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Prompts for 8 / 5/17


Writing from the Heart, an Amherst Writers and Artists  Group
Facilitated by William Caldwell

13 - 2017


To live is so startling, it leaves little time for anything else.                               Emily Dickinson


~I will not fear you my fear, because you bring me the gift of light which ever surrounds your shadow. And when I embrace my light, it devours my shadow.

~I praise you love, raise you up to the light that embraces the universe, with the warmth and joy of its breath; I praise you because you are enough.


As your heart gets bigger on the inside, the world gets bigger on the outside.
If the dead were alive only in this world, you would forget them, looks like, as soon as they die. But you remember them because they were always living in the other, bigger world while they lived in this little one, and this one and the other one are the same. 
            Wendell Berry, Stand By Me


We all have reservoirs of life to draw upon of which we do not dream.            William James


The most important thing in life is human affection. …
A baby cannot survive without it. … Human affection and compassion are not just about love and seeking pleasure. True compassion is not only about sympathy or a feeling of closeness, but a sense of responsibility as well. Genuine compassion is generated when we realize that people who suffer or lack happiness or prosperity, want happiness just like us. Compassion is about developing genuine concern for them.                           Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama


There is a light in this world, a healing spirit more powerful than any darkness we may encounter. We sometimes lose sight of this force when there is suffering, too much pain. Then suddenly, the spirit will emerge through the lives of ordinary people who hear a call and answer in extraordinary ways.                                                        Mother Teresa of Calcutta


My soul magnifies the Lord.                                                 Luke, 1:46-55, The Song of Mary



I tried to imagine my father, as he handed me my first camera, saying “This is a door in the river.” But I could not imagine that, my father not being given to metaphor. So instead, I imagined my father and me standing shoulder to shoulder on the bridge, watching the door float past, each thinking his own thoughts.                                                          Pepper Trail

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