kites

“Las cometas se vuelan porque están atadas.”

Kites fly, only because they are tied to something.

Last June, my mind swirled, considering what the next few months might unveil, already grieving the distance between places and people I loved that was to come, yet eager to be reunited for family.

I was blessed to have many friends who were giving me words of wisdom. During this moment I wrote the above quote in my new journal, meant to start brainstorming the journey ahead. A little over 7 months later, after some rest, and many tears, fighting my current juxtaposed new and old life, I find myself ready to begin a new journey, wherever it might lead, here or there, near or far.

And it is these little words of wisdom from connections with others, that guide us, and carry us.

Taking this Valentine morning, to reread my thoughts, and reconnect with my passions and my realized purposes and convictions, I am thankful for love as the foundation of existence. Through love, I was wonderfully created. Through love, I survived each day. Through loved, life has become so much more than survival, but a true journey of deep connection.

How have you seen love in this last year? How do you plan to show love in the year that follows?

[Excerpt below from my personal journals]

Kites have freedom to fly and explore and venture out into fightening winds and incredible heights, only because they are tired down to a base, something that guides them, supports them, and holds them tight, assuring them that the terrible wind doesnt carry them away, or rip them to shreds. [June 14, 2013]

(via DannielleVGreen)

build

All it takes to build someone’s character and confidence is tell them boldly and unabashedly what you see in them.

Even the simplest truth might be unrealized.

One word, a few minutes of your time. Say them, take them.

They will mean life changing things.

This is love.

So build trust.

Build Connections.

And build life.

visual

What we believe to be truth is often really a façade, a created truth of convenience. In a culture and an age of instantaneous fulfillment, we are curious explorers wanting to know the why and how of so many things. But our want-it-now attitude, leads us to easily believe lies, or distortions of truths, or in the very least half-truths. We lack the stamina to dig for answers, and instead we allow mass media, and mass-produced materials to dictate truth. We no longer sit through an afternoon, pouring over some of the most incredible thinkers in the history of the world. We prefer to Google it, or check Wikipedia for – feeling that the easy answer is satisfying enough. And we miss the details. However small they may be, they make an entire difference.

If we stick with the easy answers we will find the history that is written by the winners, and maps that are drawn by map-makers, and we will lose an entire history of families, and tribes, of individuals and communities.

You see, history is not only a shared, communal experience. It is also very personal. Thus corporate answers aren’t enough. We are story-tellers. But validity of stories comes through being heard.

The concept of mapping and visual telling is more important than ever. I spent two years earning a graduate degree in Latin American Studies. Although I have no regrets – the amount of information and impact of visual initiatives like The Beehive Design Collective, are incredible, and say as much, if not more, than what I spend every waking moment for two years studying.

 

Thinking inspired by: 

“Visual Storytelling: New Language for the Age of Data Overlaoad”  in The Atlantic with some intriguing infographics and compositions.

 

the poet

“A poet works to capture a moment”.

It seems as though the wisest things come from the most genuine and pure of places. Maybe that is the difference between wisdom and knowledge: knowledge can be pompous and showy; wisdom exists within those who perhaps know not of the deep influence they have i upon others, within those who perhaps even doubt their own thoughts.

Now, finding these nuggets of wisdom in people that surround the everyday grind that so often brings us down: this is inspiring.

Not everyone enjoys poetry. Some are solitary poets, who dare not share a single line. Some are fair weather poets, composing a verse now and then. Some respect the poetry of others, famous or not. Others announce that they hate poetry, an untranslatable, unrelate-able scheme.

I, however, believe that everyone is a poet. If poetry captures a moment, and we’ve already seen the breadth of formats a poem can take, consider your daily tasks that take the form of poetry.

Lists

Exclamations

Sighs of Relief

Prayers

The tapping and scraping and chatting of a family dinner

The birds and your footsteps in the park.

Poetry is the beat of our waking moments, perhaps deriving from the deep moments of sleep that bring rest and charge us for the following day’s energy.

What’s your poetry? What’s your beat? 

I’ll leave you with a few of my recent favorites.

 

There is a day

when the road neither

comes nor goes, and the way

is not a way but a place.

“VII”, 1997. A Timbered Choir, Wendell Berry

 

The doors of the year open,

like the doors of language,

onto the unknown.

Last night you said:

                                tomorrow…

You were beside me,

still sleeping.

The day had invented you,

but you hadn’t yet accepted

your day’s invention,

nor mine.

You were still in another day…

When you open your eyes

we’ll walk, anew,

among the hours and their inventions,

and lingering among the appearances

we’ll testify to time and its conjugations

We’ll open the doors of this day,

and go into the unknown…

“January First”. The Collected Poems of Octavio Paz, 1957-1987. Octavio Paz.

Las puertas del año se abren,

como las del lenguaje,

hacia lo desconocido.

Anoche me dijiste:

                            mañana…

Tu estabas a mi lado,

aun dormida.

El día te había inventado

pero tu no aceptabas todavía

tu invención en este día.

Quizá tampoco la mía.

Tu estabas en otro día…

Cuando abras los ojos

caminaremos, de nuevo,

entre las horas y sus invenciones

y al demorarnos en las apariencias

daremos fe del tiempo y sus conjugaciones

Abriremos las puertas de este día,

entraremos en lo desconocido.

“Primero de enero”. The Collected Poems of Octavio Paz, 1957-1987. Octavio Paz

Doodles

 I love a little doodle. Just a little free-minded thinking. Research shows that doodling actually helps us focus more.

Having something in our hand to shape, to form, to create: it’s a tension release, that allows us to tell our stories without completely falling apart. Take this accidental twisted heart, all thanks to an old yellow paper clip, and the need to pour out my heart.

Abstract art. It draws us in, each taking away an emotion, displaying a truth, without revealing all. As humans, we are beings created for openness, and a sharing of life. But our twenty-first century culture has us trapped. And ironically so, seeing as technology is revealing all, yet hiding much. Maybe it’s the pressure of maintaining composure in the public eye?

Household names, like Picasso and Matisse, Pollock and Rothko, come to mind. Still others, like Kandinsky, Kline, and one of my personal favorites, Garcia-Torres.

Arte Universal, 1933. Joaquín Torres-García. Ink on paper. (Photo Credit: Guggenheim)

Ciudad constructiva con homre universal, 1942. Joaquín Torres-García. Oil on board. (Photo Credit: Guggenheim)

In college, I even tried my hand at a Torres-García inspired piece.

My little first and second graders are delving into the world of Miró. Using different black mediums, they’ve been studying and playing with layers of shapes.

Inspired by Miró and Erin Guido (Pintrest find!), Oregon City, OR first and second graders try their hand at shapely murals.

 We are creative beings, and it is incredible what can flow from our delicate fingers, when we let loose.

laughter

Stories. They are everything.

Sometimes they are taxing. Listening to them, it takes everything you have, drained. You spend the days afterward recovering.

They are most often a labor of love and hate. Of starting over. Of being crushed. Of drowning. Of torture. Why do these violent and cruel themes infiltrate the top literature and film of our time? Because, even though they are inflated, and overdone, we see ourselves.

And then there are the hilarious moments. Mistakes and ridiculous phrases. Willing to passionately love something, until we make a fool of ourselves. In the end,

it leads to”burst[ing] out with a laugh that fill[s] the room”. 

(“Retired”, Every Living Thing by Cynthia Rylant)

doorway to the soul

Language is a doorway to the soul.

Learning a language builds vulnerability. Vulnerability is key in connecting, in growing, in building, in finding beauty.

The world sees the public, social-media posted, photogenic moments.

But the small moments, the intentional decisions, those are the life-defining threads. They are were you shine. And in the same existence, where you are nothing, because you give yourself to others, and life your hands to the mountains, envisioning greatness.

Ten days into the new year, and I’ve been called to this moment-by-moment living.

Until this point, my young and adventurous spirit always had a plan. Education, travel, community.

When I have been asked to speculate what this new year holds, honestly, I come up a bit blank. Yes, there are things I still want, places I’d still like to go, people I miss having around constantly, passions I daily peruse. But on a big scale, thing seem a bit vague.

And the last six months pierced my soul in an inexplicable way.

But even amongst struggle, one thing reigns true above all else. Connecting with people on a deep and personal level is the most important thing you will do with all of your days.

This year, make an intentional decision to connect.

Learn a new language in 2014, and open the doorway of your soul. It will change you. It will build character, and carry hope.

Confident hope; Climbing a mountain, top of the peak hope.

Unmaking makes the world

II, 1983, Wendell Berry

bleed

Ernest Hemingway said it best:

“Writing is easy. All you have to do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed”.

In my first and second graders, I see the essence of this process. The agony, the learned stamina, the pushing, the challenging. But among all the troubles, all the sweat, blood, and tears – victory is found. Among tall tales, gentle details reveal character.

The greatest thing about writing is the ability to share, and that, after all, you are not alone in the difficulties you are facing.

Writing helps us to reflect upon the stories that we are living. Are we living stories exciting enough to tell? We have become a society of invented and exaggerated one-liners. Our big moments are portrayed as everyday life. Our everyday life becomes glamorous: a filtered bowl of oatmeal that glitters, and conversely bragging about #nofilter whenever possible. But what if our everyday, ordinary, make-a-living, care-for-our-family life was intentionally more beautiful?

I spent the first 6 days of the year with some incredible friends who solidified and resonated truths within me, telling me that I have life to share. It was truly a time to relax, to rest, to heal, to grown, to listen, to be heard, to understand. I contemplated, and prayed, and ran, and climbed, and cried, and laughed belly-aching laughs.

Let’s share life. Let’s be raw and real. Let’s be confident in hope.

Here are some of my favorite current reads and other things I’m digging as we sink our teeth into 2014.

Whole-life

Ironically, it seems to be the realness of everyday that convinces us we have yet to see the adventure filled world we were made for. The dirty dishes, the laundry, the turkey sandwiches that look nothing like Instagram perfection, the repetitive motions we move through day-in and day-out trick our hearts into believing we aren’t there yet.

We expected to feel settled, not restless. We expected to have answers, not more questions. We expected a movie ending resolution, where the credits roll and it is assumed everything following just works. Instead, we find the messy, ordinary grind of everyday life.

No matter what you would change about your current circumstances, there are advantages, freedoms and joys that will be gone in life’s next scene. Don’t miss today because you are imagining that tomorrow will be “better.”

Mapping

“Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going.”

Mapping has been a common thread, as I continue to find myself and represent my identity within different contexts.

Travel

Travel when you can, and adventure at all times. You will develop a deep sense of self, and a desire to help others. You will find community in the most unlikely of places. And your whole life will be changed for it.

“Breathe Me In” by Jared & The Mill

Coming Home

 “You know yourself, but you don’t know yourself here.”

“I have to figure out how I can explain this to someone who’s never done this, and they’re just not going to understand the depths of emotion and the highs and lows that come with coming back.”

“Pompeii” (Acoustic) by Bastille

“This is your heart. Can you feel it? Can you feel it? Pumps through your veins. Can you feel it it? Can you feel it?”

“Laura Palmer” by Bastille

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky

As I write this it’s the very beginning of the last day of 2013.

Tomorrow is 2014. Remember when it was the 90’s and any year in the 21st century seemed futuristic? Well, it’s here folks.

You aren’t getting any younger. Time flies. Life passes you before your eyes.

These are all truths. But don’t they leave you feeling empty? Rather than leaving room for promises, they provide for betrayal of our youth, fear that our best adventures are behind us, and that we will never reach our goals.

Life is full of tragedy, in so many ways. Death. Illness. Broken relationships. I guarantee that almost everyone reading this can relate to everything I listed. And I know you can add to the list.

Makes you realize we aren’t so different after all, don’t you agree?

Race, culture, religion, time, sex. Distance, involvement, community, interests. All of these things separate us. But the truth is, when we take a moment to be vulnerable, we’ll see that our hearts are quite alike. Yes, one might be stronger, when the other is breaking. But this proves faith and hope and value. Because the strong heart can promise the weak heart of love and future and strength and grace. And when the strong heart is torn apart by unrequited love, and unwanted drama, and drastic change, then the once weak heart grows entirely five sizes, and relays faith, hope, and love.

Grace and mercy. No two better words can give us wisdom and direction for 2014.

Direction and understanding and love are three things I constantly pray for. But I am convinced that when I decide to actively, consciously, and intentionally give all my love to others, acting graciously and handing out mercy, even and especially when undeserved, that life will be full. And joyful. And peaceful. Because I will have given my heart to the most important of things on this earth – souls.

2014, may you be a year of interaction, and friendship, and romance, and wild adventures to be found, even just steps outside of our current landing place. May you not be defined by place, but by courage and willingness to be vulnerable so that you blossom more than ever imagined. May you treat us with grace and mercy, so that we may be graceful and merciful to others. And may you fill our hearts with all these promises so that we are consumed by love, not afraid of the old or the new, but growing out of both.

Cheers. Ring out the old by celebrating how it has changed you for the better. And ring in the new by flourishing where you are.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease;

Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;

Ring out the thousand wars of old,

Ring in the thousands years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man of free.

The larger heart, the kindlier hand;

Ring out the darkness of the land,

Ring in the Christ to be.

Lord Alfred Tennyson

 

(images via De Alma e Coração)