Quotation: Find The Beauty First

"What do you see when you look in the mirror? Stop. Don't turn away. Stay a while. Let's look closer. No. You are not allowed to find the faults first, not in my game. We will find the Beauty first."

- Clyde (Tori Amos) - 

"The majority of us lead quiet, unheralded lives as we pass through this world. There will most likely be no ticker-tape parades for us, no monuments created in our honor. But that does not lessen our possible impact, for there are scores of people waiting for someone just like us to come along; people who will appreciate our compassion, our unique talents. Someone who will live a happier life merely because we took the time to share what we had to give. Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have a potential to turn a life around. It's overwhelming to consider the continuous opportunities there are to make our love felt." 

- Leo Buscaglia -

“There is a line in Leonard Cohen’s song “Anthem” that serves as a reminder to me when I get to that place where I’m trying to control everything and make it perfect. That line is, “There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.” So many of us run around spackling all of the cracks, trying to make everything look just right. This line helps me remember the beauty of the cracks. It reminds me that our imperfections are not inadequacies; they are reminders that we’re all in this together. Imperfectly, but together.”

- Brene Brown -

“The act of surrender doesn't mean we give up on the goal/dream/vision. Surrender = actively releasing the tension and resistance that keeps us knotted with anger, frustration and grief. Surrender that shit!”

- Kris Carr -

Imaginspiration: What You Believe In

Brambletree Rainbow by Karin Taylor

Fierce by Angi and Silas

What You Believe In

If You Weren't Real by Bec Schopen

Materia: Air by Patricia Ariel

Quotation: Imagination Running Wild

"Think about it: we get told all the time to stop daydreaming, we get told all the time it's just our imagination running wild - it's one thing to have lost your ability to see the truth, but it's another to have lost your ability to imagine"

- Tori Amos – 

"No-one can define what is meaningful for us. Culture doesn’t get to dicate if it’s working outside the home, raising children, lawyering, teaching or painting. Like our gifts and talents, meaning is unique to each one of us.”

- Brene Brown - 

"You get to decide what energy you choose to download in any moment. No one but you gets to decide who you wish to be."

- Marianne Williamson - 

“To be a star, you must shine your own light, follow your path, and don't worry about the darkness, for that is when the stars shine brightest.”

- Unknown – 

“I align myself with people who support my growth; if you meet someone whose soul is not aligned with yours, send them love and move along.”

- Wayne Dyer - 

Imaginspiration: Shine Your Own Light

Foxtrot Love Potion by Tiffany Atkin

Materia: Earth by Patricia Ariel

Shine Your Own Light

Hidden Treasure by Karin Taylor

Now by Aimee Stewart

Quotation: Perfectionism Is A Twenty Ton Shield

"It's about realizing, painfully, you've kept that voice inside yourself, locked away from even yourself. And you step back and see that your jailer has changed faces. You realize you've become your own jailer."

- Tori Amos -

"Perfectionism is the belief that if we live perfect, look perfect, and act perfect, we can minimize or avoid the pain of blame, judgment, and shame. It’s a shield. Perfectionism is a twenty-ton shield that we lug around thinking it will protect us, when in fact; it’s the thing that’s really preventing us from taking flight. At its core, is about trying to earn approval and acceptance.”

- Brene Brown -

“The human spirit is truly unconquerable. But the will to win, the will to succeed, to shape one’s life, to take control, can only be harnessed when you decide what you want, and believe that no challenge, no problem, no obstacle can keep you from it. When you decide that your life will ultimately be shaped not by conditions, but by your decisions, then, in that moment, your life will change forever…”

- Anthony Robbins -

Imaginspiration: Keep Your Eyes On Her Horizon

Just Keep Your Eyes On Her Horizon

Life Itself Is... by Angi and Silas

Origins by Patricia Ariel

Mysterious Exotic by Bec Schopen

Rainbow Meditation by Karin Taylor

Quotation: Grains Of Sand

“Making your mark on the world is hard. If it were easy, everybody would do it. But it's not. It takes patience, it takes commitment, and it comes with plenty of failure along the way. The real test is not whether you avoid this failure, because you won't, it's whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevere.”

- Barack Obama -

“Time management systems are tricky beasts. They may help us be more productive, but not necessarily less stressed, or more fulfilled, or more in touch with our true nature. We may look freer with our priorities all tidy, but too often, time remains the master and we get "given" time for obeying the system. I'd rather be fulfilled than obedient. And it turns out that when I'm fulfilled, I'm...fulfilled -- whether I'm productive or not. And that gives me plenty of energy to be more focused on what matters most, which makes me truly productive. It's a beautiful thing.” 

- Danielle LaPorte -

“I don't want to sit on the sidelines and not value the gift of being here. Instead of the idea of time ticking away, the grains of sand running out, I try to think of time as giving me another grain of sand, another gift. So time passing is an accumulation, rather than a diminishing.”

- Tori Amos -

 

Imaginspiration: Sometimes I Hear My Voice...

Bloom Where You Are Planted by Karin Taylor

Be by Angi and Silas

Sometimes I Hear My Voice

Materia: Water by Patricia Ariel

The Depths Of My Heart by Bec Schopen

Quotation: Meaning Lies In Us

"Perhaps the greatest obstacle to joy and expression of our true selves is fear. Fear of failure, fear of success, fear of looking bad, fear of losing our life, our job, our loved ones, our marriage -- perhaps greatest of all is the fear of unbearable pain and suffering. All the fears hold us back, and keep us from experiencing the fullness of our lives. Along with worry, fear is one of the the greatest of evils.

But when we overcome the fear of using our own voice -- of expressing the beauty of this life -- really sharing and touching the lives of those we love with it, we live an immortal life. We transcend so many of the other small fears, and we’re able to create a legacy of goodness and light for the world. We do this by facing the fears dead on. Only then can we celebrate the true greatness of life.

Never stop sharing your truth -- and never think for a moment that the smallest kindness you share is for naught."

- Satya Colombo -

“Love is what we are born with. Fear is what we learn. The spiritual journey is the unlearning of fear and prejudices and the acceptance of love back in our hearts. Love is the essential reality and our purpose on earth. To be consciously aware of it, to experience love in ourselves and others, is the meaning of life. Meaning does not lie in things. Meaning lies in us.”

- Marianne Williamson -

"I remember spending time by the water trying to recover from the loss, and I would just study the water for hours and hours -- how this incredibly multilayered thing which was the sea could turn on a dime, could change from this calm persona to this tidal wave, this thunderous volatile character. There was nothing I could do to save this being's life, so I needed to draw on something to really find my strength as a woman again, because I couldn't go back to being the woman I was before I carried life -- and at the same time, I wasn't able to be a mother. So I studied the sea a lot and started to turn to this primal, primitive -- I guess you could say ancient -- womanness that had to do with rhythm, a woman's internal rhythm that was not dependent on whether she was a virgin or if she was sensual or if she was many times a lover to many, many men. No judgment on what her accomplishments were or weren't. I just felt we all had access to the earth's secrets, and the music started to come through this belief." 

- Tori Amos -

Imaginspiration: Let The Sun Shine Through

Figment by Angi and Silas

I Painted A Cloud So The Sun Could Shine Through by Karin Taylor

Lovely Bird by Vitta

Polished by Bec Schopen

Quotation: Be At Peace With Everyone

"Be at Peace with Everyone. No one is capable of making you upset without your consent, so if you begin practicing the intention to be authentic and peaceful with everyone, you connect to peace itself - and gain the power to change the energy of your relationships with family and friends."

- Dr. Wayne Dyer

"We believe we are hurt when we don’t receive love. But that is not what hurts us. Our pain comes when we do not give love. We were born to love. You might say that we are divinely created love machines. We function most powerfully when we are giving love. The world has led us to believe that our well-being is dependent on other people loving us. But this is kind of upside down thinking that has caused so many of our problems. The truth is our well being is dependent on our giving love. It is not about what comes back; it is about what goes out!"

- Alan Cohen -

“Look at Mother Nature. The seas can be calm and yet she can become a tidal wave. That’s been my greatest teacher-the earth herself. Watching how she can hold the extremes in both hands and bring them into balance. Now, some women relate more to [other] aspects. You need the nurturers, [but you also] need the warriors. You need the ones who can say, “I can give an assessment about this without being swayed by my emotions in this moment.”

- Tori Amos -

Imaginspiration: Crystalline From The Vine

Questions by Tiffany Atkin

Dragonfly Rising by Aimee Stewart

Amazing Dragonflies by Vitta

Talking Flower by Angi and Silas

Quotation: Life Will Break You

"Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won't either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself you tasted as many as you could." 

- Louise Erdrich -

"Authenticity is a daily practice. Living authentically means cultivating the courage to be emotionally honest, to set boundaries, and to allow ourselves to be vulnerable; exercising the compassion that comes from knowing that we are all made of light and darkness, strength and struggle; and nurturing the connection and sense of belonging that can only happen when we let go of who we are supposed to be and embrace who we are. Authenticity demands wholehearted living and loving—even when it’s hard, even when it hurts, and especially when we are wrestling with the shame and fear of ‘not being enough.’ Mindfully practicing authenticity during our most soul-searching struggles is how we invite grace, joy, and gratitude into our lives.”

- Brené Brown -

"Your spiritual and physical self working together so that all facets of your wheel - your emotional body, your physical body, your mental body and your spiritual body - are all communicating. Because we all have desires. To rid yourself of them is an odd thing for me. That you have to transmute, that's very different. A transmutation of something that you have and you get it to work for you. It's really important. I mean if you look at a garden, there are all kinds of things within the garden that make it exist. If you don't have serpents, then you will have rats that will destroy your garden. The serpent, yes can be a dangerous element, but it can also save your garden. That's why Jesus always said, 'you must be as wise as a serpent.' I believe that. We look at mother nature as our teacher, all kinds of devouring essences exist, but I really believe it's how you utilise parts of your being in your life.

- Tori Amos -

Imaginspiration: You Can't Stop The Waves

Liberte by Bec Schopen

The Shell Maiden by Aimee Stewart

You Rock at Kind Over Matter

Tokyo Valentine by Tiffany Atkin

Quotation: Dream Outside The Box

"There are people who put their dreams in a little box and say, "Yes, I've got dreams, of course I've got dreams." Then they put the box away and bring it out once in a while to look in it, and yep, they're still there. These are great dreams, but they never even get out of the box. It takes an uncommon amount of guts to put your dreams on the line, to hold them up and say, "How good or how bad am I?" That's where courage comes in." 

- Erma Louise Bombeck -

“I have a relationship with paint and from within that relationship I feel a sense of comfort and safety sharing my emotions on canvas. I am an emotional artist and I paint what I am feeling. Pain, sorrow, joy, happiness, anger, defeat, hope - for some reason when those feelings are woven within 'art' - there is a freedom in being so vulnerable. Vulnerability connects us. It affects us. It's a little bit terrifying and a little bit magical.” 

- Kal Barteski -

“Society gets set up in a way that there are the creative people and the noncreative people, but everybody has access to the creative force. You might express it in a way that’s very different from how people think you should do it, but I really encourage people to find that voice. To me, everybody is like a fragment of the Divine. That’s what I try to put out there, even though certain fragments of the Divine that I want to fucking shoot …”

- Tori Amos –

Imaginspiration: Lost In The Reverie

Wild Blue Yonder by Aimee Stewart

Demand Dignity by Amnesty International

Lost In The Reverie by Randy Monteith

The More Joy We Have... by Angi and Silas