stoledo

“You know all the right techniques, all the secrets. You understand how to flow with time, and not get stuck in one place. Once you master one thing and have done it enough, you move on. Or at least you're good at pretending to move on. I think most people live their lives repeating the same patterns, again and again and again.”
― Banana Yoshimoto, Lizard

“At that moment, I was truly without words. I realized that the world didn't exist by virtue of my mind. On the contrary, he and I and everyone else were swept up in a great whirlpool, swirling around constantly and not knowing where we're bound. Our sensations of pleasure and suffering, our thoughts, none of these things can stop the motion. For the first time, I was able to step away from my imagined position in the center of the universe and see myself as part of something larger. This was my revelation, and I now felt--what? Not particularly happy or sad, but just a bit precarious, as if I'd relaxed some muscle that I hadn't needed to use all along.”
― Banana Yoshimoto, Lizard

“I thought about the complications of what I'd been dealing lately. And then I understood that actually it wasn't just the relationship- I had so much baggage from my chilhood, from before I was born into this world too. I understood that for the first time that night. And I knew it would always be that way, until we die. Even after we're dead.”
― Banana Yoshimoto, Lizard

“My patients focus every ounce of their energy on getting me to share their feelings, acquainting me with every nuance of their anger and pain. Yet I must remain calm, detached. It's a little like trying to ignore a plate of delicious food when you're really hungry. When it beckons you, there's no problem with enjoying the aroma and appreciating it with your eyes, but at some point you have to separate yourself and realize, like a professional waiter does, that it's not your own. It's my job to ignore those plates heaped with delicious morsels and just carry them where they need to go.”
― Banana Yoshimoto, Lizard