I got a lot of things that society had promised would make me whole and fulfilled - all the things that the culture tells you from preschool on will quiet the throbbing anxiety inside you - stature, the respect of colleagues, maybe even a kind of low-grade fame.
Anne LamottThe solution is always spiritual, and it almost never has anything to do with the problem ... laughter is carbonated holiness.
Anne LamottJealousy always has been my cross, the weakness and woundedness in me that has most often caused me to feel ugly and unlovable, like the Bad Seed. Iโve had many years of recovery and therapy, years filled with intimate and devoted friendships, yet I still struggle. I know that when someone gets a big slice of pie, it doesnโt mean thereโs less for me. In fact, I know that there isnโt even a pie, that thereโs plenty to go around, enough food and love and air. But I donโt believe it for a second. I secretly believe thereโs a pie. I will go to my grave brandishing my fork.
Anne LamottSummer nearly does me in every year. It's too hot and the light is unforgiving and the days go on way too long.
Anne LamottI had NO interest in being a theologian, especially not a Christian, as I had been raised by progressive atheists. We bowed down every morning to the golden calf of the New York Times, Noam Chomsky, Hannah Arendt. I tried to get my parents to respect and nourish me, let alone delight in me, so even though I secretly loved and believed in the Divine Something - Goodness, Good Orderly Direction, Gift of Desperation, the Cosmic Muffin - I wasn't ready yet to commit myself to the study of a higher power.
Anne Lamott