She never managed to find herself in these books no matter how hard she tried, exhuming traits from between the pages and donning them for an hour, a day, a week. We think in some ways, we have all done this our whole lives, searching for the book that will give us the keys to ourselves, let us into a wholly formed personality as though it were a furnished room to let. As though we could walk in and look around and say to the gray-haired landlady behind us, "We'll take it."

Allow yourself to experience fully every step of the journey, both the joy and the pain. You're alive. Greet the moment at hand with a grateful heart.

Every room has a mood or personality...and it is this that one desires to develop.

Hurts and disappointments can hold gifts.

Your own Fear is the greatest obstacle you will ever face on your journey. Let your Faith be bigger than your Fear.

We were never organized readers who would see a book through to its end in any sory of logical order. We weave in and out of words like tourists on a hop-on, hop-off bus tour. Put a book down in the kitchen to go to the bathroom and you might return to find it gone, replaced by another of equal interest. We are indiscriminate.

Self-care isn't selfish (it is a gift to all concerned). You can't serve from an empty vessel.