The past isn't fixed and frozen in place. Instead, its meaning changes as life unfolds. Parker J. Palmer More Quotes by Parker J. Palmer More Quotes From Parker J. Palmer Community doesn't just create abundance - community is abundance. If we could learn that equation from the world of nature, the human world might be transformed. Parker J. Palmer communitymightworld Like a wild animal, the soul is tough, resilient, resourceful, savvy, and self-sufficient: it knows how to survive in hard places. I learned about these qualities during my bouts with depression. In that deadly darkness, the faculties I had always depended on collapsed. My intellect was useless; my emotions were dead; my will was impotent; my ego was shattered. But from time to time, deep in the thickets of my inner wilderness, I could sense the presence of something that knew how to stay alive even when the rest of me wanted to die. That something was my tough and tenacious soul. Parker J. Palmer egoselfanimal Violence is what happens when we don't know what else to do with our suffering. Parker J. Palmer violencesufferinghappens I now understand what Nelle Morton meant when she said that one of the great tasks in our time is to "hear people to speech." Behind their fearful silence, our students want to find their voices, speak their voices, have their voices heard. A good teacher is one who can listen to those voices even before they are spoken-so that someday they can speak with truth and confidence. Parker J. Palmer voiceteachingteacher Before I can tell my life what I want to do with it, I must listen to my life telling me who I am. Parker J. Palmer who-i-amworklife The answer comes to me through studying the lives of the Rosa Parks and the Vaclav Havels and the Nelson Mandelas and the Dorothy Days of this world. These are people who have come to understand that no punishment that anybody could lay on us could possibly be worse than the punishment we lay on ourselves by conspiring in our own diminishment, by living a divided life, by failing to make that fundamental decision to act and speak on the outside in ways consonant with what we know to be true on the inside. Parker J. Palmer punishmentdecisionpeople By surviving passages of doubt and depression on the vocational journey, I have become clear about at least one thing: self-care is never a selfish act -- it is simply good stewardship of the only gift I have, the gift I was put on earth to offer to others. Anytime we can listen to true self and give it the care it requires, we do so not only for ourselves but for the many others whose lives we touch. Parker J. Palmer selfishjourneygiving Before you tell your life what you intend to do with it, listen for what it intends to do with you. Before you tell your life what truths and values you have decided to live up to, let your life tell you what truths you embody, what values you represent. Parker J. Palmer decidedvalues We are exploring together. We are cultivating a garden together, backs to the sun. The question is a hoe in our hands and we are digging beneath the hard and crusty surface to the rich humus of our lives. Parker J. Palmer hoegardenhands I like to say that before we can create an external space in which to receive people, we have to create an internal space in which to receive them. Parker J. Palmer internalsspacepeople It is because as we are, our hearts are closed, and we cannot place the holy words in our hearts. So we place them on top of our hearts. And there they stay until, one day, the heart breaks and the words fall in. Parker J. Palmer one-dayheartfall Connection and connectedness are other words for community and communion. Parker J. Palmer communionconnectionscommunity The spiritual life is about becoming more at home in your own skin. Parker J. Palmer skinsspiritualhome A leader is a person who must take special responsibility for what's going on inside of himself or herself ... lest the act of leadership create more harm than good. Parker J. Palmer leaderresponsibilityspecial We need a coat with two pockets. In one pocket there is dust, and in the other pocket there is gold. We need a coat with two pockets to remind us who we are. Parker J. Palmer dustgoldtwo The ancient human question 'Who am I?' leads inevitably to the equally important question 'Whose am I?' - for there is no self outside of relationship. Parker J. Palmer ancientimportantself I will always have fears, but I need not be my fears, for I have other places within myself from which to speak and act. Parker J. Palmer speakneeds Solitude does not necessarily mean living apart from others; rather, it means never living apart from one's self. It is not about the absence of other people -- it is about being fully present to ourselves, whether or not we are with others. Community does not necessarily mean living face-to-face with others; rather, it means never losing the awareness that we are connected to each other. It is not about the presence of other people -- it is about being fully open to the reality of relationship, whether or not we are alone. Parker J. Palmer selfmeanreality For me, teaching is about weaving a web of connectedness between myself, my students, the subject I'm teaching, and the larger world. Parker J. Palmer weavingteachingworld If we want to grow as teachers -- we must do something alien to academic culture: we must talk to each other about our inner lives -- risky stuff in a profession that fears the personal and seeks safety in the technical, the distant, the abstract. Parker J. Palmer safetyteacherculture
