Inhabited Simplicity

"Holiness is reached not through effort or will, but by stopping; by an inward coming to rest; a place from which we can embody the spirit of all our holy days, a radical, inhabited simplicity, where we live in a kind of ongoing surprise and with some wonder and appreciation."

~ David Whyte

Get Caught Up in Minutiae or See the Texture

"When we get caught up in the minutiae, the details that make us all different, there's two ways of seeing that. You can see the texture of that person, the qualities that make them unique. Or you can go to war about it – say, That person is different from me, I don't like you, so let's battle."

~ Mahershala Ali

Daron LarsonJanuary 30, 2017film, actors, self/other, society, religion, war, conflict, Mahershala Ali, identity, family, connection, relationshipsComment

If You Embrace It, It Will Teach You

"Healing comes in many guises. We're healed by just the touch of a friend. We're healed by the hug of a child. And healing does not imply that your life is suddenly going to lose all of the struggle, all of the challenge. What it does instead is it strengthens us for what is next. But to be open to healing means to be vulnerable. And I think if you look at me, you know I'm what they would call a vulnerable adult. The cat doesn't even listen to me here. I have no real sense of control anymore."

~ Bruce Kramer

Equanimity, Practice in LifeDaron LarsonApril 25, 2015Bruce Kramer, life, death, body, illness, medicine, On Being, frustration, struggle, suffering, yoga, relationshipsComment

The Only Calibration that Counts

"That's the paradox: the only time most people feel alive is when they're suffering, when something overwhelms their ordinary, careful armour, and the naked child is flung out onto the world. That's why the things that are worst to undergo are best to remember."

~ Ted Hughes

Magnanimity, Practice in LifeDaron LarsonApril 14, 2015Ted Hughes, childhood, self, identity, growing up, life, surprise, fear, suffering, emotion, connection, relationships, poetsComment

Sweet and Tart

"Bad things are going to happen."

EquanimityDaron LarsonOctober 31, 2014Ellen Bass, poetry, uncertainty, chaos, suffering, life, mundane, challenge, complexity, relationships, growing up, discomfort, confusion, home, struggle, griefComment

It's Okay to Feel

It’s okay to feel, deeply.
It’s okay to not know.
It’s okay to play
on the raw edge of life.

Equanimity, Feel InDaron LarsonSeptember 1, 2014feelings, emotions, impermanence, pain, love, relationships, Jeff FosterComment

Coming Home

Daron LarsonFebruary 23, 2014commitment, connection, family, home, relationships, romanceComment

For No Good Reason

"One of the most difficult things to say to another person is, I hope that you will love me for no good reason. But it is what we all want and rarely dare to say to one another – to our children, to our parents and mates, to our friends, and to strangers. Especially to strangers, who have neither good nor bad reasons to love us."

~ Russell Banks, from The Angel on the Roof