i once loved someone who kept saying… “be smaller. now smaller, still.“…

i once loved someone who kept saying... be smaller. now smaller, still.

i once loved
someone who kept saying…
“be smaller. now smaller, still.

but as small as i made myself,
it was never, ever small enough.
because my light was never the problem…
their own darkness was.

so the next time i love,
i want to love someone who says…
“brighter. now brighter, still…
you could never, ever shine too much.”

– butterflies rising

Read More →

the way a sure but quiet & genuine confidence is so wildly attractive…

the way a sure but quiet & genuine confidence is so wildly attractive, when someone owns their energy

the way a sure but quiet & genuine confidence is so wildly attractive… when someone owns their energy, and you can feel how their vibe is just effortlessly radiating the texture of their soul… that kind of authenticity has some kind of pull.

– butterflies rising

Read More →

am i safe here, am i seen here, can i breathe here…

am i safe here, am i seen here, can i breathe here, do i bloom here, can i grow here, can i glow here

am i safe here, am i seen here, can i breathe here,
do i bloom here, can i grow here, can i glow here,
do i feel free here, does my pulse stir and my heart
beat here, can i trust this, is there truth here,
is it beautiful here… do i feel beautiful here,
and not just do i feel loved here…
but do i get to love me here.

out of all the questions i have with someone…
i think the ones that ask, “what does it feel like here?”
are my most important ones.

– butterflies rising

Read More →

the sensitive and passionate souls are the flowers here…

the sensitive and passionate souls are the flowers here. in this harsh world, the way you feel and pour it all out

the sensitive
and passionate souls
are the flowers here.
in this harsh world,
the way you feel and pour it all out,
leaving bright and vulnerable
beauty all around,
the artists and lovers,
intense feelers and wild dreamers,
with your soft and aching hearts…
i know it gets heavy and can feel
hard to be how you are,
but you are the flowers here…
so please… be just how you are.

– butterflies rising

Read More →

self-love era… at first, this all felt like loss…

self-love era... at first, this all felt like loss, like life was taking me away from places i'd felt love

self-love era…
at first, this all felt like loss, like life was taking me away from places i’d felt love. but in this new place, i’m just being asked to learn to feel love… but not need permission from someone or something else to feel it.

– butterflies rising

Read More →

i’ve been patient in so much waiting, always barely touching dreams…

i've been patient in so much waiting, always barely touching dreams at the ends of wanting fingertips

i’ve been patient in so much waiting, always barely touching dreams at the ends of wanting fingertips… but now i feel a spark, and i’m ready for life to bring me what it’s been holding in the “someday”… and i will let this be the time when dreams stop feeling out of reach, as they fall into my grasp and start unfolding all around me.

– butterflies rising

Read More →

our in-between spaces can make us feel like giving up…

our in-between spaces can make us feel like giving up... when we are waiting on a dream, we ache. when we are fighting to heal, we hurt

our in-between spaces
can make us feel like giving up…
when we are waiting on a dream,
we ache.
when we are fighting to heal,
we hurt.
when we don’t have answers,
we feel lost.
but if we give up…
we still ache, and we still hurt,
and we still feel lost.
at least if we don’t give up…
we do all those things with hope.
and so i think you just have keep going…
until your intangible aches are in the flesh,
and the healing has settled in,
and the answers are being
touched by light…
i think you have to keep going.

– butterflies rising

Read More →

i have to believe that what we ache for inside of us about who we want to become…

i have to believe that what we ache for inside of us about who we want to become is an on-purpose thing

i have to believe that
what we ache for inside of us
about who we want to become…
is an on-purpose thing.
that it’s a memory of our soul texture
and it’s an imprint on our compass.
something already a part of us
or something we’re surely destined to find.
and how it all unfolds, and the pathways
we have to take to get there,
and how exactly it all will look when we do…
that’s all maybe not so certain.
but if there’s an ache for it, then it’s on purpose.
and if we feel it, then it’s possible.
and some way, somehow…
we’re destined to find it;
we’re meant to become it.

– butterflies rising

Read More →

i think our caterpillar phases are so uncomfortable on purpose…

i think our caterpillar phases are so uncomfortable on purpose... so that we know we're not meant to stay in them.

i think our caterpillar phases are so uncomfortable on purpose… so that we know we’re not meant to stay in them. there’s that relentless ache for something more so that we just can’t give up until we grow our wings.

– butterflies rising

Read More →