Author: tomstellawebsite

“Everybody’s got fear. Everybody’s afraid something bad is going to happen sometime. That’s life. But what’s important is that you don’t let it stop you from doing things, taking risks. Every decision is a risk, every choice leaves a choice behind. You can’t let yourself get paralyzed by the fear of what might go wrong. … Continue reading From Fear to Faith

“Each person is born with an unencumbered spot, free of expectation and regret, free of ambition and embarrassment, free of fear and worry, an umbilical spot of grace where we were each first touched by God. It is this spot of grace that issues peace. Psychologists call this spot the Psyche, theologians call it the … Continue reading Spot of Grace

“Everyone I know, myself included, feels insecure about something they do; this need not be a problem. What is problematic is giving power to insecurity and never challenging ourselves to reach for higher heights, or venturing into new frontiers. I am in agreement with Rabbi Hillel, a contemporary of Jesus who said: “I get up, … Continue reading In Praise of Stumbling

  “The spiritual life, it is thought, is another kind of life than the one we experience with its cares and concerns, its responsibilities and relationships, its demands and delights…     When spirituality is divorced from the everyday dimension of our lives we are like a plant uprooted from the soil. When cut off from the … Continue reading Look for the Good

“Most people have come to prefer certain of life’s experiences and deny and reject others, unaware of the value of the hidden things that may come wrapped in plain or even ugly paper. In avoiding all pain and seeking comfort at all cost, we may be left without intimacy or compassion; in rejecting change and … Continue reading True Healing

“One old Hasidic rabbi asked his pupils how they could tell when the night had ended and the day had begun, for that is the time for certain holy prayers. “Is it,” proposed one student, “when you can see an animal in the distance and tell whether it is a sheep or a dog?” “No,” … Continue reading Interdependence Day

“When we understand, we are at the center of the circle, and all the while ‘yes’ and ‘no’ chase one another around the circumference.”  Chuang Tzu “We dance ‘round in a ring and suppose. But the secret sits in the middle and knows.” Robert Frost Chuang Tzu, a Chinese philosopher who lived in the 3rd … Continue reading Resting in Our Soul

“Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your … Continue reading Heart Over Head

“…frequently I do drift away from the present by fantasizing about what’s coming up next. I now realize that I have spent much of my life thinking about “What’s next?” While eating dinner, I will start thinking about what book I am going to read or what movie I am going to watch after dinner. … Continue reading What’s Next?

“In my earlier years, the “religious” was for me the exception… ‘Religious experience’ was the experience of otherness that did not fit into the context of life. Since then, I have given up the “religious” which is nothing but the exception, extraction, exaltation, ecstasy; or it has given me up. I possess nothing but the … Continue reading Religious Distractions