Like God and Duane Reade drugstores, toxins are everywhere.
I’m not a big scatology fan, unlike my sons, who can amuse themselves for an entire afternoon by repeating the phrase ‘crocodile fart.’ So I’ll spare you from an overabundance of detail in this chapter. This chapter will be somewhat soft focus, like the TV camera in a Barbra Streisand interview.
As grandma said, if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.
Unconditional love is an illogical notion, but such a great and powerful one.
I’ve started to look at life differently. When you’re thanking God for every little you – every meal, every time you wake up, every time you take a sip of water – you can’t help but be more thankful for life itself, for the unlikely and miraculous fact that you exist at all.
I always thought the name of Utah’s major newspaper was some sort of weird misspelling of the word “desert.” But no, Deseret is the “land of the honeybee,” according to the Book of Mormon. I guess I should have figured they would have caught a typo in the masthead after 154 years.
I’m all for cafeteria religion. I think there’s nothing wrong with cafeterias – I’ve had some great meals at cafeterias. I’ve also had some horrible meals, so it’s important to pick the right things. Take a heaping helping of compassion and mercy, and leave the intolerance on the table.
The key to making healthy decisions is to respect your future self. Honor him or her. Treat him or her like you would treat a friend or a loved one.
A 2002 Oxford study showed counting sheep actually delays the onset of sleep. It’s just too dull to stop us from worrying about jobs and spouses.
Behavior shapes beliefs.
I’d recommend learning to accept rejection. Become friends with rejection. Be nice to rejection, because it’s a huge part of being a writer, no matter where you are in your career.
I’m not a fan of ‘write what you know.’ If you don’t know, find out. I knew nothing about the Bible before I started writing ‘The Year of Living Biblically.’ That was kind of the point – to learn.
I know that you should always say yes to adventures or you’ll lead a very dull life.
Its sort of my job to feel good.
I have little shame, no dignity – all in the name of a better cause.
Taking the Bible too literally is a mistake. It should be read as a guidebook of wisdom and insight.
After decimating several vegetables, I decide juicing is my favorite form of food preparation. There’s something perversely appealing about subjecting an innocent plant to that much violence.
I tried the paleo diet, which is the caveman diet – lots of meat. And I tried the calorie restriction diet: The idea is that if you eat very, very little – if you’re on the verge of starvation, you will live a very long time, whether or not you want to, of course.
I find placebos uplifting and exhilarating. It means that taking action – no matter what the action is – might help you feel better.
I don’t believe that prayers actually change God’s mind – if there is a God – but I liked praying for people in need. It was like moral weightlifting. I tend to be self-obsessed, and it was nice to get out of my brain once in a while.