We are all the authors of our own fates; but we have gotten so lost in the technicalities of forming letters and stringing words together that we’ve forgotten what it really means to write.

We share the same water in our veins, air in our lungs, the same dust in our bones. We are two petals on the same flower of life, my friend.

Sometimes what’s dead must be burned away to make room for new life. Sometimes you just have to step back and let the brittle bits ignite – but once those flames begin to dance their caustic dance, don’t you dare look the other way. Don’t close your eyes. Watch closely and let that image seer itself forever on your mind. Remember what it looked like in the midst of the soot, the smoke, and the haze. Remember, so you don’t repeat the same conditions that required such a blaze.

Be careful not to laugh at the Phoenix when she goes up in flames, or you’ll be left in the dust when she grows her new wings and flies swiftly away.

At times there will be fire; this we can’t avoid. But it’s up to us to decide whether it will consume or it will purify.

We all have a unique art, our personal passion that serves as a vessel through which our souls can speak. True happiness is found by filling it, and purpose is fulfilled by pouring it out.

Let’s nurture our spirits until they shine; and then let’s strip down to our naked souls and dance through life until we drop little bits of light behind us that glow like fireflies in the night.

The moon doesn’t consider one phase better than another. She just glows, equally stunning at each turn. Why should we be any different?

I release ribbons of gratitude to flow back upon the path I have walked as it stretches out behind me, so they brush past everyone whose path crossed my own. May they feel the brief kiss of remembrance within their hearts, there and then gone again, passing like a spring breeze, so that they suddenly know the things they have done for others, in so many ways big and small, seen and unseen alike, somewhere are known and treasured.

At times there will be fire; this we can't avoid. But it's up to us to decide whether it will consume or it will purify.