Healing does not necessarily mean to become physically well or to be able to get up and walk around again. Rather, it means achieving a balance between the physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual dimensions. . . . At the end of their lives [five-year-old children with leukemia] they have little or no pain. They are emotionally sound, and on an intellectual level they can share things it is almost impossible to believe could come from a child. To me this is a healing, although they are not well from our earthly point of view.
~ from Elizabeth Kubler-Ross in HEALERS ON HEALING by Richard Carlson
Solitude and loneliness are not the same thing. Loneliness is the sign that something is lacking. The purpose of solitude is to bring us home to the center of ourselves with such serenity that we could lose everything and, in the end, lose nothing of the fullness of life at all. When you are alone, are you lonely or are in solitude? If loneliness is what it's about, what you may need most is the cultivation of the richness of solitude.
~ from IN A HIGH SPIRITUAL SEASON by Joan Chittister thanks to Patricia Prescott
Silence is an intriguing concept. Only silence enables us to hear. But silence is a very noisy thing. When we finally start to listen to our own garbled selves, as well as to others, we discover how full of static our hearts and minds really are. Silence, the time of coming to inner quiet, is the only chance we have of coming to inner quiet, is the only chance we have of coming to serenity.
~ from IN A HIGH SPIRITUAL SEASON by Joan Chittister with thanks to Pat Prescott
