Weakness

We hop off the rat wheel of win/work/compete/control when we realize that more success has nothing to teach us, that our weaknesses are points of access to the mystery of who we are.

The scent of a man

The writer Helen Keller was blind and deaf but her sense of smell was highly developed. Here she describes the scent of men: “Masculine exhalations are, as a rule, stronger, more vivid, more widely differentiated than those of women. In the odour of young men there is something elemental, as of fire, storm and salt sea. It pulsates with buoyancy and desire. It suggests all the things strong and beautiful and joyous and gives me a sense of physical happiness.”

Falling

In the way that defensiveness conceals weakness, defencelessness reveals strength.

Jesus fell three times on the way to his execution.

The best gift

After being raped at age eight, Maya Angelou stopped talking. Later she described forgiveness as the best gift we can give ourselves. True forgiveness invokes surrender. Surrender is the province of the strong.