by DRAGOS on SEPTEMBER 25, 2009 · 65 COMMENTS

in GETTING THINGS DONE,PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT,PRODUCTIVITY & EFFECTIVENESS

To learn to forget one has to dispense with all excess baggage. Forgetting is letting things take their proper place; forgetting is learning how to abandon the small voice with the ready-made instructions; forgetting is knowing that something new lies ahead; forgetting is moving, flowing.

The ability to resign, to let go of obsolete responses, of exhausted relationships and tasks beyond one’s potential is an essential part of the wisdom of living.

-Fritz Perls

“Use of this product may be hazardous to your health. This product contains Saccharin which has been determined to cause cancer in labs.”

Now my stomach hurts.

I bid everyone farewell.

by Meg Kearney from An Unkindness of Ravens. © BOA Editions, Rochester, New York, 2001.

I believe the chicken before the egg 
though I believe in the egg. I believe
 eating is a form of touch carried 
to the bitter end; I believe chocolate 
is good for you; I believe I’m a lefty
 in a right-handed world, which does not 
make me gauche, or abnormal, or sinister.
 I believe “normal” is just a cycle on
 the washing machine; I believe the touch 
of hands has the power to heal, though
 nothing will ever fill this immeasurable 
hole in the center of my chest. I believe 
in kissing; I believe in mail; I believe 
in salt over the shoulder, a watched 
pot never boils, and if I sit by my
mailbox waiting for the letter I want
 it will never arrive not because of
 superstition, but because that’s not 
how life works. I believe in work:
 phone calls, typing, multiplying,
black coffee, write write write, dig
dig dig, sweep sweep. I believe in
 a slow, tortuous sweep of tongue
 down the lover’s belly; I believe I’ve
 been swept off my feet more than once
and it’s a good idea not to name names. 
Digging for names is part of my work, 
but that’s a different poem. I believe
there’s a difference between men and 
women and I thank God for it. I believe
 in God, and if you hold the door
 and carry my books, I’ll be sure to ask
 for your name. What is your name? Do
 you believe in ghosts? I believe 
the morning my father died I heard him
 whistling “Danny Boy” in the bathroom, 
and a week later saw him standing in
 the living room with a suitcase in his 
hand. We never got to say good-bye, he
 said, and I said I don’t believe in 
good-byes. I believe that’s why I have 
this hole in my chest; sometimes it’s 
rabid; sometimes it’s incoherent. I
 believe I’ll survive. I believe that 
”early to bed and early to rise” is
 a boring way to live. I believe good
 poets borrow, great poets steal, and 
if only we’d stop trying to be happy 
we could have a pretty good time. I
 believe time doesn’t heal all wounds;
 I believe in getting flowers for no
reason; I believe “Give a Hoot, Don’t 
Pollute,” “Reading is Fundamental,” 
Yankee Stadium belongs in the Bronx,
and the best bagels in New York are 
boiled and baked on the corner of First 
and 21st. I believe in Santa
 Claus, Jimmy Stewart, ZuZu’s petals,
 Arbor Day, and that ugly baby I keep 
dreaming about. She lives inside me 
opening and closing her wide mouth.
 I believe she will never taste her
 mother’s milk; she will never be 
beautiful; she will always wonder what 
it’s like to be born; and if you hold
 your hand right here touch me right
 here, as if this is all that matters,
 this is all you ever wanted, I believe 
something might move inside me,
and it would be more than I could stand.

today i stole a readers digest from the financial aid office because the advisor that i went to talk to was being a bitch.

but also because i wanted it.

while i sat down to wait to be called up next, i picked up a readers digest that i saw on the coffee table in front of me. i noticed the creepy guy two seats over staring at me out of the corner of my right eye, ignoring him i read “life’s 25 toughest questions.” here are some of my favorites: