Personal Growth

Earthmother (for Heidi)

When I think of you, it is with thoughts of butterflies and flowers. I did not know their names until you told me, like a precious secret, like this knowledge was the only true wealth, and how lucky that we could be rich together. Perhaps I would not know to love the world from the roots up, as you do, without your quiet enthusiasm for everything that grows.
It might seem a perilous undertaking of the spirit, to see what beauty is still alive in this world of smoke, and speed, and fear, but as I question if there is hope for us in the times to come, I remember you in your garden, smiling, and showing us that hope is everywhere if you know where to look.

Spark

There are more with a spark like the one you carry in your loving heart, so I know we will never be lost.

Other Worlds

We are not so far away from the world of giants and secrets and magic.

Higher Path

There is a way up toward the better world we have seen in our dreams, but these stairs won’t build themselves.

Touchstone

When I wasn’t sure if it was
worth it
to keep going,
because of how hard it was,
you were there
to show me
it wasn’t going to be easy,
but it was going to be worth it.

Ordinary Things

It’s hardest to love the ordinary things, she said, but you get lots of opportunities to practice.

Real Hero (fem)

Anyone can slay a dragon, she told me, but try waking up every morning & loving the world all over again. That’s what takes a real hero.

Teach Love

The best teachers
are the ones
who show you
how to use
your heart.

Walking Together

I am proud to see
the one you are,
and the one
you are becoming.
It is no small thing,
this chance I have
been given
to walk the road
beside you.

Potential

This is for the times
you held me in your thoughts,
knowing
I could be more.

Important

One summer our house burned down.
I stood on the curb crying and watching it burn,
and my mom put her arm around me and said,
At least we didn’t lose anything important.

Stubborn Love

All those times I wanted to quit,
slip out through the escape hatch
and disappear without a trace.
But you weren’t having it,
no,
you and your stubborn love.

Welcome Party

If you find yourself wondering when it will be your time,
congratulations, your time has come.

Easy Mind

Don’t trip
about whether you
have things figured out yet.
It takes the time it takes
to find your flow.

Heart Lines

There are invisible lines
connecting everything together,
and I am particularly fond of
the one that connects me to you.

No Rule

Pick a date and do the thing. There is no rule that says you have to feel ready before you say yes to your dreams.

Nothing More (remix)

If there is any secret to this life I live, this is it: the sound of what cannot be seen sings within everything that can. & there is nothing more to it than that.

Real Hero (no gender)

Anyone can slay a dragon, but try waking up every morning & loving the world all over again. That’s what takes a real hero.

Young Tomatoes

My grandma used to plant tomato seedlings in tin cans from tomato sauce & puree & crushed tomatoes she got from the Italian restaurant by her house, but she always soaked the labels off first.

I don’t want them to be anxious about the future, she said. It’s not healthy.

World Peace

I have a friend who took all the doors out of his house one summer. It reminds me there’s nothing I have that’s worth hiding, he said. No secrets is the key to world peace. He put them all back on that winter. I decided it was peaceful enough for me, he said.