You can safely assume that you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do. Anne Lamott More Quotes by Anne Lamott More Quotes From Anne Lamott So Rita and I decided that the most subversive, revolutionary thing I could do was to show up for my life and not be ashamed. Anne Lamott ashamed revolutionary shows We are a species that needs and wants to understand who we are. Sheep lice do not seem to share this longing, which is one reason why they write so little. Anne Lamott sheep writing needs Writing is about hypnotizing yourself into believing in yourself, getting some work done, then unhypnotizing yourself and going over the material coldly. Anne Lamott done writing believe When you make friends with fear, it can’t rule you. Anne Lamott dance-floor scary-books ghouls And I felt like my heart had been so thoroughly and irreparably broken that there could be no real joy again, that at best there might eventually be a little contentment. Everyone wanted me to get help and rejoin life, pick up the pieces and move on, and I tried to, I wanted to, but I just had to lie in the mud with my arms wrapped around myself, eyes closed, grieving, until I didn’t have to anymore. Anne Lamott real lying moving Once an old woman at my church said the secret is that God loves us exactly the way we are and that he loves us too much to let us stay like this, and I'm just trying to trust that. Anne Lamott church change secret I love memoirs. They are probably my favorite literary form, along with biographies. The more confessional, the better. There is so, so, so little truth in the popular culture, and I am starved and grateful for any I can find. Anne Lamott grateful littles culture Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean; they show us how to live and die. Anne Lamott community mean book I also learned that you didn’t come onto this earth as a perfectionist or control freak. You weren’t born a person of cringe and contraction. You were born as energy, as life, made of the same stuff as stars, blossoms, breezes. You learned contraction to survive, but that was then. You have paid through the nose-paid but good. It is now your turn to reap. Anne Lamott stars energy noses I've always thought I could use my brain and my heart to jockey everyone around to the good. But life is not jockeyable. When you try, you make people infinitely crazier than they already were, including or especially yourself. Anne Lamott brain heart people Peace is joy at rest. Joy is peace on its feet. quoting her pastor in Salon, April 25, 2003 Anne Lamott april feet joy I think this is how we are supposed to be in the world-present and in awe. Anne Lamott dark-clouds world thinking It's good to do uncomfortable things. It's weight training for life. Anne Lamott training cheer weight ...music is about as physical as it gets: your essential rhythm is your heartbeat; your essential sound, the breath. We're walking temples of noise, and when you add tender hearts to this mix, it somehow lets us meet in places we couldn't get to any other way. Anne Lamott essentials sound heart Joy is the best makeup. Anne Lamott makeup beauty inspirational Pay attention to the beauty surrounding you. Anne Lamott pay-attention pay attention I like to read away as much of the afternoon as possible, until real life rears its ugly head. Anne Lamott afternoon real-life real There's a lovely Hasidic story of a rabbi who always told his people that if they studied the Torah, it would put Scripture on their hearts. One of them asked, "Why on our hearts, and not in them?" The rabbi answered, "Only God can put Scripture inside. But reading sacred text can put it on your heart, and then when your hearts break, the holy words will fall inside. Anne Lamott reading heart fall Dancing almost always turns out to be a good idea. Anne Lamott dancing dance ideas A writer paradoxically seeks the truth and tells lies every step of the way. It's a lie if you make something up. But you make it up in the name of truth, and then you give your heart to expressing it clearly. Anne Lamott names heart lying
