I never painted dreams.

I painted my own reality.

I paint self-portraits

because I am so often alone,

because I am the person

I know best.

So absurd and fleeting is our step through this world,

that only leaves me at peace knowing that I have been authentic,

that I have managed to be the most similar to myself.

~Frida Kahlo

simple quiet comes upon us….

inquiry for today~ when the heart aches, then what?

from the fire

‘Slow’ and ‘down’ are modes of the soul; they are connective modes, ways of keeping connected to oneself and to one’s environment. ‘Slowing downwards’ refers to more than simply moving slowly, it means growing down towards the roots of one’s being. Instead of outward growth and upward climb, life at times must turn inward and downward in order to grow in other ways.

There is a shift to the vertical down that re-turns us to root memories, root metaphors, and timeless things that shape our lives from within. Slowing downwards creates opportunities to dwell more deeply in one’s life, for the home we are looking for in this world is within us all along. The lost home that we are seeking is ourselves; it is the story we carry within our soul.

~Michael Meade