I think perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping-stone just right, you won’t have to die. The truth is that you will die anyway and that a lot of people who aren’t even looking at their feet are going to do a whole lot better than you, and have a lot more fun while they’re doing it.
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Anne Lamott on Wonder, Reverence and Awe
Let’s think of reverence and awe, as presence in and openness to the world. The alternative is that we stultify, we shut down. Think of those times when you’ve read prose or poetry that is presented in such a way that you have a fleeting sense of being startled by beauty or insight, by a glimpse into someone’s soul. All of a sudden everything seemed to fit together or at least to have some meaning for a moment. This is our goal as writers, I think; to help others have this sense of—forgive me—wonder, of seeing things anew, things that can catch us off guard, that break into our small,…