When You Are Washing The Dishes, Washing The Dishes Must Be The Most Important Thing In Your Life. Just

“When you are washing the dishes, washing the dishes must be the most important thing in your life. Just as when you are drinking tea, drinking tea must be the most important thing in your life. Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the whole world revolves—slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future. Live the actual moment. Only this actual moment is life.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh 

Reblogging because I’m a grown 40-something mom whose career is in nursing. whose special interest when I was 17 was marine biology, and it still is. Just a little reminder that there’s no shame if you didn’t make your special interest into your career. Find joy in it still if you can! Collect special interests and find joy.

i feel like this is very importantTM to say, you dont need to be an expert in your special interest

marine biology is my special interest. i suck at identifying fish. i can identify one fish but only because i spent ages fixating on it. i couldnt tell you the scientific name of anything else.

when i was in primary school most of my information came from the octonauts since i wasnt allowed the internet, it was still my special interest then even when i hardly knew anything.

having a special interest doesnt mean you immediately become amazing at whatever it is, and thats totally ok. its ok to forget things, to not know things, for other people to know more about the thing. thats part of the fun, theres so much about everything to learn and improve on.

in my personal case there are thousands of scientists who know more than me. i may know more than my friends, but im 17. there are scientists who study the ocean for a living and its perfectly reasonable for them to know more than me

the only thing that matters is that it gives you energy, that you enjoy doing it, that its special to you

“It never gets easier. It’s always wonderful.”

This is the great tragedy about being alive and finding love. But it’s always wonderful.

hi Mr. Gaiman. My cat died two days ago and I really miss him. I’ve seen pictures of your dogs so I think you might be a dog person so I don’t know if you’ll get this but, I not only miss my cat (Kittywitty), but I also miss the the unconditional love that he gave. I’m scared that I won’t experience that kind of love again and it makes me very lonely. I’m scared of forgetting him, he deserves the world. He wandered into our farm one day and never left and I’m so grateful. He reminds me of you a lot, he carries this wonderful, otherworldly magic. I’ve known him since I was three. Life got less magical, but he never did. You could have the worst day, but then you’d see him and it was suddenly the best day. Anyways, I hope you have a wonderful day. You’re truly amazing and your writing enraptures me.

I'm so sorry about your cat.

I don't believe that there are cat people and dog people. I had so many cats from 1992 on -- they would turn up at our house and never leave. I wrote a story about them, and about one in particular, called "The Price".

This is Zoe, who was blind, and died in 2010:

This is Princess, who turned up (with kittens, and pregnant with more) in 1992 or 1993 and died in 2013...

One day, maybe, I'll be ready to have a house full of cats once more. It took me ten years after my dog first died to get another dog though. It never gets easier. It's always wonderful.

being so fr when I say that transmisogyny has put feminism back like 50 years

Yes it’s the first and last hill.

I know it’s not hard to point out reactionaries hypocrisy when it comes to like safe spaces or hug boxes or whatever but genuinely how much of an echo chamber do you have to exist in for you to think this is a reasonable thing to say