be bold

She is my “Lovely” daughter

Posted on by Kerri Elizabeth

My heart with a paintbrush of expression.

When you think it’s too late , when you believe you can’t or you choose “I won’t” for the moment, inspiration will lift you and pull you to your feet. 

Will you listen , will you rise, will you pull up courage and determination, will you work hard, will you strengthen where you feel weakest, will you believe in yourself and encourage your own destiny to be all you want to be and find out you can be even more along the way, will you raise the bar for yourself , or not? 

Here is a story of my 39 year old daughter, she is an inspiration, a light in the world that carries deep pockets of courage and determination and she believes she can and there for she does. 

Many years ago she wanted to be in law enforcement but life had other plans for her to learn from first. She became a very successful business woman at an early age. No surprise there she was determined from day she arrived in the world , actually before that. (that’s another story).

Then she went on to create herself even more success in another career and had two beautiful children. So many changes and so much growth along the way but an unsettled desire to be in law enforcement. 

I’d asked her everytime I called” what are you doing”, she’d answer with reservation “I’m at work” , there was something missing, was it desire, a passion, so one day I asked “if you could be anything what would it be?” She answered , a cop or an English teacher. 

I don’t know how many times in the day she wondered and thought about all this, but I know it all became a decision and off she went. I have no idea if my questions opened a door that she needed a little crack to see through or if something I said mattered.

What I do know is that it’s important to challenge a thought and ask questions, that’s where exploring ideas, sparking dreams and possibilities come from. It isn’t our place to push, it’s our place to listen, ask and open doors where possibly over time we become so settled in what is we forget what’s possible or believe it’s too late.

Her answers prompted me to ask more questions. I could hear her working through it with more than wonder and one day she said “I’m going to take my law enforcement test.” Then she got her book to study and reinforced her love for working out and she made a goal, her dates kept getting moved closer and closer than planned and soon she was done testing , wow the depth of tests and paperwork were amazing. 

I want to tell you this story because her inspiring strength and determination to DECIDE and take the leap is a testament of what inner strength and courage can do, how it’s never too late even if you have already built success, which she did. She could have stayed doing what she was doing forever. 

What is success to you? 

Here is my painted expression highlighting her new courageous journey. May she always be safe protecting our communities with many brave people like her and may her success in all things bring her and her family happiness and a legacy of courage that continues in for generations. 

Gosh I love her so much!!!

Kerri-Elizabeth (Brandee’s proud Mom)

What Defines You

Posted on by Kerri Elizabeth

The titles and education were told would define you when you were younger, go to college, work for this company or that or you won’t amount to anything, you can’t do that it’s not realistic, you shouldn’t do that it’s not who you are.

You need a title at the end of your name, you need to fix your hair this way and weigh this much. When you wear these clothes and cover this and show that you’ll be respected or not respected. Speak this way to that person and that way to this person. if you live here or there you’ll be treated this way or that way.

Learning who you really are and the defining have been passed down for ages. It’s takes courage to speak something different, to be different than what you’ve been told you are your whole life, should and shouldn’t come with shaming and create crevices of emptiness just waiting to be filled by your own strengths.

Learning what defines yourself comes in time, in bravery to learn your own language, have your own experiences, navigate your own way through emotions and decide under all the titles, including mother, father, sister, brother, adult child etc. who you are, with no titles .

How do you navigate between what you’ve been raised to think, believe and do without rebelling against it in pure determination to be something different in pure spite that often ends you up even deeper into someone else’s definition of you. You”re kicking and screaming to the world your NOT that while you become that even more.

Clearing the fog off your lenses takes work so you don’t continually end up in someone else’s definition repeatedly.

“Write It”, write to reclaim your power, journaling your process clears the view , your blueprint created for you and the one you want to create for yourself takes work and takes time , it’s takes effort, it requires strength and determination, patience with yourself and understanding from yourself and others.

Does this resonate with you, or is it just me?

Posted on by Kerri Elizabeth

Posted on by Kerri Elizabeth

Posted on by Kerri Elizabeth

Posted on by Kerri Elizabeth

Separately Found While Always Connected

Posted on by Kerri Elizabeth
Whether separate or connected both become defined purely by experience
and emotion.

~Kerri-Elizabeth~

Present in the connection

River roaring to its chosen audience

Birds performing a soul moving orchestra

Trees adding their own rhythm practiced daily with precision 

While the breeze so eloquently smooths every tune into an inner song

All echoing from the majestic mountains offering a priceless concert

An invitation is not needed

A willingness to enter  is

Intense scents of pine inspire your deepest senses

Sweetly journeying through every fiber of pain transforming it into gratitude

Resting freely a top one of nature’s boulder strengths

Love and connection are found

Separate and clearly joined

Birds sing to one another as if love is all that really exists

Is it…..

The sound of the river takes no space, instead joyfully takes ownership of its existence to nurture presence

It carries wounds down that never return

It erases hardship without asking

The aroma of the river and pine create a tea for you and nature to thrive upon

Each needle left upon the ground leaving a legacy of its time here

Burn marks upon the trees carry a wisdom into healing and regeneration

Sunshine

Unbroken Wave

Posted on by Kerri Elizabeth

Gentleness and strength co-exist for good, where cruelty lives within its own anguish and storm of core weakness it must persevere to overcome.

~Kerri-Elizabeth~

Approaching the wind within a storm

In the dusk of night

An unbroken breeze blows by in a rush

Protection and honor stand near

Weakness lurks through the clouds

Roaring with counterfeit strength

Danger is uncovered

Revealed under the moon

Dusk is broken and starlights glimmer

Must a wave be broken to fall

Must brokenness be inevitable

Stars erupt within another cosmic space

Still seen with openness and grace

Gentleness is strength often mistaken for less

Where cruelty is another’s weakness at best

True kindness is organic unable to repress

Courage is fierce and needs not to impress

Must grief dive so deep it shatters open the skies

Yes, it must

It will be the shattering that inpsires your strength

It will be the grief that erupts your soul into its truest self

It will be the inevitable brokenness ravaging your heart

Before you start to see that grief is a gift you will need 

TO LIVE COURAGEOUSLY UNVEILED

Sunshine

To all my readers, it is with a grateful and full heart I thank you for supporting, reading, encouraging and becoming my dear friends over the years. Thank you to you all.

My writing is always evolving and changing as it has over the years as life changes and healing happens and challenges occur. I am always most inspired by the deepest challenges in life and write my best when life is cracking me wide open.

It is within the cracking open I have my biggest growth spurts and see deeper and deeper, showing me we are truly infinite energy with no end.

As we all know, energy can be used for good or for cruelty to ourselves and others, make no mistake their are both kinds and both cross paths and it is in that we will learn to be more alert, to find our deepest truths, tap into our believe system at a deeper level, It is not within churches or people but straight from the arms of our Creator.

Breathe in all your pain and all your grief and then breathe it out in fiercely placed courage and let it empower and strengthen your entire life and others, it is not for borrow or buy , it is not to be taken or left, it is yours always. USE IT or someone else will abuse it!

Scars

Posted on by Kerri Elizabeth

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A path of presence is identified by the moments you feel your experience.

~Kerri-Elizabeth~

 

A  path of presence

Resides inside

Waiting to be felt

Alert and aware 

Do you dare

Feel the scars you bare

By sight you may see 

 Scars on every leaf

Scars upon the trees

By sight you may see 

Scars upon a cheek

Scars mistaking us as visually weak

Every scar will leave a story

An experience bared

Healing to share

Nature reveals the dance

Along every path

Beyond a glance

Scars reveal another chance

SUNSHINE

 

We have scars on the physical self that reveal the stories of our life. Then we have the scars inside that reveal the experience of moments in our life often stopping time and the ability to be present in NOW.

A scar a sign of strength that you are capable of healing.

They are there to teach you and to grow you not to trap you and to close you.

Create  space where new outlooks are revealed. Getting stuck in the mundane and the ordinary leaves you walking a path unhealed where presence cant be felt or experienced, only wanted and never touched.

 

 

 

 

 

Butterflies

Posted on by Kerri Elizabeth

See the Butterfly in the light?

It is in the transformation we find our design.

~Kerri-Elizabeth~

A butterfly will make many changes before it flies
Struggles will be part of their life
A necessary morphoses designed for each
The delicate awaiting of transformation will teach
The struggle is not always clear
A need to know is often driven by fear
Transformation comes within the struggles of time
A willingness to arrive in your own design

SUNSHINE

 

There will be pain and blessings, smiles and tears, both will be ok, both are needed to be who we are meant to be. Without struggle we would never know freedom. Without transformation, we would never see growth. Without love there would never be pain but with no pain we would never know the depth our love can reach.

To arrive in our own design, to me, means that we arrive with all our emotions, our lessons, our grief, our sorrows. To bring our joys , our trials and triumph and that we arrive in our fullest capacity to delicately transform with clarity that some things are never clear just a necessary part of our design.

Love and Hugs, Sunshine