John Aguon

“He showed me his scars, and in return he let me pretend that I had none.”
― Madeline Miller, Circe

“To know our own self is bliss. To see themselves clearly, a person must plunge themselves into the world they inhabit. We enhance our personal perspective by acquiring knowledge of the world. The more one knows about living through vivid personal encounters in the world that they occupy, the more that a person will come to understand him or herself. Self-knowledge requires an honest accounting of a person’s experiences, frank admission of their furtive desires, and gracious acceptance of reality without surrendering their willingness to work to improve oneself and comfort other people. By attaching images to their real life experiences and secret dreams, a person learns rightly about the world. By writing about what adversities they experienced, a person can consciously go about integrating new ideas into their way of living.”
― Kilroy J. Oldster, Dead Toad Scrolls

“If we take the time or courage to find out what people feel and think, and to listen to the heart of their story, we are capable of losing the narrowness of our preconceptions and the nitpicking manipulations in our brain, making us geared up to view the world, openly and with confidence. ("With confidence »)”
― Erik Pevernagie

“The second gift––patience––helps us deal with not knowing how long this is going to last.”
― Laurie Nadel, The Five Gifts: Discovering Hope, Healing and Strength When Disaster Strikes