dare greatly

the man in the arena

it is NOT the CRITIC who counts; 

not the man who POINTS OUT how the strong man stumbles, 

or where the doer of deeds could have done better.

source

the CREDIT belongs to the man who is actually IN THE ARENA, 

whose face is MARRED by dust and sweat and blood;

who STRIVES VALIANTLY;

source

who errs, who comes short AGAIN and AGAIN, 

source

because there is no effort WITHOUT ERROR and SHORTCOMING [...]

source

who, AT BEST, knows the triumph of high achievement, 

and who,  

AT WORST,  if he fails, 

 source

 at least he fails while daring greatly.

-------

Theodore Roosevelt 

Paris, April 23, 1910

To My Sisters, My Roses

To my sisters, my Roses:

[...] here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows

higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

        -E.E.Cummings 

           c. 1952

I love you forever.

No matter what. 

love,

J

Heather Renee - A Tale of Two Musicians

Meet my friend, Heather Renee.  A brilliant singer/songwriter who lives in D.C. and performs all over the east coast.  She is also married, has a full time job, and a beautiful little daughter.

I've been watching a new video series she has created.  And for some reason I can't get them out of my head.  Maybe it's because some of her thoughts echo my own.  Even though, in comparison, I have done so little with my dream compared to the work she has put into hers.  But that doesn't discourage me.

What IS encouraging is to hear someone else speak about it.....  The dream.  The sense of loss.  The subtle pain.  And the quest for survival in tandem with day-to-day life.

Why is it so hard to keep your dream alive?

Episode 1 :  "A Tale of Two Musicians"

"Why is it so hard to keep your dream alive...

after you get married,

buy a house,

have a kid...

I don't know

it's like something happens

to the mind

maybe it's to the soul...

something inside you

just starts to die."
-Heather Renee

Spend Time with Your Passion (aka, KEEP PRACTICING)

"Sometimes aspiring writers ask me if they should get a degree in writing, or go to a lot of writer’s conferences.  A writing degree and a conference will help us make valuable professional connections.  They might inspire (or require) us to write.  Which is a good thing.  

But we don’t need either of these experiences to find and use our voice.  

Our voice will be better developed if we spend time with our passions.  

Learn the difference between a tangerine and a tangelo.  

Consider the variation in their blooms, and the place where their nectar beads."

-L.L. Barkat, Rumors of Water

source

Thank you, Barbara Cook

"If you can get to the point 

where you are ready to use 

every joy,

every death, 

every lover who left you.... 

If you're willing to explore that within the song-- 

you cannot be wrong."

"The very place where safety lies for us,

is the thing that seems most dangerous:

and that is having the courage 

to let people really, really into--

what life has done to us."

-Barbara Cook

The Kennedy Center Honors 2011 - Tribute to Barbara Cook 
(fast-forward to 2:00 to see the film montage)