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The world is its own magic.

—D.T. Suzuki

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Poem: There You Are

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The reasons for living inventory is a clinical instrument given to assess the strength of one's reasons for living; say, if one is experiencing major depression, hopelessness or suicidality. One might view the pages below (e.g., on buildings & bridges, feathers & fish, trees & trains, octopus & owls) as symbols of our shared indestructible human capacity for curiosity, even in the midst of deep despair―reasons one might find to keep on keeping on when keeping on otherwise feels stupid and pointless. It is my hope that such pages may serve to remind you of your own indestructible curiosity, no matter how remote it may feel at present, and the reasons unique to you for forging ever onward in this one wild & precious life―especially when the darkness pulls on you and you lose sight of your north stars.

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What are your reasons for living,
even just one?

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Air · Amphibian · Bay · Bean · Bear · Bee · Bird · Bone · Book · Bridge · Bug · Building · Butterfly · California · Cat · Cave · City · Cloud · Creature · Curtain · Desert · Dinosaur · Dirt · Dog · Door · Dust · Earth · Echo · Feather · Field · Firefly · Fish · Fly · Flower · Fog · Garden · Glass · Grass · Hand · Heart · Horse · Ice · Island · Lake · Land · Leaf · Light · Magic · Mary Oliver · Metal · Mirror · Moon · Moss · Mountain · Muse · Music · Night · Nothing · Ocean · Octopus · Georgia O’Keeffe · Owl · Paint · Place · Planet · Poetry · Pond · Pool · Porch · Rain · Raven · River · Shell · Shore · Sky · Snake · Snow · Space · Spider · Sport · Stone · Stream · Sun · Tea & coffee · Thunder & lightning · Train · Travel · Tree · Valley · Water · Wave · Wind · Window · Wing · Wolf

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