Submit yourself to the risk of truly becoming. John O'Donohue

We did not know at the time of booking our cottage we were very near where John O'Donohue grew up and is now buried (dying at the age of 52 in early 2008). His first book captured our attention as we thought about naming our women's leadership program Anam Cara (soul friend). His words did not touch me then; now his words are like salve for my weary soul. We listened to one of his last interviews with Krista Tippet and I am reading more of his books as we sit in the landscape that inspired him. Here are just a small samplings of quotes from his website, books and radio show that I am pondering:

Time has become the enemy. Stress is a perverted relationship with time.

Where you are understood, you are home.

When you put energy outwardly, it takes something from the inside. We are debilitating ourselves. We need to learn the art of inwardness. (paraphrase)

There are many more blessings and words that have touched me. Instead of writing more, I am spending the next few days reflecting on them. Note: The photo is a view from his gravesite in Fanore.