Egos Anonymous Reflections — Egos Anonymous

"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way." — Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning Frankl wrote this f

Wendy Etter 4/3/26 Wendy Etter 4/3/26

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"Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside, you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing." — Naomi Shihab Nye, Kindness Kindness, in this framing, is not a disposition we cultivate or a habit we practice into plac

Wendy Etter 4/2/26 Wendy Etter 4/2/26

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"Love doesn't just sit there, like a stone; it has to be made, like bread, remade all the time, made new." — Ursula K. Le Guin, The Lathe of Heaven There may be a wish, sometimes, that love — once found — would simply remain. Tha

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"Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out." — Václav Havel, Disturbing the Peace Most of us were trained to hope for outcomes. To h

Wendy Etter 3/31/26 Wendy Etter 3/31/26

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"Before I can tell my life what I want to do with it, I must listen to my life telling me who I am." — Parker Palmer, Let Your Life Speak Self-will tends to move in the opposite direction — toward deciding, planning, shaping. The

Wendy Etter 3/30/26 Wendy Etter 3/30/26

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"All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well." — Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love Julian wrote these words in the fourteenth century while seriously ill, during a series of visions

Wendy Etter 3/28/26 Wendy Etter 3/28/26

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"We have all known the long loneliness and we have learned that the only solution is love and that love comes with community." — Dorothy Day, The Long Loneliness The loneliness Dorothy Day describes isn't simply the ache of being

Wendy Etter 3/27/26 Wendy Etter 3/27/26

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"I have learned things in the dark that I could never have learned in the light, things that have saved my life over and over again." — Barbara Brown Taylor, Learning to Walk in the Dark We are often trained to move toward the br

Wendy Etter 3/26/26 Wendy Etter 3/26/26

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"There are years that ask questions and years that answer." — Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God Not every season moves forward visibly. Some stretches feel suspended — unclear, unresolved, neither gaining nor losin

Wendy Etter 3/25/26 Wendy Etter 3/25/26

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"For all that has been—thanks. For all that shall be—yes." — Dag Hammarskjöld, Markings Two short lines. Two directions. Neither comes easily when self-will is running things. Looking back, there may be regret, or a wish that thi

Wendy Etter 3/24/26 Wendy Etter 3/24/26

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"The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet." — Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking Much of our effort can go toward figuring out what we should be doing — what role to fill

Wendy Etter 3/23/26 Wendy Etter 3/23/26

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“The cure for loneliness is solitude.” — May Sarton, Journal of a Solitude Loneliness and solitude are not the same. Loneliness often carries the ache of disconnection—the feeling that something essential is missing. Self-will ca

Wendy Etter 3/22/26 Wendy Etter 3/22/26

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“Ring the bells that still can ring.” — Leonard Cohen, Anthem Self-will often waits for perfect conditions. When we feel uncertain, flawed, or incomplete, we may hesitate to act at all. The impulse is to improve first. To fix wha

Wendy Etter 3/21/26 Wendy Etter 3/21/26

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“We are not isolated minds on a pale blue dot—we are the universe, waking up through itself.” (Inspired by Carl Sagan) It is easy to feel separate. A mind inside a body, navigating a fragile world, trying to secure a place in it. S

Wendy Etter 3/20/26 Wendy Etter 3/20/26

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“It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.” — André Gide, Autumn Leaves Many of us learned to adjust ourselves in order to stay safe. We shaped our words, softened our edges, amplified what

Wendy Etter 3/19/26 Wendy Etter 3/19/26

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“The quality of light by which we scrutinize our lives has direct bearing upon the product which we live…” — Audre Lorde, Poetry Is Not a Luxury Many of us learned to examine ourselves under a harsh light. We scrutinized our moti

Wendy Etter 3/18/26 Wendy Etter 3/18/26

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“I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.” — Alice Walker, The Color Purple Self-will can make life feel urgent. There is always something to manage, something to secure,

Wendy Etter 3/17/26 Wendy Etter 3/17/26

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“Attention is the beginning of devotion.” — Mary Catherine Bateson, Composing a Life Self-will often keeps us scanning for what needs fixing. Attention, in that mode, becomes vigilance. We monitor ourselves, rehearse conversation

Wendy Etter 3/16/26 Wendy Etter 3/16/26

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“The cure for pain is in the pain.” — Rainer Maria Rilke Most of us were trained to move away from discomfort as quickly as possible. Fix it. Distract from it. Control it. Self-will becomes most active when something hurts. We tigh

Wendy Etter 3/15/26 Wendy Etter 3/15/26

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“You will love again the stranger who was your self.” — Derek Walcott, Love After Love Many of us have spent years relating to ourselves as a project. Something to improve. Something to manage. Something to defend. Self-will keep

Wendy Etter 3/14/26 Wendy Etter 3/14/26

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