John Steinbeck on Falling in Love: A 1958 Letter

I've quoted it before, and I quote it again.

Albeit, my all time favourite letter.

New York
November 10, 1958 

Dear Thom: 

We had your letter this morning. I will answer it from my point of view and of course Elaine will from hers. 

First — if you are in love — that’s a good thing — that’s about the best thing that can happen to anyone. Don’t let anyone make it small or light to you. 

Second — There are several kinds of love. One is a selfish, mean, grasping, egotistical thing which uses love for self-importance. This is the ugly and crippling kind. The other is an outpouring of everything good in you — of kindness and consideration and respect — not only the social respect of manners but the greater respect which is recognition of another person as unique and valuable. The first kind can make you sick and small and weak but the second can release in you strength, and courage and goodness and even wisdom you didn’t know you had. 

You say this is not puppy love. If you feel so deeply — of course it isn’t puppy love.
But I don’t think you were asking me what you feel. You know better than anyone. What you wanted me to help you with is what to do about it — and that I can tell you.
Glory in it for one thing and be very glad and grateful for it. 

The object of love is the best and most beautiful. Try to live up to it. 

If you love someone — there is no possible harm in saying so — only you must remember that some people are very shy and sometimes the saying must take that shyness into consideration. 

Girls have a way of knowing or feeling what you feel, but they usually like to hear it also. 

It sometimes happens that what you feel is not returned for one reason or another — but that does not make your feeling less valuable and good. 

Lastly, I know your feeling because I have it and I’m glad you have it. 

We will be glad to meet Susan. She will be very welcome. But Elaine will make all such arrangements because that is her province and she will be very glad to. She knows about love too and maybe she can give you more help than I can. 

And don’t worry about losing. If it is right, it happens — The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away. 

Love,
Fa

“Not everything is supposed to become something beautiful and long-lasting. Sometimes people come into your life to show you what is right and what is wrong, to show you who you can be, to teach you to love yourself, to make you feel better for a little while, or to just be someone to walk with at night and spill your life to. Not everyone is going to stay forever, and we still have to keep on going and thank them for what they’ve given us.”

 -- Emery Allen

Onion

Excuse the hiatus. A quick one.

會發現，很多人都有一樣這麼愛過一個人。

100%

Words cannot describe how much I agree with this.

"What represents your greatest trust in a person?"

"Not bringing your brain out when you're out and about with them."

This is so complete and utterly true of myself when I'm with my family and best friends.

How do you see the world?

"Maybe some feelings are, and always will be, beyond words." 

I loved the cinematography.
Komorebi, so stunningly captured.

It's so true.
Some feelings and words aren't meant to be captured into a combination of strokes.

Quickly -

Something I realised again over my six-week holiday in Taiwan.

Beloved.

I think we all tend to forget how loved we are.

The waterfall

When you first look at The Waterfall, it is merely water, streaming down. Just as it has for so many years. But this is the first time I've looked at it so intently - in it, I see fast moving, moderate and slower moving sections of water. Calm amongst calamity. Chaos, intermingled with incessant calm.

Gallbladder

How adorable is he.

Lars the awkward yeti 

In a frenzy.

Sat down to watch The Voice of China with my parents after dinner today.
This girl's vocals.

Their performance in the duet is heartbreaking.

Mr. Edward Magorium: 37 seconds.
Molly Mahoney: Great. Well done. Now we wait.
Mr. Edward Magorium: No. We breathe. We pulse. We regenerate. Our hearts beat. Our minds create. Our souls ingest. 37 seconds, well used, is a lifetime. 

-- Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium

"The unreal is more powerful than the real. Nothing is as perfect as you can imagine it. It’s only intangible ideas, concepts, beliefs, fantasies that last. Stone crumbles. Wood rots. People, well, they die. But things as fragile as a thought, a dream, a legend, they can go on and on. If you can change the way people think. The way they see themselves. The way they see the world. You can change the way people live their lives. That’s the only lasting thing you can create."

-- Chuck Palahniuk

Let It Go

Every time it rains

This song goes on constant playback in my head.

Once in a Lifetime

"When I meet you, in that moment, I'm no longer a part of your future. I start quickly becoming part of your past. But in that instant, I get to share your present. And you, you get to share mine. And that is the greatest present of all."

-- Sarah Kay, Hiroshima

The Tension of Opposites

"Have I ever told you about the tension of opposites?" he says.

The tension of opposites?

"Life is series of pulls back and forth. You want to do one thing, but you are bound to do something else. Something hurts you, yet you know it shouldn't. You take certain things for granted, even when you know you should never take anything for granted. A tension of opposites, like a pull on a rubber band. And most of us live somewhere in the middle." 

"Which side wins?"

He smiles at me, the crinkled eyes, the crooked teeth.

"Love wins. Love always wins."

The first time I read this, I paused. Then placed the book face down on the table, laughing in relief. Picking it up once more, I read the paragraph aloud, savouring each and every word.

How do I put it?

It was like sailing in an endless storm. Being tugged to and fro, back and forth. Then amid the anxiety, the confusion, the chaos - coming finally into a quiet port.

That my unsaid feelings, something I was so sure belonged only to me, verbalised.

Such is the power of the written word.

The Phobia

Kyoko's blog is one of my favourites.

I can't remember exactly how I first stumbled upon her blog, but it was through endless tumblr pages that I clicked brain-food.

She thinks she hasn't made a difference. But to me, she already has.

I've never said it aloud. 

Never quite found the right words.

But I'll try my best.

Dear Kyoko,

Most of the time I read your blog posts with a huge smile plastered over my face. (I love your vegie garden, by the way.) Other times, my heart squirms a little inside because you've articulated what I've felt but could not express for so long. Sometimes when I look through your travels, read through your thoughts and am overcome by an urge to run away. Sail uncharted oceans, throw caution to the wind and run free.

To the hundreds, thousands, maybe eventually even millions of people that have clicked and scrolled endlessly through your 'Writings' page, admired your photography, adored Rufio, laughed over your 'Oh, Dad' posts. To the people you pass by in the streets, to the ones who walk into your comic book store, the ones you've made coffee for... Not to mention to your family and friends, and many, many more.

Kyoko, you have already made a difference. 

More than you think you know.

"Time's up. I'm on my way."

Pack your bag.

More than ever, I wonder if this will ever be a possibility.

But my ship is already sailing, my seas almost charted. 

Will I ever?