Writing well involves walking the path of most resistance. Sitting still, being patient, allowing the lunatic dream to take shape on the page, then the shaping, the pencil on the page, breathing, slowing down, being willingโno, more than willing, being wide openโto press the bruise until it blossoms.
Dani ShapiroMichael Lowenthal has written a big-hearted and wise book about familial love in all its richness and complexity.
Dani ShapiroLet me tell you something about hypochondria: It's a pernicious, undermining little demon. It won't kill you, but it will sap the color from your life so that in the loveliest moments, the moments of grace, you are hit with that whisper in your ear that takes it all away. I'm sick, I'm dying - I just don't know it yet.
Dani ShapiroPart of my spiritual work is learning to live with the knowledge that we can't protect our loved ones from pain and heartache.
Dani ShapiroThereโs a great expression in Twelve Step programs: Act as if. Act as if youโre a writer. Sit down and begin. Act as if you might just create something beautiful, and by beautiful I mean something authentic and universal. Donโt wait for anybody to tell you itโs okay. Take that shimmer and show us our humanity. Thatโs your job.
Dani Shapiro