Month: April 2017

The Verbs of Kindness

~ onehopefulyear ~ Leave a comment

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A verb:  an action or a state of being.

No grand gestures here.

To do. To act. To be.

Kind.

In no particular order:

  1. help
  2. respect
  3. include
  4. encourage
  5. care
  6. welcome
  7. listen
  8. smile
  9. praise
  10. notice
  11. offer
  12. share
  13. greet
  14. thank
  15. give
  16. invite
  17. compliment
  18. accept
  19. honor
  20. love

If you need a verb in your day … take one.

If you have a verb to add … leave one!

Thanks.

 

A Sudden Burst of Beautiful

~ onehopefulyear ~ 2 Comments

We’ve experienced a sudden burst of beautiful in New England.

 

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There’s sun. Warmth. Brilliant blue skies and water to match.

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We’re all out and about, and life here’s pretty much postcard perfect.

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There’s pansies out front,  a peeper frog chorus at dusk, and the all the birds sing hallelujah each morning.

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And I’m pretty sure I can speak for all of New England: We’re just so grateful it’s Spring!

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Share your Spring!

Please?

 

If you must, you will.

~ onehopefulyear ~ Leave a comment

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One hundred days suddenly doesn’t seem long enough.

I’m well into week one of #the100dayproject and I’ve been experimenting.

As promised.

To myself.

Who needs a studio when there’s just-right light, a stool, and an old crate? Our mudroom basks in the softest of morning light this time of year, and just when I wasn’t looking, there it was: a gentle caress of light across wilting tulips.

Experimenting never looked so beautiful – to me.

And maybe that’s the single biggest understanding I’m gaining about #the100dayproject. It’s not about followers, or readers, or any kind of audience at all.

My audience this time around feels like an audience of one.

There’s peace and a comfortable solitude in the quiet moments of creating. Me and my pen. Me and my camera. Me and my thoughts. My photographs. My words.

Me… and myself.

I’m a new believer:

If you must, you will.

 

 

What’s Even Riskier than Doing?

~ onehopefulyear ~ 2 Comments

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As dreams go, the photographer dream surpassed the writer dream about two years ago.

I’ve evolved, more fascinated by the just-so curve of light than the tender sculpting of words.

Even so, as dreams go, the dreaming of one or the other is blurry and vague – a someday when sort of dream, a maybe I could sort of fantasy.

Still, all that vague dreaming led me here to this one moment of doing,

A once and for all commitment.

I’m afraid.

And that’s the truth of it.

Do dreams age?

(Like I have?)

My stubborn streak walks hand-in-hand with my lack of confidence, and I’m walking straight into the sudden realization that dreaming is safer than doing.

Even riskier than doing, however, is deciding.

And that’s already been done.

#the100dayproject