When You Trap a Tiger

Everybody have good and bad in them. But sometimes they so focused on sad, scary stories in life that they forget the good. When that happen, you don't tell them they are bad. That only make it worse. You remind them of the good.

Sometimes, no matter how much you want people to stay, you have to let them go.

Does it get easier? Does the sadness go away? The sadness fades, yeah. Eventually. But the missing ... I don't know if that ever does.

As you get older, you collect more information and you see things from different perspectives. So, naturally, sometimes the stories you tell yourself…can change.

I am a girl who sees invisible things, but I am not invisible.

Story magic is powerful, powerful enough to change someone. And when a story is locked away, its magic only grows. Sometimes it grows sour. The magic becomes a kind of poison.

He’s quiet, because I think he knows: Sometimes, with the hard things, you don’t want to talk about it. You just want someone to know it’s happening.

Even if things aren't perfect, they can still be good.

If you are strong, you can hold more than one truth in your heart" -the tiger

But I believe in me. When you believe, that is you being brave. Sometime, believing is the bravest thing of all" -Halmoni

You don’t have to say sorry. Everyone says sorry, but that doesn’t help, because it’s not their fault and they can’t fix it.

A cure is not about what we want. It's about what we need. The same is true for stories.

I accept it, and warmth spreads up my fingertips and through my body. A small part of me perks up, smiles. And I'm not sure the smiles reaches my face, but maybe this is how healing starts - small bits of happiness waking up inside you, until maybe one day it spreads through your whole self" -Lily

Sometimes, with the hard things, you don’t want to talk about it. You just want someone to know it’s happening.

Stories don’t belong to anybody,” I say. “They’re meant to be told.

And maybe it would be nice to have some help—from someone who isn’t all that bothered by the why of things.

Maybe it's scary to tell stories and share their truths—but I'd rather face them than run.

All my life, I spend so much time, so much energy, hiding my heart. I am scare of tigers. But more, I am scare of the tiger in me,” she says. “I thought I have to hide my words, because my English not so good. I thought I have to hide my heart, because I feel too much. And I thought I have to hide my story, because I think if I tell it, it is who I am forever.” She takes a shallow breath. “But when I keep it tight-tight, it eat me up. I don’t see the love, all around me.

It's hard to breathe. I know now: The moment when everything really falls apart--it's not during the big explosion. It's in the quiet after. And the feeling is not a shattering. Not quite

I thought I have to hide my words, because my English not so good. I thought I have to hide my heart, because I feel too much. And I thought I have to hide my story, because I think if I tell it, it is who I am forever. But when I keep it tight-tight, it eat me up. I don’t see the love, all around me.

I wonder what it would feel like to hold stars in my hands—if they would crumble like dust or shatter like glass, if they’d burn fierce and hot or sharp and cold.

If you put things off for later, you'll never do them. They'll become harder and scarier, and one day you'll realize you've run out of time.

Even if things aren’t perfect, they can still be good.

this is how healing starts—small bits of happiness waking up inside you, until maybe one day it spreads through your whole self.

Lily, I told you I would heal my Ae-Cha, but healing is not always about curing illness. Often, it is about understanding. And when you face your whole story, you can understand your whole heart.

I think that’s how you figure out who you are,” Ricky says. “You do new, brave things, and you find out who you is in not-you situations.

She rolls her eyes again. "Whatever. You always make me the bad guy, just because I speak my mind. You don't have to be so afraid to rock the boat, you know." What Sam doesn't realize is that she's already rocking our boat. If I rock it, too, the boat will flip. We'll drown.