you can.

The first step, believe you can.

Today is that oh so strange extra day on the calendar, leap day. It only comes around once every 4 years.  One extra day to let go, believe you can, and take that leap.  What leap? Only you can answer that.

Perhaps a leap into photography business.

A leap into film.

Leap into learning a new photo software.

A leap of faith and trust. (oh those can be hard)

Leap out of auto and into manual mode on your camera.

Perhaps you took the leap into a 365(+1) project this year. (I did)

A leap into posting here to our group, sharing your art, your voice, you.

Thank you for leaping, literally and figuratively, with us all month long here in our One Word Project Pool. Your participation and inspiration is vital to this community.  Just tonight while pouring through that very space I came across an image with these words...

"My path unclear,
  I leap forward into the unknown.
  Because looking back has never been an alternative."

I am so moved by those 3 lines.  They are powerful and brave. Thank you Kristen.

So, go ahead, stretch your arms way up high, let go of fear, believe you can, and leap into the unknown.  You are braver than you know.

leap frog!

Do you remember being little? Jumping was an everyday event back then wasn't it?  You just wanted to leap in or over puddles, jump cracks in the sidewalk (of you'd break your momma's back), leap off that big hill, hold hands and jump with your friends, your sibling, or hold a growup's hand and leap really high knowing you were safe. Hopscotch was an every day thing, and of course the trusty old leap frog! Can you imagine playing leap frog now?  Makes me giggle even imagining that, but maybe a good old game of leap frog is called for.  I am not sure where that urge goes as we grow, perhaps we become less adventurous, more grounded, less playful?  That is a little sad isn't it.  I fully admit I am not a jumper. Even when I was MUCH younger and a cheerleader in high school I dreaded the jumps!  It felt like gravity had an extra amount of influence on me and no one else.  I admired those girls who could get such great air with ease. 

Lucky for me I have kids who are at the ages where jumping is an everyday event.  They LOVE to jump, leap, hop.  This makes for many fun photos of them.  Jump on the bed?!?!  YES!!!!  Go for it!  But wait, let mommy grab her camera...  (lol) .... I do and they jump and jump and jump, laughing and smiling and getting great air.

So today, in celebration of February's One Word, LEAP, get in touch with your inner girl and go have a good jump. On the bed (go ahead, we won't tell), in a puddle, off a bench... Or if you feel like gravity is just not your personal friend, then share any jump shot you love.  If you are like me, and are around kids at all, I know you have one... or 20...    :)

Let's be playful today.

JUMP!

* Still need a little extra motivation?  Check out The Jumping Project.

trust

What a great month it has been watching all 'your words' appear here and in our One Word Project pool on Flickr. However you chose it, may your word serve you well. May it guide you, encourage you, remind you, inspire you. May it whisper to your soul when you need it most. May it push you past the not so good days and help you celebrate all life has in store for you. You have only just begun your journey this year,  now you need to have faith that your word is the one, and then trust in the process. Embrace this new year, as you have embraced your word. If you are still searching for your word, it will come, trust in that. Perhaps when you least expect it, or stop trying to find it, it will find you. If you need a little extra inspiration check out all the amazing images contributed this month in the OWP pool, or perhaps re-watch that great video Chris so beautifully curated last week in her "power of one" post. (if you missed it last Tuesday, do click on over now) I love that video, it feels so powerful.

I can wholeheartedly say I really feel my word this year. It was not at all the word I thought I needed.  In the beginning of January when I began contemplating a word for me and my year, I was feeling words like simplify, center, & balance, all good things, but internally I knew something was missing and it was holding me back from fully committing to any one of those words.  Then a dear friend and I spoke and she shared her heart with me and that she too was feeling many of those words but that they did not feel proactive enough. That was exactly it!  As soon as she said that I knew that was what my heart was longing for, an action word!  Those, to me, seem riskier, scarier, therefore making me more vulnerable.  That may be true, but that is just what I need to push myself this year. On my drive home that day my word hit me, become.  Now I am embracing it, fears, nerves and all. My word is speaking loudly and I am listening.

Tomorrow we begin a new month and announce a new one word, but we have right now to celebrate all of our individual words one last time. Tell us, how do you feel about your word, are you trusting in the process? Do you feel it doing its work?

a look back

               (January 29, 2011.  My husband's hands making a loaf of his homemade bread. )

Today let's simply take a look back.

Where were you this day one year ago?

What did you capture in your lens that day?

Looking back can be fun.  You may be surprised by what you find.  I hope the look back brings with it a good memory.

Share your look back with us here.

Happy Sunday everyone. 

reminders

 She gets me. Do you have that special someone in your life that builds you up, reminds you of all the goodness inside you and awaiting you? Oh how I hope you do. Those irreplaceable members of your tribe that stand with you side by side, through all ups, downs and in betweens. Life has felt a little uncertain lately. We all have those times, those times when things weigh on our hearts and dampen our creative spark. 'All will be well', I remind myself, again and again. Then the mail arrives, and tucked in an envelope amongst a few funny magazine clippings and handwritten notes, was this tiny tag. A token of her morning tea no doubt, but she saved it just for me and added a little extra love to seal the deal. How did she know? But of course she knew, she just does. Someone else might think it silly, not me, it was just the thing I needed. I tucked this little tag on my bedroom mirror right under this sticker.

Some days you just need a little reminder. I AM limitless, and just in case you forgot, so are you.

Have you found a message you needed in your tea, at your feet, or embodied in a token?

Do share it with us today.