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Leslie Ralph

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Live Free

Wishing you a year of gratitude, insight, and wide-open possibility.

December 29, 2019 By Leslie Ralph Leave a Comment

illustration of four flowers

On the eve of the new year, he stood on his balcony, leaning over just enough to feel it arrive. The promise and forgiveness of the night embraced him. He pictured the aches and worries of the last 12 months scatter in the winter wind and fly away. Only their lessons remained.   He listened to the…

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Filed Under: Clarity, Courage, Expansion, Grounding, Live Free, Live Happy, Love You, Self-Help, Short Stories

A few things I know about fear…and being brave.

October 31, 2019 By Leslie Ralph Leave a Comment

If you’ve ever hated your fear or wished it would disappear, if you’ve ever shamed it or rejected it…wait, and try this: “Thank you, Fear.” Go ahead and try it now. How does it sound in your voice? “Thank you, Fear, for your unconditional attention.” How does it feel in your body? “Thank you, Fear,…

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Filed Under: Courage, Expansion, For Courage, Live Free

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…

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

Let it all drop 🍃

August 21, 2019 By Leslie Ralph Leave a Comment

Once, I was a falcon, or at least I tried to be. Fast and focused, I was quick to act, quick to think, never a moment wasted. I wanted to fly the farthest and be the most ruthless. I carried with me always a sense of urgency, as if to say, “Look how much I…

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Filed Under: Expansion, Grounding, Live Free, Love You Tagged With: fear, groundedness, how to have your back, pain, self-compassion, self-love

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…

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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….

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

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…

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

Where there was fear now stands love.

April 2, 2019 By Leslie Ralph Leave a Comment

I sat at the shore, watching the water come and go. Beside me sat a basket filled with bottles, each one containing a note about my past and my secrets. Something’s wrong with me, one said. It broke me, said another. I can’t forgive myself for it. No one can ever know. For years, I kept the…

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Filed Under: Expansion, Grounding, Lightness, Live Free, Live Happy, Love You, Short Stories, Words Tagged With: healing stories, letting go, new beginnings, self-compassion, self-love, short stories, stories for healing, story, transformation

This is life, as far as I can see.

March 11, 2019 By Leslie Ralph Leave a Comment

abstract watercolor with text that reads: As far as I can see, it will be me who restores this heart to peace

As far as I can see, there’s been nothing wrong with me. But all this time, I thought I was broken. All this time, I feared what I might find inside. All this time, I saw myself as unsafe. And all this time, I wondered why I hadn’t fixed it yet. As far as I…

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Filed Under: Live Free, Love You, Poetry, Words Tagged With: acceptance, inner peace, mindfulness, self-acceptance, self-compassion, self-love, words of wisdom

To the voice in my head, I love you.

March 5, 2019 By Leslie Ralph Leave a Comment

She’d tell me all the ways I wasn’t enough, and I’d shrink at her words. It’s not big enough, grand enough, fast enough. You’re not smart enough, kind enough, good enough. I don’t feel pleased enough, proud enough, sure enough, she said. I could do anything to set it right, but it was never enough, and…

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Filed Under: Grounding, Lightness, Live Free, Love You, Words Tagged With: acceptance, healing words, letting go, radical acceptance, self-acceptance, self-compassion, self-love

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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

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