when you let your fear fall quiet…

who are you when you put it all down for just a moment? when you let your fear fall quiet. - butterflies rising

who are you
when you put it all down
for just a moment?
when you let your fear fall quiet.
and you let your anxious heart settle.
and you let a little trust in.
and when you let your soul breathe…
and maybe even dream a little.
what if somewhere in the way that
all feels is who you really are.
and what if there is another life in it
you’re meant to find… one where
your breathing is allowed to be so easy
and the stars are allowed to be so close
and your heart is allowed to run so wild
and your dreams are allowed to burn so. bright.
what if somewhere in the way that
all feels is what it’s meant to be like.
what if… what could it all be like?
maybe let yourself feel it,
even if for just a moment; who you are
when you let all of your fears fall away.

– butterflies rising

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what if there is a life…

what if there is a life where your breathing is allowed to be so easy and the stars are allowed to be so close

what if
there is a life where
your breathing is
allowed to be so easy
and the stars are
allowed to be so close
and your heart is
allowed to run so wild
and your dreams are
allowed to burn so bright

…what if

– butterflies rising

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you cannot love yourself and apologize for who you are at the same time…

you cannot love yourself and apologize for who you are at the same time

you cannot love yourself and apologize for
who you are at the same time… and you don’t need to say
“i’m sorry” for the way your perfect atoms find
themselves falling into place as the beautiful
universe that you are.

– butterflies rising

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i’ve apologized for myself for so much of my life… and i’m still learning how to take up space…

i’ve apologized for myself for so much of my life... and i’m still learning how to take up space

i’ve apologized for myself for so much
of my life… and i’m still learning how to take
up space without feeling like i’m holding an
“i’m sorry” under every breath.

– butterflies rising

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aching to touch stars… i hope you keep it close… no matter what. if it’s imprinted on you…

that part of you that is aching to touch stars

aching to touch stars…

i hope you keep it close…
no matter what.
if it’s imprinted on you,
like soul memory,
then i hope you keep it so. close.
and that you hold on tight
no matter what.
there will be little traces of someday
in the not-quite-yet, and i hope you feel them.
and that you can find a way to trust them.
even if weary sets in and uncertain gets loud,
i hope you can be gentle with that doubt.
and that something in you knows that it will pass.
and that it doesn’t mean give up.
i hope you never truly feel give-up.
but if you do, then i hope that some. how.
the fight in you finds its teeth
and that heart of yours finds its fire
and that you can reach deep down into that
part of you that is aching to touch stars and just
find a way to stay dreaming no. matter. what.
i hope you can hold on and hold on
and hold on… until you can feel
every last bit of your hope
holding you right back.

– butterflies rising

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aren’t even mine…

it’s one of the darkest feelings i’ve ever known... unworthy.  and maybe i want to learn to start questioning it

it’s one of the darkest feelings
i’ve ever known… unworthy.

and maybe i want to learn to start
questioning it when i feel it.
like… is it always even mine?

because if it’s from someone else…
someone else’s unkindness, or judgment,
or their own unworthiness they’re projecting…
then i want to learn to say no.

i think maybe my own battles would get a little
easier to face if i wasn’t also fighting the
ones that aren’t even mine.

– butterflies rising

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to be delicate here…

self-love... the most delicate intimacy - butterflies rising

it’s so delicate here.
but it’s where i’m the most brutal.
it’s where my raging gets careless,
and the delicate things end up crushed.
i fight my hardest fights
trying to love the deepest love,
but i’ve never been more unkind
than i’ve been in these close quarters
…in this head, and to this heart.
and when others have been unkind,
how quick i’ve been to betray myself and just agree.
and i’ve let it all hurt so much that unworthy has felt
like the only feeling i may ever again know…
like a flower whose every last petal has been torn away and
thrown to the wind with nothing left to recognize as beautiful.
just wilted. and bare with pain.
but what if it hurts this way for a reason…
because that ache in me is the fight in me
to learn to feel different.
because somewhere deep inside i know
that i want to be delicate here… desperately.
and when they’re unkind, and when i’m unkind,
somewhere deep down, i know that i fiercely. disagree.
and there’s a wild blossom in me and it’s too beautiful
to ever just be torn away and thrown to the wind.
and there’s a tenderness that i’m made of and an intimacy
that i’m part of… one that i’m going to learn
to take such delicate care of.

– butterflies rising

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