David Whyte
David Whyte
David Whytewas an English professional footballer who played as a striker...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPoet
years mind sabbatical
If in your mind it was possible to take a year's sabbatical from work to reassess your life, what would you do and where would you go?
pain distance taken
We sabotage our creative possibilities because the world revealed by our imagination may not fit well with the life we have taken so much trouble to construct over the years. Faced with the pain of that distance, the distance between desire and reality, we turn just for a moment and quickly busy ourselves.
inspirational giving-up other-worlds
You must learn one thing. The world was made to be free in. Give up all the other worlds Except the one in which you belong.
eye world harsh
I want to know if you are prepared to live in the world with its harsh need to change you. If you can look back with firm eyes saying this is where I stand.
sitting few-words mindfulness
Enough. These few words are enough If not these few words, this breath If not this breath, this sitting here This opening to the life we have refused again and again Until now Until now.
heart thinking broken
It's my contention that there is no sincere path a human being can take without breaking his or her heart...so it can be a lovely, merciful thing to think, 'Actually, there is no path I can take without having my heart broken, so why not get on with it and stop wanting these extra-special circumstances which stop me from doing something courageous?'
want courageous conversation
The courageous conversation is the one you don't want to have.
world triumph persuasion
To have a firm persuasion in our work - to feel that what we do is right for ourselves and good for the world at exactly the same time - is one of the great triumphs of human existence.
honesty grief loss
Honesty is reached through the doorway of grief and loss.
gratitude attention arise
Gratitude arises from paying attention, from being awake in the presence of everything that lives within and without us.
life sailing way
Some things cannot be spoken or discovered until we have been stuck, incapacitated, or blown off course for awhile. Plain sailing is pleasant, but you are not going to explore many unknown realms that way.
giving attention stories
Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into the conversation. Pay attention to everything in the world as if it's alive. Realize everything has its own discrete existence outside your story. By doing this, you open to gifts and lessons that the world has to give you.
heaven one-line lines
Sometimes everything has to be inscribed across the heavens so you can find the one line already written inside you.
inspirational wholeheartedness antidote
The antidote to exhaustion isn't rest. It's wholeheartedness.