desktop quote & manifesto monday : safe to go outside

yes, i too enjoyed my conversation with this optimistic wonder-woman over the weekend.
it certainly helps to surround yourself with loving people who are so willing to cheer you on
and listen as you ramble on about dreams and frustrations and how you're going to change the world...even if it's just your own little world.

today i am thinking about taking care of ourselves, being gentle and kind.
i hope this blog is a place where you can feel safe,
where you can escape feeling like you have to have the latest fashions or designs,
where you can find joy in the little ordinary things that are full of wonder.
i hope it is a place where you come to remind yourself to
be gentle and kind to yourself and to those all around you.

i hope you feel, today, and all of your days, that it is safe
to step outside into a world of dreams, and it is safe to try,
to fall, and to pick yourself and your friends up when all seems too hard.

here's to a new week.



{right click on the top image for a smaller desktop image; right click on the bottom image for a larger one}

desktop quote : doing

spring is certainly here...life in the past week has brought much change.
there were triumphs as i cleared my head and made bold decisions;
there were victories as sister #3 finished her half-ironman;
there were tears when we heard of tragedy that has left us all in shock...
all of this has made me think more deliberately and act more kindly
towards others and myself.

but most of all, i am getting rid of the "what if's" that seem to be
popping up in my head these past few days.
"what-if's" hold me back, and keep me afraid of living,
afraid of both the past and the future.

this morning i read a little paragraph from a book called
"the power of kindness", written by peiro ferrucci.
it's a go-to-book that i use constantly when i need
reminders of wisdom:

"to live in the future is to be in a place that
does not yet exist. the future can be seen as a positive,
but also a danger. it can weigh on us--be a time to which
we do not want to go. but we know we will get there anyway,
no matter how hard we put on the brakes. it can also be a time
full of things to do; just thinking about it can exhast us,
knowing we will never do them all. and this stress prevents
us from being fullin in the one moment in which we really could do
something: the present.

"luckily, in real life we can find the present again and again.
this is a simple recipe available to everybody: do what you are doing...
if i am doing what i am doing, without fantasies of approaching dangers,
without my mind displaced, i am centered. i am here one hundred percent.
if so, then in that moment i am afraid of nothing, and need nothing.
thus i find fullness."

hope you found comfort and motivation in these words as i did.

{right click on the top image for smaller desktop image; right click on the bottom image for a larger image}

desktop quote & manifesto monday : growing things from the earth

yesterday marked the first day of spring.
i can see little buds making their way on our trees outside.
i know we'll have more winter storms,
but i am anxious about seeing green sprouting from the earth.
i am anxious to smell the ground thawing.
i am anxious for birds to chirp, waking me in the morning.

i am anxious for change. aren't you?
i am anxious to smell new smells,
to see new views...to find a way "out."

this week i hope to find ways
out of my routine,
out of my world-view,
out of myself.

perhaps by digging in my own earth, that is my heart,
i will thaw old beliefs and allow
new growth to begin.



{right click on the top image for a smaller desktop image; right click on the bottom image for a larger image}

desktop quote & manifesto monday : the sea

this week is a week to celebrate the irish...
and i, like so many others, love to claim my
irish heritage though i've never set foot on irish soil
{that will change this summer}.

but something i have been thinking of these days
is at the core of all irish hearts : the sea.
though i've never touched irish soil, i have experienced
the immensity and wonder of the sea, and have been
smitten by its profound reaches and endless waters.
on the coast or on the water, something happens to a soul:
your heart beat slows to a deep and certain rhythm
and your lungs find healing with salty air while your skin
collects the humid drops of air. ears tell a body to keep still
and eyes to scan every detail. breath becomes rich.
and then you know. you just know.

am looking forward to my next visit to the sea...

desktop quote & manifesto monday : the end...or the beginning: a favorite paradox

all afternoon it's been raining out my window.
a wonderful spring down-poor...
that has now, in the early evening hours,
started to attempt to be a bit of a snow storm.
it's something in between,
as is this month of march : not quite winter anymore,
but not ready to give in to spring.

i'm exploring where and what exactly i am holding on tightly
in my life - places and things that high-time came to an end
before i can join with spring and begin anew.

i still fear making mistakes. i think my heart needs a little
talking to, a reminder that no one grows without mistakes.
can you quit this cold-turkey,
or will i be shaking with cravings for fear of falling?

i still fill my calendar way too full...
i've got to put an end to my fear of saying 'no'
so i can start again with a nice, blank, clean
calendar...how refreshing would that be?!

the list could go on and on.
but i'll start with just a couple of things
to end so i can get started with my
spring beginning when it finally comes
in the form of blossoms.

anything you'd like to end so you can
get started once spring comes around?

{the top image is the smaller desktop image, the bottom image is the larger. right click and save for your desktop background...enjoy!}

desktop quote & manifesto monday : grass

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i love silences. spaces between. when nothing happens.
it is magic to me to be able to sit and watch and listen
to the world happen...to my own being happen.
these are the moments i dream of when life gets busy...
it makes me hungry for these moments just thinking of them.

i used to think that the "flowers" in life were those moments
where there is an obvious accomplishment,
and that the grass was those silent spaces where i could do nothing.
so i learned to cherish those nothing moments.

but now, i am busy. and i think the metaphor has switched.
i spend most of my time doing, and not as much time
sitting and pondering.
perhaps, now is a time when all that i am accomplishing
has become the grass, and is no longer the flower.
those silent moments are my flower,
and i must learn to love the grass of "doing" just as much
as i love the "flower" of silence.

so today, as i am busy doing this and that...getting ever closer
to dreams that in the past were just that: dreams,
i will love my moments in front of a computer screen, or in a meeting
just as much as i love my moments on the couch watching the sky.

this i believe.

desktop quote

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hello there!
we just returned from a few days away to our red-rock wilderness...
how was your long weekend? hope it was sunny and relaxing.
will have photos for you of our beloved desert very soon...
until then, enjoy this week's desktop quote!

desktop quote & manifesto monday: words, poetry, physicians, letters

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{new!} desktop quote & manifesto monday

{right-click on this first image and save it for a larger image to save for your desktop...i will update these desktop quotes weekly...every monday...hip, hip, hooray!}

{right-click on this second image for a smaller file size for your laptop}