henri nouwen

“ You don't think your way into a new kind of living. You live your way into a new kind of thinking. ”

“ Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day. ”

“ To be able to enjoy fully the many good things the world has to offer, we must be detached from them. To be detached does not mean to be indifferent or uninterested. It means to be non-possessive. ”

“ The more you have loved and have allowed yourself to suffer because of your love, the more you will be able to let your heart grow wider and deeper. ”

“ Because where God wants you to be, God holds you safe and gives you peace, even when there is pain. ”

“ Compassion can never coexist with judgment because judgment creates the distance, the distinction, which prevents us from really being with the other. ”

“ Just as words lose their power when they are not born out of silence, so openness loses its meaning when there is no ability to be closed. ”

“ The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge that all I am and have is given to me as a gift of love, a gift to be celebrated with joy. ”

“ Once we deeply trust that we ourselves are precious in God's eyes, we are able to recognize the preciousness of others and their unique places in God's heart. ”

“ Letting our aloneness grow into solitude and not into loneliness is a lifelong struggle. It requires conscious choices about whom to be with, what to study, how to pray, and when we ask for counsel. But wise choices will help us to find the solitude where our hearts can grow in love. ”