
Grounded in lightness.
Free to expand.
Confident in choice.
Clear in direction.
Comfort in stillness.
Peace in the quiet.
Steady in heart.
Content in this breath.

Grounded in lightness.
Free to expand.
Confident in choice.
Clear in direction.
Comfort in stillness.
Peace in the quiet.
Steady in heart.
Content in this breath.

Alone,
it rested
below the fresh
and blossoming
bouquet,
forgotten,
dropped.
As if it’s work was done,
the petal fell,
tired,
heavy,
worn.
It left the collective
where it had so faithfully held on,
believing that its beauty lay
in its contribution.
It could hold on no more.
It had to drop away.
It had to pull apart.
In its moment of letting go
and seeming it was done,
that petal
became
its most beautiful
version
of itself.

Learning to step
without overstepping,
or stepping back.
Learning to care
without caring
about results.
Learning to feel
with feeling
instead of thought.
Learning to differentiate
between true joy
and fleeting excitement.
Cultivating peace
over emptiness
in the stillness.
Learning that love
is a state of being.

I can no more be in or out of love
than I can be in or out of my body,
or my breath.
Love is not something temporary,
to be chased,
or clung to.
Love is the essence of freedom,
self expression, and connection.
Love is a state of being
that allows all else to exist.

Reflecting your sparkle,
Your joy,
Your light.
Reflecting your goodness,
Grace,
Humility,
Kindness,
And love,
Until you cannot help
but to absorb
the characteristics you think you see in me
As what they really are,
Simply awakened parts of you.
Replacing reaction with reflection.

Grounded in lightness.
Free to expand.
Confident in choice.
Clear in direction.
Comfort in stillness.
Peace in the quiet.
Steady in heart.
Safe in this breath.

Replacing effort and trying
with releasing and allowing.
Engaging discipline.
Acknowledging capacity.
Values aligned.
Curiously listening.
Intuitively informed.
Soft not weak.
Strong not righteous.
Clear and present.

I’m not always going to get my way,
but I’m always going to get what’s right for me.
When I let go of forcing outcomes,
stop relying on others for my happiness,
and see obstacles not as a sign of my worth but of my courage and strength,
even what seems like a paralyzing blockage
can be an invitation to take a different path,
go a different way,
or sit right where I am for a moment
and reflect
on the beauty,
awe,
and opportunity
that exists right here,
right now,
just the way things are.
Much gratitude to Shari Irby for contributing this photo.

Where does it end,
the light from the sun
the light of the moon,
the dark of the shadows
the vastness of the sky,
cold of winter,
unfurling of spring?
Where is the line
that separates joy
from sorrow,
excitement
from fear?
What fills the space between earth and sky?
Is it my heart?
My body?
My breath?
In my mind I struggle
to find a separation,
an either or,
a division,
a moment,
where one exists without the other.
I cannot
and therefore
I cannot regret.
I cannot long.
I cannot judge,
right or wrong.
I cannot reject sorrow
or long for joy.
I cannot suffer in darkness or immerse myself fully in light.
I am made of it all.
It is all in me.
Or is none of it?
I am the space that fills
the space between.
I am the end of light,
the beginning of dark.
I am all of the joy and filled with sorrow.
I am the convergence of earth and sky.
I am the meeting place for it all.
I am the “and.”

Bursting with excitement.
Tempted by fear.
To hold back.
To bring less of my
intelligence,
beauty,
creativity,
power
so as not to overwhelm them.
But they feel it anyway.
They want it.
And there is a good chance they won’t be able to handle it.
But that shouldn’t stop me
from being all that I am.
My allness
is ready
to bloom,
in all
of
its
magnificence.