If in your mind it was possible to take a year's sabbatical from work to reassess your life, what would you do and where would you go? David Whyte More Quotes by David Whyte More Quotes From David Whyte It's my contention that there is no sincere path a human being can take without breaking his or her heart...so it can be a lovely, merciful thing to think, 'Actually, there is no path I can take without having my heart broken, so why not get on with it and stop wanting these extra-special circumstances which stop me from doing something courageous?' David Whyte broken heart thinking The courageous conversation is the one you don't want to have. David Whyte courageous want conversation I want to know if you are willing to live, day by day, with the consequence of love. David Whyte choices want love What we see as risk and foolhardiness on the outside, can seem more like constant cohesive drive on the inside that holds to priorities that cannot be discerned by others, because they reside in far too private a chamber of personal experience to be shared easily. To dare everything is not necessarily trouble, but often the opposite. To have faith in a foundation you have discovered in life and which, though it is difficult to describe even to yourself, you refuse to relinquish. David Whyte priorities risk opposites Start close in, David Whyte want steps firsts Being a good parent will necessarily break our hearts as we watch a child grow and eventually choose their own way, even through many of the same heartbreaks we have traversed. David Whyte parent heart children I believe that human beings are desperate, always, to belong to something larger than themselves. David Whyte desperate humans believe Whether we stay or whether we go - to be courageous is to stay close to the way we are made. David Whyte courageous made way What is precious inside us does not care to be known by the mind in ways that diminish its presence. David Whyte care mind doe To forge an untouchable, invulnerable identity is actually a sign of retreat from this world; of weakness, a sign of fear rather than strength, and betrays a strange misunderstandin g of an abiding, foundational and necessary reality: that untouched, we disappear. David Whyte weakness identity reality Heartbreak is our indication of sincerity: in a love relationship, in a work, in trying to learn a musical instrument, in the attempt to shape a better more generous self. Heartbreak is the beautifully helpless side of love and affection and is just as much an essence and emblem of care as the spiritual athlete's quick but abstract ability to let go... But heartbreak may be the very essence of being human, of being on the journey from here to there, and of coming to care deeply for what we find along the way. David Whyte athlete spiritual letting-go See, even if you're stuck in life, if you can describe just exactly the way you're stuck, then you will immediately recognise that you can't go on that way anymore. So, just saying precisely, writing precisely how you're stuck, or how you're alienated, opens up a door of freedom for you. David Whyte goes-on writing doors Desire demands only a constant attention to the unknown gravitational field which surrounds us and from which we can recharge ourselves every moment, as if breathing from the atmosphere of possibility itself. A life’s work is not a series of stepping-stones onto which we calmly place our feet, but more like an ocean crossing where there is no path, only a heading, a direction, which, of itself, is in conversation with the elements. David Whyte breathing ocean feet We sabotage our creative possibilities because the world revealed by our imagination may not fit well with the life we have taken so much trouble to construct over the years. Faced with the pain of that distance, the distance between desire and reality, we turn just for a moment and quickly busy ourselves. David Whyte distance pain taken We are the only species on earth capable of preventing our own flowering. David Whyte flowering species earth You must learn one thing. The world was made to be free in. Give up all the other worlds Except the one in which you belong. David Whyte other-worlds giving-up inspirational Some things cannot be spoken or discovered until we have been stuck, incapacitated, or blown off course for a while. Plain sailing is pleasant, but you are not going to explore many unknown realms that way. We articulate the truth of a situation by carrying the whole experience in the voice and allowing the process to blossom of its own accord. Out of the cross-grain of experience appears a voice that not only sums up the process we have gone through, but allows the soul to recognize in its timbre, the color, texture, and complicated entanglements of being alive. David Whyte adversity voice color I want to know if you are prepared to live in the world with its harsh need to change you. If you can look back with firm eyes saying this is where I stand. David Whyte eye looks needs There is a lovely root to the word humiliation - from the latin word humus, meaning soil or ground. When we are humiliated, we are in effect returning to the ground of our being. David Whyte pride humility latin The moment you’ve uttered the exact dimensionality of your exile, you’re already turning towards home. David Whyte exile moments home
