We use “love” to describe feelings between family members or romantic couples. It is much deeper and more eternal than that. This is the famous passage from 1 Corinthians 13.

During times of excess, we feel the need to “do without” to restore a sense of balance in our lives. Deepak Chopra emphasizes that we should look at our lives and communities with this same sense of wholeness. This passage is from “The Shadow Effect.”

In our desire to fit in or conform, we often suppress our creative spirit. The more we suppress, the more unfulfilled we will feel. Martha Graham offered these beautiful words of inspiration to one of her students.

Hermann Hesse’s “Three Harmonies” is a beautiful poem that encourages us to “conquer the frightful gloom” with our voice.

“Festivus for the rest of us!” Grievances weigh us down and keep us stuck in the past. Eckhart Tolle writes about grievances in “A New Earth.”

Rituals and routines are roads that provide us with a means for living, whether they are as simple as a routine of getting ready for work or a family ritual to maintain the family’s identity. It’s always important, though, for us to ask which routines help us grow, and which keep us fixed in a mindset rooted in a culture that no longer exists.

Rather than trying to persuade or force your point of view, practice contemplating the basic human-heartedness that connects us all. This passage is from Gaylord Ferguson in the collection of essays, “Radical Compassion.”

Raise your hand if you’re impatient! So many times we demand things to happen before they (or we) are ready. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin tells us to awaken to the “new spirit gradually forming within you.”

Thomas Merton reflects on non-attachment in his “New Seeds of Contemplation.” Some people are not under your charge to reform, so it’s futile to push a rock.

This poem by Hermann Hesse inspires us towards “our ultimate calling: to light and spirit.” It is a message of hope for our divided nation.