Category Archives: Inspiring Words

Home, Inspiring Words, Photography, Snow, Sweet Breathing, Trees

Begin Again

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“Give me everything mangled and bruised, and I will make a light of it to make you weep. And we will have rain & begin again.”

-Deena Metzger

We will. Begin again and again and again. I’ve thought a lot about this lately as our country spirals… every single unkind, uncaring, without compassion, without empathy, without inclusion and without love action/word/thought must be immediately transformed by light. With kindness, caring, compassion, empathy, inclusion and LOVE. Immediate and constant.

These too are resistance.

For anyone feeling mangled and bruised, we have you. I have you. Embraced, cocooned, blanketed, sheltered. Loved. We begin again as many times as we need to, each day, each hour. We will continue to make light in the darkness.

Home, Inspiring Words, Nature, Photography, Snow, Sweet Breathing, Trees

The Smallest Spark

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“When darkness surrounds, even the smallest spark can guide the way. It’s not the size of the light that matters, but the courage to hold it through the night.”

Dipendra Tamang

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”

Dr. Martin Luther King

Home, Inspiring Words, Nature, Photography, Snow, Sweet Breathing, Trees

Why Would I?

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“Why would I want to cede any kind of emotional sovereignty to anyone in the ceremony of my everyday life?“

– James Vukelich Kaagegaabaw

I don’t. I choose not to. In this climate of unease and lack of basic civility, kindness, inclusion and honor – of grace – some days this is difficult. I want to react, to explain, to cry, to rant… I have learned better though. These things, these actions, do not one iota of good and change nothing. Better to live the authentic me in these times and not let my energy be dimmed or diminished. Love with fierce passion. Act don’t react my Father always said.

So here we are. And we still, always in all ways, have each other, so much LOVE, and a bounty of blessings of beauty in northwest Montana and all over this magnificent planet. We maintain who we are and celebrate the ceremony of our everyday lives. We honor each soul, and know there is no “other”.

Love, truth and energy are wished for everyone.

Inspiring Words, Nature, Photography, Sweet Breathing

We Are Breathtaking

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Donna Ashworth’s words found my core this morning, expressing so beautifully what my soul was feeling.

“We exist on a 4.5 billion year old rock

floating in an unfathomable expanse

of nothing-ness

you and I

we are magnetically held in place

by an invisible force

along with 8 billion other people.

every single thing that exists on this rock

is without doubt a work of art

so intricately crafted

we will never truly discover the scope of wonder within

we are made of the same elements

as everything that naturally surrounds us

just shaken up differently

and oh so magnificently

look at us, my friends.

we are breathtaking

our breath alone

the power in that act

is breathtaking

everything you are doing right now

reading, feeling, understanding

is fascinatingly complex

and yet we spend our days worrying about things

that are of no significance at all

big-picture

walk around your world today

with awe in your eyes

and really see what you are living.

every aspect of this life

is nothing short of astonishing

and this rock we are clinging to with ease

is astounding.

eyes open, reach out, breathe deep

take it all in

this rock, our home,

will know each of us

for only a heartbeat in its timeline.

leave only love

live with only gratitude

look with only wonder.”

-Donna Ashworth

Inspiring Words, Nature, Photography, Sweet Breathing, Trees

Summer

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As these summer days evolve, unfold, manifest the very essence and depth of life in radiant, brillant, big love, I am touching the ground with reverence, and looking around with eyes seeing abundance, with my heart feeling awe, breathing in my belonging. Thank you Jess Housty for expressing these feelings into words that resonate on this rain filled precious new Summer day.

“Go out into the world.

Stand or sit or hold your body like a precious thing: hold as much of your body as you can exchanging gentle touch with the ground.

When you look around yourself, name all the ways you see thriving mapped onto your surroundings.

Now, name all the ways that you map the abundance onto what’s around you.

You are intrinsic to the good work happening around you; breathe in your belonging; breathe out the question,

How can I build kinship and community in this moment?”

-Jess Housty (from Crushed Wild Mint: Poems (2023, Nightwood Editions)

Inspiring Words, Nature, Photography, Sweet Breathing, Travel Adventure

Beauty Rising, Breathtakenly

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Silver~

“How many years of beauty do I have left?

she asks me.

How many more do you want?

Here. Here is 34. Here is 50.

When you are 80 years old

and your beauty rises in ways

your cells cannot even imagine now

and your wild bones grow luminous and

ripe, having carried the weight

of a passionate life.

When your hair is aflame

with winter

and you have decades of

learning and leaving and loving

sewn into

the corners of your eyes

and your children come home

to find their own history

in your face.

When you know what it feels like to fail

ferociously

and have gained the

capacity

to rise and rise and rise again.

When you can make your tea

on a quiet and ridiculously lonely afternoon

and still have a song in your heart

Queen owl wings beating

beneath the cotton of your sweater.

Because your beauty began there

beneath the sweater and the skin,

remember?

This is when I will take you

into my arms and coo

YOU BRAVE AND GLORIOUS THING

you’ve come so far.

I see you.

Your beauty is breathtaking.”

~ Jeannette Encinias

The main photo at the top of this post is of my beloved Mom’s hands – age 91. The photo above Jeannette Encinias’ poem is of my Mom at age 90 in Bryce Canyon at sunrise, and the photo below is of my Mom with her Great Granddaughter Maddie at six weeks old. My Mom was breathtakenly beautiful.

Beauty at any age, at every age. Ages 90 and Six Weeks, Mom & Maddie