The whole is some of everything
if we but open our eyes to see.
Growing pains
do not require suffering.
Pruning
encourages growth.
Endings
are beginnings.
Instead of shooing away challenges
welcome the fortitude of character
as an expansive, cleansing belly breath.
Out. In. Up. Down.
We are the sum of everything —
life experiences,
thoughts, feelings, paths taken.
The Prickly Fine Print
I often viewed challenges as problems, headaches, when in reality my narrow perspective was the constricting chokehold. My limited vision obstructed a panorama of possibilities in what appeared a seemingly bleak situation.
Hearing someone say they were so busy looking at the thorn that they missed the rose, wiped the spattered looking-glass for me. Working in the garden and studying the Tao pryed open the door to a scopic reality.
While I now see both the roses and the thorns, I am learning to not judge either as good or bad but as a unified connection, one simply needing the other in life.
Original feature photo by Jess Watters on Unsplash
wRighTing My Life 
The red rose and the briar…a link to my favorite version of the old English ballad Barbara Allen:
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Beautiful piece of writing. We absolutely need both the rose and the thorn to have balance in our lives.
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