I don't think consumerism is that satisfying for most people.
We're taught that we need to keep up with these trends + buy all this stuff,
but it doesn't really make us happy.
Happiness levels are declining.
People have fewer close friends.
It's not like the current status quo is awesome + we should be fighting to hold on to it.
We just have a bunch of junk.
Instead of being surrounded by beautiful, durable, repairable things that we love,
we've got a bunch of single-use plastic garbage.
Having piles of garbage everywhere is not super delightful.

Having all this fossil-fuel-based plastic on every beach + in our drinking water
+ in our rain + in our beer + in our seafood, which is currently the case -
it's not like that's a life I want to hold on to.
Often we think about the changes that are needed,
+ we don't look at both sides of the coin.
We think about- this is going to be expensive,
or, this is going to be inconvenient,
without thinking about,
do you know how inconvenient + expensive climate change is?

This is an opportunity to live a different + better life.

~Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson

We must have courage to admit we have taken too much.
~Colette Pichon Battle (via)

​"Whoever uses the spirit that is in him creatively
is an artist.
To make living itself an art,
​that is the goal."
- Henry Miller

It is a kind of love, is it not?
How the cup holds the tea,
How the chair stands sturdy and foursquare,
How the floor receives the bottoms of shoes
Or toes. How soles of feet know
Where they're supposed to be.
I've been thinking about the patience
Of ordinary things, how clothes
Wait respectfully in closets
And soap dries quietly in the dish,
And towels drink the wet
From the skin of the back.
And the lovely repetition of stairs.
And what is more generous than a window?
~Pat Schneider 

Accept then act.
Whatever the present moment contains, 
accept it as if you had chosen it.
Always work with it not against it.
Make it your friend and ally
not your enemy.
This will miraculously
transform your entire life.
​~from James's bathroom mirror

In the seventh story,
humans are not the protagonists of the world.
Love is.
~Garreth Higgins + Brian McLaren

Welcome questions to the table.
Deny fear the final word.
What is faith if not remaining vulnerable enough to hope?
Though it may remain unseen,
cheer for hope.
Give it a standing ovation. 
Clap wildly for something good that is beyond yourself.
Trust that love will not lead you astray.
​~Audrey Elledge + Elizabeth Moore

"I don't know"
is a portal
to the richness inside us.
Neal Allen