Quote - Heart

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There are barricades around the heart asking to be breached. Sooner or later we all run out of excuses for staying small and safe.   ~Danna Faulds

Quote - Uncovering the Whisper

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Affirmations are like screaming that you're okay in order to overcome this whisper that you're not. That's a big contrast to actually uncovering the whisper, realizing that it's a passing memory, and moving closer to all those fears and all those edgy feelings that maybe you're not okay.
Well, no big deal. None of us is okay and all of us are fine. It's not just one way. We are walking, talking paradoxes.  ~Pema Chödrön

Quote - Destination

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One’s destination is never a place, but rather a new way of looking at things.  ~Henry Miller

Quote - Empathy

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The great gift of human beings is that we have the power of empathy.

~Meryl Streep

Quote - Praise

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The fire has its flame and praises God. 

The wind blows the flame and praises God. 

In the voice we hear the word which praises God. 

And the word, when heard, praises God.

So all of creation is a song of praise to God. 

~Hildegard of Bingen

Quote - Movements of Dance

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The existence of ours is as transient as autumn clouds.

To watch the birth and death of beings is like looking at the movements of a dance.

A lifetime is like a flash of lightning in the sky, 

Rushing by, like a torrent down a steep mountain.  ~Buddha

Quote - The Heart Appoints

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I will not hide my tastes or aversions.

I will so trust that what is deep is holy, 

that I will do strongly before the sun and moon 

whatever only rejoices me, 

and the heart appoints.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

The August Break!

Visit Susannah to join in on the break and visit me over on Instagram @amandastclair.

Hugs,

Quote - Happiness

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The point of life is happiness.  ~The Dalai Lama

Lately

I signed up for three different online classes for the month of August and have been wondering how I will have enough time to devote to them plus stay active here. Along comes Susannah with the answer...

The August Break

Challenge accepted.

:: She Reads ::

Callings by Gregg Levoy and The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch (audiobook)

:: She Listens ::

Beneath Your Beautiful by Labrinth featuring Emeli Sande

:: She Watches ::

Identity Theft 

:: She Creates ::

I worked in the backyard all weekend cleaning it up so I didn't have much time to create. I was able to make a few pages for my creative dream journal.

Have a great week!

Hugs,

Do Good, Feel Good :: fashionABLE Scarves

fashionABLE is committed to long-term poverty solutions by creating sustainable business options for vulnerable women in Africa. By purchasing a scarf you are supporting fashionABLE's two-fold strategy of women's small business cooperatives and partnering with manufacturers to employ women with fair wages and fair hiring practices. fashionABLE is a nonprofit and empowers women to become a vital part of a developing economy.

Here I'm wearing the Etanesh Solid in off-white.

Thanks to fashionABLE, Etanesh left a life of prostitution and abuse and is now ABLE to watch for her son Abel, "grow and be in a good place."

View more stories of the women here.

To purchase one of the many beautiful scarves, view the collections at fashionABLE.

Hugs,

P.S. It started raining on me while taking these pics, hence the raindrops on my tee. LOL.

*The post contains affiliate links.*

Quote - Great Moments

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When a great moment knocks on the door of your life, it is often no louder than the beating of your heart, and it is very easy to miss it.  ~Boris Pasternak

Gently Led into the Red Tent

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I'm not sure how I managed to go all this time without ever reading The Red Tent, but I have. It's been recommended to me multiple times but I pushed it aside and moved on to other books. My guess is that I wasn't ready for it quite yet.

Have you read this book? The book is voiced from the perspective of Dinah from the Bible, the daughter of Jacob and Leah. I love hearing about the women's time in the red tent during the new moon. Why have I never heard of the concept of the red tent until now? Perhaps I had but overlooked it. They say, "The teacher will arrive when the student is ready." I completely agree.

Anyway, the women circled in the red tent during their womanly cycles. This is where they were nourished and loved, rested and restored. This is where they honored their histories, of those of the women who had gone before them, and those who would come after them. This is where they healed.

Why have we not continued this practice? Oh, how the women would be nurtured by this divinely feminine support. We NEED this. Inside of us, we have a hunger for this lost story, a story that we can choose to weave into our history. Let us be led into the shelter of the red tent, gently by our sisterhood, our tribe. We shall rejoice as our bodies sync with the repetition of life, as we gather wisdom of the women and place in our pockets for safekeeping.

Let us heal.

Hugs,

Quote - Seeking

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What you seek is seeking you.  ~Rumi

Lately

:: She Reads ::

Visioning by Lucia Capacchione and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer (audiobook)

:: She Listens ::

Paper Doll from John Mayer

:: She Watches ::

Side Effects

:: She Explores ::

Pixie Campbell's 5-week online course Visual Quest begins July 29th and I took the plunge and registered! I've been called to join in since I first saw the promo video. I hope to see you there!

:: She Creates ::

Progression of Chakra Goddess, still in progress

Finishing up Journal your Life

:: She Loves ::

Taking new selfies

I took these two pictures through a scarf trying to get a "dreamy" look.

Have a wonderful week!

Hugs,