you wanted me to dream… you’d say… you better stay hellbent in your heart…

you wanted me to dream. and you just wouldn't ever let me give in to the give-up

you wanted me to dream.
and you just wouldn’t ever let me
give in to the give-up.

you’d say…
“you better stay hellbent in your heart
and go where it wants you to go… because
it will ache if you don’t.”

and when i ache a little
from waiting on a dream, i remember
what you said, and i stay hellbent in my heart,
and i try to go where it wants me to go…
because i know that it will ache
even more if i don’t.

– butterflies rising

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where there’s wing-shaped air to stretch into all around me…

there is nothing i could lose that i would miss as much as i have missed the feel of my own soul when i wasn't listening to it

there is
nothing i could lose
that i would miss
as much as i have missed
the feel of my own soul
when i wasn’t listening to it,
and i’m listening now…
and it’s telling me
that i am meant to be
where my lungs can breathe easy
and where there’s wing-shaped air
to stretch into all around me

– butterflies rising

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lightwork the remix: part of why you’re here

what if the things you feel inside of you that make it hard for you to be here are part of why you’re here

what if the things you feel
inside of you that make it hard for you to
be here are part of why you’re here?

what you have and what you hold inside…
you can’t feel it anywhere else here yet.
but what if the way you can’t feel it anywhere
around you is a reason for you to be here.

because what you feel, what you dream, how you love,
what you create, the way you shift the air and change
the space and pull in the light… it’s how and who you are,
and it’s your light to give here.

those things you feel in you but don’t yet see,
you’re meant to breathe them into being.

– butterflies rising

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on heartbreak and healing… there isn’t just “something to be fixed” here; there’s a journey to take…

i have to believe that pain doesn't just wear our hearts out; that it stretches them with purpose

on heartbreak and healing…

there isn’t just
“something to be fixed” here;
there’s a journey to take…
you aren’t going to go through this
just to go back to who you were before.
and this heartbreak may feel
like a burning season,
but there’s a promise in this violence…
the healing will be a blooming season,
and alchemy is the way through.
you’re meant to come out of this something
different and beautiful on the other side.

– butterflies rising

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this heart won’t give up…

i have to believe that pain doesn't just wear our hearts out; that it stretches them with purpose - butterflies rising

this love story
has been a slow fall.
and these wings
have been a slow unfold.
and there has been a fight here
for my worth, and it sure has
been a hard-fought one,
and this road home has been a long one…
but there’s a little bit of light here now.
and even though it’s been a long
time coming… the light is coming.
and as uncertain as i am
of how much farther i have to go,
i know now that i’ve got it in me to keep going.
and until i feel free… i know now that
this heart won’t give up.

– butterflies rising

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the same kind of fierce and reckless passion…

i have to believe that pain doesn't just wear our hearts out; that it stretches them with purpose - butterflies rising

we can fall into others with so much intensity and gravity, but then, when it comes to ourselves, we can struggle just to find a simple acceptance. but what if self-love is so much more than just a tolerance of yourself. and what if the things that feel like they are just leaving you on your own are not, but they are asking you to learn to choose yourself… and to do it with the same kind of fierce and reckless passion that you have chosen others. and what if that’s what this part of your journey is for.

– butterflies rising

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i have to believe that pain doesn’t just wear our hearts out…

i have to believe that pain doesn't just wear our hearts out; that it stretches them with purpose - butterflies rising

i have to believe that pain
doesn’t just wear our hearts out;
that it stretches them with purpose,
that it’s meant to give us a pulse…
in breakdown, we are broken open,
and in hurt, we find more humanity,
passion is stirred from our aches,
and empathy is a muscle that grows
the more we feel… and so we
come out brighter from our darkness.

maybe if we let it… our pain can have
beautiful purpose.

– butterflies rising

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why are we not letting the beautiful things be the ones that grow wild…

we so easily let our fears be these uncontrollable, raging monsters

we so easily
let our fears be these
uncontrollable, raging monsters,
and yet we see our dreams as such
tiny little seeds… why are we not
letting the beautiful things be
the ones that grow wild?

– butterflies rising

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beautiful in the unknown…

i think i've always fought stillness with chaos… maybe because it feels easier - butterflies rising

i think i’ve always fought stillness
with chaos… maybe because it feels easier…
you can’t be shaken from your footing if
you’ve never even had it, right?

but now i’m being asked to
stay still in the uncertainty, to try to learn
to breathe easy in all this delicate nuance…
to start to question the way i’ve made such a habit
out of fearful, so breath-held and chest-tight,
always just hoping for gentle in the unknown…

because what if life doesn’t have to just “not hurt”…
what if there could be something so beautiful
waiting for me in the unknown

– butterflies rising

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wider-winged and brighter-lighted…

what if today i breathe easy here in my skin, and exhale - butterflies rising

what if today
i breathe easy here in my skin,
and exhale, unafraid, trusting that there is a
destiny-kissed grace saving me from any cruel wind that
may blow back. i could stand a little stronger in my space…
knowing that it’s universe-given and me-shaped.

maybe i’ll even glow a little here,
be a little wider-winged and brighter-lighted.
let myself consider that everything i am
and all that i want to be is ok.

and maybe not just ok… but what if i am perfectly on purpose.
and what if i can trust that every next step is the one i’m meant
to take and that even when i feel wayward, i’m still always
on my destiny-blessed way.

– butterflies rising

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