I used to think there was something bad and broken in me. Some damaged bits hidden deep down, out of my reach. They spoke to me, whispering riddles and sending me on impossible quests. They mocked my failure when I came back empty-handed. Demons, I called them. Dragons, ghosts, skeletons, monsters. I thought I…
Words + Pictures For Your Beautiful Heart
Words for Waking Up
Awake, fresh eyes crack. It hurts for just a second as dawn’s light washes me. After a long, walking sleep, I’m relieved to see the sun again. “Felt like night forever,” I say to her with a bittersweet mix of thanks and regret. “Thank you for waking me.” The monsters lurking in my room transform before me….
Life’s always talking like that.
I discovered a wildflower growing through a crack in the 3rd-floor landing. It’s baby blue face brought life to the concrete between the jewelry store and the ice cream shop. “What are you doing here?” I wanted to ask. But something in its easy stillness, the assuredness in its silence made me pause. It seemed…
What Lies Beyond These Walls
I long to tell her, “Yes, yes. Come this way.” But it’s best she hears it from inside. – Love.From Love, Child. Love. There are walls upon walls upon walls in me, and I’ll admit it, I built them myself. I laid them down, brick by brick with my own two hands. I used to see…
Let us love the Earth today.
Time with Mother Earth always leaves me feeling amazed and deeply grateful. Her sweet songs and scenes remind me of all I am a part of. I’ve confided in her many wandering paths and found my truest self hidden in acorns and sunsets. But it breaks my heart a little, too. I see the trash on…
The Love That Sustains You
Standing on the corner of a busy city street, a quarter caught his eye. He bent to pick it up as people rushed past. “Drums!” he exclaimed as he turned the quarter over and found a drummer boy standing in the eagle’s place. He pressed the quarter into his palm and smiled at a passerby. All…
Where there was fear now stands love.
I sat at the shore, watching the water come and go. Beside me sat a basket filled with bottles, each one containing a note about my past and my secrets. Something’s wrong with me, one said. It broke me, said another. I can’t forgive myself for it. No one can ever know. For years, I kept the…
That’s an offering of love. (Thank you for that.)
He kissed the top of her head at the gate and zipped up her coat. “Stay warm,” he said. She dedicated her morning yoga practice to gratitude as she unrolled the mat. They left behind a card and balloons in his hospital room. “Get well soon,” they wrote. He lit a candle for his daughter…
The perfect intricacy of it all.
She lies along the riverbank, watching the clouds paint on the blue canvas sky. She lifts a lazy finger overhead and traces the shapes as they emerge. Her right foot dangles in the water. She gives it a slow, easy kick, kick, kick. The sun drenches her skin in warm light, honey-gold and petal-soft….
This is life, as far as I can see.
As far as I can see, there’s been nothing wrong with me. But all this time, I thought I was broken. All this time, I feared what I might find inside. All this time, I saw myself as unsafe. And all this time, I wondered why I hadn’t fixed it yet. As far as I…