What Now?

"What Now?" by Ann Patchett

• never read a book so fast in my life....all in 1 hr before i went to sleep
• very fun read and filled with a fun interpretation of all the wisdom u might want to hear as a graduate or someone embarking on a new adventure.
  

- Sometimes the circumstances at hand force us to be braver than we actually are, and so we
knock on doors and ask for assistance. Sometimes not having any idea where we're
going works out better than we could possibly have imagined.

- It was for me the start of a lesson that I never stop having to learn: to pay attention to
the things I'll probably never need to know, to listen carefully to the people who look as if
they have nothing to teach me, to see school as something that goes on everywhere, all the
time, not just in libraries but in parking lots, in airports, in trees.

- he did teach me something I should have known all along: people need to
talk, and often a willingness to sit and listen is the greatest kindness one person can offer
to another. One of the first lessons of childhood is to be wary of strangers, and while this
is good counsel to guard against the world's very small nefarious element, it also teaches
us to block out the large majority of those who just have something on their mind
they'd like to say.We are taught to be suspicious, especially of anyone who might not
look like us or share our beliefs. Bythe time we reach adulthood, many have perfected the
art of isolation, of being careful, of not listening in the name of safety. But the truth
is that we need to hear other people, all people, especially in those moments when
we don't know exactly where we're going ourselves. When it comes to finding our way we're better off taking in as much information from as many sources as possible.

- wouldn't it be even crazier not to listen to people or to make up your mind against them based on the most superficial bit of information, say a saffron robe, perhaps? For the most part wisdom comes in chips rather than blocks. You have to be willing to gather them constantly, and from
sources you never imagined to be probable. No one chip gives you the answer for everything. No one chip stays in the same place throughout your entire life. The secret is to keep adding voices, adding ideas, and moving things around as you put together your life.

- How much sadness could be averted by taking the time to notice all the people we have come to ignore? Would we in fact be safer and not more at risk if we asked someone to voice his
feelings rather than wait until he looked for other means of making himself heard? The
world may be telling you to go forward, to climb and to strive and to move briskly
ahead, but while you're doing all that, be sure to keep your ears open. Divest yourself of
prejudice whenever possible.

- As quicldy as you think that everything is set, it all becomes unglued again. A huge part of this is simply luck, the element of life both good and bad that is beyond our control. Sickness comes into the picture of perfect health, true loves catches your eye just as you were setting your foot on the train that would have taken you away forever. Babies are born, jobs are lost, fortunes
are made. Wars and suffering pull us backwards while science gives us a second chance
we never thought possible. Even if you have it all together you can't know where you're
going to end up. There are too many forces, as deep and invisible as tides, that keep us bouncing into places where we never thought we'd wind up. Sometimes the best we can
hope for is to be graceful and brave in the face of all of the changes that will surely come. It
also helps to have a sense of humor about your own fate, to not think that you alone are
blessed when good fortune comes your way, or cursed when it passes you by. It helps if
you can realize that this part of life when you don't know what's coming next is often the
part that people look back on with the greatest affection. In truth, the moment at which
life really does become locked down, most of us are overcome by the desire to break it all
apart again so that we can reexperience the variables of youth.

- It turns out that most positions in life, even the big ones, aren't really so much about
leadership. Being successful, and certainly being happy, comes from honing your skills
in working with other people. For the most, part we travel in groups-you're ahead of
somebody for a while, then somebody's ahead of you, a lot of people are beside you all
the way.

- The secret is finding the balance between going out to get what you want and being open to the
thing that actually winds up coming your way.What now is not just a panic-stricken
question tossed out into a dark unknown. What now can also be our joy. It is a declara-
tion of possibility, of promise, of chance. It acknowledges that our future is open, that we
may well do more than anyone expected of us, that at every point in our development we
are still striving to grow.There's a time in our lives when we all crave the answers. It seems
terrifying not to know what's coming next. But there is another time, a better time, when
we see our lives as a series of choices, and What now represents our excitement and our
future, the very vitality oflife. It's up to you to choose a life that will keep expanding. It
takes discipline to remain curious; it takes work to be open to the world-but oh my friends, what noble and glorious work it is. Maybe this is the moment you shift from seeingWhat now as one more thing to check off the list and start to see it as two words worth living by. This is the day you leave this campus, but if you keep your heart and mind open and are willing to see all of the possibilities that are available to you, it will only be the start ofyour education.

- If you're trying to find out what's coming next, turn off everything you own that has
an OFF switch and listen. Makeup some plans and change them. Identify your heart's truest
desire and don't change that for anything. Be proud of yourself for the work you've done. Be grateful to all the people who helped you do it. Write to them and let them know how
you are. You are, every one of you, someone's favorite unfolding story. We will all be anx-
ious to see what happens next.

A Funny Thing Happened...

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future...
by Michael J. Fox

• ok book but too much about him and too little about the wisdom he learned
• i wanted to learn more but it did make me respect michael j fox a lot
• Think "what now?" was a better version of this book..and i should read his other book "always looking up"
  

-"Wherever you go, there it is." The succinct summation of both of these thoughts is that wherever you travel, you have to adapt to your surroundings. They won't adapt to you.

- Just as you can't change the essential nature of a place, don't count on the place to change the essential nature of you. It may be tempting, at some time in life, to seek a fresh start or even establish a new identity uprooting from one location and transplanting physically to another.

- I always take the time to appreciate where I am for what it is. I seek out the excitement of the strange and not the comfort of the familiar. I'm not trying to lose myself, or even find myself, for that matter. My goal is just to enjoy myself, learn something, and gain an appreciation for the amazing complexity of this planet and the people who live on it. Wherever I go, I bring myself. And so far, it's always been a roundtrip.

- None of us is entitled to anything. We get what we get, not because we want it or we deserve it or because it's unfair if we don't get it, but because we earn it, we respect it, and only if we share it do we keep it.

- If you're lucky, at some point in the future when you're in need of guidance, or maybe just moral support, you will cross paths with a suitable mentor. Even luckier, you'll realize you've had one in your life all along, and you'll gain a new appreciation for how you benefited from Lhat relationship. The luckiest circumstance of aU, of course, is a combination of the two. You've had help all along, and as the path widens or narrows, whatever the case may be, new and powerful influences will enter your life and aid your progress .

- In my experience, a mentor doesn't necessarily tell you what to do, but more importantly, tens you what they did or might do, then trusts you to draw your own conclusions and act accordingly. If you succeed, they'll take one step back, and if you screw up, they'll take one step
closer. Whatever it is they teach you ... pass it on.

- It may seem hard to believe, but it's catastrophe that offers the most promise for an even richer life. This is the gateway to the good stuff. In other words, you never truly know which way the wind is blowing until the shit hits the fan. And further, if you don't mind getting a little dirty, that breeze will carry you a long way.

- Don't spend a lot of time imagining the worst-case scenario. It rarely goes down as you imagine it will, and if by some fluke it does, you will have lived it twice. When things do go bad, don't run, don't hide. Stick it out, and be scrupulous in facing every part of your fear. Try to be still. It wilI take time, but you'll find that even the gravest problems are finite-and that your choices are infinite.

- Being in control of your own destiny is a myth-and wouldn't be half as much fun anyway. Pay
attention to what's happening around you. Read the book before you see the movie. Remember, though you, alone, are responsible for your own happiness, it's still okay to feel responsible for someone else's.