Yang Yongliang

Good Luck Charms - Stephanie Corda

Albert-Joseph Penot c.1925

Happy New Year!!

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end - Seneca

Saturn return is when a transiting Saturn planet returns to the same point in the sky that it occupied at the moment of a person's birth. It is an alleged phenomenon which is described as influencing a person's life development. These intervals or "returns" coincide with the approximate time it takes the planet Saturn to make one orbit around the sun, i.e. 29.4 years. It is believed by astrologers that, as Saturn "returns" to the degree in its orbit occupied at the time of birth, a person crosses over a major threshold and enters the next stage of life. With the first Saturn return, a person leaves youth behind and enters adulthood. With the second return, maturity. And with the third and usually final return, a person enters wise old age. These periods are estimated to occur at roughly the ages of 28-30, 56-60 and 84-90. 

we are so small

Rumi - What Was Said to the Rose

Every time I listen to this poem, I love it a little more.

Coleman Barks' voice is hypnotizing. 

Moods - Sarah Teasdale

I am the still rain falling,

Too tired for singing mirth--

Oh, be the green fields calling,

Oh, be for me the earth!

I am the brown bird pining

To leave the nest and fly--

Oh, be the fresh cloud shining,

Oh, be for me the sky!

Werner Bischoff

Werner Reiterer - Chandelier

‎"He offered her the world, she said she had her own."

Cul de sac

This poem was written by my friend Benedict Newbery. I love the spoken word paired with the animations, both compliment each other perfectly to create a beautiful synergy.

If you'd like to read more of Ben's work click HERE.

I also recommend his latest animated  film The Royal Oak, which has recently been aired on Chanel 4 in the UK.

Cul de sac is about life in any small-town suburban street. 
This animated film was directed by Benedict Newbery and Sandra Ensby. 
Animation by Sandra Ensby. 
Music by P A Murphy. 

Mila Von Luttich

Jim Goldberg - from his book Rich and Poor

I love how Jim blends photographs and words to create these striking visuals. They take us into the homes of his subjects and into their private worlds. For me, it's always far more interesting to see what's beyond the image presented, that's why I love these.

Kahlil Gibran - an excerpt from The Prophet

Then a woman said, "Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow."
And he answered:
Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.
And how else can it be?
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.
Is not the cup that hold your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter's oven?
And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?
When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.
When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.
Some of you say, "Joy is greater than sorrow," and others say, "Nay, sorrow is the greater."
But I say unto you, they are inseparable.

Dear photograph

Click HERE to see similar photos and read about the memories attached to them

Edward Hopper, Summer Evening

In The Gold Room

Click HERE to read short stories online for FREE!

I love these architectural rings by Philippe Tournaire

Pavel Puhov

A reminder from the universe

I read this somewhere

YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE 

FOR THE MAGIC IN 

YOUR LIFE


and I liked it.

Zaz - Eblouie Par La Nuit

One of my favourite photographers - Mike Sinclair

Snowflake obsidian is credited by its believers to rid of negative energies and combat physical, emotional, and mental attacks launched by negative external energies and grief. When unwanted mindset is dispelled, positive outlook is born; when the mind dismisses doubts and fears, the mind yields courageous optimism. By conscious suspension of bitter memories and anticipation, one imbibes positive outlook in life.

Caine's Arcade - I love this kid

Passing Through - Stanley Kunitz

Nobody in the widow's household

ever celebrated anniversaries.

In the secrecy of my room

I would not admit I cared

that my friends were given parties.

Before I left town for school

my birthday went up in smoke

in a fire at City Hall that gutted

the Department of Vital Statistics.

If it weren't for a census report

of a five-year-old White Male

sharing my mother's address

at the Green Street tenement in Worcester

I'd have no documentary proof

that I exist. You are the first,

my dear, to bully me

into these festive occasions.

Sometimes, you say, I wear

an abstracted look that drives you

up the wall, as though it signified

distress or disaffection.

Don't take it so to heart.

Maybe I enjoy not-being as much

as being who I am. Maybe

it's time for me to practice

growing old. The way I look

at it, I'm passing through a phase:

gradually I'm changing to a word.

Whatever you choose to claim

of me is always yours:

nothing is truly mine

except my name. I only

borrowed this dust.

Self Pity – D.H Lawrence

I never saw a wild thing

sorry for itself.

A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough

without ever having felt sorry for itself.

sticks and stones

Quartz enhances energy by absorbing, storing, amplifying, balancing, focusing and transmitting. It channels universal energy. Quartz also enhances thoughts, as they are a form of energy. Because it directs and amplifies energy, it is extremely beneficial for manifesting, healing, meditation, protection, and channeling. It is also beneficial for storing and retrieving information of all types, as information is a form of energy pattern also. Quartz is excellent for harmonizing and balancing one's environment.

Fantin Latour Henri

Eckhart Tolle

                 Just Once by Anne Sexton

              Just once I knew what life was for.
              In Boston, quite suddenly, I understood;
              walked there along the Charles River,
              watched the lights copying themselves,
              all neoned and strobe-hearted, opening
              their mouths as wide as opera singers;
              counted the stars, my little campaigners,
              my scar daisies, and knew that I walked my love
              on the night green side of it and cried
              my heart to the eastbound cars and cried
              my heart to the westbound cars and took
              my truth across a small humped bridge
              and hurried my truth, the charm of it, home
              and hoarded these constants into morning
              only to find them gone.

I first saw this creature outside my door yesterday and thought it was a moth. But then today it flew into my room and I saw what it really was... a beautiful butterfly! It stayed for two days.

Andy Gilmore

Let there be light

tchmo