Formed knowing it will meet a crushing wave,
she dedicates herself to what brings her joy.
Though words may scatter like spray in the wind,
through uncertainty and half-formed understanding,
I persist until that moment of clarity—
"Ah, I see!"— throws open my heart's door.
I press forward with words and images,
offering my spirit in this moment
to the welcoming ocean.
The world over,
wherever we roam—
sea or mountain,
snow or sand—
may we unfold our hearts
and breathe in what dwells before us.
Even in devstation,
we glimpse a lone caterpillar
or a single mushroom,
yearning toward light and pressing
forward into new life,
and we pause this moment
to witness it all.
Sure as the heart cycles through
sorrow then joy
in seeing the sky unfurled above,
or the quiet grace of drawing
breath after breath,
we claim what is ours to experience,
in this moment, the only one.
Encased in a world of white,
frozen tundra, deep into
darkness—there is rest in hibernation
as all wait to rise into the warmth
of what they could only dream of:
growth, nourishment, and the freedom
to bloom and bring joy and beauty
into this world.
Yes! We too wait and dream
and hold promise of living fully alive
in grace, strength, and vibrancy.
Deep within what appears to us
as the absence of light, we each
anticipate the moment of our arrival
at the door of expectancy.
Free to radiate beyond shadow,
into and through the light
that illuminates and calls us forth
into our creative day. All that we wait for,
all that we dream of—it is ours,
as within our inner depths,
it waits for us.
Migration update: You probably thought it was done already! I am happy to report it is all in process—slow but sure—as work happens behind the scenes. As it turns out my nephew is hosting me and I am delighted to have a live person to work with on the changes I would like to make as I move forward. The shift will happen either Monday or Tuesday of this week. I surround it all in the light of smooth transition and highest good. Blessings on your week ahead, dear readers. I appreciate all of you.
Deep gratitude to Spillwords for the publication of my poem and art. https://spillwords.com/moistures-grace/
Just as the winter winds come and go,
so too the dreams that seek to be born.
Some come alive in truth
while others fall after deceit is near.
What is the heart’s desire
if not to be alive in love and longing
for the day when all arises
in beauty, and we believe
in all that we are,
beyond this physical form,
beyond these fears,
beyond all being into eternity.
On this solstice,
the energy of light returns
to guide us into what we wish to be:
to see, to taste, and live
as we set our intentions clearly,
and birth anew into possibility,
with dreams created from the heart.
We are told, you are what you dream.
Be all that is your dream and live into
the wholeness and the wonder of who you are—
light, cosmic love, and truth.
Within it all, be you.
(image: Winter Winds by Janis Dehler
“This is the solstice, the still point of the sun, its cusp and midnight, the year’s threshold and unlocking, where the past lets go of and becomes the future.”
-Margaret Atwood
“The winter solstice has always been special to me as a barren darkness that gives birth to a verdant future beyond imagination, a time of pain and withdrawal that produces something joyfully inconceivable, like a monarch butterfly masterfully extracting itself from the confines of its cocoon, bursting forth into unexpected glory.”
-Gary Zukav
“Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do.”
-Pope John XXIII
In this season:
love abounds,
the full moon rises,
lights shine,
candles are lit,
while we draw near.
We wonder:
How do we enter?
How do we gain?
We remember:
there is no gain,
there is no loss,
in an endless supply
of love, joy,
and compassion.
Always and ever:
as we need, as we open,
as we allow and release
that which is not needed,
does not support,
does not bring life.
We open to All:
to life, to love, and rejoice
in the season of light and love,
which is now and always,
never ending,
in endless supply.
(Image my own)
“You are here to enable the divine purpose of the universe to unfold. That is how important you are.”
-Eckhart Tolle
“Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion.”
-Rumi
“Under the anger, under the fear, under the despair, under the broken heartedness, there is a radiance that has never been harmed, that has never been lost, that is the truth of who one is.”
-Gangaji
My most recent work, Heart Coherence, took a blue ribbon award of excellence at the five county Image Show put on by the East Central Regional Arts Council in central Minnesota. What an honor!
I have not had much time to paint this year due to many many things happening but to get me moving, I took a twelve week abstract art course on line and this inspiration came during the short teaser course before the full course started. I used acrylic, pencil, and ink. After the framing and the show, I am happy to have it at home. I will enjoy it for a while and decide if it is for sale. Some are just hard to let go of. 😊
We ran in fear.
We towed the line.
As consciousness rises
we stand in truth
of who we are,
no longer choosing
from what is hidden
in shadow,
no longer following
blindly in darkness,
we rise to heart’s bidding—
the All, unfolding before us,
that calls us to live
in simplicity and love,
as we learn to believe,
what is good for all
is good for me.
(Image: From the One World Series, We All Belong by Janis Dehler)
“The main tenet of design thinking is empathy for the people you’re trying to design for. Leadership is exactly the same thing – building empathy for the people that you’re entrusted to help.”
-David M. Kelley
“Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. For, indeed, that’s all who ever have.”
-Margaret Mead
“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”
-Voltaire
I lift my gaze to the sun, the moon,
the stars, to the birds of the air,
to the universe of mystery, to the
everything and the nothing.
I lower my gaze to the earth,
to the plants, the animals,
to the crawling things,
to all that grounds me into Gaia—
the bosom of the mother who
nourishes, protects, challenges,
and grieves, who is alive in
her evolution, who pulses life.
I open my heart to those before me,
to the whispers of love and compassion,
to the cries of war and hate, and on to
my shadow of fear, pain, and sorrow.
I look to the mountains, the seas,
the vast life before me—the unknown.
For it all, my heart says, yes,
in gratitude for life, for the journey,
the opportunity to be in body,
in human form, walking each day
with those who seek, who carry light,
who reach to touch the stars to earth—
an angel's kiss. I bow in gratitude.
(Image my own)
“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.”
-Marcus Tullius Cicero
“Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse.”
-Henry Van Dyke
“Gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart and not in the mind.”
-Lionel Hampton
NASA/ESA/Hubble
I imagine the vast universe
in flow, color,
swirls of energy,
calling, reminding me:
life is everywhere,
teeming with possibility,
pulsing with joy,
expanding in love.
It is said,
what is out, is in.
Is this the sight of
my internal being—
in expansion,
in evolution,
in every cell, vibrating
within this experience called life.
“You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection.”
-Buddha
“We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special.”
-Stephen Hawking
“Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy.”
-Albert Einstein
