Pieces of who I wasshatteredreassembledinto who I am;Shards shaping into prisms casting arcs of soul-fireinto who I will be;I am a kaleidoscopeof all the versionsof myselfI was and amand will become.

Beauty is not found in uniformity,nor value in conformity. It is in ourcolors and quirks and flaws and scarsthat true beauty and value unfold,because that is where our stories are told.

Forget that old adage 'forgive and forget.' It's an impossible standard. The human heart never forgets its pain. We can and often do choose to forgive and heal and move on. But the scars remain. Like words pounded out on an old typewriter leave impressions that can never truly be erased, the heart remembers.

Strength is like the windnow raging with the fierceness of a hurricanedetermined to overcome any obstacle in its pathnow vanishing into a breath-stealing stillnesswhen life hits too hard and the soul gasps for reliefnow stirring softly to whisper that it's okayto struggle, to fail, to suffer, to restbecause life goes onand strength will eventually rise againto carry us through...just maybe not right now.

Strength is not a roar of thunder in the heart. That is passionStrength is not a process of logic in the mind.That is reason.Strength is a soul-deep voice that whispers'keep going' when we feel like giving up.

Don't ask yourself at the end of the day if you did everything right. Ask yourself how well you loved and then grow from your answer. Repeat for a lifetime.

Life is amazing. And then it's awful. And then it's amazing again. And in between the amazing and the awful, it's ordinary and mundane and routine. Breathe in the amazing, hold on through the awful, and relax and exhale during the ordinary. That's just living heartbreaking, soul-healing, amazing, awful, ordinary life. And it's breathtakingly beautiful.

...and when the world tells you to lower your head and submit in silence to how things are and always will be, lift your voice instead and sing bravely of how things can and should and will be, because that song is why you are here.

The most powerful force on the planet is the soul that has awakened to its purpose.