Thoughts and Words

14/06/2024

Dame Judi Dench, “One day, a young woman asked me:
“What do you think about being old?”
I thought aging was a gift.
I wouldn't change anything I have for a few less wrinkles and a flat stomach.
Who cares if I choose to read or play on the computer until 4 in the morning and then sleep until who knows how much?
Who cares if I dance alone listening to '50s music?
What if I later wanted to cry for a lost love?
And if I walk on the beach in a bathing suit and walk my chubby body and sink between the waves, swinging at them, despite those still wearing bikinis... they'll be old too if they're lucky.
I'm proud that I lived long enough to have my hair done gray and to keep the smile of my youth, since there were still no such deep marks on my face.
I don't want to complain about what wasn't or worry about what will happen. For the time I have left, I will simply love life as I have done it to this day.''

26/05/2024

“You can't skip chapters, that's not how life works. You have to read every line, meet every character. You won't enjoy all of it. Hell, some chapters will make you cry for weeks. You will read things you don't want to read, you will have moments when you don't want the pages to end. But you have to keep going. Stories keep the world revolving. Live yours, don't miss out.”

― Courtney Peppernell, Healing the Heart

24/05/2024

“It's madness
to hate all roses
because you got scratched with one thorn,
to give up all dreams
because one of them didn't come true,
to give up all attempts
because one of them failed.

It's folly to condemn all your friends
because one has betrayed you, to no longer believe in love
just because someone was unfaithful
or didn't love you back,
to throw away all your chances to be happy
because something went wrong.

There will always be another opportunity,
another friend,
another love,
a new strength.

For every end,
there is always a new beginning.....

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."

~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry,
The Little Prince 🤴💛❤️

11/05/2024

Never be afraid to be your true authentic self 💜🧚‍♀️💜

03/05/2024

تقول الأسطورة ان الكذب والحقيقة تقابلوا في يوم من الأيام . . فقال الكذب للحقيقة "ان اليوم جميل جدا" . . فنظرت الحقيقة حولها في شك . . و رفعت عينيها للسماء فوجدت ان الشمس مشرقة و ان الجو جميل . . فقررت ان تقضي اليوم فى نزهة مع الكذب . . !
عاد الكذب و قال للحقيقة "ان مياه البئر صافية و دافئة فهيا بنا نسبح" . . نظرت الحقيقة للكذب فى شك للمرة الثانية . . ثم لمست المياه . . فوجدتها صافية و دافئة بالفعل . . فخلع الاثنين ملابسهم و نزلوا للإستحمام . . !
و فجأة . . خرج الكذب من البئر سريعا و ارتدى ثوب الحقيقة . . و جرى حتى اختفى . . !
فخرجت الحقيقة من البئر عارية و غاضبة و جرت محاولة ان تلحق بالكذب . . فلما رآها الناس عارية . . تضايقوا منها و أداروا وجوههم عنها . . !
و هنا رجعت الحقيقة المسكينة الى البئر و توارت . . و لم تظهر مرة أخرى من شدة خجلها . . !
و منذ ذلك الحين . . و الكذب يلف العالم مرتديا ثوب الحقيقة . . و الناس تتقبله . . و في نفس الوقت يرفضون رؤية الحقيقة العارية . . !

30/04/2024

“Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams.”
Ashley Smith

Artist: Lisa Aisato

26/04/2024

laugh it all out

“I love people who make me laugh. I honestly think it's the thing I like most, to laugh. It cures a multitude of ills. It's probably the most important thing in a person.”
Audrey Hepburn

Artist: Han Chengli

21/04/2024

You Don’t Just Lose Someone Once.

You don’t just lose someone once.
You lose them when you close your eyes at night.
And as you open them each morning.
You lose them throughout the day.

An unused coffee cup.
An empty chair.
A pair of boots no longer there.
You lose them as the sun sets.
And darkness closes in.

You lose them as you wonder why.
Staring at a star lit sky.
You lose them on the big days.
Anniversaries.
Birthdays.
Graduations.
Holidays.
Weddings.
And the regular days too.

You lose them in a song they used to sing.
The scent of their cologne.
A slice of their favorite pie.
You lose them in conversations you will never have.
And all the words unsaid.

You lose them in all the places they’ve been.
And all the places they longed to go.
You lose them in what could have been.
And all the dreams you shared.
You lose them as the seasons change.
The snow blows.
The flowers blossom.
The grass grows.
The leaves fall.
You lose them again and again.
Day after day.
Month after month.
Year after year.

You lose them as you pick up the broken pieces.
And begin your life anew.
You lose them when you realize.
This is your new reality.
They are never coming back.
No matter how much
You miss them or
Need them.
No matter how hard you pray.
They are gone.
And you must go on.
Alone.

Time marches on, carrying them further and further way.
You lose them as your hair whitens and your body bends with age.
Your memory fades.
And the details begin to blur.
Their face stares back at you from a faded photograph.
Someone you used to know.
You think you might have loved them once.
A long time ago.

Back then.
When you were whole.
You don’t just lose someone once.
You lose them every day.
Over and over again.
For the rest of your life.

21/04/2024

❤️

“Goodbyes are only for those who love with their eyes. Because for those who love with heart and soul there is no such thing as separation.”
― Rumi

21/04/2024

20/04/2024

“Compassion hurts. When you feel connected to everything, you also feel responsible for everything. And you cannot turn away. Your destiny is bound with the destinies of others. You must either learn to carry the Universe or be crushed by it. You must grow strong enough to love the world, yet empty enough to sit down at the same table with its worst horrors.”

― Andrew Boyd

[ William Smith Photography ]

19/04/2024

- لماذا لم يخبرنا بأنه محبط؟
=لقد أخبركم

-كلا لم يخبرنا.
=بل أخبركم عندما بدأ يختبئ في غرفته كثيرًا، وعندما قال بأنه ليس جائع،

أخبركم عندما توقف عن الدراسة، ولم يبالي بها،

عندما توقف عن تمشيطِ شعره،

أخبركم عندما أرتدى ملابسه الداكنة مرارًا وتَكرارًا، أخبركم بوجهه الشاحب، وعيناه الحمراوتان،

أخبركم عندما ابتسم، وقال: بأنه "بخير"، وعيناه تنظران بعيدًا،

أخبركم بقضاء أغلب وقته في كتابة مذكراته، و حروفه المبعثرة، ورسومه الغامضة،

أخبركم عندما كان يتحججُ بالنُعاسِ، ويذهب لفراشه مبكرًا ليبقى وحده..!

لقد كان يخبركم طوال الوقت، ولكنكم لم تفهموه، لم تفهموا أن إحباطه هادئ لا يصدر ضجيجًا، أنتم فقط لم تفهموا ما به فـ لم يكن يهمكم أمره أبداً.

- "د. احمد خالد توفيق".

19/04/2024

When reading, we don't fall in love with the characters' appearance. We fall in love with their words, their thoughts, and their hearts. We fall in love with their souls.
~ Anonymous

15/04/2024

"Nothing you love is lost. Not really.
Things, people - they always go away, sooner or later. You can't hold them anymore as you can hold moonlight.
But if they've touched you, if they're inside you, then they are still yours. The only things, people you ever really have, are the ones you hold inside your heart."

~ Bruce Coville, in 'Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher'.

13/04/2024

When grief visits, it doesn't really ever go away 😔

Walking with grief.
Side by side we walked,
together grief and I.
Carrying my lifes remains
under a darkened sky.

I asked when it would leave.
If the sun would shine again.
I asked if it would heal,
if it could stop the pain.

Grief took its time to speak.
I often wondered why.
Many times we sat together
and all i did was cry.

Grief never ever left me.
and then one day it said.
"Iam going nowhere,
so learn to live with me instead."

I then befriended grief.
It then began to talk.
I looked forward to its stories,
when side by side we'd walk.

Together we shared memories
that i had locked away.
Grief is now a part of me,
and i accept its here to stay.
Author Joanne boyle Heartfelt art by Steffi Krenzek

13/04/2024

⭐️🌠🌟

“For some, who are travelers, the stars are guides. For others they are no more than little lights in the sky. For others, who are scholars, they are problems… But all these stars are silent. You-You alone will have stars as no one else has them… In one of the stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing. And so it will be as if all the stars will be laughing when you look at the sky at night. You, only you, will have stars that can laugh! And when your sorrow is comforted (time soothes all sorrows) you will be content that you have known me… You will always be my friend. You will want to laugh with me. And you will sometimes open your window, so, for that pleasure… It will be as if, in place of the stars, I had given you a great number of little bells that knew how to laugh.”
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry - The Little Prince, 1943.

12/04/2024

❤️

12/04/2024

Rumi told us that the wound is the place where the light can enter.
Khalil Gibran told us that out of suffering emerges the strongest souls, that the most massive characters are seared with scars.
Marcus Aurelius told us that the impediment to action advances action, that what stands in the way becomes the way.
Napoleon Hill told us that every adversity, every failure, and every heartache carries with it the seeds of an equal or greater benefit.
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross told us that the most beautiful people we have known are those “who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths.

These writers have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern.”
That “beautiful people do not just happen.”

When Joseph Campbell outlined the hero’s journey for us, the premise was that at the moment of the deepest and most unmoving difficulty, the protagonist recognized that it was they who must change. That which seemed to derail the path was the pinnacle moment at which the true path was actually revealed.

In each case, the epiphany is that the presence of the challenge is the initiator. If we are lucky, our lives will continue to grow as we are presented with new paths, and various obstacles among them. To heal is not to arrive at a place where we are absolved of that difficulty, but where we no longer interpret the presence of it as our finality, our ending. Rather, we come to see it is as yet another beginning in support of the continual unfolding of all we will one day know ourselves to be.

In a world where most of us die before we are dead, where most of us hyper-fixate on what we cannot control and leave to ruins everything that we can, where most of us fear our humanness and our vulnerability — I hope you find the courage to try. I hope you will come to see that just maybe, beneath the journey you fear to take is the life you had been waiting for, all along.~
~ Brianna Wiest
Original post on Sacred Dreams FB page)

Art by Annie Hanman

09/04/2024

❤️❤️❤️❤️

Sorrow prepares you for joy. It violently sweeps everything out of your house, so that new joy can find space to enter. It shakes the yellow leaves from the bough of your heart, so that fresh, green leaves can grow in their place. It pulls up the rotten roots, so that new roots hidden beneath have room to grow. Whatever sorrow shakes from your heart, far better things will take their place.
― Rumi

08/04/2024

When life feels like a battle
In the middle of a war
And your battle cry’s a whisper
‘Cause your voice has lost its roar

When the shield that you carry
Can’t protect you like it should
And you’re struggling to fire your arrows
Like you normally would

When your armour weighs you down
And you are battered and you’re bruised
When the enemy’s advancing
And you’re sure you’re going to lose

When battle feels exhausting…
Put down your sword and rest
Save your energy
Because the war’s not over yet

But also look around you
To the others in the fray
And listen for the army
That is calling out your name

Tell them you are wounded
That you stumbled and you fell
Because beneath your armour
There’s a chance they cannot tell

Let them cover you
Say that you’ll do the same for them
When they are hurt and wounded
And your strength returns again

For now, retreat a little
From the weariness of war
But remember, you’ve survived
Each battle you have fought before

So give yourself some credit
‘Cause you’ve made it all this way
And I promise you are strong enough
To fight another day

********

Becky Hemsley 2021
Artwork by Dmitry O via saatchiart.com

'Battle' is from 'What the Wild Replied' https://a.co/d/0FETvAC

05/04/2024

Hard times pass 💙❤️‍🩹

"And just when the darkness
became too much to bear
and the struggle too hard,
the light broke through
and the caterpillar emerged
a butterfly
delicate but unbroken,
wild and gentle,
finally free to spread its lovely wings
and fly away on the wind.”
L.R. Knost
Salvador Dali - Venus Butterfly, 1947.