so i fly (new in the shop)

new earrings in the shop

The So I Fly earring series is inspired by one of my most popular Soul Mantra phrases. The idea behind the phrase:

When life pushes me beyond what I know
When the joy fills me up 
When the fear tries to settle in
When I am holding on to hope with each breath
When all this and more leads me to feel unsure of the next step,
sometimes I step outside, feel the warm sun upon my shoulders, look up at the blue sky, and make one decision: 

I fly.

The earrings in this series are all adorned with birds or other winged creatures. I see them as a daily reminder that you can feel your wings and you can breathe deeply and you make the choice to fly when it serves you.

Thank you so much for your continued support of my shop. It makes my heart so happy to send into the world these little packages filled with reminders to live with your heart wide open.

Blessings and light,
Liz 

this girl, she...

this girl, she struggles with holding it all up. (most days, she feels invited to hold it (all of it) together.) she feels invited to hold it all together when most days she is just trying to hold onto the pieces of her heart. 

this girl, she tries to hold her heart together, but as she goes about all that she must do, she wonders. 

she wonders what it might be like to let go. she wonders what it might be like to let go and loosen the grip on what is supposed to be. to loosen her insistent hold on what was supposed to be. to let go of the holding it all (holding her heart) together.

today, this girl, she takes a breath and walks outside. she walks outside and holds her heart and seeks.

she turns her face toward the sun with her cracked open in pieces but holding on heart inside her, and she stands in the light.

she stands in her light, and she listens.

this girl, she stands in the quiet just long enough to hear her own truth whispering inside her.

she and me

i am stepping into this new me who is a mother.
me.
a mother.
i am wrapping my brain around this path that is my path.
(this path i wasn't sure i would ever walk.) 
this path i will forever walk with her.
i am seeking a new rhythm for this life as we find our way.

(and, i must admit, i love this photo so much i can feel my heart expanding each time i look at it.)

in this moment...

in this moment, give yourself the gift of one deep breath.

(and perhaps, if you have time, another and another and another and one more.)

::bring on the joy::

Next spring brings a new Be Present Retreat that is ALL ABOUT JOY!

As spring begins to sing her song, we will spend five days on the Oregon Coast focused on the theme of joy. We will eat delicious meals, gather for laughter and connection, spend time sharing our stories, play with paint and instant photography and food. We will find our way to the quiet and take time to breathe deeply as we look out at the sea. We will begin to listen to the joy that is whispering inside us. 

And there will be strawberries and cupcakes and laughter and dancing and time to soak it all in and invitations to really see yourself and music and messiness and moments where you just might realize you can live your wildest dreams into reality.

(Yes.)

To put it simply: This one is gonna be good. 

The three workshops that will be taught at this retreat include:

Instant Joy
with Andrea Jenkins

Finding Joy in the Kitchen
with Tracy Benjamin

Treasure Seeking
with Mati Rose McDonough

And this is your official invitation to come along...

observe: red {a through the lens walk}

*****

yesterday, beana and i spotted a patch of blue in the sky and headed to our favorite park. as she slept, i settled into a walk where i slowed down to really notice. as i looked around, i realized that red was dancing all over the place in this little snippet of this huge park. dancing. and this dancing continued to push me to see that i am finding my way; it is slow but real. i am finding my way to getting outside and taking photos of other things. i am seeing the world with the same eyes (the same heart) i always have...but i am wiser, a bit more full of cracks and creaks, and i am leaning into my realness with each step, with each breath.

just like that

this spot once held the beginnings of a steam-of-consciousness post. a post where i began to list in sentence form the reasons why the post would not be full of sparkles or something that would make you smile. how it would instead be full of truth and realness and sadness. there is so much i was going to say in that post.

but life kept interrupting. repeatedly. every few words. 

so in this moment, i come to this spot hours later and will say this instead:

millie, our other child who happens to be a golden retriever, almost died friday. just like that. the doctor was not sure she would survive the night. she then had emergency surgery saturday. and tonight, she is curled up beside jon's feet while he grades. just like that.

on friday afternoon, when ellie and i drove to the emergency vet clinic, a few minutes behind millie and jon, i explained why mama was crying. telling her that sometimes we cry when we are really afraid. explaining how mama loves millie very much and how she is my friend and how in my love for her, the thought of her dying made me scared and sad. and then i explained how millie has been my constant companion through some of the darkest days i have ever known. how she came into our lives in a very unexpected way and, just like that, she began to walk beside me through the deepest grief i have ever known; she began to walk beside us and taught us even more about love. i explained that this is what love is all about.

tonight, as i try to wrap my brain around having another patient who is healing in the house and now two notebooks full of feeding/medication schedules that sit side by side on the kitchen table, i find myself wishing upon wishing for a break from it all. wishing upon wishing for someone to walk through the front door and say, "i've got it right now girl. you can just rest for a while."

tonight as i type this, i take a break and turn to david whyte to try to remember the truth of what i know. his poem "the well of grief" does that for me. those words remind me of what i know about the truth of standing in this moment on my path. the truth of choosing to see all of it. the truth of living with my heart wide open.

tonight, i take a break for just a few minutes and turn up joshua radin as he sings into my ears and close my eyes and choose.

i choose.

i choose.

there are things i want you to remember {4}

you are a light in this world.