Creative Burst of Energy with Lizzie!

 “When Great Trees Fall" When great trees fall, rocks on distant hills shudder, lions hunker down in tall grasses, and even elephants lumber after safety. When great trees fall in forests, small things recoil into silence, their senses eroded beyond fear. When great souls die, the air around us becomes light, rare, sterile. We breathe, briefly. Our eyes, briefly, see with a hurtful clarity. Our memory, suddenly sharpened, examines, gnaws on kind words unsaid, promised walks never taken. Great souls die and our reality, bound to them, takes leave of us. Our souls, dependent upon their nurture, now shrink, wizened. Our minds, formed and informed by their radiance, fall away. We are not so much maddened as reduced to the unutterable ignorance of dark, cold caves. And when great souls die, after a period peace blooms, slowly and always irregularly. Spaces fill with a kind of soothing electric vibration. Our senses, restored, never to be the same, whisper to us. Th...

  Sometimes life takes you a bit off the beaten track.  ... into unknown territory ... into new experiences ... into unfamiliar realms You can follow in someone else's footsteps, or you can choose your own path.  Make the most of the adventure.

  Do you ever have a sense that you feel entirely whole? In some ideal world, you feel that sense of "wholeness" all the time. That would seem to be a good thing.  In my everyday life, there's always something to do, somewhere to go, some task to accomplish, a mess to clean up, in inter-personal communication issue to figure out and reply in my mind, something I need to remember to do as soon as I have time ... there's always a distraction from being present in the moment. There are times, however, when I'm outside in nature that I feel this sudden and overwhelming sense of "I Am Here! Now! Wow!" The morning I took this picture was one of those moments.  It was cold. Windy. Threatening rain. I went for a long walk along the beach. The sky was dark and ominous. The wind was brisk, but fortunately blowing at my back (which I didn't appreciate until I walked back along the beach and had the brisk wind blowing in my face!). The waves were constant. The s...

 Today is Thanksgiving. It's a time of year I always reflect on things I am grateful for. There are many things I take for granted that I am extremely grateful for, such as clean drinking water, and indoor plumbing, and electricity. A couple of years ago, a friend and I started a Thanksgiving themed "community art project." We wrote "What are you grateful for?" in sidewalk chalk on a popular walking trail. We then left some pieces of  chalk nearby and enjoyed reading what people listed.  This year's community gratitude list includes: Friends, good health, foxes and owls, music, my partner Dogs, cats, laughter, family, life, coffee Trees, turtle, emotional intimacy, physical intimacy, love, sleep And many more! What are you grateful for?

 Solitude is a time of peace and reflection. Gazing into the distance of the past, present, or future. Solitude is a time to just be yourself, getting to know yourself, doing what needs to be done. Or doing nothing at all. Solitude allows a different perspective, not directly influenced by the presence of others. Something to be appreciated. Something to be grateful for.

  “Learning to distance yourself from all the negativity is one of the greatest lessons to achieve inner peace.” ―  Roy T. Bennett