our weekly tidbit...

i just shouldn't pick up my mark nepo books,
because then i want to type out the whole book here to share.
honestly, i restrain myself a lot....
but sometimes i just gotta....

this is from his book 'unlearning back to god' -

'I realized that whether it be our search for purpose, our struggle with confusion,
or our working through grief, or the violent evolution of our identity, no one
can go beyond the glass door with you. Each of us must do that work alone. Each
of us must ask our questions and feel our pain and be surprised by wonder in the
very personal terrain that exists beyond that glass door. The best we can do in
loving others is wheel each other as far a possible and be there when our loved ones
return. But the work that changes our very lives - the work that yields inner
transformation, the work that allows us to be reborn with the same skin - must
always be done alone. This work of solitude and the attending to and from the
glass door is the work of compassion, and the sharing of what we each discover
in our solitude is the work of education, and the wisdom by which we weave that
inner knowledge and that compassion - this is the work of community.

Whether walking a loved one into surgery or investigating the spiritual formation
of teachers, we need both solitude and community to enliven our compassion.
For only both paths - innner and outer - can yield the miracle of the Whole.'

..........
i loved this part for a lot of reasons. just his way of putting it touches me so
perfectly. but i chose to include it here because of the reassurance of the value
of being alone and knowing that there are some things our loved ones must do alone
as well.

i think we forget the value of solitude. we get scared of it. and that's one reason
i love what he wrote here.

it's such an intricate dance of flying solo and walking in community, and working
closely one on one with another. keeping the trust in the different parts seems really
important. and so i wanted to share.