Hope Travels

The submissions to this month's One Word Project were truly amazing.  Take a dive into our Picture Hope Flickr Group and be inspired.  These are the images we'll carry with us around the world as Stephanie and I travel to uncover the kind of hopeful stories that can really take our hearts somewhere new.

Leave us the hope note you'd write if you felt sure the just right person would read it.  And of course, any last minute images you'd like to see travel all the way around the globe.

image by natala

To Stop, To Breathe, To Listen

Spring is passing as quickly as it came and everyday I panic that I'm missing it, that I'm not paying close enough attention, that this is the last time there will ever be this spring, this flower, this sky, this particular green grass thriving once again through the cracks in the sidewalk, the little bits of ground between the bricks on the patio and my back door.

I worry about all this and then I worry about the worrying and then spring is gone, gone, gone away, just like the moment calling me to stop, to breathe, to listen.  The only thing that helps is grabbing my camera on my way out the door and taking time to notice the flowers, to lean in to this very second, before it's too late.

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What lovely bit of new life are you noticing this spring?  Let's gather up the goodness of this season before it passes.  Show us what's blooming wherever you live and your images will remind us that everything we need is always right here, right now, in this one perfect moment.

Listen

Most of the time no one hears her. 

Most of the time people assume that to be poor is to uninterested in all the things that interest her more--politics, real estate, the governance of nations, the rise of fashion, the plight of kings.  Few imagine the dreams she has about her school on the field, her children in her arms, her thoughts gathered in books, her expertise the wisdom of a strong and sustainable circle.

Don't be fooled by her smile.  Lean in.  Listen.  And then lean in closer. 

She is telling you the secret of happiness.  She is telling you to know what you know.  She is asking you to erase from your mind this idea that to be poor is to be simple, that to sweep the counter in the coffee shop is her American dream.  She is asking you to listen to the sound of her ambition rising as tells the manager she'll need more money.  Now.  Or this job is toast.

She knows better than anyone you've ever met what it means to survive.  She has memorized in exquisite detail, the sound of success.  She is ready to speak her power now.  She is ready to learn from yours.  She will show you what it means now to own your voice, to speak your truth, to refuse to be put under.  She will teach you all this and more, if you will do this:

Listen.  And then listen some more.

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Who do you need to lean in to today with your lens like a magnifying glass showing the way?  Get up close and personal and show us your sage, your guide, your inspiration--the one who makes you want to shut up and listen to everything wise and good.

To Have and To Hold

After all this time, she still did not know exactly what his hands looked like.  She had never studied them or noticed them really, taking for granted they would always be available for further examination, should she ever decide to be curious.

Now that time seemed to be running out, she regretted neglecting the privilege of holding them.  She could see now for the first time how young they seemed and in some strange way how fragile.  She marveled that they had no lines, no resistance, no sign of struggle or defiance.

No one could say really why any of this was so, and if they could, she understood this would mostly be a made up story to make her feel better, to distract her from everything she knew now she would not have, of everything she understood now, she would not hold. 

In lieu of a story she would have this picture.  In lieu of his hands, she would have this memory: how he sat on the bench with a child on each side and without malice or pride, folded his hands together and let her go.

The Most Powerful Thing You Can Do

Go ahead.

Say it outloud.

Write it down.

Say thank you.

And then let it float away.

What do you need to let go of today?  What one shot can you take today to say goodbye?  What one view can you capture to usher in the start of something new?

Show us what's in your lens today.  Sometimes it's the most powerful thing you can do.