What Your Thoughts Make It

"Your life is what your thoughts make it." 

Marcus Aurelius

I have the sliding door open so I can listen to what's happening outside. The air is warm, the sounds are rich. I am enjoying the bird songs and flight and that jumping squirrel just to the right. 

I am living my dream, with strength and possibilities again inspired by the tree's marrow, and the hypnotic overcast sky on this beautiful new morning.

With reflection and prayers comes this simple, glorious fact: I am at my best when I am connected to Nature and motivated by love.

To Share With You

 

Asheville, North Carolina

"Nothing more do I ask than to share with you
the ecstasy and sacrament of my life."

Emily Dickinson

♥ My Society6 Art Gallery \(‾◡◝ )/ 

Seek What They Sought

Birmingham, Alabama

"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise.
Seek what they sought."
Matsuo Basho

I am home from a hectic day at work and the sky greets me with spectacular colors. Red, blue, yellow, black. And the city lights make me catch my breath, too. I may have a busy week ahead of me, but I feel sweet gratitude for this gift of the present moment.

Giving And Forgiving

 

Birmingham, Alabama

"Cultivate an attitude of gratitude,
of giving and forgiving.
Nothing can bring you peace but yourself."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

See The Dawn Before The Rest

 

Full Moon, Birmingham, Alabama

"A visionary is one who can find his way by moonlight,
and see the dawn before the rest of the world."
Oscar Wilde

The Happy Moment

 

Birmingham, Alabama

"Color possesses me. There is no need to seize it.

 It possesses me. I know.
Here is the meaning of the happy moment:
color and I are one. I am a painter."
Paul Klee

Room In Your Heart

 

"Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable."
Mary Oliver

♥ My Society6 Art Gallery \(‾◡◝ )/ 

Kindness, Empathy, and Compassion

 

Vallejo, California

"And I remind myself that if I only responded to the authentic self, I can only respond out of kindness, empathy, and compassion."

Shaka Senghor

You Have Your Way

 

"You have your way. I have my way.
As for the right way, the correct way,
and the only way, it does not exist."
Friedrich Nietzsche

♥ My Society6 Art Gallery \(‾◡◝ )/ 

A Sure Refuge

 

Vallejo, California

"In poverty and other misfortunes of life,
true friends are a sure refuge."
Aristotle

♡ I am home after six days in San Francisco. Joyous reunion with childhood friends with lots of art ideas, shopping... and photographs! My life is a memorable flow of discovery, exploration, and thousands of steps!

Here I am in front of a lovely piece
by Hawai'i artist, Pegge Hopper

♥ My Society6 Art Gallery \(‾◡◝ )/ 

One's Whole Being

 

Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport, Alabama

"Sunrise demands this rightness,
this order, this true disposition of one's whole being."
Thomas Merton

♡ I discovered a new place to capture the sunrise, cresting sweetly over the Birmingham Airport...

♥ My Society6 Art Gallery \(‾◡◝ )/ 

Silent Pulse of Perfect Rhythm

 

"At the heart of each of us, whatever our imperfections,
there exists a silent pulse of perfect rhythm,
a complex of wave forms and resonances,
which is absolutely individual and unique
and yet which connects us to everything in the universe."
~ George Leonard

Deep Into Their Roots

 

The Moana Hotel, Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii

"I think of the trees and how simply they let go, let fall the riches of a season, how without grief (it seems) they can let go and go deep into their roots for renewal and sleep."
~ May Sarton, Journal of a Solitude

 Every old tree has dignity and history. Place your palm on the trunk and feel the energy. Imagine the wisdom of each branch, the secret of every leaf.

This tree... was love at first sight for me. I looked up and tried to capture the grandeur and beauty in a photo, but it was as impossible as describing the ocean of laughter all around the beachfront tree.

This Indian Banyan tree stands proudly near the ocean at the Waikiki Moana Hotel. When last measured, the tree spanned 150-feet across and crowned at 75-feet. Planted in 1904, this miracle is on Honolulu's Exceptional Tree List.

"Exceptional" is an inadequate adjective.

You Learn Love By Loving

 "You learn love by loving--

by paying attention

and doing what one thereby discovers has to be done."
Aldous Huxley

You Learn Love By Loving.

Working at the Nursing Home,  I witness the fragility of life and see all the colors of dementia, courage, and joy. We are not here that long: Choose love and kindness when you can.

♥ My Society6 Art Gallery \(‾◡◝ )/ 

In Harmony With Reality

 

“Impermanence is a principle of harmony.
When we don’t struggle against it,
we are in harmony with reality.”
Pema Chödrön

♥ My Society6 Art Gallery \(‾◡◝ )/ 

The Most Wonderful

 

"It’s the most wonderful life on earth."
e.e. cummings

The Power of Gratitude

 

"The power of gratitude can be delivered in the smallest of moments."
Vivek Murthy

Hot summer days in Birmingham, Alabama and I continue to be enchanted by the sky and clouds. And of course, I find the shape of hearts formed by the sky. I discover joy when I look up.

♥ My Society6 Art Gallery \(‾◡◝ )/ 

Arising And Passing

"Coming and going. Arising and passing…
Everything changes."
Joseph Goldstein

I caught the sun yesterday, dancing with a heart-shaped lens flare in the trees. Ahhh, serendipity and wabi-sabi.

♥ My Society6 Art Gallery \(‾◡◝ )/ 

It Is Yours

 

"You wake up in the morning, and lo--

your purse is magically filled with twenty-four hours
 of the unmanufactured tissue
of the universe of your life!
 It is yours.
It is the most precious of possessions."

Arnold Bennett

♡ Again, with the sun, my heart rises: May the warmth of the sun create goodness and peace in me. May I radiate kindness to those I connect with today. May we all find rich inspiration, gratitude, and new knowledge in what we see.

♥ My Society6 Art Gallery \(‾◡◝ )/ 

The Source Of Your Joy

"Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile,
but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy."

Thich Nhat Hanh

♥ My Society6 Art Gallery \(‾◡◝ )/ 

 The sky beckons and I am lost in the joy of the colorful moment. Sometimes I hear the laughter of the clouds as they dance around the sun.