Celebrating love

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone... There are no words to express how 
truly grateful I am for each and every one of you except to say "thank you"
for making my life richer, fuller, more meaningful. I feel honored and blessed 
to walk this journey called "life" with such amazing people...

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Freedom

I feel myself emerging from a cocoon 

that has sheltered me for a long time.

Now that I am becoming a butterfly, 

the sun is enticing me to come and play.

Creative Healing

Creating is not just a passion, but has been a source of comfort 
 and healing throughout my journey... 

 (Written in memory of my daughter, Jody)

 As the bright little star fell from the sky,

the woman ran barefoot across the earth

to catch it before it hit the ground.

The beautiful star glowed in her arms,

inviting her to bring it closer to her heart.

She grew to dearly love the little star,

but there came a day when she knew

she must return it to the sky.

It took great courage to say goodbye.

Nowadays when the moon is full

and stars are twinkling,

the woman looks longingly to the sky 

searching for the star that shines the brightest, 

for she knows this was once her star.

And in some mysterious way, always will be.

                                      

A pink heart

Sweet Peas... My first ones... They smell heavenly... 

Loving the pink carnations too...

There is a sweetness to life that 

can only be experienced through the heart. 

A hardened heart lives among the thorns 

until it softens with forgiveness...

Waking up to life

My love, your heart has been asleep for too long.

Numbing your sorrow has disconnected you from your joy. 

Though your heart may ache when it opens, your bruises will heal. 

You came to the world to have the experience of love. 

Love means taking risks, getting hurt, and loving again. 

When you let yourself feel things deeply, even if it's pain,

you will know what it is to be truly alive...

Watching things blossom

The herbs are happy in the Earth Box... 

Watching the lavender blossom...

Love the smell of fresh rosemary...

 Apple, ginger, and rose scented geraniums... 

A barrel overflowing with mint

It is your season for joy. 

Life wants to take you places so beautiful that

you haven’t even dreamed of them yet.

Be sure to leave behind all the pieces of the past 

that won’t compliment the beauty of what lies ahead.

Don’t diminish your experience by trying to plan the journey.

Your soul hungers for something beyond what you know.

     The moment you say “yes”, your old life will vanish 

    and your new one will dazzle you with it’s splendor…

Freedom

When you surrender everything,

there will be nothing to lose.

When you have nothing to lose,

you will no longer be afraid.

When you are longer afraid,

the world will belong to you.

Gratitude

Doing some window shopping yesterday

Thank you God...

 for helping me design a life that is sweet and kind,

for teaching me what's really important,

for all the teachers you’ve placed in my path,

for helping me to see the world differently,

for softening my jagged edges,

for filling my life with inspiration, hope, and love,

for the gentle nudges when I’ve gotten stuck, 

for letting me fall when I’ve needed to,

for the blessings, as well as, the lessons...

Taking flight

To soar above the clouds,

we leave behind all the things

that weigh down our wings;

guilt, blame, 

old resentments, 

unresolved anger,

fear, self-doubt,

unworthiness,

the past...

Lessons of the heart

When it comes to lessons at the heart, sometimes our greatest teachers are the ones that have hurt us the most... I've had the opportunity to learn this lesson many times in my life… Today I'm going to share a little piece of my story… Some of you may know that my daughter Jody, died in 2006 from an accidental drug overdose, but the part of the story that most people don't know is that the day before my daughter died, she went to a doctor who had been writing her prescriptions and asked him to help her wean off them...  She had recently gotten engaged, felt happy, and even talked about having children in the future... The doctor told her that she was not ready (it's all documented in his notes)... Instead of helping her, he wrote her the prescription that led to her death... Not only was I left with a shattered heart, but I had to make a decision about him... And I did... A decision that has always sat "right" in my soul... I won't give all the details except to say that I pressed charges and he got off with a slap on the wrist. But regardless, I knew I had to find forgiveness for him, for myself, and for others... I couldn't allow blame rent space in my heart, otherwise my heart would harden... The truth is that Jody's gentle heart and sweet spirit attracted lots of enablers into her life... Prior to Al-Anon, I was her biggest enabler... After Jody's death, I was left to put together the broken pieces of my heart... Because I made a conscious decision to mend my heart with love, compassion, and forgiveness, all that remains of the past are cherished memories and a peace beyond understanding...

A soft heart

Love is not about choosing who give our affections to... 

It's about living with an open heart... 

A free heart of judgement and grudges... 

The hardest people to love are our best teachers... 

When we love them too, we will know what true love is...

Hearts wide open

We have all experienced hurt in our lives. If we didn't know how to resolve the pain, we put a wall around our hearts as a way to protect ourselves from getting hurt again. 

Though we may see ourselves as open, caring people, when there is a wall, you can be sure that there is a guard standing near by. Every hurt we've shoved away needs to be examined. If we avoid, minimize, or deny these experiences, we will not be able to build bridges... Instead we will seek "special" relationships... We will attempt to control or avoid... We will convince ourselves that there is something wrong with others... We will use judgement as our sword... 

Forgiveness is the answer

Unresolved guilt is not only a burden that we carry, 

but in our attempt to rid ourselves of it, we project it unto others. 

However, blame only makes things worse. 

Now that we have attacked our beloved brothers and sisters,

the guilt we were already carrying, becomes even heavier. 

And being in a position where we have to use justification 

as a way to ease our conscience, only makes things messier.

The way we can lighten our load and clean up the mess, 

is to forgive ourselves...

Rolling with the tide

It feels good when the sun beams warmth and comfort 

into our hearts, but it’s the gray days of uncertainty 

that we are given the opportunity to learn important lessons 

about faith, compassion, and surrender...

A bit of wisdom

To gain wisdom, we must master our lessons.

To understand others, we must know ourselves.

To give to the world, our actions must be self-less.

To be forgiving, we must first forgive our own mistakes.

To live open-heartedly, we must free ourselves of old hurts.