From dragons to princesses

One of the things I love most about the camera is its ability to reveal the beauty in the humble and ordinary stuff of life -- so I would of course appreciate the work of this garden designer, who takes the humble stuff of life -- old chairs, driftwood, old toys -- and makes it extraordinarily appealing.

... which may be why this quote, which I'm pretty sure I've shared here before, though I found it in a different source, always strikes me as fresh and new and wonderful.  This time it's couched in Welwood's words, from his book, Ordinary Magic:

"In the most painful corners of our experience something alive always wants to come forth, as the poet Rilke suggests:

'Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act just once, with beauty and courage.  Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that needs our love.'

So whatever pain or problem we have, if it helps us find a quality of presence -- where we can open to it, see it, feel it, include it, and find the truth concealed in it -- that is our healing. "