Now I am setting out into the unknown. It will take me a long while to work through the grief. There are no shortcuts; it has to be gone through.
Interpretation
The quote reflects the journey of dealing with grief and the necessity of facing it fully without taking shortcuts.
Madeleine L'Engle's quote expresses the idea that when one is confronted with loss or grief, they must embark on a personal journey into the unknown depths of their emotions. This process is often long and arduous, as there are no easy paths to healing; individuals must fully experience their grief rather than seeking immediate escape or shortcuts.
In practice
In a speech about resilience, this quote can highlight the importance of facing grief head-on.
Truth is what is true, and it's not necessarily factual. Truth and fact are not the same thing. Truth does not contradict or deny facts, but it goes through and beyond facts. This is something that it is very difficult for some people to understand. Truth can be dangerous.
George MacDonald gives me renewed strength during times of trouble--times when I have seen people tempted to deny God--when he says, "The Son of God suffered unto death, not that men might not suffer, but that their sufferings might be like his.
If you don't recount your family history, it will be lost. Honor your own stories and tell them too. The tales may not seem very important, but they are what binds families and makes each of us who we are.
I never want to lose the story-loving child within me, or the adolescent, or the young woman, or the middle-aged one, because all together they help me to be fully alive on this journey, and show me that I must be willing to go where it takes me, even through the valley of the shadow.
The minute we begin to think we have all the answers, we forget the questions.
When we believe in the impossible, it becomes possible, and we can do all kinds of extraordinary things.
The boomers' biggest impact will be on eliminating the term 'retirement' and inventing a new stage of life... the new career arc.
All endings are also beginnings. We just don't know it at the time.
People don't want to experience change; they just want to wake up, and it's different.
So why are we having to fight in 2012 against politicians who want to end access to birth control? It's like we woke up in a bad episode of 'Mad Men.'
Governments have always tried to crush reform movements, to destroy ideas, to kill the thing that cannot die. Without regard to history, which shows that no Government have ever succeeded in doing this, they go on trying in the old, senseless way.
Poverty devastates families, communities and nations. It causes instability and political unrest and fuels conflict.
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