It is said that the Christian mystic Theresa of Avila found difficulty at first in reconciling the vastness of the life of the spirit with the mundane tasks of her Carmelite convent: the washing of pots, the sweeping of floors, the folding of laundry. At some point of grace, the mundane became for her a sort of prayer, a way she could experience her ever-present connection to the divine pattern which is the source of life. She began then to see the face of God in the folded sheets.

A shaman is someone who has a wound that will not heal. He sits by the side of the road with his open wound exposed.

Illiness could be considered a Western form of meditation.

Sooner or later we will come to the edge of all that we can control and find life, waiting there for us.

Perhaps we can only truly serve those we are willing to touch, not only with our hands but with our hearts and even our souls. Professionalism has embedded in service a sense of difference, a certain distance. But on the deepest level, service is an experience of belonging, an experience of connection to others and to the word around us. It is this connection that gives us the power to bless the life in others. Without it, the life in them would not respond to us.

The secret of living well is not in having all the answers but in pursuing unanswerable questions in good company.

From a good teacher you may learn the secret of listening. You will never learn the secret of life. You will have to listen for yourself