Quietude

«Having confirmed her suspicions she directed again her attention to what was happening outside. This was one of the typical diverting maneuvers, that were part of a complex strategy, created and refined by her, in order to avoid or try to postpone, for as long as she could, the inevitability of having to deal with every kind of painful situations that came her way.» 

                                                 By Raquel R. in Short Story number 12

«The body shuts down when it has too much to bear; goes its own way quietly inside, waiting for a better time, leaving you numb and half alive.» 

                                                                                    Jeanette Winterson 

Image Raquel R.

No words

«She was sure that if she looked directly at him she would see two deeply carved wrinkles on his forehead, right between the eyebrows, shaping an odd frown, which was one of the most reliable indicators of the state of his mood.» 

                                                  By Raquel R. in Short Story number 12

«I think communication starts when words are not present at all … I think we put so much emphasis on language, actually silence is so much more important.» 

                                                                                       Marina Abramovic  

                                              Image by Raquel Rosário

Divinely aware

«Comfortably seated on the passenger’s seat, and although feeling a bit weary from the long drive, she still managed to maintain her senses on alert mode to absorb all the changes, like a curious and enthusiastic spectator.» 

                                                 By Raquel R. in Short Story number 12 

 «The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.» 

                                                                                                   Henry Miller 

   Image by Raquel R.

Infinite beauty

«Through the slightly smudged car windows, the sifting peculiarities of the landscape, flashed before her attentive eyes, like the picture frames of an old motion picture. As the car rapidly progressed on the road, those changes became gradually more visible and easily recognizable.» 

                                                 By Raquel R. in Short Story number 12

«Nature is painting for us, day after day, pictures of infinite beauty if only we have the eyes to see them.» 

                                                                                                 John Ruskin 

                                                 Image by Raquel R.

Silence

«The profound silence of the nocturnal hours has always been one of the factors that impressed him the most in those lone night incursions, but in order to fully benefit from that experience, he needed to empty his head from all the gibberish talk that had been overpowering his thoughts and allow this peaceful state, resulting from the absence of noise, to impregnate his mind, like a sponge gladly welcomes the liquid element which will transform its barren matter into a fertile receptacle of life.» 

                                                  By Raquel R. in Short Story number 11

«A few times in my life I’ve had moments of absolute clarity. When for a few brief seconds the silence drowns out the noise and I can feel rather than think, and things seem so sharp and the world seems so fresh. It’s as though it had all just come into existence. I can never make these moments last. I cling to them, but like everything, they fade. I have lived my life on these moments. They pull me back to the present, and I realize that everything is exactly the way it was meant to be.» 

                                                                             Christopher Isherwood 

Photo Raquel R.

You are here

«At a distance, a flock of seagulls errantly circled in the air and its occasional squawking calls indicated that she was not the only one out there.» 

                                                  By Raquel R. in Short Story number 10

«That you are here - that life exists and identify, That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.»

                                                                                                          Walt Whitman  

                                                                 Photo Raquel R.

«Numb with beauty»

«Suddenly, there it was. First, just a glimpse of it. Then, as a prelude before the final revelation of the magnificent element, the daylight slightly changed its intensity by becoming brighter, and after a set of sand dunes, the open ocean was finally right in front of her.» 

                                                  By Raquel R. in Short Story number 10

«You know a moment is important when it is making your mind so numb with beauty.»

                                                                                                Friedrich Nietzsche 

                                                               Photo Raquel R.

Behold

«Like she expected, just right in front of her, the horizon gradually enlarged and the landscape flattened, as she left behind the tall concrete buildings and other effective indicators of the illusory human domain over nature and entered the sacred realm of one of the most magical territories.» 

                                                  By Raquel R. in Short Story number 10

«A man sees in the world what he carries in his heart.»

                                                                                                                     Goethe 

                                                               Photo Raquel R.

Life is simple

«1.Deliberately neglect time and its effects. The alarm clock is no longer the villain of the day as it was coercively downgraded to a merely figurative role.» 

                                                                                                     

                                               By  Raquel R. in My Perfect Summer Day

                                                                                                                                                

« Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.»

                                                                                                            Confucious 

                                                                Photo Raquel R.

«Simple Act of Waiting»

«She had been relentlessly enduring her search with serenity on her heart and a smile on her face, for she realized that certain things cannot be forced, as they demand from the future bearers a meticulous preparation, which can only be earned by the sum of all the defeats.» 

                                                   By Raquel R. in Short Story number 7 

 «I still haven’t found you, but I wait patiently for the day you come into my life. The thoughts of you in my dreams are worth all the lonely nights. I will fill my heart with love until the day I have the chance to give it all to you.»

                                                                                                   William Chapman

                                                         Photo Steve MCCurry 

«The road is everywhere»

«For now, his journey was over but he knew that others will follow. When that moment arrived again, he would be ready to leave, carrying hope in his heart.»

                                                  By Raquel R. in Short Story number 5 

“Not I, nor anyone else can travel that road for you.

You must travel it by yourself.

It is not far. It is within reach.

Perhaps you have been on it since you were born, and did not know. 

Perhaps it is everywhere - on water and land.” 

Walt Whitman

Nicolas Bouvier via Colossal

The quest

«He closed his eyes and recognized that every hazard he had endured throughout his perilous journey, was not in vain, for he had finally reached his destination. That conviction made the moment even more precious to him.» 

                                                   By Raquel R. in Short Story number 5 

 Life

Let me but live my life from year to year,

With forward face and unreluctant soul;

Not hurrying to, nor turning from the goal;

Not mourning for the things that disappear

In the dim past, nor holding back in fear

From what the future veils; but with a whole

And happy heart, that pays its toll

To Youth and Age, and travels on with cheer.

So let the way wind up the hill or down,

O'er rough or smooth, the journey will be joy:

Still seeking what I sought when but a boy,

New friendship, high adventure, and a crown,

My heart will keep the courage of the quest,

And hope the road's last turn will be the best.

Henry Van Dyke

Happy ending

«On those occasions, he clung to the certainty that he was not alone in this journey. Many others were on the way, and like him, struggled to remain faithful to the hope of a happy ending.» 

                                                   By Raquel R. in Short Story number 5 

«We don’t receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us.»

                                                                                              Marcel Proust 

«The nature of your battle»

 «He gathered all his strength, adjusted his actions to the new circumstances and resumed his walk.»

                                         By Raquel R. in Short Story number 5

 «Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you desired can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it’s yours.» 

                                                                                                     Ayn Rand 

                                              Image  by Raquel R.