Pain is important: how we evade it, how we succumb to it, how we deal with it, how we transcend it.
Interpretation
Pain is a significant part of life that shapes our experiences and reactions.
This quote by Audre Lorde emphasizes the multifaceted nature of pain and its impact on our lives. It highlights that pain is not just something to be avoided or endured; instead, it serves as an important teacher, influencing how we respond to challenges, how we grow from our experiences, and ultimately, how we rise above adversity. By recognizing and addressing our pain, we can learn valuable lessons that contribute to our personal development and resilience.
In practice
During a motivational speech on overcoming obstacles.
The fact that we are here and that I speak these words is an attempt to break that silence and bridge some of those differences between us, for it is not difference which immobilizes us, but silence. And there are so many silences to be broken.
There is no thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.
There are no new ideas. There are only new ways of making them felt.
I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.
I am deliberate and afraid of nothing.
There's always someone asking you to underline one piece of yourself - whether it's Black, woman, mother, dyke, teacher, etc. - because that's the piece that they need to key in to. They want to dismiss everything else.
Muddled thinking inevitably results in muddled living
Self-esteem comes from being able to define the world in your own terms and refusing to abide by the judgments of others.
My son, by all means desist from kicking the venerable and enlightened Vizier: for as a costly jewel retains its value even if hidden in a dung-hill, so old age and discretion are to be respected even in the vile persons of our subjects. Desist therefore, and tell us what you desire and propose.
He hated it when adults told him he only felt the way he did because he was young. As if being young was like being insane or drunk, like the convictions he held were hallucinations caused by a mental illness that could only be cured by waiting five years.
Dealing with our overweight - or with any of our life's difficulties, for that matter - is not a battle to be fought. Instead, we must learn how to make friends with our hardships and challenges. They are there to help us; they are natural opportunities for deeper understanding and transformation, brining us more joy and peace as we learn to work with them.
Never lose hope, my heart, miracles dwell in the invisible. If the whole world turns against you keep your eyes on the Friend.
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