“We are travelers on a cosmic journey, stardust, swirling and dancing in the eddies and whirlpools of infinity. Life is eternal. We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share.This is a precious moment. It is a little parenthesis in eternity.” ~ Paulo Coelho

When I was a little girl, I used to play for hours in our woods; zipping through trails and letting the branches scratch across my face. I would spend my day exploring those woods—just long enough for my shoes to become completely and totally encased in mud. And only when it was that I finally lost my breath, and my eight-year-old muscles would give way—only then, would I stop just long enough to look around and take in the magnificence of all that surrounded me.

I grew up in those woods, and each year these paths welcomed me with the sweetest of embrace. Not once, did they ever grow tired of my incessant racing back and forth, and they never seemed to mind the awful mess these small feet left in their place. And though, I know it must sound strange, but in my 8 year-old head—I believed these paths were just as excited to see me. That, in some way these woods and I enjoyed a most special ‘bond.’

I have always felt ‘connected’ with my surroundings, even at such a young age. To this day, I like to think that we are all woven into this fabric of everything and all that has been. And as I breathe in this thought, I think about all that I am, and all that I have been—but mostly, I think of the ‘me’ that I is yet to be.

“Perhaps, what we are has always waited, hidden in the possibilities of creation, dispersed and unknowing in the rain and the wind that swept across Europe in the thirteenth century…in the heaving mountain ranges…in the clouds that rushed through the skies of other times and places. As dust particles, we may have blown past Greek doorways. We may have been sparked on and off into consciousness and unconsciousness a million times, touched by desire, by yearnings towards creativity and perfection we barely understood.” ~  Jane Roberts

And, as that thought settles in and the wondering begins, I look out from my patio and take in that same long, sweet breath I did when I was just a kid…and I can see myself in everything that surrounds me.

I see myself in the grass, and in the trees.

I feel my breath in the crispness of this morning breeze.

I hear my own song reflected back to me through the twittering chirps of the birds gathering just outside my windowsill.

What a wonderful way to begin this day, to see ourselves in the soul of inspiration.

We are all magnificent, in our very own way—so much so that our very presence has the capacity to inspire greatness.

And yet, so many of us our unaware, or worse yet, blind to this light that shines so brightly and deeply from within. We forget that it’s this very light that provides us with purpose and strength; we underestimate the value that it brings.

We are all…so very…uniquely and magnificently brilliant—just like all those many stars that shine down from the heavens above.

Or, perhaps, we are those stars?

And just maybe, someone else, is ‘out there’ sipping their coffee and wondering all of these very same things?

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Ed: Kate Bartolotta