Author: susannahizzard

‘Keep in mind the advantage of remaining aware of death, of hugging its shadow to you.  Such awareness can integrate the darkness with your spark of life and enhance your life while you still have it.  The way to value life, the way to feel compassion for others, the way to love anything with greatest depth is to be aware that these experiences are destined to be lost.’ Irvin Yalom

‘Most of us recognise impermanence at an intellectual level.  But we still become upset when one of our possessions breaks, when a relationship ends, or when we notice that we are growing older. We act – and in our heart of hearts we think – as though all things were unchangeable and permanent.  And the tension created by trying to maintain an attitude which is so profoundly at odds with reality introduces a jarring and irritating quality into our everyday experience, because the real world is constantly slapping us in the face whenever it fails to match up to our illusions.’ Chris Pauling

‘If we are safe and nurtured enough to develop our capacity to wonder, we start to wonder about the people in our lives……their thoughts and experiences, their pain and joy, their wants and needs. We begin to sense that they are to themselves as vast and complex as we are to ourselves, their inner world as infinite as our own.’ Richard Rohr