Typically I go in the studio and whatever I'm contemplating that day will wind up being a song. I don't come in with lyrics... I just go in and let it happen.
It's a joke to think that anyone is one thing. We're all such complex creatures. But if I'm going to be a poster child for anything, anger's a gorgeous emotion. It gets a bad rap, but it can make great changes happen.
I guess what people forget sometimes is that when I write songs, I write them sometimes in about 20 minutes.
When I was younger, I was terrified to express anger because it would often kick-start a horrible reaction in the men in my life. So I bit my tongue. I was left to painstakingly deal with the aftermath of my avoidance later in life, in therapy or through the lyrics of my songs.
I don't want to be your other half. I believe that one and one make two.
My yearn for home is broadened Patriotism expanded By callings from beyond So I pack my things Nothing precious All things sacred
I'm saying what a lot of people would want to say but are too embarrassed.
A feeling is not bottomless. once felt all the way through,a great peace greets you there
Some of the most beautiful things that have happened to me in my life have been things that I couldn't explain.
I started writting songs when I was really little because there were things I could say through songs that I couldn't verbalize any other way. Writting was something I had to do.
When pain brings you down, don't be silly, don't close your eyes and cry, you just might be in the best position to see the sun shine.
In my opinion, I think sarcasm and humor in a song, without turning it into a novelty song, is really charming.
Running has made being depressed impossible. If I'm going through something emotional and just go outside for a run, you can rest assured I'll come back with clarity.
My message to anyone who's afraid that they can't write music when they're happy is 'Just trust the passion.' The passion can write a lot of things.
I highly recommend getting older! There's less tendency to people-please.
Kale is my best friend. I eat kale salad. I put kale in my smoothies, kale in my soup. Kale, kale, kale! I feel like Popeye. I love it. I definitely need variety or I get super bored, so I have to mix it up with different sauces and tahini or whatever.
I wish people could acheive what they think would bring them happiness in order for them to realize that thats not really what happiness is.
That I would be loved even when I numb myself. That I would be good even when I am overwhelmed. That I would be loved even when I was fuming. That I would be good even if I was clingy.
I try to keep a low profile in general. Not with my art, but just as a person.
I never regret anything I do. It's part of who I am now, and I like who I am now.
But once I acclimated and really used fame for what it was offering me as a tool to serve my life purpose of inspiring and contributing, then it started to get fun again.
I think God is everything. Human beings created the punitive, vengeful deity who considers us to be innate sinners.
I need to be performing. I need to be acting. I need to be designing a condo and ripping down walls and buying new plates and looking at fashion magazines. There always has to be some movement in the artistic department for me to not get really, really low.
The joke that you laid in the bed that was me.
I don't believe in bad. I believe in relativity. The only way we can know what we call good is if there's also something we call bad.
Don't be surprised if I love you for all that you are.
I see my body as an instrument, rather than an ornament.
I felt like I was making a record under the radar, and that is my favorite way to do anything.
I'll write records until I'm dead. And then maybe even after that!
What an amazing and sacred place [Israel] to end the tour
The ego is a fascinating monster.
Then I realized that secrecy is actually to the detriment of my own peace of mind and self, and that I could still sustain my belief in privacy and be authentic and transparent at the same time. It was a pretty revelatory moment, and there's been a liberating force that's come from it.
The more vulnerable and the more confused the song is, the equal and opposite effect is how I feel after having written it.
Anything I do has to be directly related to my music. If it isn't, I don't really see a point to it.
I still indulge in a glass of wine or chocolate - treats are mandatory. Without deviating from the day-to-day healthy diet once in a while, it wouldn't be sustainable for me, and that's what I wanted: an approach to eating to last my entire life.
So many boys, so little time.
America's a very traumatized society.
I was extremely moved by the plight of Tsunami victims and I was inspired to try to make a difference.
Every time I scratch my nails down someone else's back, I hope you feel it.
I think everyone's hungry for the truth
I want to walk through life.
Why are you so petrified of silence, here can you handle this? Did you think about your bills, your ex, your deadlines or when you think you're gonna die? Or did you long for the next distraction.
I saw music as a way to entertain people and take them away from their daily lives and put smiles on their faces, as opposed to what I see it being now, which is a way for me to actually communicate, and a way for me to tap into my subconscious.
I thought the more famous I became, the more friendships I would have, but the opposite was true.
I could get away with not taking care of myself as a bachelorette but as a mom I can't.
We're all ants. I'm a glittery little ant.
Once I know who I'm not, then I'll know who I am.
Stay and respond and expand and include and allow and forgive and enjoy and evolve and discern and inquire and accept and admit and divulge and open and reach out and speak up, this is utopia.
Is she perverted like me? Would she go down on you in a theatre?
I hope that there is a very confused 14 year old girl out there who hears me speak or hears me sing and derives some sort of strength from that I heard that when I was 14 that's exactly what happened.
I can't not write, if I don't then I get really depressed.
To whom do I owe the first apology? No one's been crueler than I've been to me.
How long before my dignity is reclaimed?
We're taught to be ashamed of confusion, anger, fear and sadness, and to me they're of equal value to happiness, excitement and inspiration.
When we think of digitally disconnecting and inviting presence into our lives, we are creating the conditions of integration within and between.
Profanity is merely an expression of one's emotions
I want to walk through life instead of being dragged through it.
The thing I always default to is that I'll always be here to write songs.
The people that were invested in me staying the same way after a decade will most likely by default have to be disappointed.
As a teen, I was both anorexic and bulimic.
I am what I am Are you what you are or What?
It's like ten thousand spoons, when all you need is a knife.
How about not equating death with stopping?
I'm really clear about what my life mission is now. There's no more depression or lethargy, and I feel like I've returned to the athlete I once was. I'm integrating all the parts of me - jock, musician, writer, poet, philosopher - and becoming stronger as a result.
If someone hates or loves something, then right on. I can't rob them of that. I'm not going to try and change their mind. Something's been triggered in them to react so emotionally.
I rejected the God that was portrayed as masculine and judgmental and cruel at times. The concept of us bring not worthy to receive him is something I used to say every Sunday in church, and eventually I just couldn't say it with any conviction.
Whether you’re checked in or checked out, you’re always on a spiritual journey.
All of my unconscious fears were in my face about letting go of the current identity. A lot of the thoughts that came up were fear-based and false, so I had to work to let them go.
The more I know the less tortured I am.
I just feel compelled to continue to be transparent. It just really levels the playing field and eradicates the shame that I have, or that one might have, about being human. So I'm going to just keep going.
I listen to my records and I think, 'Wow, these are really great appetizers. I haven't even considered what I'm going to order for the full entree meal yet.'
I remember how beautiful it was to fall asleep on your couch and cry in front of you for the first time. You were the best platform from which to jump beyond myself. What was wrong with me?
With songwriting I spend a lot of time living life, accruing all these experiences, journaling, and then by the time I get to the studio I'm teeming with the drive to write.
My own approach has always been to push intense emotions down and attempt to deal with them later.
You are a worksmith and who cares for his brothers, whos not seduced by illusions or fair weather friends.
Fame is hollow. It amplifies what is there. If there is any self-doubt, or hatred, or lack of ability to connect with people, fame will magnify it.
Who I am inside determines how I feel about my body instead of the other way around
I think there is no better way to invite a human being to view their body differently than by inviting them to be an athlete, by revering one's body as an instrument rather than just an ornament.
You live, you learn, you love, you learn, you cry, you learn, you lose, you learn, you bleed, you learn, you scream, you learn
In a perfect world, there would be no censorship, because there would be no judgement.
First I was 'angry,' then 'spiritual.' Now I don't know what I am.
Meeting the man of my dreams and then meeting his beautiful wife
There is no better feeling than when you write something you know is a piece of you and that, at some point, is going to communicate with someone else.
Life has a funny way of helping you out when you think that everything's gone wrong.
In one breath, I can say that we are God, but in another I have to say that we aren't deities.
I know that I'm deeply, spiritually, profoundly philosophical and I also know that I'm about the flakiest person you're gonna meet.
I found that the more truthful and vulnerable I was, the more empowering it was for me.
What I wouldn't give to find a soul mate, someone else to catch this drift.
At some point, I would like to write a book and other things, but I work best when there is some sort of deadline in my own mind, but not when fifty people or fifty million people are breathing down the back of my neck.
I sabotage myself for fear of what my bigness could do.
I breastfeed and I'll be breastfeeding until my son is finished and he weans.
As an artist, there's a sweet, jump-starting quality to [marijuana] for me. I've often felt telepathic and receptive to inexplicable messages my whole life. I can stave those off when I'm not high. When I'm high - well, they come in and there's less of a veil, so to speak. So if ever I need some clarity, or a quantum leap in my own consciousness, or a quantum leap in terms of writing something or getting an answer, it's a quick way for me to get it.
I find as an artist if I'm not expressed relatively consistently, I get really depressed.
Being a sensitive empath is a beautiful thing as an artist, and it fosters a deep burning curiosity about why we do the things we do.
The whole celebrity thing is not something I'm overly interested in. I don't pop up at parties. It's just not my thing.
I'm a leave-the-bathroom-door-open nudist, which is sometimes disconcerting for my friends.
Writing a song doesn't heal things. Even if the song comes up with a solution, it's still only a theory. Going out and living my lyrics is a whole other deal. That takes courage.
I salute you for your courage, and I applaud your perseverance, and I embrace you for your faith in the face of adversarial forces.
These precious illusions in my head did not let me down when I was defenseless, and parting with them is like parting with invisible best friends.
I firmly believe that the only reason why I'm on this planet, the only reason why I live, breathe, and exist is, that it's my duty to be as honest as possible in my art.
What's that line from TS Eliot? To arrive at the place where you started, but to know it for the first time. I'm able to write about a breakup from a different place. Same brokenness. Same rock-bottom. But a little more informed, now I'm older. Thank God for growing up.
We'll love you just the way you are if you're perfect.
A good man often appears gauche simply because he does not take advantage of the myriad mean little chances of making himself look stylish. Preferring truth to form, he is not constantly at work upon the facade of his appearance.
the truth of who we are is innate goodness, and the whole journey is really about removing any obstacle or false belief that keeps us from knowing that
A brave action is often followed by grief. Do not let my resistance to grief stop the brave action.
The person who knows HOW will always have a job. The person who knows WHY will always be his boss.
When I was 11 years old and I was on a road trip with my family. I turned to my dad and said, "Do you believe in Adam and Eve?" And he said he didn't think so. I remember that felt like a slap in the face, because if my parents questioned Adam and Eve, then they potentially questioned everything within Catholicism. Eventually that idea led to my feeling liberated, but at that time it was very scary.
I didn't have high self-esteem when I was a teen-ager, as I think most teen-agers don't.
I'm a liability to them - I'm a woman, I'm empowered, I'm an artist. I've had executives who can't come to my shows they're so scared of me. I've been a thorn in many people's sides just by existing.
Well, as a kid I did not get Shakespeare. I just never understood it.
I think quite spiritually of myself. I feel like I'm here to support the human evolution.
I happen to be lucky in that I knew what I wanted to do as far as a career since I was nine years old.
Peace of mind for five minutes, that's what I crave.
So forgive me, love, if I cry in your shower. So forgive me, love, for the salt in your bed. So forgive me, love, if I cry all afternoon.
I'll be writing songs till I die. There's just no question.
Canada has a passive-aggressive culture, with a lot of sarcasm and righteousness. That went with my weird messianic complex. The ego is a fascinating monster. I was taught from a young age that I had to serve, so that turned into me thinking I had to save the planet.
I'm sorry to myself, for treating me worse than I would anybody else.
Music helps you find the truths you must bring into the rest of your life.
I started making music because I could.
Looking for approval or blaming others or feeling like a victim. Whenever I feel myself doing that I try to stop and see myself as someone who's a creator in more ways than just what the word typically means.
...and what it all comes down to is that I haven't got it all figured out just yet.
All I can promise myself and everyone else is that this record is a snapshot of thisperiod in my life. It will be that by default.
No-strings relationships have helped cure me of love addiction. All my life I've been in long-term monogamous relationships. I had to break that pattern by not allowing myself to have a relationship for a year, stopping myself from committing to men. I haven't been celibate. I've had lots of dates and lots of sex, but I haven't been pushing to turn a date into a relationship. This has been a huge thing for me.
When someone says that I'm angry it's actually a compliment. I have not always been direct with my anger in my relationships, which is part of why I'd write about it in my songs because I had such fear around expressing anger as a woman.
I have been running so sweaty my whole life Urgent for a finish line And I have been missing the rapture this whole time Of being forever incomplete
