Rituals are a good signal to your unconscious that it is time to kick in.

The problem with God - or at any rate, one of the top five most annoying things about God - is that he or she rarely answers right away.

But you can’t get to any of these truths by sitting in a field smiling beatifically, avoiding your anger and damage and grief. Your anger and damage and grief are the way to the truth. We don’t have much truth to express unless we have gone into those rooms and closets and woods and abysses that we were told not go in to. When we have gone in and looked around for a long while, just breathing and finally taking it in – then we will be able to speak in our own voice and to stay in the present moment. And that moment is home.

Again and again I tell God I need help, and God says, 'Well, isn't that fabulous? Because I need help too. So you go get that old woman over there some water, and I'll figure out what we're going to do about your stuff.

Everyone is flailing through this life without an owner's manual, with whatever modicum of grace and good humor we can manage.

She lived in fear of ifonic endings.

No matter what circumstances, it's hard to be a parent and maintain a sense of self and identity in the world.