• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Leslie Ralph

  • Welcome Gifts
  • About
    • About
    • Leslie Elsewhere
  • Portfolio
    • Books & Programs
    • Spoken Word
    • Inspiration
    • Art
    • For Children (and the Young at Heart)
  • Contact

Lightness

For looking deeper in painful times and smiling at yourself with compassion.

November 17, 2019 By Leslie Ralph Leave a Comment

And I smiled. It was the most amazing thing. – from There, I Might Find Peace I once was caught in the blackest night. A starless sky hung over me. Not even the moon could light the way. The cavernous great beyond swooped in to swallow me. Shadows danced upon shadows. They tapped my wrist,…

Read More

Filed Under: Books, Compassion, Lightness, Love You, Poetry, Short Stories Tagged With: clarity, compassion, compassion always, compassion heals, self-compassion, There I Might Find Peace

Do it for the way it feels and the feelings it grows.

October 8, 2019 By Leslie Ralph Leave a Comment

You can multiply the good feelings in life through your intention to nurture them, the gentleness with which you hold them, and the generous spirit with which you engage them. The good feelings in life don’t need to be used sparingly. They don’t need to be exchanged for something more valuable. Nor hidden, nor hoarded. There’s…

Read More

Filed Under: Compassion, Lightness, Live Free, Live Happy, Poetry

Something to tide you over through the doubt. (To rooting for goodness.)

October 1, 2019 By Leslie Ralph Leave a Comment

  Children run and shout outside my house. Bruised knees and sticky hands speak of good sweat and endless summers. Children look out from the tv screen with fear and hunger in their eyes. Some have no shoes, no parents. Some have innocence in them yet. She sings an aria onstage. Her elegant gown sparkles…

Read More

Filed Under: Courage, Good Work, Grounding, Lightness Tagged With: compassion always, compassion heals, goodness, healing the world, self-compassion

Open, open, open…you will be soft wonderment. 🌱

September 3, 2019 By Leslie Ralph Leave a Comment

red illustrated flower with text that reads to everything you possibly can, say, you will grow into something beautiful I think

They knew her as Dream Girl, Child of Awe. She lived in the fields just outside town. Gardens surrounded her home, and beyond that a wall with a great door. You could find her balancing atop the wall, listening. Her bare feet felt for familiar stones, ruddy cheeks turned toward the sky. “Feel how soft…

Read More

Filed Under: Compassion, Expansion, Grounding, Lightness, Short Stories, Story Tagged With: compassion always, grow through everything, radical acceptance

For the serenity, love, and grace in you.

August 11, 2019 By Leslie Ralph Leave a Comment

Serenity, Love, and Grace are my oldest friends. Before I knew their names or understood the magnitude of their tender power, I felt the peace and strength their presence gave. These dear, old friends taught me the art of looking and listening inward. In watchful stillness, they stand sentinel over me today, waving me back…

Read More

Filed Under: Grounding, Lightness, Love You Tagged With: inner peace, radical acceptance, self-compassion, serenity

They say there’s a reason we’re here

July 22, 2019 By Leslie Ralph Leave a Comment

They say the stars have consciousness. Do you think they dream? And what of? Do they search for us in the sky to wish upon? I wonder how many of our midnight confessions they’re keeping secret. They say the trees talk to each other. Do they dance together in the monsoon? And do they tell…

Read More

Filed Under: Expansion, Grounding, Lightness, Words

I Thought I Had Demons

May 27, 2019 By Leslie Ralph Leave a Comment

  I used to think there was something bad and broken in me. Some damaged bits hidden deep down, out of my reach.  They spoke to me, whispering riddles and sending me on impossible quests. They mocked my failure when I came back empty-handed.  Demons, I called them. Dragons, ghosts, skeletons, monsters.  I thought I…

Read More

Filed Under: Lightness, Live Free, Poetry, Short Stories Tagged With: beautiful heart, Courage, Expansion, Healing, Lightness, Look Inside, self-love

Words for Waking Up

May 13, 2019 By Leslie Ralph Leave a Comment

red and pink abstract watercolor with text that reads my new story begins today, I will tell it through the words of love until the word reflects it back to me, then, I will tell it again

Awake, fresh eyes crack. It hurts for just a second as dawn’s light washes me. After a long, walking sleep, I’m relieved to see the sun again. “Felt like night forever,” I say to her with a bittersweet mix of thanks and regret. “Thank you for waking me.” The monsters lurking in my room transform before me….

Read More

Filed Under: Lightness, Live Free, Poetry, Short Stories Tagged With: beautiful heart, Expansion, Healing, Lightness, Look Inside, Metamorphosis, self-love, Waking Up

Life’s always talking like that.

May 6, 2019 By Leslie Ralph Leave a Comment

I discovered a wildflower growing through a crack in the 3rd-floor landing. It’s baby blue face brought life to the concrete between the jewelry store and the ice cream shop. “What are you doing here?” I wanted to ask. But something in its easy stillness, the assuredness in its silence made me pause. It seemed…

Read More

Filed Under: Lightness, Poetry, Story Tagged With: Life, Magic, nature, Short Story, Simple Lessons

What Lies Beyond These Walls

April 29, 2019 By Leslie Ralph Leave a Comment

I long to tell her, “Yes, yes. Come this way.” But it’s best she hears it from inside. – Love.From Love, Child. Love.  There are walls upon walls upon walls in me, and I’ll admit it, I built them myself. I laid them down, brick by brick with my own two hands.  I used to see…

Read More

Filed Under: Expansion, Good Work, Lightness, Live Free, Love You, Words

  • Page 1
  • Page 2
  • Page 3
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 5
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Hi, I’m Leslie!

I'm a writer and artist on a mission to leave this world a little brighter than I found it. Read More…

you may have seen me on:

Simple Instructions for Loving Yourself

Poetry & Meditation for Inner Peace

A Shop for your Beautiful Heart:

NEW: Written Collection

NEW: Love Free Flowers poster from Love, Child. Love.

NEW: Goddess Poster

Spread Good

Copyright © 2025 — Leslie Ralph • All rights reserved. • Privacy Policy