I made no attempt to wipe away the tears. I could not claim a forefather who came to America on the Mayflower. Nor did any ancestor of mine amass riches to leave me free from toil. My great-grandparents were illiterate when their fellow men were signing the Declaration of Independence, and the first families of my people were bought separately and sold apart, nameless and without traces — yet there was this: 'Deep River My home is over Jordan.

Each of us has lived through some devastation, some loneliness, some weather superstorm or spiritual superstorm. When we look at each other we must say, I understand. I understand how you feel because I have been there myself. We must support each other because each of us is more alike than we are unalike.

It becomes easier to die and avoid conflicts than to maintain a constant battle with the superior forces of maturity.

I have waited toes curled, hat rolled heart and genitals in hand on the back porches of forever in the kitchens and fields of rejections on the cold marble steps of America's White Out-House in the drop seats of buses and the open flies of war

He badder than death yet gives no sweet release.

History, despite its wrenching pain, Cannot be unlived, but if faced With courage, need not be lived again.

Sister, change everything you don't like about your life. But when you come to a thing you can't change, then change the way you think about it. You'll see it new, and maybe a new way to change it.

If you did not have that person or problem in your life, what would you be doing with your life that is different from what you are doing now? How would you be feeling and behaving? Spend a few minutes visualizing yourself living your life, feeling and behaving that way—in spite of your unsolved problem.

Many of us react as though everything is a crisis because we have lived with so many crises for so long that crisis reaction has become a habit.

Even recovery brings losses, more changes we must struggle to accept.

On our worst days, we still look for something we've done toward recovery. Sometimes the best we can do is feel good about what we did not do.

A good rule of thumb is: You need to detach most when it seems the least likely or possible thing to do. I