Distance cannot matter - ours is a friendship of the heart.

Be avid. Create apart from perfection. Risk failure. Cover your words with sweat. Run a little Touch excruciatingly. Laugh until you cry. Dance with your eyes closed. Care. Understand you die a little in every moment. Be Enlivened

See beauty in those unexpected places. (she asked herself how people could let Bach be background noise.) See the opportunity in what looks like inconvenience. (she steered clear of the traffic jam and went to the bakery she's been meaning to stop at.) She embraces the undeclared possibility in what seems like just another ordinary day. (her friend is scheduled for cancer surgery and suddenly everything around her seems so very precious.)

Shake structures. School yourself. Look twice at a thing, once upside down. Answer yourself clearly.

Persevere. Plan. Strategize. Focus. Breathe. Write. Let go: relax. Forgive. All this failing: take a nap.

I am the owner of my choices. I am the source for the perspectives I choose to hold regardless of how aware I am of why or how I come to possess that particular perspective. It takes courage to look into the mirror of our souls, absent excuses. I will look into that mirror little bits at a time. SEE and ACT. SEE what I can bear to see and ACT upon what I am able. This is the heart of a gentle invitation to personal responsibility.

Protect your vision. Prevail over adversity. Persevere in the midst of turmoil. Passionately act upon your convictions. Purposely walk into the day.