30. Almost Everything (Notes on Hope) | Anne Lamott
Friends,
THIS BOOK THIS BOOK THIS BOOK THIS BOOK ❤️
Anne Lamott’s writing feels like slipping into the comfiest chair, in your pyjamas, with a fire going, a doggie curled up by your side, and a huge mug of hot chocolate. Please read this beautiful book.
Some of my underlined passages:
“This is life. We are life. And we’re rarely all alone. People come and go in our lives, surround us with their best selves, take us to the beach, to a bookstore, out for ice cream. So little bits of life & grace, time, habits, duties, a phone call, more time, all filter in to the seed under the concrete. And that seed pushes up through, no matter what, because this is how life is constructed - to live.”
“How did we all get so screwed up? Putting aside our damaged parents, poverty, abuse, addiction, disease, and other unpleasantries, life just damages people. There is no way around this. Not all the glitter and concealer in the world can cover it up. We may have been raised in the illusion that if we played our cards right, life would work out. But it didn’t, it doesn’t.”
“The lesson here is that there is no fix. There is, however, forgiveness. To forgive yourselves and others constantly is necessary. Not only is everyone screwed up, but everyone screws up. How can we know all this, yet somehow experience joy? Because that’s how we’re designed — for awareness and curiosity.”
“Simplification, for example. Life is richer when it’s simple. A walk, buttered toast, a child’s soccer game.”
“Contrary to my upbringing, the bigger, more real, and friendlier the world inside me becomes, the safer I feel in the outside world.”
And this! I saved the best for last ❤️ I use these words weekly in my life and they really are apt for everything —
“And everything that has happened to you belongs to you. If people wanted you to write more warmly about them, they should have behaved better.”
