today i am ...

so this was actually an unfinished painting ... someone had done all the drawing, and all the grid marks were there, it just never made it to a painting stage. 

virabhadrasana I is a posture in which we acknowledge our own spiritual warrior who every day does battle with our ego ...

i used it specifically for this message because i feel that even when we are unfinished, even when we are a work in progress, in between, in the meantime, in the middle of the process ... whether we get delayed, sidetracked, or we stumble and lose our footing, while we are trying to get from here to there, we can still be thankful. we can still know that we are still blessed. valued. inspired. and loved.

you can't see it, only remnants of it. because when we focus on gratitude ... blessings ... inspirations ... values ... and love ... we no longer see the ego and its struggle to be anyplace else but where we are.

and wherever you are right now, in this moment, on this day, YOU are thankful and appreciated.  blessed.  valued.  inspired and an inspiration.  and above all, you are LOVED.

(before)

i am

when something is killing your spirit

and you don't know how your legs will move you

because you feel so weak and it's as if you are standing by

watching it happen

and your attempts to stop it feel like when you're in a dream

the kind where you try to yell but your voice won't come out

and you need someone to wake you up

show you the truth

the reality

that it isn't dying underneath your smile

and behind your skin and bones

that you are safer than you think

that you aren't losing your soul

i am

where you are

i am

holding you from the inside out

i am

breathing

for you

#moments

♥

when time stands still

and your eyes blink in slow motion

and your breath floats by my face

and our world is totally quiet

and you can hear my heart

and that it beats for you

i will

my heart beats in me
yet beats for you
my love lives in me
yet lives for you

your choices are yours to make
your journey is yours to travel
my hands are yours to hold
my arms 
yours to pile your bags on
or fall into
because whatever you choose
even if you're wrong
i will walk beside you
i will sleep inside you
i will cover you

and when the dust floats down around us
and the shrapnel lands on our skin
sticking
burning
tumbling
carving new reminders
i will peel off the debris
and wash it from your hair and all the places you are unaware of
that are numb 
or paralyzed 
or shivering with shock 
i will kiss away the new wounds and the old ones which are now reopened 
i will carry your weight
and the weight of all the others that you have forgotten to let go of 
i will pour love into your broken open crevices that feel to you like gaping canyons 
i will remind you of your you-ness
i will drink away your fears
i will sing your favorite words
i will breathe peace
into your spirit
until you remember how
to breathe it
on your own