The Art of Racing in the Rain

by Garth Stein

Because memory is time folding back on itself. To remember is to disengage from the present.

Such a simple concept, yet so true: that which we manifest is before us; we are the creators of our own destiny. Be it through intention or ignorance, our successes and our failures have been brought on by none other than ourselves.

Learn to listen! I beg of you. Pretend you are a dog like me and listen to other people rather than steal their stories.

To live every day as if it had been stolen from death, that is how I would like to live. To feel the joy of life, as Eve felt the joy of life. To separate oneself from the burden, the angst, the anguish that we all encounter every day. To say I am alive, I am wonderful, I am. I am. That is something to aspire to. When I am a person, that is how I will live my life.

That which is around me does not affect my mood; my mood affects that which is around me.

“There is no dishonor in losing the race,” Don said. “There is only dishonor in not racing because you are afraid to lose.”