I love Anna Quindlan - she is such a good writer
I also love "Quackapractor" , some use that as a put down, but I think it's a good fun word

I like this quote and especially "the work of becoming yourself." The expression,"finding oneself " always made me cringe.What are you going to do..take a walk one day and say..woaa...there I am! It is work to finally become yourself and wouldn't it be nice if we could all finally do that 100 percent before we leave this earth? You peel the onion layer by layer over many years and it's hard sometimes. Heck..why does everything have to take so long,anyway?? Happy weekend everyone and KJ,your quotes are very enjoyable to read and make me think and that's a good thing.

Thanks for a week with great quotes and thoughts.

Going to see my "Quackpractor" on Monday for a tune-up. Beats surgery anytime.

Marda, good to hear your thoughts!
KJ, I forgot this is the last day for your quotes, want to thank you for an enjoyable week, it's always a pleasure to visit with you.

You guys are welcome---I enjoyed it and I had fun adding
'two bits' at the bottom, for 'running-my-mouth' fun...

I like what you said, Marda...
"What are you going to do..take a walk one day and say..woaa...there I am!"?

It IS hard work and physical changes are no longer as important.
I guess the less we look in a mirror, the more we can see.
Not being cute, here; it's true.
Even pain brings us to a new place of gratitude
when it lets up a little...

As we get a lot of this 'becoming real'
work out of the way,
we can enjoy what we have in our time left.
I mean really enjoy; every breath, every enlightenment
that opens our eyes to what's important as we each travel own own path.

----And this group is so supportive of each other----
how often does one have this 'outside of family' support
in everyday life?

When you check in every day, you expect to have
the sharing of the usual happenings.
But, when one comes back after being called away,
it's so refreshing to see the
caring and support between the GP'rs.
It sounds so corny---but what I'm getting at is,
that what you take as daily 'back and forth'
is really, truly important in building
a firm network of support and contiuity
in each others' lives.

Each voice is important.

OK, I'll get off the soapbox---I wuz just say'n.....

Thanks Sis for a great week of quotes. I like that you have been sharing your thoughts and fun bits of life. Keeps the ol' brain cells busy on both ends of the internet. The idea of meeting yourself is only good in a walkabout. The best description of walkabout I know of is in my favorite TV show Babylon 5, yes I know I like it a lot.

The episode Walkabout...

"Addiction

Despite warnings from Laura Rosen on how the use of stims affected her career as a physician, Franklin turned to stims to ward off a looming nervous breakdown caused by the stress he suffered as head of the Medlab facility on Babylon 5.

Garibaldi tried to get him to open up and ask for help for his dependence on stims. Then again, after Stephen nealy lost a patient due to his addiction, Garibaldi tried to intervene one more time.

Foundationism - Walkabout

Franklin's response to the truth of his own Stim addiction was to resign as Head of Medlab, and go Walkabout.

As a Foundationist, I was always taught that if you're not careful, you can lose yourself in the world. You get too busy with things, not busy enough with yourself. Spend your days and nights living someone else's agendas, fighting someone else's battles and doing the work you're supposed to be doing, but every day there's less and less of you in it all. Until one day you come to a fork in the road and because you're distracted, you're not thinking. You lose yourself. You go right, and the rest of you, the really important part of you, goes left. You don't even know you've done it 'til you realize, you finally realize that you don't have any idea who you are when you're not doing all those things.
...It's a metaphor. All right? There isn't another me walking around the Station but the principle is real. I realized I didn't have any idea who I was when I wasn't being a doctor...and I think I was using the stims to avoid facing that. Now I gotta fix it... by going Walkabout.
You just leave everything, and you start walking. I mean, the Foundation adopted the idea from the Aborigines back on Earth. The theory is, if you're separated from yourself you start walking and you keep walking till you meet yourself. Then you sit down, and you have a long talk. Talk about everything that you've learned,:everything that you've felt and you talk until you've run out of words. Now, that's vital because the real important things can't be said. And then, if you're lucky, you look up and there's just you. Then you can go home.

Franklin almost died on Walkabout when he intervened in a knife fight, and was stabbed and left to die. While he was passing out from blood loss, he had an Epiphany:

I guess I found what I needed, not what I wanted.
Which was?
A short, sharp kick to the head.
I could have done that for you. All you had to do was ask.
You would have enjoyed it too much!
So you didn't meet yourself?
Yeah, I did. Found out I didn't like myself either.

-- Franklin and Garibaldi, Shadow Dancing"

Here is a link that might be useful: Stephen Franklin B5

Dear Brother,
Your piece was thought-provoking.
Thank you.
I think you've done many a walkabout climbing towards the sky so many times over the years...

The closest I would come to a WA would be walking on the golf course at night when I lived up on the mtn., or when I was X-C skiing down the Blue Ridge Parkway all alone.

Funny how we're all connected in one way or another---even when we're all alone.

I keep looking out at the cold and damp garden and leaves to get up---but then, Phil Mickelson will be playing soon...what to do? What to do?

They're showing clips of all these past tournaments he's won...
Oh, man! They're all in the hole!!!!!!!!!

----I'm watchin' the GAME!!!!

AND there is hot coffee in the pot---doesn't get any better.

One more "thank you", KJ, for a great week of quotes.

KJ, thanks for the quotes, I enjoyed them very much.I think of you as a work in progress, no matter what age you are, you go searching for answers. You go girl.

Thanks so much for another wonderful week.