Jenny, recognition is so important. In commonality we find answers & collective solutions. And those are the ones that engender peace.

David, thanks for stopping by again. Ah sweet, guileless Deer. Simply walks past the monster at the gate, eyes always on target. Doesn’t resist or give power to the monster, just walks on. On!

Thanks for sending me your link. Your writing is refreshing and opens plenty of new pathways in the brain. I was writing this morning about Deer medicine that can help through the cocoon phase, the time when you’ve made a decision to change, but you find yourself in darkness feeling stuck, yet protected. Like you said, when you see what your life is and how you got there it maybe ugly and beautiful all at once. Deer has helped me with a steady compassion and fearless acceptance returning again and again to this phase. Your work feels closely aligned with Deer whose strategy is also to walk new paths toward fresh green grass…

Peace my Friend, David /\

I think we are braver than we give ourselves credit for ~ we simply need that one sparkle of awareness to set us on the road to courageously accept ourselves. Numb and run is an absolutely accurate description of the lives we lead when we haven’t seen the light yet ~ or perhaps truly felt enough desperation to motivate us into life-changing action.

What touched me most is what you say about so much unseen Grace awaiting us. Yes, yes, YES! It is something (someone!) to fall into backwards, arms wide open … free! Like a kid into loving arms. Just imagining this makes me feel more free and more at peace. Life is a good place, after all.

[Thanks for stopping by ~ I'm glad I found you too!]

That last sentence is haunting. Perhaps that’s why some artists want to paint like children again. No doubt veils are drawn at birth. Yet enough opening remains for many years. In the end it doesn’t matter as long as you enter at some point, consciously, willingly.

Marianne Williamson says it well:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”