Life with most teenagers was like having a low-grade bladder infection. It hurts, but you had to tough it out.
Anne LamottRead
There is something so tender about this to me, about being willing to have your makeup wash off, your eyes tear up, your nose start to run. Its tender partly because it harkens back to infancy, to your mother washing your face with love and lots or water, tending to you, making you clean all over again.
Interpretation
The quote expresses the vulnerability and tenderness found in moments of emotional honesty and care.
Anne Lamott's quote highlights the beauty and tenderness associated with vulnerability, particularly in how it relates to caring relationships, reminiscent of the nurturing love from a mother. It illustrates the profound emotional connection that can be found in moments of raw honesty, where one can be seen and cared for without pretense, evoking memories of childhood innocence and unconditional love.
In practice
During a speech about the importance of emotional vulnerability in relationships.
Life with most teenagers was like having a low-grade bladder infection. It hurts, but you had to tough it out.
Or you might shout at the top of your lungs or whisper into your sleeve, "I hate you, God." That is a prayer too, because it is real, it is truth, and maybe it is the first sincere thought you've had in months.
Your problem is how you are going to spend this one odd and precious life you have been issued. Whether you're going to spend it trying to look good and creating the illusion that you have power over people and circumstances, or whether you are going to taste it, enjoy it and find out the truth about who you are.
It is hard to remember that you are a cherished spiritual being when you're burping up apple fritters and Cheetos.
Gorgeous, amazing things come into our lives when we are paying attention: mangoes, grandnieces, Bach, ponds. This happens more often when we have as little expectation as possible. If you say, "Well, that's pretty much what I thought I'd see," you are in trouble. At that point you have to ask yourself why you are even here. [...] Astonishing material and revelation appear in our lives all the time. Let it be. Unto us, so much is given. We just have to be open for business.
...because when people have seen you at their worst, you don't have to put on the mask as much.
You cry out in your sleep - all my failings expose. _x000D_ There's a taste in my mouth, as desperation takes hold_x000D_ Just that something so good just can't function no more. _x000D_ When love, love will tear us apart again.
Every night I cut out my heart. But in the morning it was full again
In the flush of love's light, we dare be brave. And suddenly we see that love costs all we are, and will ever be. Yet it is only love which sets us free.
We have grown so accustomed to the idea of divine love...that we no longer sense the awe that God's coming should awaken in us.
There is no power greater than true affection.
Love her, love her, love her! If she favours you, love her. If she wounds you, love her. If she tears your heart to pieces – and as it gets older and stronger, it will tear deeper – love her, love her, love her!
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