Be wild; that is how to clear the river. The river does not flow in polluted, we manage that. The river does not dry up, we block it. If we want to allow it its freedom, we have to allow our ideational lives to be let loose, to stream, letting anything come, initially censoring nothing. That is creative life. It is made up of divine paradox. To create one must be willing to be stone stupid, to sit upon a throne on top of a jackass and spill rubies from oneโs mouth. Then the river will flow, then we can stand in the stream of it raining down.
Clarissa Pinkola EstesThe body is like the earth ... as vulnerable to overbuilding, being carved into parcels, cut off, overmined, and shorn of its power as any landscape.
Clarissa Pinkola EstesAll strong souls first go to hell before they do the healing of the world they came here for. If we are lucky, we return to help those still trapped below.
Clarissa Pinkola EstesStories are medicine. They have such power; they do not require that we do, be, act anything - we need only listen.
Clarissa Pinkola EstesCreativity is not a solitary movement. That is its power. Whatever is touched by it, whoever hears it, sees it, senses it, knows it, it's fed. That is why beholding someone else's creative word, images, idea, fills us up, and inspires us to our own creative work. A single creative act has the potential to feed a continent. One creative act can cause a torrent to break through stone.
Clarissa Pinkola EstesIt is in the middle of misery that so much becomes clear. The one who says, 'Nothing good came of this' is not yet listening.
Clarissa Pinkola EstesThough fairy tales end after ten pages, our lives do not. We are multi-volume sets. In our lives, even though one episode amounts to a crash and burn, there is always another episode awaiting us and then another. There are always more opportunities to get it right, to fashion our lives in the ways we deserve to have them. Don't waste your time hating a failure. Failure is a greater teacher than success.
Clarissa Pinkola Estes