J.J. Brown Quotes

Prayer is happening, and it is not necessarily something that I am doing. God is happening, and I am lucky enough to know that I am in The Midst.

I think my idea of God was much more directive than my idea of God now, that is, a God who had one plan in mind for me, perhaps, and my job was to find out what it was and obey.

The boundaries became constrictive in what I was doing, and if my faith grew, it was because I pressed some of the boundaries in ways I hadn't felt comfortable or responsible doing that before.

If God is about putting God ahead of myself then I've just quit being religious, because that's what got me into such deep trouble.

The tradition piece is so embedded in me I don't know that I can see it any more, but the community piece is one I've been in danger of losing.

Church can be extremely boring. It can be very meaningful, it can be character forming, but can be have very little fizz in it.

To be in the mainline is to have a history and not simply to be an amalgam, a community church of who knows what that came from who knows where.

I don't miss the ministry, because I'm completely engaged in it. In terms of parish ministry, I miss the intimacy with a group of people.

You only need to lose track of who you are, or who you thought you were supposed to be, so that you end up lying flat on the dirt floor basement of your heart. Do this, Jesus says, and you will live.

The real problem has far less to do with what is really out there than it does with our resistance to finding out what is really out there.

I figure I'm still good for painting until 95 or thereabouts.

Faith is a great gift to have.

It's a great life, and Margaret and I are going to stay put above the Arctic Circle where we're happy.

Renewable energy is proven technology, the price is dropping, the rest of the world is going that way, that's where our investment should be going as well.

For comprehensive Earth action, an all-of-the-Earth representative democracy is required. That is, a global parliament.

The pursuit of eternity is no longer the prerogative of the gods - it is the business of us all, here and now.

I'm worried about the traditional media, but I think the new media is a plus for democracy.

I've always thought, and it gets tested at times, that I have a great faith in the fundamental goodness of human beings.

As a Green, my goal is to put a smile on the face of the coming generations.

I have never met a person in whom I did not see myself reflected.

I think I could have been quite difficult to fathom as a youngster, this kid who didn't talk about himself very much.

I will be Green until the day I die, if not for a long time after.

I'm a very great non-violent character. I would never resort to violence to change anything.

We people of the Earth exist because our potential was there in the Big Bang, 13.7 billion years ago, as the universe exploded into being.

My grandfather taught me how important it is to have your eyes open,because you never know what's going to come your way.

I layer my moisturizers, which makes my complexion so fresh, I can wear less foundation.

God gave me eyes so that I might see you, and God gave you eyes, so that I might see myself.

When someone tells you the truth about something, they become loveable.

Courage - To tell the story of who you are with your whole heart.

We cannot ignore our pain and feel compassion for it at the same time.

You cannot talk about race without talking about privilege. And when people start talking about privilege, they get paralyzed by shame.

We cannot give our children what we don’t have.

The two most powerful words when we're in struggle: me too.

When you ask people about love, they tell you about heartbreak.

When we fail to set boundaries and hold people accountable, we feel used and mistreated.

What makes something better is connection.

Connection, the ability to feel connected, is neurobiologically wired, that’s why we’re here!

I don't just want someone who says they love me; I want someone who practices that love for me every day.

To live with courage, purpose, and connection - to be the person whom we long to be - we must again be vulnerable. We must ... show up, and let ourselves be seen.

But I don't think it's as dangerous, scary, or terrifying as getting to the end of our lives and wondering, what if I would have shown up?

When failure is not an option, we can forget about creativity, learning, and innovation.

How can we embrace rest and play if we've tied our self-worth to what we produce?

Shame works like the zoom lens on a camera. When we are feeling shame, the camera is zoomed in tight and all we see is our flawed selves, alone and struggling.(page 68)

Let go of who you think you should be in order to be who you are. Be imperfect and have compassion for yourself. Connection is the result of authenticity.

In order for connection to happen, we have to allow ourselves to be seen, really seen.

There really is "no effort without error and shortcoming" and there really is no triumph without vulnerability.

The one thing that keeps us out of connection is our fear that we're not worthy of connection.

Tell your story with your whole heart.

All the stuff that keeps you safe from feeling scary emotions? They also keep you from feeling the good emotions. You have to shake those off. You have to become vulnerable.

I think that shame is a universal, paralyzing, painful emotion.