Red chairs

“I’m not nearly as afraid of dying as I am of the hinges inside my mind and soul rusting closed. I am desperate to keep them open, because I think that if they close, that’s one’s first death, the loss of hope, curiosity and possibility, the spiritual death. After that, it seems to me, the second one is just a formality. I wanted to oil the hinges, force the doors to stay open."

- Jon Katz

New growth

“The search for contentment is, therefore, not merely a self-preserving and self-benefiting act, but also a generous gift to the world. Clearing out all your misery gets you out of the way. You cease being an obstacle, not only to yourself but to anyone else. Only then are you free to serve and enjoy other people.”

from Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Morning shadow

“You cannot draw lines and compartments and refuse to budge beyond them. Sometimes you have to use your failures as stepping-stones to success. You have to maintain a fine balance between hope and despair. Yes, in the end it is all a question of balance.”

from A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry

Restoration

"The monkey wrench is not a symbol of destruction. Ed Abbey told me right here on this ranch, the monkey wrench is a symbol of restoration. It's symbolic of your own talents. That's how you are going to fix the world - with your own gifts and talents."

- Ken Sleight

Making the images

"The world and this country need artists that have the strength and the singularity of vision to know that the best gift they can give is the commitment to making the images, because images are the magic. An artist should never lose sight of the first obligation – an artist is the only one who can make the art."

- Barbara Dougherty

Impermanence

“The realization of impermanence is paradoxically the only thing we can hold on to, perhaps our only lasting possession.”

Tibetan Lama Sogyal Rinpoche

Flow

“People are most content when experiencing flow, a state of total immersion in a task that is challenging yet closely matched to one’s abilities.”

- Csikzentmihalyi

Travel

The impulse to travel is one of the hopeful symptoms of life.

- Agnes Repplier