Like Streams To The Ocean by Jedidiah Jenkins is about examining the things that make us who we are and getting to know ourselves, our stories, and the decisions that shape our one and only life.
Jedidiah Jenkins brings together new and old writings to explore the eight subjects that give life meaning: ego, family, home, friendship, love, work, death, the soul.
This book engages the readers in a wide-ranging conversation about finding fulfillment in the people and places around us and discovering the courage to show your deepest selves to the world.
Scroll down and read 30 quotes from Like Streams to the Ocean by Jedidiah Jenkins.
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30 Quotes from Like Streams to the Ocean by Jedidiah Jenkins
Who we are cannot be fully realized until we tidy up the room and see what’s under all those piles of clothes.
We have a triad of worlds inside us: our mind in the present, our mind holding the past, and our mind guessing at the future.
Misery is in direct proportion to expectation. And getting comfortable with this mystery of self, with the great unfolding of our lives, is the biggest step we can take toward existential joy.
If there is no God, and we are just atoms bouncing through a giant something, then the mystery of consciousness is all the more amazing. We are pieces of matter, perfectly organized in such a way that we are able to see ourselves. What an honor. What a commission. And if the saints and mystics are right, and we really are children of God, then wow. We are creations of the Most High, main characters in the cosmic drama of meaning. Maybe those two options aren’t as different as we think.
Until we know ourselves, the language of our gut and spirit, we will continue to expect wrong things and misunderstand our motives.
We must dig around under our houses and shore up the ground floor of our thinking, making it as sturdy as it can be. Not with answers, but with a way of looking actively at our world. We must invite our consciousness into full awareness of itself.
If we don’t examine ourselves—our walls and defenses and blind spots—in the daylight and out in the open, we run the risk of a shutdown. What is buried will rise up and take over.
Perhaps if we really knew what made us feel small, we would see that it had no business running our life.
We wake up atop the dirt of our childhoods with a shovel in our hands. In our pockets is a crumpled note with conspicuously familiar handwriting. It says, “Good luck.”
We are three things. The car, the driver, and the awareness of it all.
We can’t become wise without living first. We can’t know peace without chaos first. We can’t know belonging until we’ve hedged our bets on the wrong clan and felt alone in a crowded room.
Sometimes, the hurt from your youth is the horrible hand of God, refining you toward wisdom and purpose.
Most people walk around with invisible strings. Fears about being liked, being enough, marriage, career, vanity, talent, belonging. If you could see the strings pulling at people, you’d be as patient as a pillow with everyone you met.
The world is perfectly sized. Too big to explore it all, but small enough to try.
We are alchemy, not static elements.
All we want is for someone to know we exist and say, “I’m glad you’re here.”
Humans make things. They build and expand and astonish. Each ant has his specialty, and we all add our single brick to the skyscraper.
The world is a teacher, not only because it is new, but because it is both yours and never completely yours. And ever changing.
As I get older and listen to my life, the truest things seem to live in paradoxical tension. Hope holding hands with understanding. Expectation dancing with the hard lessons of humility. The human heart piloting the mystery of the human heart.
We are parts of the big body of the world. You have a role. So do I. That weirdness in you is the very thing someone needs.
We think we want wealth, fame, and beauty. But we really want acceptance, community, and respect. So many of us chase the smoke when the fire is what we’re really after. We buy fleeting clouds of smoke with money we sold our souls to earn.
I think our biggest tormentors in life are our expectations.
I have learned that work feels like work before it becomes flow and art.
When fame and money are focused through too fragile a wire, it can blow the circuit beyond repair.
Without the fallen leaves of autumn, spring would not have the soil to bring new life.
If you are overwhelmed, if you are in the valley between doing and knowing and feeling, try to stay curious. Stop looking for the answers. You need to keep living and let the subconscious collect all of its clues. Do not freeze and wait until you are given a sign.
Every good thing you dream of comes with a bad thing in tow. It is the demand of the universe: balance.
I don’t know much to be absolutely true, but I do believe in balance. Stay rooted too long, and you could lose your wonder. Stay gone too long, and you could lose your depth.
But even in the rubble of the worst chaos, if you manage to hang on, there will be a lull in the hell around you. A clear sky and maybe a sunset.
Who we believe ourselves to be is who we become.
Which quote from Like Streams to the Ocean by Jedidiah Jenkins is your favorite?
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