John Fishman

“Scientists say that the world is held together with atoms, and of course, it is. But it is also held together with stories.”
― Colum McCann, American Mother

“We feel pressured to do something extraordinary with our lives, or to an extraordinary standard of merit, or in a way that’s applauded by an extraordinary number of people – even though it’s true by definition that only a few people can ever be extraordinary in any given domain. (If we could all stand out from the crowd, there’d be no crowd from which to stand out.) Why shouldn’t an anonymous career spent quietly helping a few people get to qualify as a meaningful way to spend one’s time? Why shouldn’t an absorbing conversation, an act of kindness, or an exhilarating hike get to count? Why adopt a definition that rules such things out?”
― Oliver Burkeman, Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts

“What if, instead of believing that there will be some perfect moment when the chaos and void of our lives will subside, we could recognize that every moment, brimming with chaos and void is, in fact, the perfect moment?”

“Like God, our challenge is to find the beauty of the materials on hand, the primordial chaotic stuff of our life - longings, questions, grief, confusion - and to create from here. The creative process beckons us to return to our depths, the chaos within.”
― Adina Allen, The Place of All Possibility: Cultivating Creativity Through Ancient Jewish Wisdom

“Positive thinking is often a Band-Aid on a bullet wound. Instead of helping, it leads to emotional suppression, which is destructive to our bodies, minds, relationships, and society.”
― Whitney Goodman, Toxic Positivity: Keeping It Real in a World Obsessed with Being Happy