Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Priceless...


photo by grassrootsmsw

“There is a kind of quilt called a friendship quilt, but I imagine all of mine, no matter what their pattern, are emblems of female friendship, that essential thread that has so often kept the pieces of my own life together, and from time to time kept me from falling apart.”

-Author unknown-


Thank you S.G., E.F.S., and A.K. for being all that you are and honoring and toasting my rites of passage. I look forward to adding more to the quilt...

With love and gratitude...

Monday, September 24, 2007

At the bedside...


photo by grassrootsmsw

"If we're not willing to explore our own suffering, then we will only be guessing as we try to understand our patients. It is the exploration of our own suffering that allows us to serve others. This is what allows us to touch another person's pain with compassion instead of fear and pity. And we have to be willing to listen, not only to the patient but to ourselves."

Frank Ostaseski
Founder of Zen Hospice, S.F.


Sunday, September 23, 2007

Owning delicious ambiguity...


photo by grassrootmsw

“Everything changed the day they
figured out there was exactly enough
time for the important things in their lives.”

Brian Andreas


Thursday, September 20, 2007

Open to the elements



photo by A. Krynen

"The value of our harshest difficulties is how honestly they cause us to question, how they intensify our courage and bring alive our deepest inner purpose, how they reawaken our soul's task on earth. The painful breaking apart of our world is often the precious opportunity our heart has needed to learn to be true to itself."

Jack Kornfield

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Finding the map...


photo by grassrootsmsw
Seattle, WA

"Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach. Any small, calm thing that one soul can do to help another soul, to assist some portion of this poor suffering world, will help immensely.

It is not given to us to know which acts or by whom, will cause the critical mass to tip toward an enduring good. What is needed for dramatic change is an accumulation of acts, adding, adding to, adding more, continuing. We know that it does not take "everyone on Earth" to bring justice and peace, but only a small, determined group who will not give up during the first, second, or hundredth gale.

One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul."

Clarissa Pinkola Estes


Thursday, September 13, 2007

Sharing the 13th


photo by Peter Cunningham
NYC


"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

The Velveteen Rabbit


I was understood and tended to by a dear friend today...

D-Day could have brought a mix and multitude of emotions.

Instead, it brought gratitude and moments of laughter and insight.

It was REAL, RAW, and FULFILLING.


Thank you S.G. for your nurturing friendship
and presence. Forwards we go, with even greater depth.
Cheers to life and all the unknown adventures waiting.


-grassrootsmsw-

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

D-Day on the 13th


photo by J.A.S.


"In my end is my beginning."
T.S. Eliot

Beauty, wonder and mystery awaits...
May the unfolding begin.

-grassrootsmsw-

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Hypothesis...


photo by grassrootsmsw


"All our knowledge has its origins in our perceptions."


Leonardo da Vinci