Let’s admit it: we all love quotes. It’s part of why we love Tranquil Space so much -the inspirational quotes on the walls, on the Web site, read aloud at the end of each practice. For those of us yearning for a meaningful life, quotes are like signposts, providing clarity, at least for a moment.

The other day, I was reorganizing the furniture in my office, and I came across a book my parents gave me for my birthday back in 1998 (as the inscription reminded me), called Right to Write, by Bonni Goldberg. I started flipping through it, and remembered that this is a book full of writing prompts, most of which are accompanied by – you guessed it – inspirational quotes. Flipping through the pages was like visiting with an old friend, or paging through a photo album – it made me nostalgic. I remembered 22-year-old me, imagined myself in the overalls I used to love wearing, reading the quotes, savoring them, chewing on them, clutching them to me as temporary guides to life, which perplexed me so much.

Life still perplexes me – the questions of how to live meaningfully, how to be authentic, how to be of service. The other night, I ran a bath, and as I soaked in the aromatic water, I let these quotes wash over me once again, and I felt connected to the younger me who’d first encountered them…to the author who compiled them… to the readers everywhere who need them just as much as I do.

“To know what you prefer instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive.”

– Robert Louis Stevenson

That’s one of my favorite quotes. What are yours?

-Amanda (creativedc.org)