Living Artfully

Photography, Poetry, Psychology

[living--artfully]

There’s a light at the end of every tunnel. Some tunnels just happen to be longer. -Ada Adams

[living--artfully]

[living--artfully]

The journey.

[living--artfully]

“You can’t calm the storm so stop trying. What you can do is calm yourself. The storm will pass.”

-Timber Hawkeye

[living--artfully]

You might be tempted to avoid the messiness of daily living for the tranquility of stillness and peacefulness. This of course would be an attachment to stillness, and like any strong attachment, it leads to delusion. It arrests development and short-circuits the cultivation of wisdom.

-Jon Kabat-Zinn

[living--artfully]

There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition, and of unspeakable love.

-Washington Irving

[living--artfully]

Life

[living--artfully]

You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.

Jon Kabat-Zin

[living--artfully]

For, as I draw closer and closer to the end, I travel in the circle, nearer and nearer to the beginning. It seems to be one of the kind smoothings and preparings of the way. My heart is touched now, by many remembrances that had long fallen asleep. From A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

[living--artfully]

- “I’m afraid of falling.”

- “You can’t be afraid of falling. If you are going to be afraid of falling you will never learn. You just have to accept that you are gonna fall, and that it will be okay.”

[living--artfully]

We must be willing to let go of the life we had planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.

E.M Forster

[living--artfully]

Life.

[living--artfully]

Sia - Chandelier (Official Video)

I’m gonna swing from the chandelier  The chandelier

I’m gonna live like tomorrow doesn’t exist  Like it doesn’t exist

I have read that this song is about alcoholism. I really like this song. When I first heard it, the main two lines had a very powerful effect on me. I asked myself “How would I live my life if I wake up in the mornings thinking that tomorrow doesn’t exist? What is one thing that I would do differently?” I had to think about it for a minute because those questions are very heavy. Then I had the answer. I would want to live my life free from worries; free from what ifs; free from shoulds. Instead I would live whole heartedly from the inside out.  And I probably would want to swing from a chandelier. 

If you know tomorrow doesn’t exist, how would you live your life today? What is one thing you would do differently? Who is the one person you would love more? The one person you would forgive? The one person you would let go of? Are you aware of your deepest worries? How about your deepest desires? What does chandelier represent to you? Are you ready to swing from that chandelier? To take the risk? Or to act on your desires? If you are not ready, what if you knew tomorrow didn’t exist? Would you still hold back from swinging? How about if we don’t wait until it’s too late? 

[living--artfully]

All of our suffering in life is from saying we want one thing and doing another.

Debbie Ford

[living--artfully]

[living--artfully]

Come here

and take off your clothes

and with them

every single worry 

you have ever carried. 

My fingertips on your back 

will be the very last thing

you will feel

before sleeping

and the sound of my smile

will be the alarm clock

to your morning ears.

Come here

and take off your clothes 

and with them the weight of every yesterday 

that snuck atop your shoulders

and declared them home. 

My whispers will be the soundtrack

to your secret dreams

and my hand

the anchor to the life

you will open your eyes to.

Come here

and take off your clothes.

-Tyler Knott Gregson, Chasers of the Light 

[living--artfully]

Practice sharing the fullness of your being, your best self, your enthusiasm, your vitality, your spirit, your trust, your openness, above all, your presence. Share it with yourself, with your family, with the world.

Jon Kabat Zinn- Wherever You Go, There You Are