“Perhaps one of trouble’s greatest ‘side effects’ is that it teaches us that life is rarely the way we want it to be; rather, life is simply the way it is. And we are simply the way we are. What we need is the desire to look for the gifts in ordinary and extraordinary experiences – and the wisdom to accept ourselves as we are.”

-- Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

It is through a trail of tears of disappointments, of disillusionment, that I have come to walk and dance my dance of life. I am who I am through each moment I have lived and yet I am more than anything that I have conceived of.

My quest to improve myself led to more misunderstandings of my heart, my spirit. It blocked the view of my heart. I was not listening to the needs that uniquely were mine and of this world to live and embrace my life.

When I felt down, I got up, prayed, shared, cried. I would retreat into nature, sing to the trees, sing to the stars, sing to the birds, imagining a better place in the world. This I had done since young. There was no teacher; I just knew that I had to for me to feel again.

~ Odayin Ikway

“Who you really are is enough.”

-- Oriah Mountain Dreamer