Magical Journey Quotes

“Meaning and purpose come not from accomplishing great things in the world, but simply from loving those who are right in front of you, doing all you can with what you have, in the time you have, in the place where you are.”
― Katrina Kenison, Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment

“Now I see that the journey was never meant to lead to some new and improved version of me; that it has always been about coming home to who I already am.”
― Katrina Kenison, Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment

“Perhaps the real point of life is simply to wear us down until we have no choice but to start abandoning our defenses. We learn that the way things are is simply the way they are meant to be right now, and then, suddenly, at long last, we catch a glimpse of the abundance in the moment--abundance even in the face of things falling apart.”
― Katrina Kenison, Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment

“I want to hold on tight to everything and everyone I cherished and, at the same time, saw in a way I never had before that living on this earth, growing older, and growing up in the true sense of the word is really about learning how to let go.”
― Katrina Kenison, Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment

“Perhaps it's human nature: We want to shield our children from pain, and what we get instead is life and heartache and lessons that bring us to our knees. Sooner or later we are handed the brute, necessary curriculum of surrender, we have no choice, then but to bow our heads and learn. We struggle to accept that our children's destinies are not ours to write, their battles not ours to fight, their bruises not ours to bear, nor their victories ours to take credit for. We learn humility and how to ask for help. We learn to let go even when every fiber of our being yearns to hold on even tighter.”
― Katrina Kenison, Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment

“At times, my nostalgia for our family life as it used to be--for our own imperfect, cherished, irretrievable past--is nearly overwhelming.”
― Katrina Kenison, Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment

“Magic wasn't something I had to go in search of; it was here, within me, all the time. When hearts are open, when love is flowing, magic happens.”
― Katrina Kenison, Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment

“This, I suspect, is the territory that lies just ahead and around the curve of today. A place where loss grows more familiar, where joy is harmonized by sorrow, where endings outnumber beginnings, and where kindness becomes a sacrament.”
― Katrina Kenison, Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment

“Growth and transformation occur not by changing who we are, but as we summon the courage to be who we are.”
― Katrina Kenison, Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment

“slight shifts in imagination can have deeper and more lasting impact on our lives than major efforts at change.”
― Katrina Kenison, Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment

“Stay focused on what is beautiful and abundant even as illness carves more and more of what you love away”
― Katrina Kenison, Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment

“As Campbell says, “We must let go of the life we’ve planned, so as to accept the one that’s waiting for us.” Magical Journey, p. 17”
― Katrina Kenison, Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment

“As Campbell says, "We must let go of the life we've planned, so as to accept the one that's waiting for us."' Magical Journey, pg. 17”
― Katrina Kenison, Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment

“My life isn’t about form anymore, it’s about content. It’s true that I don’t always get to choose the content, but I can decide what to do with it.”
― Katrina Kenison, Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment

“Just for today, live the passionate truth of who you are. Stop looking at what is undone, what you haven’t achieved, where you’ve fallen short. Look instead, into your own heart. If your journey brings you to a choice between love and fear, choose love.Be brave enough to be vulnerable. Allow yourself to be seen- dancing and falling, and failing and trying again. You are loved, and all that you have to offer is deeply needed..... Let go and breathe into the goodness that you already are... resist nothing, let life carry you. You have work to do. Begin it.”
― Katrina Kenison, Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment

“Eva’s life on Main Street stands, for me, as a testament to the fact that meaning and purpose come not from accomplishing great things in the world, but simply from loving those who are right in front of you, doing all you can with what you have, in the time you have, in the place where you are. It’s not the doing that makes it special, it’s the loving.”
― Katrina Kenison, Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment

“As always after saying goodbye to one one of my boys, I feel a touch of nostalgia for everything that’s over. I suppose it shall always be so. But I also know now that it’s okay to feel it, to allow my heart its fullness for whats gone as well as its gratitude for all that is good.”
― Katrina Kenison, Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment

“As time goes on, I find myself caring less about fitting in, and more about nurturing those relationships that fit who I truly am.”
― Katrina Kenison, Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment

“The years from here on in will be what I make of them.”
― Katrina Kenison, Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment

“A good life is always partly a matter of luck, but it is also a choice we make for ourselves- a choice of deliberation, attention, creativity, limits. A choice predicated on this belief: I am worthy.”
― Katrina Kenison, Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment

“I was so busy trying to figure out what I should be doing that I couldn’t see the truth: All I really needed to do was focus on who I wanted to be. Love is the gift I’ve had to offer all along, in all its different forms. I just didn’t ever quite believe that it-or I- was enough.”
― Katrina Kenison, Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment

“My real task is not to try to reinvent myself or to transcend my life after all, but to inhabit it more fully, to appreciate it, and to thoughtfully tend whats already here. .. embracing and welcoming the person I actually am and quietly making the contribution I have to offer- whether its a manuscript page or an email to my old next-door neighbor. What matters is not the grandness of the gesture, but its source. If I do my work, all of it, with love, then it is worthy.”
― Katrina Kenison, Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment

“It is not for me to Judge the gifts I have to offer the world, but it is up to me to summon the courage to offer them.”
― Katrina Kenison, Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment

“I still struggle with the belief that I should be producing something more tangible or useful in the world. ‘You should do work that makes a real difference,’ scolds the voice in my head.... I worried I was being self- indulgent, spending hour after hour engaged in the slow, halting process of moving from experience to thought to word. What, really, was the point? Why would anyone else care? Why should I? I am coming to believe that there is room in the world for all our stories.”
― Katrina Kenison, Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment

“What would happen, I wonder, if I stopped questioning and doubting what I do, stopped judging my own efforts, stopped critiquing the sentences I write, and begin instead to simply trust the process- not just the ups and downs of my work, but everything else as well, the endlessly evolving process of life itself?”
― Katrina Kenison, Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment

“How easy it is to miss the gift of who we are, because we’re so busy trying to become somebody else. Maybe all I really need to do- all anyone needs to do- is trust in what we love and continue to do that.”
― Katrina Kenison, Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment

“What would it mean if my purpose, my path, from this moment on were really this simple: to be able to look into the eyes of another with such such compassion, such acceptance, such unconditional tenderness and devotion? To offer as much love to others. It would mean seeing the vastness of my own soul and finally embracing it fully, without fear or judgement. It would mean standing in the world in all my vulnerability, wide open, and knowing that even when I have no idea what. To do next, I can choose to do the loving thing, and it will be enough. It would mean letting go of the notion that I can make people love me by doing things for them or by acting a certain way, and believing that I am lovable just as I am. It would mean loving others that way too, just as they are and simply for being human. Pg 121”
― Katrina Kenison, Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment

“Ever since childhood, I’ve felt a tension between who I think I should be-- smarter, more confident, more creative, more adventurous, more out going- and who I am: quiet, introspective, sensitive, and solitary. If I could only be better, I think- a better wife, a better mother, a better writer, a better human- then I would feel more sure of myself and more worthy. More deserving of life.”
― Katrina Kenison, Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment

“I feel as if I’ve lost myself,’ she says. “All these years of taking care of everyone else, of feeling as if I always have to be right here, making sure every meal gets on the table and that everyone’s needs are met. I always wanted to do it, but I also really believed that what was going on in everyone else’s life was more important than what was going on in mine. I guess I believed that nothing very important was going on in mine.” Pg 53”
― Katrina Kenison, Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment

“It is so easy to overlook the wonder of life until something threatens to snatch it from us. How willingly we sacrifice the days of our lives to trivial distractions-silly computer games, unnecessary errands, useless worry. We get caught up in our own petty concerns and miss the beauty unfolding right in front of us. Rushing headlong into the next thing, we fail to appreciate the blessing of the only thing we can really claim as our own, the present moment. We toss a few balls in the air and start juggling, as fast as we can- all in the effort to do a little more, to exert a bit more control, to feel more secure or more worthy or more accomplished. But there is nothing quite like a critical diagnosis, with its ticket to the world of hospital rooms and treatment plans, to bring all the balls crashing back to earth.
Suddenly, when life hangs in the balance, we wish we could have this lost moments back, wish we could live them differently, with more love, more attention, more patience. With more gratitude for all we blindly took for granted. Pg27”
― Katrina Kenison, Magical Journey: An Apprenticeship in Contentment