Two women stand with arms outstretched on a sheer grassy cliff overlooking a valley. In the distance are rolling hills. The sun shines to the left, and in the foreground is a hill sloping on tall, sunlit grass. The entire quote and link reads: mage by Sasin Tipchai from Pixabay “Ross Gay, who’s a poet who also speaks very highly of your work. He said in an interview with Krista Tippet, ‘Sometimes I think there’s this conception of joy as meaning something easy. To me, joy has nothing to do with ease, and joy has everything to do with the fact that we’re all going to die. When I’m thinking about joy, I’m thinking that at the same time as something wonderful is happening and that connection is being made in my life, we’re also in the process of dying.’ And that’s every moment. Your work is so joyous, and it comes up in a lot of the reviews that people write about your work. “It’s exhilarating. It’s exuberant. It’s joyful.” And I’m wondering, for you, how does that joy connect with transience or impermanence?” -Pavi Mehta, quoting Ros Gay to Krista Tippet, to Amy Leach, Awakin.org Pavi often hosts Awakin Calls. Here’s one of my favorite videos of Pavi speaking about her beloved grandfather, the founder of Aravind Eye Hospital, Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy and the book she wrote about this miraculous Infinite Vision. https://youtu.be/65TLzg7GShw

under1000skies.org/2026/01/05/g...

Gems 12.03
"To me, joy has nothing to do with ease, and joy has everything to do with the fact that we’re all going to die." Ross Gay to Krista Tippet via Pavi Mehta to Amy Leach, Awakin.org

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A path with old trees curving over it, forming a long bower. At the end of the path is a bright light. Green patches of grass and bright white and yellow daisies surround the tree roots along the path. The full quote reads: "Amy: “The sermon that I feel like did “show me the exit” was in Iowa City, 2005, and there was a sermon by the president of all Adventism beamed out to all the churches. He said, and I am not kidding, “The institution is everything. The individual is nothing.” And that was it. I was out. I mean, talk about totalitarianism.” Pavi: “I remember you quote her when you’re describing being shown the exit sign very clearly in that 2005 sermon, and the line from Dickinson that you quote there is, “I’ve stopped being theirs.” –Interview with Amy Leach, Pavi Mehta, and Rish Mehta, Awakin.org

🎆 Happy New Year! 🎆
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"I've stopped being theirs."
Amy Leach quoting Emily Dickinson

Full quote in Alt Text.