I have the last five lines of "Wild Geese" as the background of my laptop, so every time I open it up, I can center myself again.
Wild Geese
Mary Oliver
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about your despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things. *
*emphasis added
Put this poem (or any number of others by Mary Oliver) somewhere you can easily see it, and the next time you feel yourself being bogged down by the horribleness in the world, read it and FEEL Hope and Connection.
