Anaïs Nin: We Are Made Up of Layers, Cells, Constellations

It is my belief and experience that as we age, we are either growing more expansive or more contracting. We grow more open or more closed, more connected or more separate, more compassionate or more judgmental, more grateful or more resentful, more kind or more bitter, more conscious and wise and loving or more fearful and stuck in our unattended wounds, triggers, and illusions. It has been my experience that the process of attending to the losses, pain, anger, shame, and fear in my heart is indeed a messy, scary, difficult, challenging, and also extraordinary journey. So often it has been through the doorway of my tears and fears that I have found joy, compassion, humility, understanding, kindness, and love. Bless us all on our human journeys. ― Molly

We do not grow absolutely, chronologically. We grow sometimes in one dimension, and not in another; unevenly. We grow partially. We are relative. We are mature in one realm, childish in another. The past, present, and future mingle and pull us backward, forward, or fix us in the present. We are made up of layers, cells, constellations.

 ― Anaïs Nin

From Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes