The Risk To Blossom

It takes courage to push yourself to places you have never been before, to test your limits, to break through barriers, and the day came when the risk it took to remain tight inside bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.

-Anais Nin

Powerful

We are powerful because we have survived.

I have come to believe over and over again,

that what is most important to me must be spoken,

made verbal and shared,

even at the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood.

When I dare to be powerful,

to use my strength in the service of my vision,

then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.

Your silence will not protect you.

-Audre Lorde

Paul Varjak

“You know what’s wrong with you Miss Whoever-you-are? You’re chicken. You’ve got no guts. You’re afraid to stick out your chin and say, “Okay, life’s a fact.” People do fall in love. People do belong to each other because that’s the only chance anybody’s got for real happiness. You call yourself a free spirit, a wild thing. And you’re terrified that somebody’s going to stick you in a cage. Well baby, you’re already in that cage. You built it yourself, and it’s not bounded in the west by Tulip, Texas or in the east by Somaliland. It’s wherever you go. Because no matter where you run, you just end up running into yourself.”

-Breakfast at Tiffany's

At Peace

Very near my setting sun, I bless you, Life

because you never gave me neither unfilled hope

nor unfair work, nor undeserved sorrow/pain

Because I see at the end of my rough way

that I was the architect of my own destiny

and if I extracted the sweetness or the bitterness of things

it was because I put the sweetness or the bitterness in them

when I planted rose bushes I always harvested roses

Certainly, winter is going to follow my youth

But you didn’t tell me that May was eternal

I found without a doubt long my nights of pain

But you didn’t promise me only good nights

And in exchange I had some peaceful ones

I loved, I was loved, the sun caressed my face

Life, you owe me nothing, Life, we are at peace!

- Amado Nervo

Owning Yourself

"the individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. and if you try it you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. but there is no price too high to pay for the priviledge of owning yourself." - nietzsche

Back to Real Pop and the Art of Music Videos

Simple Goods: Sherri Urann

MUST SEE:

my amazing friend Sherri's paintings and art

Chinese Proverb

"The mightiest oak in the forest is just a little nut that held its ground."

routines and habits

“Routines and habits are the Known, protecting us from the Unknown. Habits are also called home. Habits tame the raw wilderness of existence into the civilized comforts of everyday life. Unfortunately, as we all know, habits gradually domesticate all the wildness and energy out of life. So much energy gets bound up in routines and habituated patterns, keeping them alive, that your life goes dead instead. Thus, if you want to discover again the wild side of life, you have to leave “home”; you have to break or dissolve your habits in order to release the energy locked up inside them.”

–Ed Buryn

in love

"It was in love I was created, and in love is how I hope I die."

- Paolo Nutini

Female Astronauts

NASAs Forgotten Female Astronauts

Though not as grand, this misogyny still exists.

What Your Destiny Will Be

"I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve." - Albert Schweitzer

"Dive"

- Andrea Gibson

("Dive" YouTube link)

Culture Replaces Biology?

End of Evolution: Has Human Culture Replaced Biology?

I am endlessly intrigued...

Not Sure How I Feel About This...

my friend

"When you're aiming for the sky it always feels like you're running around flapping your arms and waiting for the miracle of flight.  And then you realize all you ever had to do was close your eyes and dream it and you're wherever you can imagine yourself always wanting to be."  -- Taylor McHugh, a true friend

WIN!

http://failblog.org/2009/08/07/hair-salon-win/

It's Your Call

"You're scared to death at the fact that you might have to rely on yourself for the first time ever...

I think one of the most universal human experiences is feeling alone.  You'd never know it, but there's most likely tons of people feeling the exact same way.  Maybe because you're feeling completely abandoned.  Maybe because you realized you aren't as self-sufficient as you thought. Maybe because you know you should have handled something different.  Or maybe because you aren't as good as you thought you were.  In the end, when you hit that low point, you have a choice: you can either wallow in self pity, or you can suck it up.  It's your call...

It's the day I realized that admitting we are not heroic is when we are the most heroic of all."

-Scrubs, Season 1, My Hero

How I Feel

Morning in a City - Edward Hopper