An Excerpt from Plain: Living: A Quaker Path to Simplicity by Catherine Whitmire

Catherine Whitmire's collection of Quaker quotations, stories, and insights contains the following gem by Thomas Kelly on the art of being present.

"Open your eyes to the flaming vision
of the wonder of such a life.
Begin where you are. Now.
If you slip and stumble,
don't spend too much time in anguished regrets
and self-accusations but begin again.
Don't grit your teeth and clench your fists and say,
'I will! I will!' Relax.
Take hands off. Submit yourself to God. . . .
Let life be willed through you."