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neither Buddhism nor shamanism are “revealed” teachings. Both emphasize direct experience and personal realization over doctrine.
“There is a sacredness in tears....They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition and of unspeakable love.”
―
―
“Some people's lives seem to flow in a narrative; mine had many stops and starts. That's what trauma does. It interrupts the plot. You can't process it because it doesn't fit with what came before or what comes afterward. A friend of mine, a soldier, put it this way. In most of our lives, most of the time, you have a sense of what is to come. There is a steady narrative, a feeling of "lights, camera, action" when big events are imminent. But trauma isn't like that. It just happens, and then life goes on. No one prepares you for it.”
― Denial: A Memoir of Terror
― Denial: A Memoir of Terror
“Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion.”
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―
“When we don't speak, said Edgar, we become unbearable, and when we do, we make fools of ourselves.”
― The Land of Green Plums
― The Land of Green Plums
“I often feel like nobody," Skip says. "I ask myself: Why would you want to talk to me? Why would anyone want to talk to me? It comes on me suddenly, this feeling that I'm not anything...a person who has spent a lot of time in bed, who doesn't want to be anything."
I know what he is talking about, and this time, I tell him that. For years, I could not understand why anyone took me seriously. I could not understand how I managed to get into MIT or Harvard, why anyone would offer me a postdoctoral fellowship or a job. I could not understand why people kept turning to me after September 11. I didn't see myself as a person who couldn't get out of bed, but as a salesgirl in a coffee shop - the job I had as a teenager who was afraid to apply to college. My identity was stuck there for year.
"Inside me there is the person who wants to be dead," he says. "I can't advocate for myself. I can advocate very strongly for others, but not for myself...Sometimes I'm not sure that I exist. Is this really me - this person whom people want to consult about clergy sexual abuse? Or am I really the person who can't get out of bed? I've gotten better - I spend more of my time living in the present. But it takes a lot of effort to stay in the present - a lot of yoga and meditation.”
― Denial: A Memoir of Terror
I know what he is talking about, and this time, I tell him that. For years, I could not understand why anyone took me seriously. I could not understand how I managed to get into MIT or Harvard, why anyone would offer me a postdoctoral fellowship or a job. I could not understand why people kept turning to me after September 11. I didn't see myself as a person who couldn't get out of bed, but as a salesgirl in a coffee shop - the job I had as a teenager who was afraid to apply to college. My identity was stuck there for year.
"Inside me there is the person who wants to be dead," he says. "I can't advocate for myself. I can advocate very strongly for others, but not for myself...Sometimes I'm not sure that I exist. Is this really me - this person whom people want to consult about clergy sexual abuse? Or am I really the person who can't get out of bed? I've gotten better - I spend more of my time living in the present. But it takes a lot of effort to stay in the present - a lot of yoga and meditation.”
― Denial: A Memoir of Terror
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Elaine’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Elaine’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
863 books
|
163 friends
1,721 books
|
29 friends
1,047 books
|
195 friends
3,038 books
|
1,025 friends
1,879 books
|
33 friends
456 books
|
51 friends
471 books
|
137 friends
765 books
|
75 friends
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Adult Fiction, Art, Biography, Book Club, Chick-lit, Children's, Classics, Contemporary, Crime, Ebooks, Fantasy, Fiction, Graphic novels, Historical fiction, History, Horror, Literary Fiction, Memoir, Mystery, Non-fiction, Philosophy, Politics, Psychology, Science, Science fiction, Self help, Spirituality, Thriller, and Travel
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