All there is to do, right at this very moment, is to breathe in, breathe out, and kiss the joy as it flies.

This sadness wasn't a huge part of me--I wasn't remotely depressed--but still, it was like a stone I carried in my pocket. I always knew it was there. [p. 179]

What's more important that spiritual life? It seems to me it's the bedrock of everything essential about being human.

The fact is that most husbands, regardless of religion - it's an old-fashioned gender divide where the husband wants to stay home and the wife is the one who drags herself and her children to whatever spiritual center they're going to.

As a writer we are our own instruments; we need to protect our instrument, because no one will protect it if we don't.

Part of my spiritual work is learning to live with the knowledge that we can't protect our loved ones from pain and heartache.

We're all simultaneously separated and connected by our devices, staring into our little screens, and also hungry for experience and community.