
And the forces of change, however resisted,
will continue to awaken
us all.”
― Shellen Lubin

“Love and work.
Work and love.
Whatever it is we do,
whoever it is we love,
hopefully we make something better with it all--
our lives, our community, our country, the world.”
― Shellen Lubin

“Might the safest space be this:

Safe from having to wear your armor.
Safe from having to laugh off your pain.
Safe to laugh at your pain, at yourself.
Safe to know your truth...
Safe to feel...
Safe to disagree...
Not safe from struggling with the conundrums of life, Safe to struggle with them
To sit in the dis-comfort of no-extremes...
Safe to spin through all the chaos...
And feel the shoulder of another traveler...
And know you are not alone.

You are not alone.”
― Shellen Lubin

“I may not believe that 'all things happen for a reason.' But I do believe that reason may come from all things that happen.”
― Shellen Lubin

“As I often say,
we do have to keep re-inventing the wheel.
Why?
Because in the process of invention
is the energy and possibility of creation,
and that is where we are most available
to discovering something,
anything,
about the process,
about the results,
about ourselves.”
― Shellen Lubin

“I see truth and knowledge
and understanding like layers
of an onion,
peeling away assumptions, leading to
recognizing even more assumptions,
leading to research to discover
more knowledge, leading to deeper truths and
greater understanding.”
― Shellen Lubin

“Mind the little things.
Appreciate them.
Revere them, too.”
― Shellen Lubin

“Education itself is Marketing--marketing tools and perspectives to people who don't necessarily realize why they need them, how it will serve them, what they might accomplish with them. And, ensuingly, Marketing itself is Education (with no attempt to assess the value of what is being marketed).”
― Shellen Lubin

“Come on! Laugh at it all! Or at least laugh at something!
All the shit will still be there to deal with when you're done,
but you'll be in better shape to deal with it!”
― Shellen Lubin

“What brings you relief?
Speaking your truth, crying your grief, or not needing to speak?
Reading, writing, playing games, dancing, or doing nothing at all?
Listening to songs, or piano etudes, or complete silence?
Darkness or candlelight or bright beating sun?
Blues, reds, yellows, many colors, or no color at all?
Hot or cold water? Immersed or pouring over you?
Tasting something crunchy, or sweet and smooth?
The scent of jasmine, or cucumber, or musk?
Someone touching you gently, or going deep,
or being utterly and completely alone?

We are all different...
When the quality of the overload changes,
so does the quality of relief.”
― Shellen Lubin

“You cannot move forward in the real world
if you cannot see the real world.
You cannot find the beauty in the world
if all you see is its adornment.

Autumn comes.
Autumn falls.
Autumn leaves.
The world turns fire
and burns off all that is fading.”
― Shellen Lubin

“Little things
over time
make big differences,
as true for depletion as it is
for progress.”
― Shellen Lubin

“We have to find a way to think--
think things through--
think beyond--
go wide--
go deep--
together.
One to One and All to All we must
Connect
Affect
Compromise
Find a way forward
together--
or I truly believe
we've lost all hope.”
― Shellen Lubin

“Your worst fears are just that, fears.
All you know, all you have done
is always there with you,
will always be so.
Nothing is lost when you leap--jump in--
with openness to the great whatever.”
― Shellen Lubin

“If all of us who at some point in history were not considered white
considered ourselves "Other" then
how many white people would there even be?”
― Shellen Lubin

“Nobody adores fertilizer. Nobody devotes their life to fertilizer (unless they own a fertilizer company). But, shit, you need it to grow the crops. The land is arid and dry without it, and trying to grow things is likely to be futile.”
― Shellen Lubin

“Fly, even if for just a moment.
You may land somewhere different.
You may land somewhat different.
Leap.”
― Shellen Lubin

“Do something again and again,
you build a practice, whether
it is a practice
of celebration
or destruction
of glorious simplicity or of simplicity
that numbs,
of complexity that challenges and grows you,
or complexity
that stultifies.”
― Shellen Lubin

“Might the safest space be this:

Safe from having to wear your armor.
Safe from having to laugh off your pain.
Safe to laugh at your pain, at yourself.
Safe to know your truth...
Safe to feel...
Safe to disagree...
Not safe from struggling with the conundrums of life Safe to struggle with them...
To sit in the dis-comfort of no-extremes...
Safe to spin through all the chaos...
And feel the shoulder of another traveler...
And know you are not alone.

You are not alone.”
― Shellen Lubin

“Begin again.

Begin again.

Every year
Every day
Every moment
Begin again.”
― Shellen Lubin

“Autumn, when, ultimately, all illusions fall away and are cast aside, leaving the trees and hills and roadways--the very earth itself--laid bare and open, stark realities fully revealed.

You cannot move forward in the real world if you cannot see the real world.
You cannot find the beauty in the world if all you see is its adornment.”
― Shellen Lubin

“...important truths, perspectives, and awarenesses
may feel harsh
no matter how 'nicely' they are stated,
and so,
we can't always be nice”
― Shellen Lubin

“As much as evil and mercenary selfishness never fail to rear their ugly heads-- sowing destruction in all directions-- so, too, do love and beauty never fail to emerge from the debris. Amid the chaos, there is always something that grows.”
― Shellen Lubin

“Decoration Day--
created to honor
the enslaved African-Americans
in the Civil War
who fought for their own emancipation
and liberation
and for the health and integrity of
this country.
American History stole that one, too.
Made it Memorial Day.
All Soldiers Matter?”
― Shellen Lubin