Go gently

Go gently now, my friends.
Glide, if you can, as if parting the waters in a gondola through my beautiful Venezia. 
What love there is in your hearts matters more than you can possibly know.
Can you send it out? 
But also carry it in?
In these challenging times, yes, but always, please be so kind to yourself for it is precisely what you deserve. 
No “good” will come from anything other, only second chances to relearn.
Or a third or a thousandth.
I am letting go of certain old ways because I have no choice and it shines the light of opportunity. 
Still learning, I stumble but then help myself back to standing, even crookedly with a crooked smile, through compassion. 
For that too, I seem to no longer have a choice, even if I still swat at the flies of worry.
To me, it seems as if this is where we are all at, collectively.
And perhaps individually too?
So I see you, I know you. I send you my Love.
Go gently, dear friends. 
We need you now.
This Beauty remains, ever present, in you and around, and yes, it is more than real.

To listen to in these autumn days:

*I have been carrying around these ideas for a few weeks now, they roll loose in my mind like pebbles in a pocket. They aren’t perfect but I don’t want perfect anymore. They might sound preachy, but that is only a result of their imperfection. Love is the idea. For me, I am able to connect through Beauty, in all its forms. And I have to search hard to find it some days, as we all do. But I do, eventually, if I look hard enough and easily, when I can do so with an open heart.

Thank you for being here.
With Love from Provence (while still holding dreams of returning to Venice),
Heather
 

42 comments

  3. Thank you Helen. I still feel that my photos of Venice are not what they should be…and I am perhaps still blinded by my love for it!!

  5. And to you, Lisa. You always bring a sense of adventure. Even when you are close to home. Eyes open. Eyes open. Instructing the heart.

  9. I love Rilke – as you know, Edgar – but Beauty can also feel like Home.
    I don't think that one can keep Love – it is energy and flows through. 🙂

    Thank you for the compliment.

  12. I tried to cut them down because they are repetitive but I couldn't!!!
    Thank you beautiful Sister.

  13. I am in Avignon! 🙂 I love Uzès dearly and would be delighted to meet but have limited time and no transportation (the buses to Uzes are horrible) but if you find yourself coming here, please let me know!

  15. How I do love that poem. And it certainly feels like me spiritual home, Diana! I long for it.

  17. I am glad that you enjoyed that Sandy. I have used it for other posts already but it just felt right.

  23. Hello Heather,
    Your love for Venice shies through in your post and images

    Hope you have a special week.

    Helen xx

  24. Hello Heather and friends

    A mantra of kindness and compassion

    Perfection in imperfection

    Sounds good to me. Love Bernadette

  25. It is sunny here, the wind has a chill, but the light is just right for drifting in a boat. So much of travelling one reads on this internet can be rather smug, but I love your sense of internal and external adventure, it does go gently, and bravely too, eyes wide open. Bon voyage always 🙂

  28. Bella Venezia! I have a big poster at home with regata storica, I was so lucky to have seen it September 1982. Unfortunately that was the last time I saw Venice…

  29. Re-learning takes patience and creating new ones.
    Beauty is terrifying says Rilke.
    Can one keep love? Not shared or given away?

    The photos are wonderful.

  30. Out of the shadows and into the light! I see the sunshine in your eyes – it shows in your beautiful photos. You must follow the light and return to Venice!

  32. What a lovely reminder to be gentle – I forget this one all the time! Love this group of photos – would make a great exhibit! Loving especially numbers 2 and 3 after the prose…

  33. such beautiful sentiments to accompany your exquisite photos. I too loved my visit to Venice just getting lost among the streets, wandering along the canals taking photos and enjoying the atmosphere. One day i will return there too.

    I hope you are enjoying life in Montpellier. Please let me know if you are in the area of Uzes – we could meet for coffee perhaps?

  34. I too wish I could return to Venice, if only for a while. Your photos have captured her well. I especially love the autumn tones.

  35. Venice really is your spiritual home, isn't it?
    Beauty is truth, truth beauty; that is all
    Ye know on earth and all ye need to know.
    John Keats ode to a Grecian urn says it so well…..

  37. My goodness as I was reading and absorbing your beautiful photos I was wishing for music to go with it. Then I thought no it will ruin the mood. But you chose the perfect piece of music. Beautiful. Thank you.

  38. Exquisite photos. To see and appreciate beauty is like a helping, existential and spiritual hand guiding us.

  39. True beauty has a certain resilience, does't it? And resilience, energy, and resolve are what we all need during what have been some dark days here in the U.S. Thanks for providing a dose of each! Gros bisous my friend.

  42. Ah, Rocket .. You have captured the state of our humanity beautifully .. the collective resilience of pulling ourselves up to stand, even crookedly, while displaying the crooked smile of angst/happiness for mutual benefit of one another. Bravo! Mahalo et Merci for sharing.

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