Manifest

If your 2013 was anything like mine, it was lackluster at best and downright morbid at worst. 2013 brought me a slew of physical ailments, psychotic episodes, and broken promises. However, I did start this blog, and with it, I found a renewed motivation to find routine and harmony in my life.

With that intention set for 2014, I would like to introduce you all to Manifest, a workshop for the coming year by the wonderful and illustrious Jessica. Manifest will be all about setting your intentions and achieving your goals in 2014, making it the best year yet. For the wild women and the daughters of the moon like so many of my readers are (and like myself!), this holistic workshop will not be your regular planner.  Included in the workshop will be one on one coaching sessions with Jessica herself, for the extra motivation to really learn the habits and skills to make every year from now on the best year ever. Please find all the information about Manifest here.

I am so honored to be a part of it, and it is my absolute pleasure to hopefully bring you on board with me.

With love and light to all of you,

Heather and Mullein

Seventeenth.

“Don't you understand that we need to be childish in order to understand? Only a child sees things with perfect clarity, because it hasn't developed all those filters which prevent us from seeing things that we don't expect to see.”-Douglas Adams

So it is with heavy heart that I announce I am infertile. My polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is so rampant. I had an ultrasound a week ago or so, and my right ovary is so overrun with cysts and you can’t see the ovary beneath them.

I have a daughter. She is almost six. So while my biological clock is no longer ticking as I approach my 26^th birthday, I am still in mourning for the future. I wanted my little one to have siblings. Granted, she will probably have some through her father. Still, I wanted to have my own family with her.

Spiritually, I am lamenting the unreliability of my menstrual cycle. As a pagan and Goddess-worshiper, I grieve for the loss of my moontime. As a woman who has a passion for women’s spirituality and women’s sexuality, I feel that the loss of a regular moontime is symbolic of my inability to regulate my life. My entire life is unpredictable. My job, my ability to make money, my future. As someone with bipolar disorder, routine can make all the difference in the world. And I seem to be fighting it.

Overall, my mood is one of heartbreak. There is one shining light in this dark place that I have found myself, but I cannot reveal it here just quite yet.

The moon is waning. I will be banishing this darkness on the new moon with a ritual bath and devastatingly thorough housecleaning and smudging. On the full moon, I will be asking the Goddess for help finding myself, my femininity, my wild woman.

At least I don’t feel that I am alone. 

Sixteenth

I fought the devil and

I have cursed the name of God

I ate the flesh and

I drank all the blood I could find

Worshiped the sun when it rose

Denied it when it died

And I've killed lovers just as many times

As they have killed mine

Nobody's gonna save your ass except for you

Went out west only to find

That everyone's the same

Working jobs and getting high

Trying not to go insane

I've killed everything

I've ever done

I have ever tried

I kissed the devil, and I

I spoke the name on high

Nobody's gonna save your ass except for you

Nobody's gonna save your ass except for you

The lyrics above hold a very difficult lesson to learn. From a very young age, I believed I was a princess. The movie A Little Princess ingrained that lesson in me. Every girl is a princess. Unfortunately for me, that belief didn’t evolve with my increasing age. As tragedy befell me and the child abuse began, I still maintained that I was a princess. When bipolar disorder struck me and my medications wreaked havoc on my intellect, when I began to fail at all of the things that were my strengths, I still believed it. I was a princess, and I deserved to be treated as such.

I made excuses. I’m a princess, but a tragic princess. My abusers are the dragons that keep me locked away from my Prince Charming. My failings and flaws are mere quirks that will make me loved all the more.

When I was in therapy at age 15, my therapist - devastatingly handsome man who smelled of sage and cloves - tried to point out the flaw in my thinking. I was ranting and raving one day when he pulled out his phone. 

"Hold on, hold on," he said, flipping open his Samsung. I asked him what he was doing.

"I need to notify NASA. I just found the center of the universe."

That moment has stayed with me over a decade, but unfortunately, the lesson was a little less sticky.

It was a couple weeks ago that I realized something vital and devastating. While the concept of my royalty was completely valid within the intention of Sara Crewe, in typical bipolar fashion I blew it out of proportion and spun it into my own ball of excessive ego. I realized that I do have to work for what I want. I’m not talking about working a 9-5, etc. I’m talking about the effort it takes to CREATE.

I am a writer.  I am a witch. I am a soul that is full of life and I am screaming to reach beyond the limits of my body and touch the stars.

My Tarot of the Day today was XVII The Star. From the Shadowscapes Companion:

 Meaning: Regaining hope, faith in the future, inspiration. Finding the still and silent place within your being of serenity, tranquility amid trouble, harmony, offering without reservations, sharing and being generous. The harshness of daylight or even moonlight is gone, and there is nothing but the calm and nonjudgmental eyes of the stars. There is a peace to that, a space to gather up, prepare, and uplift the spirit. Let loose doubts and fears to the embrace of the night. The stars have always been symbols of guidance and hope, the light to lead you home. 

**Lyrics from Damion Suomi's "Save Your Ass"

Fifteenth

All day staring at the ceiling

Making friends with shadows on my wall

All night hearing voices telling me

That I should get some sleep

Because tomorrow might be good for something

Hold on

Feeling like I'm headed for a breakdown

And I don't know why

But I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell

I know right now you can't tell

But stay awhile and maybe then you'll see

A different side of me

I'm not crazy, I'm just a little impaired

I know right now you don't care

But soon enough you're gonna think of me

And how I used to be

It seems that medication is a double-edged sword. The pain and confusion that comes with unmedicated mental illness is swept away with a regimen of chemicals into the brain. Unfortunately, with the symptoms also go the magic and wonder that comes with seeing the beauty in a seemingly crystal clear manic state.  Clarity is gone, hidden under the haze of medicated lethargy.

It is difficult. Creativity is stifled. I used to get awards for my writing. I used to be praised. All of my teachers in school told my parents that I would be a famous author one day. I scored a 2200 on the SAT. I am a certifiable genius. I could have joined MENSA. But every day that I pop those psychotropic drugs, the foggier my mind becomes. It is my burden. It is my curse. If I want to create and live as carefree as when I was young, I could go off of the medications. But at what cost? To lose my ability to be patient and teach my young daughter? To lose every interpersonal relationship I have? To lose the ability to work and provide for myself – an ability that is even still fought for every day with my sweat and tears?

There are no easy solutions for a bipolar person. For a pagan, it is even more painful. While we may find peace the light of the moon or with our respective deities, our spirit guides, our totem animals, our sense of duty to be good to ourselves and those things that are ours is pivotal to our spiritual development. As a Goddess worshiper, I am acutely aware of my failings as I cycle into the Mother phase of my life. I simultaneously pine for the past and my Maiden stage as I crave and hunger for the knowledge that will lead me into success as a woman in my Crone stage. There is no easy way. The sooner the bipolar pagan learns this, the better.  

When I was young, I was a wild child

Sunshine, grass stains, mud piles

Skinning my knee was a battle scar

I was afraid of monsters, but not the dark

With the dawn, I’d run so far

Exploring every secret place, every park

Today I choke and gasp for air

Seeking magick everywhere

Only duty to hold me down

I will die without a sound.

"WildChild" Copyright 2013 - Heather Rivero

**Lyrics From"Unwell" by Matchbox 20

Fourteenth

Feeling my way through the darkness
Guided by a beating heart
I can't tell where the journey will end
But I know where to start
They tell me I'm too young to understand
They say I'm caught up in a dream
Well life will pass me by if I don't open up my eyes
Well that's fine by me

Grounding and centering is an important part of my paganism. It is the process of meditating and making sure I’m aware of where I am, and who I am, an achieving a sense of balance in my personal energy. It is an integral part of practicing magick. If you aren’t grounded and centered, your magick will be messy and unfocused.

As someone who is bipolar meditation is a fundamental necessity. Grounding helps me focus my emotions and my mood. Often, I am able to rein in a potentially disastrous episode by simple grounding. You can ground anywhere. It may take practice, but once you have a good concept of what works for you, you can do it in the restroom at work or in a crowded shopping mall.

The method that works best for me is this:

I sit on the floor, feeling the earth beneath me. I begin to imagine roots coming down my spine and through my tailbone, growing down into the earth. If I am indoors, I visualize the roots spreading through the lower floors and foundation until they reach earth. Deeper and deeper they go, through the earth’s crust and the mantle all the way through the outer core until I reach the inner core. I grow warmer and warmer the deeper I go. When I reach the core, I pull energy from the earth up into my body. Warm, white light fills me from my fingertips to my toes. I see myself growing tall like a tree. I personally view myself as a strong oak or willow tree. I am firmly rooted in the earth. I am stable. I am ancient. When the healing energy of Gaia has helped me feel secure, I push all the excess energy back down through the roots to be returned to the Earth Mother. 

You can find a good morning grounding meditation here. 



**Lyrics from Avicii's "Wake Me Up"

Topics for Next Week

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Next week, I will be be posting three entries in a crash course of Bipolar Paganism. 

First, I will explore grounding. In my opinion, grounding is a necessary life skill for bipolar patients, and even more so for pagans. 

Second, I will be discussing medications and how they affected my Hawaii vacation. My trip was supposed to be a spiritual journey, but it didn't end up that way. 

Third, I will explore decisions. Epiphanies. The moment you know that you have already decided which course you will take and all that is left is to plot your course and take action. 

I look forward to exploring these topics with you!

Giveaway!

I did not ask for the life that I was given, but it was given nonetheless. And with it, I did my best.-Mr. Eko

Hello everyone.

I am on vacation in Hawaii, but I wanted to take this chance to tell you that I am offering a distance Reiki session as a part of Jessikat’s giveaway. Please check out this amazing woman’s website and take part in her awesome giveaway! You won’t regret it!

Thirteenth

The basic problem with my love relationships with women is that my standards are so high - and they apply equally to both of us. I seek full-blast mutual intensity, fully fledged mutual acceptance, full-blown mutual flourishing, and fully felt peace and joy with each other. This requires a level of physical attraction, personal adoration, and moral admiration that is hard to find. –Cornel West

Relationships are hard for everyone. There has never been a couple on this planet that never fought. At least once in every relationship on earth there happens an event of malcontent. A disagreement, an accidental foregone chore, an intentionally rude behavior. It is inevitable and it is necessary. Healthy relationships are not happy relationships one hundred percent of the time. Growth cannot happen without adversity. Even baby birds have to push themselves out of the egg if they ever want a hope of surviving in the big and beautiful world that awaits them. So it is with relationships. It is by getting through the little arguments that we can build the foundations to master the greatest challenges.

As a bipolar pagan, relationships are harder than ever for me. I am currently with a mentally and physically healthy Catholic man who has never suffered from the abuses that I struggled with growing up. His family is supportive and successful and never bitter or resentful. His successes are celebrated fervently, and his sorrows are shared. Indeed, his upbringing is about as far from mine as can be expected from two middle class families.

My paganism has my head in the clouds. Even while I am grounded and rooted in spellwork or meditation, my expectations for life and the world around me are never consistently met. It is this grievance that leads me to hold on to the great love of my life. I am never completely happy and I find myself daydreaming perpetually of the love I could have had. My bipolar has me irritated nearly constantly and so I place further burden on my partner because I cannot see things rationally.

Relationships are hard. I hope to one day find that balance and bliss that I have been seeking over the lifetimes. 

Twelfth

“We the mortals touch the metals,
the wind, the ocean shores, the stones,
knowing they will go on, inert or burning,
and I was discovering, naming all the these things:
it was my destiny to love and say goodbye.” 

–Pablo Neruda

What is it about the night

That brings the quiet

I look to the city lights

And it is not sleeping.

What is it about the night

That offers solace

To the weeping sprites

That cannot retire.

What is it about the night

That offers balance

From the sunlight

To deepest shadow.

What is it about the night

That makes me remember

For all of my might

I cannot forsake you.

-Remembering the Nights © 2013 Heather Rivero

Eleventh

If you should find romance
Go on and take that chance
Before the strategies begin

Deadlines and commitments
Every morning
And in the evening
They can suck you in
Boy, don't I know it

This offer would be standing
All you've got to do is call
Don't be afraid to knock on the door

If you should fall upon hard times
If you should lose your way
There is a place
Here in this house
That you can stay

I am a Reiki practitioner. I received my certifications around six or seven months ago. I practice on myself and on family members, but I had never actually received Reiki from anyone else before. Today, I took a chance and I took an offer from a dear friend of mine to be her first client in her Wellness Clinic she wants to start for holistic healing. She, too, is a Reiki healer.

I laid down on her table and she placed a lavender scented pillow over my eyes. I closed my eyes.

I trust in Shae completely, and I knew I was in good hands. When she began by putting her hands on either side of my head, cupping my skull in a way, magick happened. I don’t know what it was, but it was like Mary Poppins was in my brain, putting the chemicals and nerves back, rebuilding the myelin sheaths. Tidying up the place. I could see it. After a few minutes she placed her hands over my head and I saw light. My eyes were not open and the pillow hadn’t moved, but I saw light dancing across my vision as pure and as bright as morning. Her healing light continued to wash over me as she healed me. She chose to do some light energy healing as well, moving my energy around where it needed to be. Finally, she finished the session with music healing. She played a haunting, beautiful melody on her Native American flute.

The key thing about today is while she healed my head, I came to a sudden realization. I am whole. I am beautiful. I am strong. I am powerful. I may have physical and mental illnesses and a load of painful memories, but my soul is strong and whole. I am not broken. The only thing that was broken about me before was my ability to see myself for who I really am.

I am Heather. I am.

 Blessed Be.

**Lyrics from "Deadlines and Commitments" by The Killers

Tenth

Sólo queda una vela
encendida en medio de la tarta
y se quiere consumir.

Ya se van los invitados,
tú y yo nos miramos
sin saber bien qué decir.

Nada que descubra lo que siento:
Que este día fue perfecto
y parezco tan feliz...
Nada como que hace mucho tiempo
que me cuesta sonreir.

Quiero vivir,
quiero gritar,
quiero sentir
el Universo sobre mí.
Quiero correr en libertad,
quiero encontrar mi sitio.

Una broma del destino,
una melodía acelerada
en una canción que nunca acaba.

Ya he tenido suficiente;
necesito a alguien que comprenda
que estoy sola en medio de un montón de gente.
¿Qué puedo hacer?

Quiero vivir,
quiero gritar,
quiero sentir
el Universo sobre mí.
Quiero correr en libertad,
quiero llorar de felicidad.

Quiero vivir,
quiero sentir
el Universo sobre mí,
como un náufrago en el mar.
Quiero encontrar mi sitio,
sólo encontrar mi sitio.

Todos los juguetes rotos,
todos los amantes locos,
todos los zapatos de charol.
Todas las casitas de muñecas
donde celebraba fiestas
donde sólo estaba yo.

Vuelve el espíritu olvidado
del verano del amor.

Quiero vivir,
quiero gritar,
quiero sentir
el Universo sobre mí.
Quiero correr en libertad,
quiero llorar de felicidad.

Quiero vivir,
quiero sentir
el Universo sobre mí,
como un náufrago en el mar.
Quiero encontrar mi sitio,
sólo encontrar mi sitio

I always feel best when I rise with the sun.

There is something potent in waking up to the early-morning chatter of birds and squirrels and watching the sunrise with them. The God of the Sun is eager to greet you. Helios, Apollo, Ra, Lugh. By whatever name he is there without fail every day (except for those in the extreme latitudes). He is our strength. His fire fuels our daily endeavors and all life on earth is sustained by him. It is no wonder that he was the first god to be worshipped on earth by humankind.

From a bipolar perspective, keeping a diurnal internal clock is extremely healthy. Rising and setting with the sun allows our biological forms to revert to a sense of normalcy that has been ingrained in us since the dawn of time. Many bipolar people are nocturnal, and I understand that. I myself suffer from terrible insomnia from time to time. But when we can, bipolar people often find that they have “good days” more often than not when they rise in the morning and settle down in the evening.

For me, personally, I find myself growing closer and closer with Lugh. The Celtic pantheon is where my heart lies with Cernunnos and Andraste and now Lugh. I find myself growing closer as well to the Greek pantheon, specifically Hekate. Ever since the ritual I wrote about earlier, I have felt her presence in my life ever so strongly. As the goddess of the crossroads, she is calling me as I travel through a myriad of transitions in my life.

I’m sorry I haven’t written much lately. I’ve been captivated by the novel I’m writing. I do apologize and I will try to update more often from now on.

Blessed Be.

**Lyrics from "El Universo Sobre Mi" by Amaral
*Translated lyrics -

Only one candle remains
lit in the center of the cake
and it's about to go out.

The guests are leaving,
you and I look at each other
without really knowing what to say.

Nothing that could unveil what I feel:
That this day has been perfect
and I seem so happy...
Nothing like [saying] that since a long time ago
I have to force myself to smile.

I want to live,
I want to shout,
I want to feel
the Universe over me.
I want to run free,
I want to find my place.

A trick of destiny,
a fast melody
in a never-ending song.

I have had enough;
I need someone who understands
that I'm lonely in the middle of a crowd.
What can I do?

I want to live,
I want to shout,
I want to feel
the Universe over me.
I want to run free,
I want to weep for joy.

I want to live,
I want to feel
the Universe over me,
like someone shipwrecked at sea.
I want to find my place,
just to find my place.

All the broken toys,
all the crazy lovers,
all the patent leather shoes.
All the dollhouses
where I threw parties
and there was only me.

It's returning the forgotten spirit
of the summer of love.

I want to live,
I want to shout
I want to feel
the Universe over me.
I want to run free,
I want to weep for joy.

I want to live,
I want to feel
the Universe over me,
like someone shipwrecked at sea.
I want to find my place,
just to find my place.

Ninth

I invoke you, beloved Hekate of the Crossroads and the Three Ways

Saffron-cloaked Goddess of the Heavens, the Underworld and the Sea

Tomb-frequenter, mystery-raving with the souls of the dead

Daughter of Perses, Lover of the Wilderness who exults among the deer

Nightgoing One, Protectress of dogs, Unconquerable Queen

Beast-roarer, Dishevelled One of compelling countenance

Tauropolos, Keyholding Mistress of the whole world

Ruler, Nymph, Mountain-wandering Nurturer of youth.

Maiden, I beg you to be present at these sacred rites

Ever with a gladsome heart and ever gracious to the Oxherd.

Hekate. Lady of the Night, Goddess of the Crossroads.  Last week, I attended an open ritual during the traditional time to honor Hekate and to ask for her guidance and protection. The goddess of transition, she offers us gifts of enlightenment and perspective when we are at a crossroads in our lives. Physical, emotionally, whenever there is a decision to be made, Hekate is there. She is always here with us.

The ritual description stated:

On an inner level, Hekate is a guardian figure of the mysterious depths of our unconscious that accesses the collective memory of the primal void and whirling forces at the onset of creation.

Nothing is more true than this. It was never more apparent than in the ritual when we evoked her. We cast the circle, and after a brief introduction of Hekate, the priestess put a cowl over her head so we couldn’t see her face. We asked Hekate to join us.

And she did. And for a moment, I was afraid. I had never invoked a goddess to that she came to me in physical form. My legs shook, and ecstasy quaked through my body.

In the form of the priestess of the ritual, Hekate spoke to us, and told us that we could offer her things that other gods find distasteful. Fear, anger, grief. We could offer her our weaknesses and in return she would give us a gift. We must offer these gifts and never look back if we wanted to receive Hekate’s gift. As we approached the Lady of the Night, we had a choice. After giving her our offering, we could go left and choose the Mystery and see what gift Hekate had for us, or we could go right and choose the gift for 

ourselves. I don’t think anyone went right.

After selecting our gifts, we returned to our place in the circle and faced outward, away from Hekate and the altar. On the count of three, we stepped forward, taking the first step toward our future and away from the gifts we sacrificed to Hekate. As we stepped, there was the sound of a deep bell ringing, almost like a gong, but no one in the circle rang it.

It was a deep magick and I am honored Hekate came to us.

I selected to give Hekate my fear and my laziness. In return, she gave me a doorway, the propylaea, the transition. I am unsure what form this gift will take, but I can’t wait to find out.

**From this website.

**Pic from Hekate

Eighth

Down to the earth I fell
With dripping wings,
Heavy things won't fly
And the sky might catch on fire
And burn the axis of the world
That's why
I prefer a sunless sky
To the glittering and stinging in my eye

I feel so light
This is all I wanna feel tonight
I feel so light
Tonight and the rest of my life

Depression is the sinking, slow, heavy and temporary death that every bipolar person feels. It is the shutting down, the terminating of systems. When I am depressed, I cannot think, I cannot move, and I can barely breathe. Indeed, it feels like I’m dying, even while my heart continues to beat. On the other hand is mania, and unfortunately, 99% of the time I suffer from dysphoric mania. While many bipolar individuals will tell you that the highlight of their disorder is their mania, for me mania is a nightmare. I still get the high-energy, fast-talking rush but it manifests in anger and anxiety and an inescapable need to over-analyze anything and everything I’ve said in my memory.

For me, the highlight of my bipolar disorder is my mixed state. Sometimes, like a couple of weeks ago, it manifests in a high-energy depression that is literally physically painful. However, most of the time, it manifests in a reasonable, high-energy, motivated mood that is almost reminiscent of the way euphoric mania manifests. Instead, I am grounded and down to earth. It is in these moods that I really shine.

My spirituality takes flight. My mind is open and free from the poison of depression or mania or numbness of my neutral states. I can feel the Goddess with me, and I can evoke the God whenever I wish. It is my most ardent desire to learn to master my moods so that even when the chemicals in my brain rebel against me, I can still see the magick in everything, the beauty in the most common tree in the Pacific Northwest, and breathe in the essence of life that is in everything.

Everything is waves and stars
The universe is resting in my arms

**Lyrics from "Tonight and the Rest of My Life" by Nina Gordon

Seventh

Stood out in the rain.

Let it soak me down,

Before I called you...

I called you.

You did not see me there,

Hidden by the dark,

Beneath your window,

But I saw you.

When putting on a face for the mirror on the wall.

Dreaming that the looking glass is you.

Catching my fondest gazes;

Living through my fickle phases.

I love you.

Spend my time on 'phones,

Tryin' just to talk,

But you didn't answer...

You let it ring.

Spend my nights alone,

Catching fallin' stars,

To give to you, love.

They're just for you.

Stars fall every time a lover has to face the truth.

And far too many stars have fell on me.

And as they trail the skies,

And burn their paths upon my eyes,

I cry.

And it's getting easier, each day, to weep about you.

Harder, every night, to sleep without you.

How many years must I be,

Driven by this dream of love with you?

It’s been a rough couple of weeks for me. I haven’t been able to blog much. The other day, I was finally able to cast a spell for the first time in months. It was an empowerment spell, and I called on my spirit guides and patron deities to help me find the strength to learn what I need to learn to heal myself. It was an exalted form of magick that I honestly felt profound pride in myself for having been able to cast.

Still, I don’t feel as close with my patron deities as I once did. My faith is superficial lately, and I am extremely disappointed in myself for losing sight of everything that matters to me. I could whine and blame my medications, but that’s not entirely it. I have been lazy. Lazy in that I have chosen idle pursuits and pleasures over study and dedication. Lazy in that I would rather sleep in until the last moment before I get up for work or chores instead of rising with the sun and doing a morning dedication.

I am just so tired. But it should be getting better soon. I leave for Hawaii in a month, and when I return, I’ll be continuing my employment except I’ll be working from my very own home office. I am ecstatic that my company has honored me with their trust and the privilege of not having a commute into downtown Seattle. I honestly believe the decrease in my stress will bring the magick back to me every moment of my day, instead of when I must painfully extract it from the core of my soul as I did a few days ago.

**Lyrics from "Stars" by Alison Krauss and Union Station

Sixth

And there were people there

Lovely as you'd ever care

Tonight, baby, you can start again

Laughing in the open air

Have yourself another dream

Tonight, maybe we can start again

Forgive me, this post may be a little convoluted.

I am back on my medications, and with the chemicals came the numbness. I don’t feel much by way of emotion right now. I am numb. I need to get back on the citalopram. This sertraline (Zoloft) is killing my personality. While I am on it, I have nothing but high anxiety, being void of any other genuine emotion.

I went to the pool today. No one else was there, so I floated on my back, with my ears in the water. With all sound muted, I gazed up at the sky. My arms were spread wide as I floated there, and I pondered the lightest shade of blue, and I begged the Goddess to come to me. To open my soul and my senses to the magick of life and the universe. To help me unlock my heart to marvel at the beauty of a soaring eagle, or a monarch butterfly. I meditated there, weightless and drifting in the water, for what felt like hours. Suddenly, I realized, that I had been gazing in wonder at all of the exquisite shades of green the setting sun created in the tall trees that surround the pool. I smiled.

It is always so refreshing to me to realize that although I need to be on constant vigil when on medications, when I can break through the chemical haze and truly, deeply, profoundly feel…I am, more than ever. I just am.

What else in this universe is more beautiful than simply being?

**Lyrics from "Only The Young" by Brandon Flowers