Push and pull.

Give and receive.

Open and grounded.

Expand and protect.

Rest and action.

Work and play.

What you do matters

To one soul or more

You radiate; soft and warm.

With Love baked in;

Sweetness sprinkled on top;

A bow gently secured around.

Keep going,

One foot in front of the other.

Swift or slow; honor your rhythm.

Give yourself rest;

Offer others space;

The flow will carry you.

In the same way I shift and change as an individual, the way I care for, accept, and validate myself does too. All I can do is my best to keep up.

I am still learning

to give myself

a daily dose of rest

Even when it feels like

I don’t need it.

I am still learning

to take a few steps back

first.

I am still learning

to be gentle with

myself

When I miss the signs

and end up desperate.

I am still learning

what it means

to be a stable force

Incomplete, unfinished, and attentive.

The push and pull

Ebb and flow

Together and apart

The rhythm of existence is

Crooked

And smooth

Skinny and wide

Perfectly unfinished.

Full of love, life and luster.

To swing is to be in rhythm.

Suspended in time.

Held but still weightless. And free.

Tethered and trusting.

Flowing and flying.

Feeling a force that you cannot see.

It's what's on the inside that matters.

Devoting time to

Melting down layers

Of powder

And falsities.

Attending to love and grief, anger and bliss.

Burning away concealers

And peels

Glow true from the inside out.

Haggard with wisdom, weathered with life.

Pure, always at home.

She spun a web that was

fibered with peace; the bridge thread on truth.

Me, caught in the web of austerity;

facing the pain with fierce action and love.

Then soreness falls away.

Joy is fuller; love is deeper.

You know when she's there and look for

her when she's not.

Unattached, yet still connected.

When joy knocks on your door,

Please let her in.

In the same way we acknowledge anger and grief,

Open to joy.

Look for her. Listen to her. Accept her as she is.

Your beauty lies

In the way you move

Through the world.

With steadiness

Ease

And ferocity.

Accepting your reality.

Maintaining your aim.

Breaking free.

Moving through.

Following love.

Taking in life.

And resting when you can.

A touch

A glance

A whisper

A care.

Falling in love is simple and easy.

And happens over and over again.

My heart is full of emotion

I work to make space to contain what I need of it

And let the rest overflow into something tangible -

A poem, a painting, a look.

Honest words.

How can I share the way I'm feeling?

Is there a way to recreate the depth?

Receiving something heartfelt from another requires attention and vulnerability, too.

Are you willing to open up to it?

At what point

Did you begin

Taking care of

Yourself

For the sake

Of

Yourself?

To hold more

Love

And

Life.

What does the pain uncover?

Where do I stand if I never began?

How do I face it

And not feed it?

Boundary lends a path.

Space invites epiphany.

My breath and story live within.

Do you have the

capacity to see someone as they are.

Their unique channel of feeling loved.

And send some in their direction?

Are you able to let yourself be seen.

Aware of how you receive love.

And openly let it in?

Expand to connect.

Feeling cared for

Can be as simple as

Being considered

When decisions are made.

I got a mammal with floppy ears to protect me.

His furry body is armor against over thinking.

His wagging tail a sword that cuts off apathy.

And his warm body a barricade against loneliness.

What does it mean to be imperfect?

Embracing each crack in your wholeness.

Integrating tarnish into your being.

To be imperfect is to be vulnerable.

To show up sincerely as yourself.

Facing imperfection, without flaunting it, is nearly perfect.

come back to it, dear.

the warm intention you set

and then lost track of.

amble there with love.

reminded why you began.

believing in life.