The Authenticity Project

by Clare Pooley

Julian wore his solitude and loneliness like old, ill-fitting shoes. He was used to them, in many ways they had grown comfortable, but over time they were bending him out of shape, causing calluses and bunions that would never go away.

Then he’d discovered that routines were crucial. They created buoys he could cling to to keep himself afloat.

‘Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift,’

‘It’s not happy people who are grateful, it’s grateful people who are happy,’

If you use hardness to resist force then both sides will break. Tai chi meets hardness with softness, so incoming force exhausts itself. It is philosophy for life also.

Mother is a verb, not a noun.

You’re like the sun. When you’re interested in someone, you turn your rays towards them and they luxuriate in your warmth. But then you turn somewhere else, leaving them in the shadow, and they spend all their energy trying to recreate the memory of the light.’

After all, it’s the cracks that let the light in.’