Shmesa

“It's just good hospitality,' Tokue countered.
‘For the customers?'
‘No. The beans.'
‘The beans?'
‘Because they came all the way from Canada. For us.”
― Durian Sukegawa, Sweet Bean Paste

“If all you ever see is reality, you just want to die. The only way to get over barriers, she said, is to live in the spirit of already being over them.”
― Durian Sukegawa, Sweet Bean Paste

“I don’t want to disappoint you, but Toku herself said at the time that she couldn’t actually hear the voices of beans. But if you live in the belief that they can be heard, then someday you might be able to hear them. She said that was the only way for us to live, to be like the poets. That’s what she said. If all you ever see is reality, you just want to die. The only way to get over barriers, she said, is to live in the spirit of already being over them.”
― Durian Sukegawa, Sweet Bean Paste

“Curiosity and passion are the enemies of anxiety. Even when I fell into anxiety, if I get curious enough about something outside of me it can help pull me out. Music, art, film, nature, conversation, words. Find passion as large as your fear. The way out of your mind is via the world.”
― Matt Haig, The Comfort Book