Be Good to Yourself

Posted on February 8, 2018 by Carolyn Dennis-Willingham, Author

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Do you overextend by pretending?

Is that your intended purpose?

Why contend with false bravery?

Extend your heart and attend to your tears with tenderness.

image credit

via Tend

Silent Whispers

Posted on January 22, 2018 by Carolyn Dennis-Willingham, Author

Solitude

internal whispers

inspiration

gathered strength

in silence

Weekly Photo Challenge: Silence

Feeling Combustible?

Posted on January 21, 2018 by Carolyn Dennis-Willingham, Author

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You know those times when you feel you need an exit plan but you don’t have a strategy?

You don’t want to be there.

You feel trapped.

Your insides feel combustible.

You could swim in the moisture made from your palms.

Your toes tap dance inside your shoes but the music’s not jubilant.

Can you change the music?

Can you imagine swimming in water blue and calm?

Can you find the key to unlock the cage?

No?

Then make one.

No one and nothing can trap you.

We are pixilated and all the dots that make us who we are can float through any barrier and collect themselves on the other side.

Digitalized or not, you are a great painting of yourself.

You can find your way back.

Just ask Alice.

Alice

FYI: Though pixelated is the standard spelling of the word meaning rendered with visible pixels, there’s a good reason that spell check does not catch pixilated. Pixilated is an old, seldom-used Americanism dating from the middle of the 19th century and peaking (in this use) in the middle 20th century. It meant (1) crazed, bewildered, or whimsical, or (2) intoxicated.¹

Pixilated derives from the noun pixie, denoting the mythical, mischievous creature.² One who is pixilated is under the sway of a figurative pixie or behaving in a pixielike manner.

photo credit (ferret)

photo credit (man)

photo credit (woman)

photo credit (Alice) and pixilated by me.

via Strategy

INSPIRATION AND MY IM-PERFECT-TION

Posted on January 15, 2018 by Carolyn Dennis-Willingham, Author

If you study the words and actions of Dr. Martin Luther King, will you become a better person? (inspiration from Tony Burgess Blog and JohnCOYOTE blog)

If you bring your experiences to the surface, can you be a better actor? (inspired by RIVRVLOGR blog)

If you study another human being, the way they walk, the sparkle in their eyes, will you like what you see? (inspired by fauxcroft)

If we force ourselves to unchain our words, will be become better writers? (inspired by Scribbled to Paper)

If you want to understand colors and shading, can you watch a tutorial for inspiration and create something beautiful? In this case, yes. (inspired by Stoneronarollercoaster)

If you study your image in that reflected glass, do you like what you see? (inspired by Lifelessons)

And, how I could go on with how you all, dear bloggers, inspire me.

I did not study up on how to be a grandmother.

But being one has inspired a new creativity inside my very core.

Explore outside the box and BE PERFECT IN YOUR IMPERFECTIONS!

via Study

Lessons from the Fox

Posted on January 10, 2018 by Carolyn Dennis-Willingham, Author

He was undu-ly-late

but that didn’t stop him from making his presence known to The Little Prince.

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And in excerpts, the fox said:

I am a fox.

I cannot play with you. I am not tamed.

It is an act too often neglected. It means to establish ties.

To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you, I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world . . .

My life is very monotonous … Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed me! The grain, which is also golden, will bring me back the thought of you. And I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat . . .”

And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.

“What is essential is invisible to the eye,” the little prince repeated, so that he would be sure to remember.

photo credit

via Undulate