“If you wait until you’re ready, you’ll wait forever.”

        https://joan-reese.pixels.com/featured/a-beautiful-porch-view-joan-reese.html?newartwork=true

     Persistent lateness is a form of passive aggression.   

    by Joan Reese

The wheels of history are turning towards the light!

        https://joan-reese.pixels.com/featured/wheels-of-history-joan-reese.html?newartwork=true

“Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it. Embracing our vulnerabilities is risky but not nearly as dangerous as giving up on love and belonging and joy—the experiences that make us the most vulnerable. Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.” 

― Brene Brown

“The greatest show of all times!”

                             https://joan-reese.pixels.com/featured/autumn-memories-joan-reese.html

“May you Fall in love with October

and all the beauty it brings,

May your life be as colorful as

the turning of the leaves,

On each blessed autumn day” 

― Charmaine J. Forde

"This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave."

https://joan-reese.pixels.com/featured/lady-liberty-joan-reese.html?product=canvas-print

“Give me your tired, your poor, 
Your huddled masses yearning to 
breathe free, 
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. 
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me: 
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.” 
― Emma Lazarus

Love is a verb!

                         https://joan-reese.pixels.com/featured/loving-americans-joan-reese.html

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” – 1 Corinthians 13:4

It takes a long time to grow an old friend.

Beautiful memories are like old friends. They may not always be on your mind, but they are forever in your heart.

The journey of life is more exciting when you unlock your imagination.

                        https://joan-reese.pixels.com/featured/the-oculus-joan-reese.html

Knowing oneself comes from attending with compassionate curiosity to what is happening within.― Gabor Maté

Brooklyn is the new Manhattan

                         https://joan-reese.pixels.com/featured/brooklyn-bridge-joan-reese.html

I come from nowhere Brooklyn, New York. Williamsburg, Brooklyn. These days Williamsburg is a hip area, but when I grew up there, the taxi drivers wouldn't even go over the bridge, it was so dangerous.  Barry Manilow

“Celebrate your journey of life.”

                    https://joan-reese.pixels.com/featured/grandpops-balloons-joan-reese.html

“I've told my children that when I die, to release balloons in the sky to celebrate that I graduated. For me, death is a graduation.” 

― Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

And all your future lies beneath your hat.

https://joan-reese.pixels.com/featured/black-top-hat-joan-reese.html?newartwork=true

Who shall measure the hat and violence of the poet's heart when caught and tangled in a woman's body? 
Virginia Woolf

“Whatever gets you through the night”

https://joan-reese.pixels.com/featured/1967-beat-time-pinball-joan-reese.html?newartwork=true

“There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance. We need to learn to love ourselves first, in all our glory and our imperfections. If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot fully open to our ability to love others or our potential to create. Evolution and all hopes for a better world rest in the fearlessness and open-hearted vision of people who embrace life.” 

― John Lennon

Forgiveness is the final form of love

             https://joan-reese.pixels.com/featured/3-bushwick-brooklyn-graffitti-joan-reese.html

You will know that forgiveness has begun when you recall those who hurt you and feel the power to wish them well. 

Lewis B. Smedes

Life is the dancer and you are the dance.

                https://joan-reese.pixels.com/featured/blue-lady-dancer-joan-reese.html?newartwork=true

“In today's rush we all think too much, seek too much, want too much and forget about the joy of just Being.” 

― Eckhart Tolle

The essential ingredient of change is timing.

https://joan-reese.pixels.com/featured/rainbow-church-joan-reese.html?newartwork=true

A gender-equal society would be one where the word 'gender' does not exist: where everyone can be themselves.
Gloria Steinem

Dedicated to the union of 

 Chax and Rick

Creativity is God’s gift to us.

https://joan-reese.pixels.com/featured/west-cornwell-connecticut-joan-reese.html

Everything that's created comes out of silence. Your thoughts emerge from the nothingness of silence. Your words come out of this void. Your very essence emerged from emptiness. All creativity requires some stillness. Wayne Dyer

Study the past, if you would divine the future.

                             https://joan-reese.pixels.com/featured/pawn-shop-joan-reese.html

In a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of.    Confucius

To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.

               https://joan-reese.pixels.com/featured/phone-alone-joan-reese.html?newartwork=true

The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.   Friedrich Nietzsche

Dreams don’t work unless you do

              https://joan-reese.pixels.com/featured/boat-building-tools-joan-reese.html?newartwork=true

Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. Steve Jobs

“If you live in harmony with nature, both nature and you win!”

                 https://joan-reese.pixels.com/featured/koi-fish-joan-reese.html?newartwork=true

“The orange of the golden carp appeared at the edge of the pond. . . . We watched in silence at the beauty and grandeur of the great fish. Out of the corners of my eyes I saw Cico hold his hand to his breast as the golden carp glided by. Then with a switch of his powerful tail the golden carp disappeared into the shadowy water under the thicket.” 

― Rudolfo Anaya

“We have to speak up on behalf of those who cannot speak for themselves.”

                         https://joan-reese.pixels.com/featured/cow-face-close-up-joan-reese.html

"Let us remember that animals are not mere resources for human consumption. They are splendid beings in their own right, who have evolved alongside us as co-inheritors of all the beauty and abundance of life on this planet" ― Marc Bekoff

Gifting flowers speak volumes

https://fineartamerica.com/featured/central-park-cherry-blossoms-joan-reese.html?viewall=true

My lover gave me beautiful red roses 

To express his love on my birthday

God carpets my walkways with rainbow colored flowers

To remind me I am loved every day.      Joan Reese

“The essence of pleasure is spontaneity.”

                         https://joan-reese.pixels.com/featured/dancing-girl-union-square-nyc-joan-reese.html

“I guess sometimes the greatest memories are made in the most unlikely of places, further proof that spontaneity is more rewarding than a meticulously planned life.” 

― J.A. Redmerski

Knock on the sky and hear the sounds

                          https://joan-reese.pixels.com/featured/good-morning-ac-joan-reese.html

There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.

Dalai Lama

One-half of knowing what you want is knowing what you must give up before you get it.

https://joan-reese.pixels.com/featured/final-closing-joan-reese.html?newartwork=true

Sometimes in life, you do things you don't want to. Sometimes you sacrifice, sometimes you compromise. Sometimes you let go and sometimes you fight. It's all about deciding what's worth losing and what's worth keeping

Lindy Zart

The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering.

https://joan-reese.pixels.com/featured/do-not-go-gentle-into-that-good-night-joan-reese.html?newartwork=true

If something comes to life in others because of you, then you have made an approach to immortality.    Norman Cousins