The irony is that we attempt to disown our difficult stories to appear more whole or more acceptable, but our wholeness actually depends on the integration of all our experiences, including the falls.

The self is not really a thing, but a process – one that is always changing, always falling apart, and always being reassembled in new ways.

We think that if we can hold ourselves together, we will be safe. But the truth is that the only way we can be truly safe is to acknowledge how fragile we are.

It is only when we stop pretending that we can hold it all together that we discover the indestructibility of our true nature.

Mark Epstein, Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart