THE PROCESS OF LIVING

There is a process to living that persists whether I want it to or not. This process doesn’t care if I enjoy it or have patience with it. The process of living will commence with or without my approval. Similar to me moving chopped wood from one area of the yard to another. I gather […]

TO LIVE AND LOVE

Rain misted my face and hair as I pulled stubborn grass and dandelions from my strawberry beds. The soil was black like the dead of night and the worms were fat and wiggly. I wanted to remove my yellow-colored gloves and sink my fingers into the dirt, but I knew my skin wouldn’t brace the […]

KNOWING LITTLE REGRET BUT MUCH BEAUTY

This morning I walked down a forested trail while the sky sprinkled rain and mist clung to the mountains’ hips. The forest was quiet but stirred with noise, and I breathed the quiet sustenance in. I needed this stillness, not because anything disturbed me but because stillness is revitalizing.

ENLIVEN OUR SPIRITS

There are times when meeting new people who are moving to my hometown, I cringe and wish they’d leave, or, at least, not get into a frenzy of wanting to “improve” us.

That’s It?

The canvas walls closed off an area fourteen by sixteen feet. The wardens had told me that, bragging it up, making it sound spacious. On the phone, sitting at a college swimming pool, when I’d been accepting this job, it had sounded palatial. – Pete Fromm, Indian Creek Chronicles: A Winter Alone in the Wilderness […]

SPIRITUAL CULMINATION

I knew when I moved back to Montana this last spring, I would enter a transitional period. A time where I would settle my roots and begin to grow where I was planted. And even though the soil and air were familiar, I knew that this transition, though shorter in comparison to moving somewhere new, […]

Where Did You Find Yours?

I’ve discovered writers by reading books left in airplane seats and weird hotels. – Lee Child One of my favorite reads was found in a 7-11 while working the night shift. I scoured the tiny rack of books that was stuffed behind the front doors, looking past the obvious romance novels, and landed on one […]

FINDING WHAT I NEED

As I was driving to Butte yesterday, my eyes wandered over the crystal-white scenery and steaming river, as the water was warmer than the air, and wondered how it was the human mind couldn’t stay within the parameters of peace and ease when there was such an abundance of beauty to take in.

Always Learning

One of the nice benefits of writing is that you are always learning. Writers are great observers of the world and of people. – Margaret George When I was in my late teens, I researched everything I could about tarot cards, where they originated from, what the cards meant, how they were tied to Kabbalism, […]

Being One of Many

When a man looks at the stars, he grows calm and forgets small things. They answer his questions and show him that his earth is only one of the million worlds. Hold your soul still and look upward often, and you will understand their speech. Never forget the stars. – Frances Hodgson Burnett As a […]

Indentify and Change

Just as you need time to be able to remain the same and be identified as yourself, you also need time to be able to change, which is where your identity suddenly gets less stable. That is why, even as your hair turns gray, you have the same glint in your eye that your mom […]

Magical Magnificence

We all start out knowing magic. We are born with whirlwinds, forest fires, and comets inside us. We are born able to sing to birds and read the clouds and see our destiny in grains of sand. But then we get the magic educated right out of our souls. – Robert McCammon Conversing with a […]