ruined not useless

The Romantics really appreciated ruins. They aren't just decrepit buildings that are no longer useful. They have real value. 

If you think of a ruin as a work of art, it can be viewed as a collaboration between nature and humanity. Human beings made the original building and then nature altered the construction over time.

We don't normally think of that process as adding value, but that's just one example of the Romantic tendency to value what is mysterious and lacking in what the world generally values. 

learn from my mistakes

Baby leopards are not kittens. They are cubs. 

lost in translation

I did well at creative writing A because they told us that you don't have to have a good idea to start with and they taught us ways of playing with language. It was really fun and creative. 

So, I did creative writing B and it was completely different. I think I failed it. This time, everyone was trying to write 'properly' - to write actual stories. 

It seemed to come naturally to everyone.

process

The truths were a collaboration between myself and the people who spoke to me. I took ideas from three key conversations that I had, and that became my path. 

oracles

Before - a couple of years ago - I knew that the hardest part was still ahead of me. That was true. Experts, who supposedly knew better than I did, told me otherwise. 

They told me all kinds of things that are not true. They aren't lies though, because I know they believed what they were telling me. Also, maybe in purely objective terms, what they were telling me was true. 

What I find interesting is that I was told some things that were truly life-changing - things that I took and used to overcome, and that I still believe. 

So, even though I was told some things that weren't true, that didn't poison the well. I was able to receive life-giving truth. 

manifest oh

Nothing I create is contingent on an envisaged response. 

typo

There are some people that will just inevitably harm you. You can't come within their orbit and be unscathed. It seems like you're going to get away, but you can't. 

Then there are people who are the opposite. You can't help but benefit from your association with them.