Julia Florence

“When I missed the physical body of my partner, I meditated on its parts, tossed by the waves, torn, dispersed, and deteriorated. When memories of our lives together became acute and intense, I breathed. I breathed through each wave of yearning, of regret, of guilt, of what-could-have-been. Every time I asked him, “Where are you?” A quiet voice immediately responded, “I am here. I have never left you.” I did not only lose a partner. I lost my childhood all over again. I lost my soul mate. I lost the accepting father and the gentle mother that he was to me. I lost the dream of a “normal life,” which I had tried so hard to achieve. Now I had to face my own mind.”
― Dang Nghiem, Healing: A Woman's Journey from Doctor to Nun

“The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.”
― Alan Wilson Watts, The Culture of Counter-Culture: Edited Transcripts

“In the silence, Leni wondered if one person could ever really save another, or if it was the kind of thing you had to do for yourself.”
― Kristin Hannah, The Great Alone

“They were trapped, by environment and finances, but mostly by the sick, twisted love that bound her parents together.”
― Kristin Hannah, The Great Alone