By 'expecting nothing' you are not 'giving up.' Far from it! You are making a decision to focus on what needs to be done rather than on outcomes.

Dream, but expect nothing. Desire, but expect nothing. Hope, but expect nothing. Release your need to control and gain real control.

Abstraction is itself an abstract word and has no single meaning ... Every word in our language is abstract, because it represents something else.

The writer loves the fog as it pours in; he loves the sun when the fog pours out. The rest of California is Beach Boys country, but San Francisco has that moody thing going on, those blues notes wrapped in moisture, an atmosphere that tempers California dreaming and makes life more real. The fog brings reality, but it is still a California reality, one spent outdoors the whole year round.

A long, deep breath is the equivalent of a full stop and the key to centering.

You can sweat by not practicing or you can pick up your clarinet. There's good sweat and there's bad sweat.

Because she favours solitude and indwelling, an artist can live a significantly more claustrophobic life that she had ever intended.