October 1, 2010

The One You Feed

I got two great messages from my friend Ari today that I felt like sharing. The first is a quote by Hemingway about writing:
It was wonderful to walk down the long flights of stairs knowing that I'd had good luck working. I always worked until I had something done and I always stopped when I knew what was going to happen next. That way I could be sure of going on the next day. But sometimes when I was starting a new story and I could not get it going, I would sit in front of the fire and squeeze the peel of the little oranges into the edge of the flame and watch the sputter of blue that they made. I would stand and look out over the roofs of Paris and think, 'Do not worry. You have always written before and you will write now. All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.' So finally I would write one true sentence, and then go on from there. It was easy then because there was always one true sentence that I knew or had seen or had heard someone say. If I started to write elaborately, or like someone introducing or presenting something, I found that I could cut that scrollwork or ornament out and throw it away and start with the first true simple declarative sentence I had written.

image from google

The other some Cherokee wisdom:
Native American was teaching his grandchildren about life. He said to
them, "A fight is going on inside me... it is a terrible fight and it is
between two wolves. One wolf represents fear, anger, envy, sorrow,
regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority,
...lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other stands for joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.""This same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other person, too", he added. The Grandchildren thought about it for a minute and then one child asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?"The old Cherokee simply replied... "The one you feed."
image by nick on

Do with that wisdom what you will.

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