“Being brave enough to be alone frees you up to invite people into your life because you want them and not because you need them.” – Mandy Hale

* * *

Klamath Basin NWR

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klamath_Basin_National_Wildlife_Refuge_Complex

* * *

“The credit belongs to those who are actually in the arena, who strive valiantly; who know the great enthusiasums, the great devotions, and spend themselves in a worthy cause; who at best know the triumph of high achievement; and who, at worst, if they fail, fail while daring greatly, so that their place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” – Theodore Roosevelt

* * *

Modoc NWR deer

http://www.fws.gov/refuge/Modoc/multimedia/ModocNWRPhotoGallery.html

* * *

“Reading about the response of people in stories, plays, poems, helps us to respond more courageously and openly at our own moments of turning.” – Madeleine L’Engle

* * *

Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge

http://blog.audubonguides.com/2012/10/21/remarkable-nature-places-klamath-basin-national-wildlife-refuge/

* * *

“She was resilient

A brave soldier when life tested her

It didn’t matter that she did strange things
like stand tall under the rain
letting the drops kiss her skin
thinking the storm was romantic

It was hard to quiet her
not that you would want to
when she spoke, it was captivating

Her heart was like a candle
warm and delicate
just what you needed during darkness

Sometimes, she’d go off and explore the world
test her limits
laugh too much
cry when humans were cruel

It wasn’t hard to see why people envied her

You’d come to realize she was a lion
and she could not be tamed.” – M.J. Abraham

* * *

Modoc Plateau

http://www.rediscoveringthegoldenstate.com/modoc-plateau/

* * *

“If you’re brave enough to follow truth it will shatter you and your illusions at the same time.” – Bryant McGill

* * *

“That luminous part of you that exists beyond personality–your soul, if you will–is as bright and shining as any that has ever been….Clear away everything that keeps you separate from this secret luminous place. Believe it exists, come to know it better, nurture it, share its fruits tirelessly.” – George Saunders

* * *

Anza Borrego

http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/taxonomy/term/896

* * *

“Whatever you are physically…male or female, strong or weak, ill or healthy–all those things matter less than what your heart contains. If you have the soul of a warrior, you are a warrior. All those other things, they are the glass that contains the lamp, but you are the light inside.” – Cassandra Clare

* * *

Font’s Point and Borrego Badlands

http://www.paradise-fall.com/html/Anza-Borrego%20Desert%20State%20Park

* * *

“If the mind is to emerge unscathed from this relentless struggle with the unforeseen, two qualities are indispensable: first, an intellect that, even in the darkest hour, retains some glimmerings of the inner light which leads to truth; and second, the courage to follow this faint light wherever it may lead.” – Carl von Clausewitz

* * *

Anza Borrego

http://blog.sandiego.org/2012/03/anza-borrego-desert-state-park-hikes/mountain-view-anza-borrego/

* * *

“One grateful thought is a ray of sunshine.  A hundred such thoughts paint a sunrise.  A thousand will rival the glaring sky at noonday – for gratitude is light against the darkness.” – Richelle E. Goodrich

* * *

“Trust is like a two-way mirror, transparent on one side, with a blind dimness unable to see through on the other side.” – Anthony Liccione

* * *

Lockes NV

http://southwestdesertlover.wordpress.com/tag/nevada-geology/page/2/

* * *

“Strangers are never seen through a window. When our eyes are cast upon another, we are in fact gazing into the depths of a mirror. If you truly desire to understand how you feel about yourself, just take an honest look at how you view the world around you.” – Carl Henegan

* * *

Quinn canyon range

https://southwestdesertlover.wordpress.com/category/favorite-southwest-places/page/49/

* * *

“The Native Americans know that wolves are mirrors for humans. What they show us are our strengths and weaknesses… When I lived with the wolves, I was proud of the reflection of myself. But when I came back, I always paled in comparison.” – Jodi Picoult

* * *

Spring Valley NV

http://southwestdesertlover.wordpress.com/tag/wilderness/page/46/

* * *

“Katie wondered for a moment if part of the reason so many of the young women she knew who had poor self-esteem ended up that way because they had spent their lives gazing at themselves in a mirror instead of being the mirror others gazed into.” – Robin Jones Gunn

* * *

“Being a part of the world in a healthy, mindful, present sense means learning to have complete faith that things will work out. Living in this world means that instead of cowering away, or giving up when the going gets a bit tough, get up and keep going. You’re not here merely to survive or fight your way through the world.” – Leigh Hershkovich

* * *

Colorado River

http://excessivelocity.blogspot.com/2008/12/grand-canyon-az-views-from-south-rim.html

* * *

“The thing was, if you wanted to survive you had to keep going, Natalie had decided. Even when it hurt. Sometimes, she had discovered, you has to walk around the holes in your life, instead of falling into them.” – Priscilla Cummings

* * *

“Everything that happens to you matters to me.” – Cassandra Clare

* * *

http://www.underthemeso.com/blog/?paged=57

* * *

“It isn’t a weakness to accept kindness. It isn’t a weakness to allow yourself to be cared for.” – Julie Anne Long

* * *

“Braininess is not attractive unless combined with some signs of elegance; class.” – Alice Munro

* * *

Vermillion Cliffs National Monument

http://arizona.sierraclub.org/monuments/vermilion/vermilion.html

* * *

“People think that the word “class” involves the color black, wearing Chanel No. 5 and carrying a Louis Vuitton. The word “class” and “classy”, to me, mean what happens when you are able to be thankful, able to give and be a true friend to anybody regardless of their background and where they come from. That’s class. It’s a beautiful wave that washes away faults and paints things in a graceful light….” C. Joybell C.

* * *

Grand Canyon Parashant National Monument

http://www.nationalparks.org/explore-parks/grand-canyon-parashant-national-monument

* * *

“You can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next, by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest, by their preference for the discussion of ideas.” – Henry Thomas Buckle

* * *

Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument

http://arizona.sierraclub.org/monuments/parashant/parashant.html

* * *

“Class never runs scared.
It is sure-footed and confident.
It can handle anything that comes along.
Class has a sense of humor.
It knows a good laugh is the best lubricant for oiling the machinery of human relations.

Class never makes excuses.
It takes its lumps and learns from past mistakes.
Class knows that good manners are nothing more than a series of small, inconsequential sacrifices.

Class bespeaks an aristocracy that has nothing to do with ancestors or money.
Some wealthy “blue bloods” have no class, while individuals who are struggling to make ends meet are loaded with it.

Class is real.
It can’t be faked.

Class never tried to build itself by tearing others down.
Class is already up and need not strive to look better by making others look worse.

Class can “walk with kings and keep it’s virtue and talk with crowds and keep the common touch.” Everyone is comfortable with the person who has class because that person is comfortable with himself.

If you have class, you’ve got it made.

If you don’t have class, no matter what else you have, it doesn’t make any difference.” – Ann Landers

* * *

“For me, the times I always regret are missed opportunities to say farewell to good people, to wish them long life and say to them in all sincerity, “You build and do not destroy; you sow goodwill and reap it; smiles bloom in the wake of your passing, and I will keep your kindness in trust and share it as occasion arises, so that your life will be a quenching draught of calm in a land of drought and stress.” Too often I never get to say that when it should be said. Instead, I leave them with the equivalent of a “Later, dude!” only to discover there would be no later for us.” – Kevin Hearne

* * *

Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest

http://www.discovernw.org/store_clearwater_2CLWA/

* * *

“And if travel is like love, it is, in the end, mostly because it’s a heightened state of awareness, in which we are mindful, receptive, in dimmed by familiarity and ready to be transformed. That is why the best trips, like the best love affairs, never really end.”  – Pico Iyer

* * *

Sandia Crest

http://www.nationalforests.org/blog/10-best-of-national-forests

* * *

“The direction you choose to face determines whether you’re standing at the end or the beginning of a road.” – Richelle E. Goodrich

* * *

“Sometimes the slightest things change the directions of our lives, the merest breath of a circumstance, a random moment that connects like a meteorite striking the earth. Lives have swiveled and changed direction on the strength of a chance remark.” – Bryce Courtenay

* * *

Road near La Honda

https://southwestdesertlover.wordpress.com/tag/la-honda/

* * *

“In the space between chaos and shape there was another chance.” – Jeanette Winterson

* * *

Skyline Drive near La Honda

https://southwestdesertlover.wordpress.com/tag/la-honda/

* * *

“But I don’t believe coincidences are chance events. I think they’re the times we happen to see the mysterious pattern connecting everything.” – Julie Gittus

* * *

Portola Redwoods State Park

http://pixgood.com/portola-redwoods-state-park-wedding.html

* * *

“The world can accommodate your situation, as it accommodates all situations. And your body will keep explaining to you how it all works, this original experiment, this lifelong gift. Your body will keep describing how, for the first time being at least, there is no escape from this particular vessel. These are your atoms. This is your consciousness. These are your experiences–your successes and mistakes. This is your first and final chance, your one and only biography. This is the existential container, the bowl of your life’s soup, wherein something can be made sense of, wherein there is a cure, wherein you are.” – Sarah Hall

* * *

Old La Honda Road summit

http://windinmyface.com/rides-OldLaHonda.html

* * *

“So much of what happens by chance forms what becomes your life.”  – Roger Ebert

* * *

San Gregorio

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g33017-San_Gregorio_California-Vacations.html

* * *

“How do you calculate upon the unforeseen? It seems to be an art of recognizing the role of the unforeseen, of keeping your balance amid surprises, of collaborating with chance, of recognizing that there are some essential mysteries in the world and thereby a limit to calculation, to plan, to control.” – Rebecca Solnit

* * *

“Not every story has a happy ending, … but the discoveries of science, the teachings of the heart, and the revelations of the soul all assure us that no human being is ever beyond redemption. The possibility of renewal exists so long as life exists. How to support that possibility in others and in ourselves is the ultimate question.” – Gabor Mate’

* * *

Carson National Forest

https://southwestdesertlover.wordpress.com/2014/05/

* * *

“Sorry means you feel the pulse of other people’s pain as well as your own, and saying it means you take a share of it. And so it binds us together, makes us trodden and sodden as one another. Sorry is a lot of things. It’s a hole refilled. A debt repaid. Sorry is the wake of misdeed. It’s the crippling ripple of consequence. Sorry is sadness, just as knowing is sadness. Sorry is sometimes self-pity. But Sorry, really, is not about you. It’s theirs to take or leave.

Sorry means you leave yourself open, to embrace or to ridicule or to revenge.Sorry is a question that begs forgiveness, because the metronome of a good heart won’t settle until things are set right and true. Sorry doesn’t take things back, but it pushes things forward. It bridges the gap. Sorry is a sacrament. It’s an offering. A gift.” – Craig Silvey

* * *

Gila National Forest

http://www.redbubble.com/people/vkpelham/works/5530274-gila-national-forest-new-mexico-usa

* * *

“Your dignity can be mocked, abused, compromised, toyed with, lowered and even badmouthed, but it can never be taken from you. You have the power today to reset your boundaries, restore your image, start fresh with renewed values and rebuild what has happened to you in the past.” – Shannon L. Alder

* * *

Jemez Falls in the Santa Fe National Forest

https://southwestdesertlover.wordpress.com/tag/landscape-photograph/

* * *

“When someone you love dies, you are given the gift of “second chances”. Their eulogy is a reminder that the living can turn their lives around at any point. You’re not bound by the past; that is who you used to be. You’re reminded that your feelings are not who you are, but how you felt at that moment. Your bad choices defined you yesterday, but they are not who you are today. Your future doesn’t have to travel the same path with the same people. You can start over. You don’t have to apologize to people that won’t listen. You don’t have to justify your feelings or actions, during a difficult time in your life. You don’t have to put up with people that are insecure and want you to fail. All you have to do is walk forward with a positive outlook, and trust that God has a plan that is greater than the sorrow you left behind. The people of quality that were meant to be in your life won’t need you to explain the beauty of your heart. They already understand what being human is—-a roller coaster ride of emotions during rainstorms and sunshine, sprinkled with moments when you can almost reach the stars.” – Shannon L. Alder

* * *

Carson National Forest

http://www.wildlifearoundus.com/Nature/National-Parks/Carson-National-Forest/

* * *

“Relinquishing resentment is redemption” – Priyanka Deshmukh

* * *

40 acres Alamocita Creek NM

http://nmwestproperties.com/close-cibola-national-forest-state-lands-remote-rugged-grid-alamocita-creek-offers-40-acres-3500000/

* * *

“The greatest damage done by neglect, trauma or emotional loss is not the immediate pain they inflict but the long-term distortions they induce in the way a developing child will continue to interpret the world and her situation in it. All too often these ill-conditioned implicit beliefs become self-fulfilling prophecies in our lives. We create meanings from our unconscious interpretation of early events, and then we forge our present experiences from the meaning we’ve created. Unwittingly, we write the story of our future from narratives based on the past…Mindful awareness can bring into consciousness those hidden, past-based perspectives so that they no longer frame our worldview.’Choice begins the moment you disidentify from the mind and its conditioned patterns, the moment you become present…Until you reach that point, you are unconscious.’ …In present awareness we are liberated from the past.” – Gabor Mate’

* * *

“Perfection is an illusion. Allow yourself room to make mistakes and permission to be happy regardless of outcome.” – Dawn Gluskin

* * *

Petrified Forest National Park

https://greenv4.com/petrified-forest-buildings-named-national-treasure/

* * *

When you don’t have to ask for permission, innovation thrives.” – Steven Johnson

* * *

Petrified Forest National Park

http://www.conservationfund.org/projects/petrified-forest-national-park-arizona/

* * *

“Change occurs at the edges, without permission.” – Patti Digh

* * *

“What I’m looking for is not out there, it is in me.” – Helen Keller

* * *

Mesa Verde luminarias

http://southwestdesertlover.wordpress.com/tag/ancient-civilizations/

* * *

“I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to
succeed, but I am bound to live up to what light I have.” – Abraham Lincoln

* * *

Besh Ba Gowah

http://ag.arizona.edu/bta/luminarias.html

* * *

“Knowing can be a curse on a person’s life. I’d traded in a pack of lies for a pack of truth, and I didn’t know which one was heavier. Which one took the most strength to carry around? It was a ridiculous question, though, because once you know the truth, you can’t ever go back and pick up your suitcase of lies. Heavier or not, the truth is yours now.” – Sue Monk Kidd

* * *

Luminarias at Bandolier

http://mitzilinn.blogspot.com/2011/11/winter-scenes-in-new-mexico.html

* * *

“The truth may be puzzling. It may take some work to grapple with. It may be counterintuitive. It may contradict deeply held prejudices. It may not be consonant with what we desperately want to be true. But our preferences do not determine what’s true.” – Carl Sagan

* * *

Kiva with Luminarias

http://kuaua.com/2014/10/25/christmas-at-kuaua-12-7-14/

* * *

“Metaphors have a way of holding the most truth in the least space.” – Orson Scott Card

* * *

Mesa Verde

http://www.larrylindahl.com/magic-of-the-season/

* * *

“I beg you, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.” – Ranier Maria Rilke

* * *

Mesa Verde luminarias

http://www.gatewayreservations.com/cortez-and-mesa-verde-colorado/events/2011/december/mesa-verde-national-park-luminaria.html

* * *

“Truth is what is true, and it’s not necessarily factual. Truth and fact are not the same thing. Truth does not contradict or deny facts, but it goes through and beyond facts. This is something that it is very difficult for some people to understand. Truth can be dangerous.” – Madeleine L’Engle

* * *

“My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others. Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that?” – Bob Hope

* * *

Monument Valley

https://southwestdesertlover.wordpress.com/tag/christmas-at-monument-valley/

* * *

“When we recall Christmas past, we usually find that the simplest things – not the great occasions – give off the greatest glow of happiness.” – Bob Hope

* * *

Colorado National Monument

https://www.facebook.com/coloradonma

* * *

“Christmas is built upon a beautiful and intentional paradox; that the birth of the homeless should be celebrated in every home.” – G.K. Chesterton

* * *

Mount Shasta, California

http://snowbrains.com/noaa-15-forecasted-mt-shasta-ca-today/

* * *

“I wish we could put up some of the Christmas spirit in jars and open a jar of it every month.” – Harlan Miller

* * *

Farolitos Canyon Road

http://santafe.org/Visiting_Santa_Fe/Winter_Events/

* * *

“…freshly cut Christmas trees smelling of stars and snow and pine resin – inhale deeply and fill your soul with wintry night…” – John Geddes

* * *

Chaco Canyon

http://www.spiritofchacoblog.com/chaco_canyon/

* * *

“What is the spirit of Christmas, you ask?  Let me give you the answer in a true story…
On a cold day in December, feeling especially warm in my heart for no other reason than it was the holiday season, I walked through the store sporting a big grin on my face.  Though most people were far too busy going about their business to notice me, one elderly gentleman in a wheelchair brought his eyes up to meet mine as we neared each other traveling opposite directions.  He slowed in passing just long enough to speak to me.
“Now that’s a Christmas smile if I ever saw one,” he said.
My lips stretched to their limit in response, and I thanked him for the compliment.  Then we went our separate ways. But, as I thought about the man and how sweetly he’d touched me, I realized something simply wonderful!  In that brief, passing interaction we’d exchanged heartfelt gifts!
And that, my friend, is the spirit of Christ~mas. ” – Richelle E. Goodrich

* * *

Grand Canyon

http://www.utahstyleanddesign.com/blog/2012/11/28/winter-getaway-at-the-grand-canyon/

* * *

“It’s been my experience that most folk who ride trains could care less where they’re going. For them it’s the journey itself and the people they meet along the way. You see, at every stop this train makes, a little bit of America, a little bit of your country, gets on and says hello. That’s why trains are so popular at Christmas. People get on to meet their country over the holidays. They’re looking for some friendship, a warm body to talk to. People don’t rush on a train, because that’s not what trains are for. How do you put a dollar value on that? What accounting line does that go on?” – David Baldacci, The Christmas Train

* * *

“Sometimes our light goes out, but is blown again into instant flame by an encounter with another human being.” – Albert Schweitzer

* * *

Hovenweep National Monument

http://www.aguntherphotography.com/on-location/hovenweep-national-monument.html

* * *

“Life is an experimental journey undertaken involuntarily. It is a journey of the spirit through the material world and, since it is the spirit that travels, it is the spirit that is experienced. That is why there exist contemplative souls who have lived more intensely, more widely, more tumultuously than others who have lived their lives purely externally.” – Fernando Pessoa

* * *

Lowry Pueblo, Canyons of the Ancients

http://www.annestravels.net/lowry-pueblo/

* * *

“Perhaps the most “spiritual” thing any of us can do is simply to look through our own eyes, see with eyes of wholeness, and act with integrity and kindness.” – Job Zabat-Zinn

* * *

Canyon of the Ancients

http://memespp.com/pueblo-co-mountains/

* * *

“Each person you meet
is an aspect of yourself,
clamoring for love.” – Eric Michael Levanthal

* * *

Canyons of the Ancients

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/03/30/714828/-Good-News-Omnibus-Public-Lands-Bill-is-now-Law

* * *

“…real care means the willingness to help each other in making our brokenness into the gateway to joy.” – Henri J.M. Nouwen

* * *

Sand Canyon area in Canyons of the Ancients

http://www.blm.gov/co/st/en/nm/canm/artist_in_residence.html

* * *

“Grace is darkness and light, peacefully co-existing, as illumination.” – Jaeda De Walt

* * *

Grand Staircase National Monument

http://www.rubysinn.com/escalante-national-monument.html

* * *

“You see what you choose to see, because all perception is a choice.
And when you cease to impose your meanings on what you see,
your spiritual eyes will open, and you will see a world free of judgment
and shining in its endless beauty.” – Paul Ferrini

* * *

“Hope
Smiles from the threshold of the year to come,
Whispering ‘it will be happier’…” – Alfred Tennyson

* * *

Rocky Mountains Snow Hoosier Pass Pine Trees Winter Colorado Forest Rustic Cabin Lodge Photograph

https://www.etsy.com/listing/122541405/rocky-mountains-snow-hoosier-pass-pine

* * *

“In this new year, may you have a deep understanding of your true value and worth, an absolute faith in your unlimited potential, peace of mind in the midst of uncertainty, the confidence to let go when you need to, acceptance to replace your resistance, gratitude to open your heart, the strength to meet your challenges, great love to replace your fear, forgiveness and compassion for those who offend you, clear sight to see your best and true path, hope to dispel obscurity, the conviction to make your dreams come true, meaningful and rewarding synchronicities, dear friends who truly know and love you, a childlike trust in the benevolence of the universe, the humility to remain teachable, the wisdom to fully embrace your life exactly as it is, the understanding that every soul has its own course to follow, the discernment to recognize your own unique inner voice of truth, and the courage to learn to be still.” – Janet Rebhan

* * *

“Truly powerful people don’t explain why they want respect. They simply don’t engage someone who doesn’t give it to them.” – Sherry Argov

* * *

Comb Ridge

http://www.expeditionutah.com/forum/showthread.php?p=672

* * *

“Some seem to be born with a nearly completed puzzle. And so it goes. Souls going this way and that, trying to assemble the myriad parts.

But know this.  No one has within themselves all the pieces to their puzzle. Like before the days when they used to seal jigsaw puzzles in cellophane. Insuring that all the pieces were there.

Everyone carries with them at least one and probably many pieces to someone else’s puzzle. Sometimes they know it. Sometimes they don’t.

And when you present your piece which is worthless to you, to another, whether you know it or not, whether they know it or not, you are a messenger…” – Lawrence Kushner

* * *

Monument Uplift and Comb Ridge

http://www.airphotona.com/image.asp?imageid=17203

* * *

“But many of us seek community solely to escape the fear of being alone. Knowing how to be solitary is central to the art of loving. When we can be alone, we can be with others without using them as a means of escape.” – Bell Hooks

* * *

Comb Ridge

http://southwestdesertlover.wordpress.com/tag/southeastern-utah/

* * *

“When there is no connection at all between people, then anger is a way of bringing them closer together, of making contact. But when there is a great deal of connectedness that is problematic or threatening or unacknowledged, then anger is a way of keeping people separate, of putting distance between us.” – Audre Lorde

* * *

Comb Ridge

http://www.sjrnews.com/pages/full_story/push?image-3XVZ-3-14-PoW-Shumway-comb-air-jpg%20&id=17869476&instance=week_feature_photo

* * *

“It is so beautiful to see a relationship that is nourished and fueled by a love expressed with action.” – Steve Maraboli

* * *

“Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren’t.” – Margaret Thatcher

* * *

Lake Shasta

http://www.ztopics.com/Lake%20Shasta/

* * *

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a
listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all
of which have the potential to turn a life around.” – Leo Buscaglia

* * *

Trinity Lake

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_Lake

* * *

“I have a formula for knowing if the next step is the right one: If you feel both excited and scared, that is it. If you’re just excited and not afraid, there is no challenge, no stretching, no initiation; you are still in your safe zone, and growth is unavailable. If you’re just afraid, there is no positive motivation. Why walk through fear unless there is something you are walking toward? But if you are simultaneously turned on and frightened, do it and watch your growth skyrocket.

You owe it to yourself, your loved ones and your clients to stay on your cutting edge. If your career or relationship is a bore, step back and ask yourself what it would take to make it exciting. Then ask yourself what it would take to make it scary. The intersection of the two answers is your point of power.” – Alan Cohen

* * *

Middle McCloud Falls

http://www.backcountryroads.com/node/8

* * *

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.” – William Hutchinson Murray

* * *

Whiskeytown-Shasta-Trinity National Recreation Area

http://www.everytrail.com/destination/whiskeytown-shasta-trinity-national-recreation-area

* * *

“Truly powerful people have great humility. They do not try to impress, they do not try to be influential. They simply are. People are magnetically drawn to them. They are most often very silent and focused, aware of their core selves. … They never persuade, nor do they use manipulation or aggressiveness to get their way. They listen. If there is anything they can offer to assist you, they offer it; if not, they are silent.” – Sanaya Roman

* * *

Mount Shasta

http://www.creia.org/shasta—cascade-chapter

* * *

“Sometimes the words people don’t say are as powerful as the ones they do.” – Ann E. Burg

* * *

Shasta-Trinity National Forest: Middle Falls

http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g32755-d106375-i101025234-Shasta_Trinity_National_Forest-Mount_Shasta_California.html

* * *

“All stories have a curious and even dangerous power. They are manifestations of truth — yours and mine. And truth is all at once the most wonderful yet terrifying thing in the world, which makes it nearly impossible to handle. It is such a great responsibility that it’s best not to tell a story at all unless you know you can do it right. You must be very careful, or without knowing it you can change the world.” – Vera Nazarian

* * *

Deadlun Campground

http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/stnf/recreation/recarea/?recid=6434&actid=29

* * *

“One of our people in the Native community said the difference between white people and Indians is that Indian people know they are oppressed but don’t feel powerless. White people don’t feel oppressed, but feel powerless. Deconstruct that disempowerment. Part of the mythology that they’ve been teaching you is that you have no power. Power is not brute force and money; power is in your spirit. Power is in your soul. It is what your ancestors, your old people gave you. Power is in the earth; it is in your relationship to the earth.” – Winona LaDuke

* * *

“The patterns we perceive are determined by the stories we want to believe.” – John Verndon

* * *

Lone Pine from Mount Whitney

http://therealoutdoorsman.com/2014/09/03/mount-whitney/

* * *

“When you delete impossible from your thinking, you give yourself permission to imagine, to believe, to try, and to accomplish phenomenal things.” – Richelle E. Goodrich

* * *

Mount Whitney Crest

http://www.sierradescents.com/photos/whitney/mount-whitney-crest.html

* * *

“Nothing profound ever happens in your life when you remain in your comfort zone.” – Bill Courtney

* * *

“A person who never made a mistake, never tried anything new” – Albert Einstein

* * *

Milsap Falls Plumas National Park

http://swimmingholesofcalifornia.blogspot.com/2013/09/milsap-bar-falls-swimming-hole-plumas.html

* * *

“Life requires us to do things anyway, despite what sort of fear or monster or tragedy or suffering lurks behind that anyway.” – Richelle E. Goodrich

* * *

Plumas National Forest

http://ayay.co.uk/background/scenic/snow/Plumas-National-Forest-California/

* * *

“Don’t be afraid to try, because you never look back on life and smile at what you could have attempted. Joy only brightens your countenance over those things you did attempt.” – Richelle E. Goodrich

* * *

“Living with integrity means: Not settling for less than what you know you deserve in your relationships. Asking for what you want and need from others. Speaking your truth, even though it might create conflict or tension. Behaving in ways that are in harmony with your personal values. Making choices based on what you believe, and not what others believe.” – Barbara De Angelis

* * *

Pueblo Bonito

http://www.larrylindahl.com/the-ancients-in-chaco-canyon/

* * *

“In a room where
people unanimously maintain
a conspiracy of silence,
one word of truth
sounds like a pistol shot.” – Czeslaw Milosz

* * *

Chaco Sun Dagger

http://discoverhistorictravel.com/archaeoastronomy/

* * *

“Integrity is not a conditional word. It doesn’t blow in the wind or change with the weather. It is your inner image of yourself, and if you look in there and see a man who won’t cheat, then you know he never will. Integrity is not a search for the rewards of integrity. Maybe all you ever get for it is the largest kick in the ass the world can provide. It is not supposed to be a productive asset.” – John D. MacDonald

* * *

Doorway in Pueblo Bonito

http://sarweb.org/?lecture_energy_consumption_and_the_rise_of_chacoan_society

* * *

“A mode of conduct, a standard of courage, discipline, fortitude and integrity can do a great deal to make a woman beautiful.” – Jacqueline Bisset

* * *

Chaco Culture National Historical Park

http://galleryhip.com/chaco-culture-national-historical-park-camping.html

* * *

“Within the depths of authenticity lives integrity; waiting for our return. When we arrive, we are met with effortless joy, abundant living, peace and wholeness–nothing lacking, nothing broken. This is soul equanimity, the state of pure alignment with will of Source and will of self.” – LeShaun Middlebrooks Collier

* * *

Chaco Canyon

http://wilderness.org/blog/oil-and-gas-drilling-could-dim-night-sky-chaco-canyon

* * *

“It makes me sad that so many people feel they’re only allowed to show their best face, while their humanity and vulnerabilities are forbidden and hidden. How else do we connect, but by commonality, by mutual understanding and truth in life’s experiences? Whether it makes you smile or cringe, a truth spoken is a healing thing.”  – Jennifer DdeLucy

* * *

Chaco Canyon National Historical Park

http://www.summitpost.org/chaco-canyon-new-mexico/622734

* * *

“Integrity is congruence between what you know, what you profess, and what you do.” – Nathaniel Branden

* * *

“The world of my work is changing, and my professional identity, direction and security are unsettled.

It seems discouraging to think of all the time and effort I have invested. It seems like a sacrifice. Perhaps I can begin to understand the original meaning of the word: “to make sacred”.

Perhaps this is a sacred passage in which my insecurity is sacrificed for trust in whatever is to come.

As one form dissolves, another takes its place. My work now is to seek and to recognize a new form that will provide the opportunity for growth and reward.” – Noela N. Evans

* * *

Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks

http://katiejorentz.blogspot.com/2013/11/kings-canyon-and-sequoia-national-parks.html

* * *

“One source of frustration in the workplace is the frequent mismatch between what people must do and what
people can do. When what they must do exceeds their capabilities, the result is anxiety. When what they must do falls short of their capabilities,
the result is boredom. But when the
match is just right, the results can be glorious. This is the essence of flow.” – Daniel H. Pink

* * *

Kings Canyon National Park

http://terraphotographica.com/blog/

* * *

“Whatever you make, base it upon that which is most important to you. Only then will it have depth and meaning, and only then will it resonate with others.” – Christopher Paolini

* * *

Sequoia KCNP

http://mowryjournal.com/2014/01/07/winter-in-the-sierra/

* * *

“I often think about dogs when I think about work and retirement. There are many breeds of dog that just need to be working, and useful, or have a job of some kind, in order to be happy. Otherwise they are neurotically barking, scratching, or tearing up the sofa. A working dog needs to work. And I am a working dog.” – Martha Sherrill

* * *

Sequoia Grove

http://www.artinnaturephotography.com/photo/snowy-winter-sequoia-grove/

* * *

“Imagine that you are stuck on a long train ride and must choose one of two books to read in order to pass the time: the first is a novel whose main character is an office worker who is essentially working to pay his monthly cable bill; the second is about someone who decides to travel in South America (and of course encounters various setbacks in the process), but who pushes beyond the boundaries of conventional American life. Which… book would you pick up to read? Indeed, which of the two characters would you rather be?” – Mark Thompson

* * *