... about the need for deep patience and self-knowledge when seeking love in one's life — from an NY Times essay by Annie Dwyer, which ends with:

Recently, my children and I were talking and laughing together, and it was the brightest joy. I remembered how the man with the red thread said I didn’t lose. He was right. I also remembered how he struggled with fantasy. “I need to learn how to sit with the void instead of trying to fill it,” he had explained.

At the time, I didn’t understand what he meant, but now I do. I’ve had to learn how to sit with the void too. I’ve needed to be present and love myself.

I’m no longer embarrassed that my path is unusual. I look in the mirror and feel such tenderness for the woman I see. I smile, thinking: It’s already been a full life. And there’s still time.

_{(cf No Thing and Every Thing (2015-09-20), Mantra - Gap (2015-11-11), Mantra - No Self (2016-10-25), Nobody Home (2016-11-13), Mantra - Be the Silence (2016-12-10), Not All About Me (2018-02-18), Mantra - Be Meta, Be Open, Be Love (2018-11-11), Compassion and Balance (2023-05-17), Bubble of Peace (2023-07-05), ...) - ^z - 2023-10-27}