This powerful image and post over at Shutter Sisters has stuck with me for the last few days.  

I have been noticing that my worn through, supposedly lacking and damaged parts are the spots where new and wonderful things can find the space to take root and bloom. Where the truly wild and beautiful parts of myself seem to evolve from…

Are you also someone who tries very hard to keep things together, sometimes at a very high cost? Breathe deep and celebrate where the light is getting in.

“With realization of one’s own potential and self confidence in one’s ability, one can build a better world.”   The Dalai Lama

I am adrift on a sea of change and opportunity lately, which is equally scary and exciting…Today I was more than a little overwhelmed by the “not good enough” gremlin (the sneaky little bastard), and am looking forward to chillaxin’ at the girls’ long weekend which starts tomorrow!

I wanted to quickly share a post by the fabulous Jen Gray which seems very opportune this week…Cheers to “get[ting] on with your life and begin[ning] to learn that all that matters is you giving your soul a chance to swim in what it is curious about, and what it loves…”

I have been struggling lately with how much of myself to keep and how much to share. This is a blurry line for me and I feel like I often either share too much or too little, neither of which are satisfactory.

What I realized today, this morning, is that I am most full when I share with my whole heart and spend less time worrying about how that could hurt me in the future. That it is important to me, as Ben Harper says, to “find out who you are, [rather] than who you’re not.” 

So, taking a break today from preparing for a presentation, it was quite lovely to happen upon this post on Mati Rose’s blog. I wonder, is my life a reluctant journal? And what would happen if we truly began to “write”?

Don’t Write

by Jen Lee

Don’t write.
It’s too powerful.
It might tell someone how you feel.
How you hurt.
What you don’t understand.

Don’t write.
It’s too powerful.
It will show who you are on the inside to the outside.
It’ll blow your cover,
your nice reputation.

Don’t write.
It’s too powerful.
You might hurt someone’s feelings.
People may not like your words.
They may attack you, or abandon you.

Don’t write.
It’s too powerful.
It might give others hope.
Let them know they’re not alone.
It might change minds.
Change directions.
Change the world.
So, whatever you do,

don’t write.

January has raced by so fast that I haven’t had a chance to write my ‘2008 Year in Review’, which I really wanted to do as it was such a wonderful, wild year. So in lieu of a written post, I pulled together photos from the year which hold special meaning for me and compiled a little slideshow. Looking forward to a fantastic 2009…

It is a bit of kismet that I stumbled onto this video while catching up on my favourite bloggers blogs today. It captures some of the things that keep bouncing around in my head, the “just do it because you love it and its fun” thoughts that collide with the “what’s the significance?” and “you suck” gremlins.

Hope you like it too. 

Happy 2009 kittens!

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and happy holiday with my favourite Christmas Song:

Only the second work day in and it’s official: it’s going to be a bizarre week. I can’t see how it all works out, so I guess for now I will hang on to my hat and keep moving forward…

I picked up a much read book from my shelf last night and a particular paragraph stood out. It made me say “hmmmm” and so I thought I would share.

We can never really know what people contain. Their hearts are like sealed boxes. We shake them, trying to gauge by the rattling sounds they make what secret treasures or broken pieces might be in there, but guessing is as far as we ever get. We have to live with the uneasiness of our ignorance, knowing that we’re vast and combustible, shifting, mostly hidden, probably fucked up, but alive and mysterious while we last.

Jody Gehrman-excerpt from Summer in the Land of Skin

Onward with the weird, wild week. I wonder what I will learn…

Wow, I have been completely out of commission for the last few months with this blog! All good and great stuff has been happening, and I have been busy, busy, busy! Coming up in the next few weeks, I will be sure to share some bits of my escapades including Squam, a lot of new friends, Italy (!), and more…I think I needed time to really feel and understand the impact of all of this wonderfulness before sharing it.

This inspired me to log on today, if only for a brief note:

Word-of-the Day:

Feels like it should absolutely be the word today, right? Go forth with molte saltation!

He:   “I tried that German mustard Melissa and Mattias gave us.”

She:  ”Really? What did it taste like?”

He:   “Mustardy.”

She:  ”That is a great description.”