Speak Your Truth Quietly and Clearly

This morning I walked for coffee and then stopped by city hall to see some of Christina Aranguren's art that is on display there. She is an exceptional artist and has done a couple of fun pieces, stories she as written that include the words of Max Erhmann's Desiderata, rearranged from magazine text.

Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars. You have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive God to be; and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

The words speak your truth quietly and clearly jumped up off the page in front of me. I reflected how that is what I'm attempting to do in my life. In conversations with my lovers, friends, family, clients, and acquaintances. It's what I'm doing in this blog. I write my truth and bare my soul and the words are here for those that choose to read them.

She also wrote a story called A King's Ransom in this same style of text including the words of Martin Luther King:

As long as there is poverty in the world, you can never be rich, even if you have a billion dollars. As long as diseases are rampant and millions of people in this world cannot expect to live more than twenty-eight or thirty years....they can never be what they ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the way our world is made. No individual or nation can stand out boasting of being independent. We are interdependent.

An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.

You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.

Here is one of her pieces below called School Of Peace. She has an awesome piece called The Queen of Hearts that I want for my home.