Uncloistered

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  “She gazed ahead through a long reach of future days strung together like pearls in a rosary, every one like the others, and all smooth and flawless and innocent, and her heart went up in thankfulness. Outside was the fervid summer afternoon; the air was filled with the sounds of the busy harvest of men and birds and bees; there were halloos, metallic clatterings, sweet calls, and long hummings. Louisa sat, prayerfully numbering her days, like an uncloistered nun.” A New England Nun By Mary E. Wilkins Freeman (1852–1930)

Focus

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"Don't waste the rest of your time here worrying about other people--unless it affects the common good. It will keep you from doing anything useful. You'll be too preoccupied with what so-and-so is doing and why, and what they're saying and what they're thinking, and what they're up to and all the other things that throw you off and keep you from focusing on your own mind." (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 3.4)

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