I've decided to start a second blog archiving any saying I've come up with over the years that's sounded somewhat intelligent...as you can see, it's a pretty small archive :-)
2007
Don't chase grace. It might not be able to catch up.
2004
Don't ask God for things to happen.
Ask God to give you the strength
To do what you know is right--
Because what's right
Doesn't always feel too good.
The moments in which you stop wondering whether you're good enough are the moments in which happiness and love flow through you unimpeded.
Four stages to letting go:
1. Get over the fact that you’re not going to be with her.
2. Get over the fact that because you’re not with her, you’re not with anyone at all.
3. Get over the fact that you’re not going to be with her.
And just when you think you’re in the clear…
4. Get over the fact that someone else gets to be with her.
2003
Love everyone the way you would love the "one" and the "one" will take care of itself. For eros (romantic love) is the clue; agape (love of all) is the answer.
Don't let people, places, or things
be replacements for what you think
is missing in your life.
They're not meant to fill a void--
they're meant to remind you that there was
never any void to fill in the first place.
Serve to remember...not to forget.
2002
To live in the moment is to live in the eternal.
Senior Reflection for Senior Mass 2002:
In order to flow, you have to let go...
Anyways, when I say we have to let go, all I mean is that we need to accept that things are going to change, and that we must flow with whatever those changes may be. Everything is subject to change—our relationships, our future plans, even our spiritual direction—but our job is to discern what those changes ask of us, rather than what we ask of those changes. That’s flowing, plain and simple. It’s not forced: it’s simply being who you are called to be at this very moment. Unfortunately, that’s an extremely hard thing to remember when you’re not a senior taking three classes pass/fail. But I do remember what it was like. I was a freshman too you know. I remember the stress, the worry of trying to get everything done. In fact, up until Spring Break, I still had a lot to do. Fortunately, that didn’t include a thesis. How have I gotten through it? By worrying less about the results and focusing instead on giving myself completely to the process. When you’re doing that, you’re living in the moment, and when you’re living in the moment, things have a funny way of taking care of themselves.
Gosh, I have so many memories of this place. And I’m gonna have to let go of those too. That doesn’t mean that I have to forget these memories—that’s not what letting go of them means. In fact, we should remember as much as we can. But we mustn’t dwell on them; we mustn’t cling to them and compare them to how things are now. Otherwise, they’ll handicap us, and we won’t be able to make even better memories than those that came before. But we can let those memories influence us. We can let them flow through us in everything we do. And they will. The Fr. Tom’s, the Geoff’s,. the Colleen’s, the Joyce’s, the Sean’s, the Meg’s—they all had an influence on me. But I’m gonna have to let them go. I’m gonna have to let it all go. My friends, my activities, my community—all of it. And it’s gonna be hard. It’s gonna be really, really hard. But they won’t be forgotten. Nor will they be ignored. No—instead, they will be set free.
There’s a quote I always look back to when I’m having trouble letting go. It’s by the late Indian-Jesuit Anthony de Mello. I like it a lot, and it pretty much sums up much of what I’ve said here. In fact, for some of you, it’ll be all you’ll need to remember. It goes:
You never really possess things.
You merely hold them for a while.
If you are unable to give them away
you are held by them.
Whatever you treasure
must be held in the hollow of your hand
as water is held.
Clutch at it
and it is gone.
Appropriate it to yourself
and you soil it.
Set it free
and it is forever yours.
Set it free my friends. Set it free.
Thank you, and God bless.
2001
If I could have frozen that moment in time, I would have done it in a second...
But life can never be frozen in time, because it consistently moves us forward, whether we like it or not. Those moments we want to experience forever are not meant to be bottled up and held onto until they can be achieved again, but instead are meant to help propel us forward so that life does not leave us behind.
The only way to make the waiting easier is to stop waiting.
After all, love doesn't wait...it trusts.
So stop waiting, start trusting, and never stop loving.
It is in letting go that we will find ourselves...and each other.
...you must be comforted by the fact that there's something else waiting that will make you happier than you were before. for there would be no reason to let go of what made you happy in the first place if something better weren't waiting for you to find it. this is not to say that those things from before are of any lesser value, because they're not. those things from before are the reason the things that lay ahead will make you so happy. happiness is not a simple equation but an infinite sum, a product of our past and present, which in the end will lead to a heaven we cannot begin to comprehend. all the same, we still miss those things we left behind, but don't despair...sometimes, the things that will make you happier in the future just may end up being one of the same things you had to let go of in the first place.
Love...not anyone in particular,
but everyone in particular...
and the rest will take care of itself.
2000
Love someone the way
he or she needs to be loved;
not the way you need
him or her to love you,
and you'll find that you
won't need to love,
or be loved for that matter.
You'll just love--
and when you do...
bask in it.
-AMDG
2007
Don't chase grace. It might not be able to catch up.
2004
Don't ask God for things to happen.
Ask God to give you the strength
To do what you know is right--
Because what's right
Doesn't always feel too good.
The moments in which you stop wondering whether you're good enough are the moments in which happiness and love flow through you unimpeded.
Four stages to letting go:
1. Get over the fact that you’re not going to be with her.
2. Get over the fact that because you’re not with her, you’re not with anyone at all.
3. Get over the fact that you’re not going to be with her.
And just when you think you’re in the clear…
4. Get over the fact that someone else gets to be with her.
2003
Love everyone the way you would love the "one" and the "one" will take care of itself. For eros (romantic love) is the clue; agape (love of all) is the answer.
Don't let people, places, or things
be replacements for what you think
is missing in your life.
They're not meant to fill a void--
they're meant to remind you that there was
never any void to fill in the first place.
Serve to remember...not to forget.
2002
To live in the moment is to live in the eternal.
Senior Reflection for Senior Mass 2002:
In order to flow, you have to let go...
Anyways, when I say we have to let go, all I mean is that we need to accept that things are going to change, and that we must flow with whatever those changes may be. Everything is subject to change—our relationships, our future plans, even our spiritual direction—but our job is to discern what those changes ask of us, rather than what we ask of those changes. That’s flowing, plain and simple. It’s not forced: it’s simply being who you are called to be at this very moment. Unfortunately, that’s an extremely hard thing to remember when you’re not a senior taking three classes pass/fail. But I do remember what it was like. I was a freshman too you know. I remember the stress, the worry of trying to get everything done. In fact, up until Spring Break, I still had a lot to do. Fortunately, that didn’t include a thesis. How have I gotten through it? By worrying less about the results and focusing instead on giving myself completely to the process. When you’re doing that, you’re living in the moment, and when you’re living in the moment, things have a funny way of taking care of themselves.
Gosh, I have so many memories of this place. And I’m gonna have to let go of those too. That doesn’t mean that I have to forget these memories—that’s not what letting go of them means. In fact, we should remember as much as we can. But we mustn’t dwell on them; we mustn’t cling to them and compare them to how things are now. Otherwise, they’ll handicap us, and we won’t be able to make even better memories than those that came before. But we can let those memories influence us. We can let them flow through us in everything we do. And they will. The Fr. Tom’s, the Geoff’s,. the Colleen’s, the Joyce’s, the Sean’s, the Meg’s—they all had an influence on me. But I’m gonna have to let them go. I’m gonna have to let it all go. My friends, my activities, my community—all of it. And it’s gonna be hard. It’s gonna be really, really hard. But they won’t be forgotten. Nor will they be ignored. No—instead, they will be set free.
There’s a quote I always look back to when I’m having trouble letting go. It’s by the late Indian-Jesuit Anthony de Mello. I like it a lot, and it pretty much sums up much of what I’ve said here. In fact, for some of you, it’ll be all you’ll need to remember. It goes:
You never really possess things.
You merely hold them for a while.
If you are unable to give them away
you are held by them.
Whatever you treasure
must be held in the hollow of your hand
as water is held.
Clutch at it
and it is gone.
Appropriate it to yourself
and you soil it.
Set it free
and it is forever yours.
Set it free my friends. Set it free.
Thank you, and God bless.
2001
If I could have frozen that moment in time, I would have done it in a second...
But life can never be frozen in time, because it consistently moves us forward, whether we like it or not. Those moments we want to experience forever are not meant to be bottled up and held onto until they can be achieved again, but instead are meant to help propel us forward so that life does not leave us behind.
The only way to make the waiting easier is to stop waiting.
After all, love doesn't wait...it trusts.
So stop waiting, start trusting, and never stop loving.
It is in letting go that we will find ourselves...and each other.
...you must be comforted by the fact that there's something else waiting that will make you happier than you were before. for there would be no reason to let go of what made you happy in the first place if something better weren't waiting for you to find it. this is not to say that those things from before are of any lesser value, because they're not. those things from before are the reason the things that lay ahead will make you so happy. happiness is not a simple equation but an infinite sum, a product of our past and present, which in the end will lead to a heaven we cannot begin to comprehend. all the same, we still miss those things we left behind, but don't despair...sometimes, the things that will make you happier in the future just may end up being one of the same things you had to let go of in the first place.
Love...not anyone in particular,
but everyone in particular...
and the rest will take care of itself.
2000
Love someone the way
he or she needs to be loved;
not the way you need
him or her to love you,
and you'll find that you
won't need to love,
or be loved for that matter.
You'll just love--
and when you do...
bask in it.
-AMDG
