Reflect a smile

29/09/2025

CHANGE THE WAY YOU SEE

I don’t have crow’s feet,
I have happy, happy memories of laughing with friends until the tears flowed.
I don’t have frown lines,
I have the marks of my frustration and confusion, which I battled through, smiling in the end.
I am not going grey,
I have shimmering highlights of wisdom, dashed throughout my silver hair.
I don’t have scars,
I have symbols of the strength I was able to find when life got tough.
I don’t have stretch marks,
I have the marks of growth and the marks of motherhood. My womanly evolution.
I am not fat,
I bear the evidence of a life filled with abundance, blessings, and good times.
I am not just forgetful,
I have a mind so full of stories, memories, and moments that there is scarce room to hold much else.
I am not old,
I am blessed with a life of great length, something not everyone can say.

Don’t change the way you look, my friend,
change the way you see.

- Written by Donna Ashworth

The illustrator of the art is Norwegian artist Lisa Aisato.

15/09/2025

Herfst

31/08/2025

True

Weathering The Storm

The weight you feel now is temporary,
a passing storm,
a shadow drifting across the endless horizon of your heart.

Everything is temporary.
Grief. Burden. Ache.
Even the storm that bends the branches
cannot last forever.
The wind moves on,
the clouds break,
the rain falls silent.

Breathe,
and let the breath remind you:
you are like the tree,
still rooted,
still standing,
even as the sky rages overhead.

Each moment is a river,
each feeling a cloud,
always moving,
always changing.

Rest inside this truth:
what presses on you today
will soften,
will shift,
will pass.

And you will stand firm,
like the tree,
tempered by the storm,
roots deepened in the earth,
branches reaching toward the light.

~ 'Weathering The Storm' by Spirit of a Hippie

✍️ Mary Anne Byrne

~ Art by Krishu Patel

14/08/2025

Love your mom while you can.
Call her, even when you’re busy.
Listen to the same stories again, because one day you’ll give anything to hear her voice.

Notice the way she remembers your coffee order.
The way she still wants you to let her know you made it, no matter how old you are.
The way she worries if you’ve eaten.

Because no one—no one—will ever love you with the fierce, unshakable, sometimes overwhelming love she does.

And when she’s gone, you’ll understand just how rare it was…
and how lucky you were to be loved like that.

-Her View From Home

12/08/2025

True Empathy

Those of us who have walked through shadows of pain,
and carried heavy burdens of suffering,
come to know empathy not as a distant idea,
but as a living, breathing part of our being.

Our scars, visible or hidden,
become silent teachers that guide our hearts,
which help us understand the unspoken struggles of others.

Having felt the sharp sting of loss,
the quiet ache of loneliness,
and the overwhelming weight of despair,
we grow tender toward the pain of others.

In our presence, sorrow is met with kindness,
and brokenness with gentle understanding,
for we know true empathy is born
from shared hardship and the courage
to keep our hearts open through it all.

~ 'True Empathy' by Spirit of a Hippie

✍️ Mary Anne Byrne

~ Art Unknown via Pinterest

12/08/2025

X🥲

Forever in Our Hearts

Anniversaries of our loved ones are heartfelt and challenging days
They arrive each year with a quiet weight,
settling gently yet unmistakably in the corners of our hearts.

It’s a day that can feel both unbearably heavy
and tenderly sacred,
a moment when the absence of someone we love
feels more real than ever.

Even if time has softened the sharp edges of grief,
the ache remains,
a gentle pulse reminding us of what was
and what still lives within us.

It’s okay to feel overwhelmed by the memories that come flooding back,
the laughter, the tender moments shared
that defined a lifetime.

It’s okay to let tears fall or to simply sit in silence,
holding space for the complicated feelings that anniversaries stir.

These days don’t just remind us of loss;
they also remind us of love’s enduring power.

The bond we shared doesn’t disappear with their absence.
It transforms, becoming a quiet presence
that walks alongside us, comforting and steady,
even in the hardest moments.

Though the world around us may carry on as usual,
our hearts slow down to honor what once was.

And in that honoring, we find a small measure of peace,
a reminder that love, even when wrapped in sorrow,
never truly leaves us.

It shapes who we are, guides us forward,
and gently holds us until the ache feels a little lighter again.

~ 'Forever in Our Hearts' by Spirit of a Hippie

✍️ Mary Anne Byrne

~ Art by Bernie Fitzsimons

10/08/2025

The Narrow Path I Walk

What grief took from me,
it took my confidence,
it took my safety,
it took the mornings I used to know,
it took the nights I trusted to end in peace.

It took my voice,
the one that could speak without shaking.
It took the warmth in laughter,
the lightness in music,
the taste of ordinary joy.

It took trust,
in people, in time, in the idea that life was kind.
It took the map of who I was before,
and the compass that might have led me back.

It took the belief that love, once found,
could never be undone.
It took my sense of home,
no matter where I stand.

And in exchange,
it left me with silence,
with a fog that swallows my thoughts,
with days that blur into one another,
with a body that moves
while the heart stays behind.

But what grief could not take from me,
it could not take the love,
woven so deep it lives beyond your absence.
It could not take the sound of your name
rising like a prayer in my chest.

It could not take the memories,
the sparkle in your eyes when you laughed,
that caring glance that made me feel seen,
those arms that made me feel safe,
the sweet sound of you calling my name.

It could not take the part of me
that still believes in connection,
even when I doubt the safety of the world.
It could not take my capacity to feel,
though feeling now comes
with both ache and beauty.

It could not take the stories
I will carry forward for you.
It could not take the quiet moments
when I know you would have smiled.

It could not take the stubborn pulse of hope,
small, flickering, but alive,
that insists the heart can grow again,
even in the shadow of what was lost.

This is what grief took,
and what it could not,
and between them
is the narrow path I walk.

~ 'The Narrow Path I Walk' by Spirit of a Hippie

✍️ Mary Anne Byrne

~ Art by Sarah Jarrett

10/08/2025

Xx

A boy and his mama . . .

Are connected at heart.

He’ll search the room to find her.

She’s carried him from the start.

Mama tells him “I love you” more times than he can count.

She whispers it in each lullaby . . .

Each happy ending . . .

Each prayer at night.

He knows she tries her best.

She cheers the loudest.

She’ll be so proud of the man he becomes.

But she’ll still see her baby bear . . .

And remember each cuddle and hug . . .

And all the giants they’ve overcome.

There’s just something so sweet . . .

So special about that great big love . . .

Between a boy and his mama.

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Shared with permission from Mommys15Minutes by Jaclyn Warren

10/08/2025

###

“The Beauty in Growing Old”
—I used to think that growing old
was only silver, slow, and cold.
But then you came—this light, this flame—
and growing old feels not the same.

It’s softer now, the edges fade,
the rush of life begins to wade.
Each wrinkle holds a story true,
each laugh line points its way to you.

I move more slow, I rest more deep,
I treasure what I choose to keep.
The things I chased don’t matter much,
but nothing beats your hand’s small touch.

If this is what the years unfold,
then I am glad to grow this old.
For every day you let me see
the best is still in front of me.

24/07/2025

Morning walk with Moos
Beautiful nature !