Essentially. . .

Pregnant in the morning. photographer unknown. 

Pregnant. Titled: "Waiting New Life" by Jose Sanabria, who lives in Spain.

"The special sense of being important is in the essence of becoming a better man as a father, and more than ordinary becoming a mother for a woman. Translating from one sense of being is growth; growth is the substance that launched us into the realm of existence. It was Will, Intent, Purpose, and Substances that congregated to become..." - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 11/14/18 


Women's Portraits Only (WPO) 

Some Beauty in our World.

Wildlife. Leaf Grasshopper in Calicut, India caught by Joby Varghese's Nikon camera 

D4S,90 mm-1/250,f/22,@320. 

"What makes you think you are better than reptiles when each one of you have a reptilian brain?" asked the lizard one day. - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories 9/28/18

Wildlife. Oriental garden lizard in Calicut, Kerala, India taken 

by Joby Varghese back in December 2017.

Hidden, you would not know less I told...

Susan Sarandon's beauty rest deep within...

"After a recent bout with death Life is refreshed in deep impenetrable ways. This is the first thing I have written since for others... As I relearn some basic things, like handwriting, my heart sings with the new, the different in the same, but differently!" - Heart Song Stone Man (Gregory E. Woods) 7/22/18 

Sylvie, the dream of a wonder.

A G I N G . . .

Old lady's contemplative beauty. Iris V. Arnim by David Goltz

You see, therein lies a contradiction to the statement, "for all beauties the time is not easy..." Time and beauty are of an exploratory nature. They require of those admiring beauty to alter their perceptions to see beauty evolve over time with the quickening of the soul towards physical death. It is a mystery, this dance, but it is the dance of living, and the cost of terrestrial life, to watch the evolving cycles.

Gina Lollobrigida engaging...

We all wonder about the life forces of others while we are alive, and because our life force vibrates we, sometimes, hope we will find and retrieve something that will prolong Life for us from another soul! It is a quick impulse not to be ashamed of, but to build upon; first, with speculation at a distance and then up close because the pulsation of Life within us has its own cadence within Life-Death-Resurrection!

It is wonderful the way these things circulate through our thoughts uncaring whether we resolve the riddle of existence or not. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 5/17/17

What He Said.

By Debashish Bhattacharya

"If god would like me to stop playing I would stop. Until then, I'm unstoppable.....

The purpose of life is to live the life. The purpose of life is to learn our life all the way from the beginning to the end. I feel the life force in the music which inspires the life force in the life which inspires the musicians inside the music."

The Book of Life as the Universe.

Submitting to the idea that millions of other places in the universe people, as we understand Life, are living lives isn't a rejection of some form of worship focused on Jesus, or Allah. Religion is too small an idea compared to the expanse of the universe, which is scary a place to try imagining until you realize all of us are guided to places to expand internally by knowledge beyond our capacity to see the end of or the beginning of. When we die we are thrust back into the universe not to make choices I am guessing, but to be aroused from the sleep elements that permitted living on Earth as a person possible.

It is written within.

Also, to consider are the words defining the universe by an unnamed author online who wrote: "For a long while astronomers believed that all the stars in the universe were contained inside the Milky Way Galaxy. But when Edwin Hubble turned his eyes heavenward in the 1920s – with help from a very powerful telescope – he proved that what were previously thought of as mere nebulae were actually other galaxies. And there are lots of them out there. Around 170 billion of them spin through the observable universe, so perhaps it’s not surprising that our own home galaxy is due to collide with its nearest neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy. But, there’s no need to put on your crash helmet just yet. At the rate we’re speeding towards each other – around 70 to 80 miles per second – it’s going to take a while for the smash-up: about 3 to 4 billion years."

This story of evolving life in multiple forms and dimensions expands from the view of depth to and from mysteries too vast for minds to grasp. In a fair compromise created beings can enjoy what we have been given to know understanding there is so much play room the possibility of living in ignorance of the unknown is not an indictment, or indicative of ignorance, but a place of honor. One is alive on each side of the proverbial grave, at least in this slice of the living principles that hold the worlds together and keep us engaged in the vastness of what we cannot possibly know in these bodies. These bodies hold each element of vastness as well as the forces of the universe.

The universe is endless. Timelessness is endless. Questions are endless. Asking directs intellects and souls on endless quests. Moving from our bodies beyond the pale line drawn as death's door is the inhalation, the blink of an eye ready to 'see' the expanse the body could not command, carry or conquer when alive in this world we live in. I, or we cannot account for other world's rules.

When young people die we grieve deep in our being because they've lived short lives we believe should be long lives. But, when is enough, enough?

Some are quick studies and don't need to be here that long to grasp what was intended for them to get a hold on, or incorporate into their being. The fear or the grief and the bewilderment we feel when young lives die leaving us could be grounded in a need for company. Shortening the number of souls we identify with will make one winch in pain, but we cannot lose sight of, or the feel of why we are in this climate. Why we are in this place touching things we cannot touch otherwise makes sense in a variety of ways.

Enjoy them. Be puzzled or overwhelmed by them or elope with self pity, as some do, and melt away the joy, the mysterious substances that engage the food source of elements good and evil that themselves are journeying through time, the universe and the worlds.


Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories
Sept. 30, 2016

Bound to be free by Heather Evans Smith

"Bondage as sex play or a state of being from a sexual point of view moves into the hidden universe of existence a high point of knowing something is being limited that shouldn't." - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories 9.30.16

from the women I've known: Holiness.

"There are emotions a grown child has about their mother in those conditions of failing health, and mental capacity you cannot find words to carry, and convey to others with accuracy what is the dynamic between adult child and momma. What you can do is remember, keep her voice inside of you, and touch the core of the two of you in silence, as she inhales and releases each breath." - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories [June 01, 2017]

Thoughtfully, Mondyne Rogier looked up into the eyes not looking into her eyes, but wanting her body and spoke softly about who she is to herself.  As I was told by beautiful women, this a challenge for beautiful women: being seen. - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories 6.1.17

‎

Pregnant Black mother captured as the three aspects in her natural form. . .

"Wonder of my punany", Gladys Padasas seems to say is her focus, and it is a focus,

and the divine power source. Punany is 'She' talking to the needs of want, and becoming...

- Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 6.1.17

‎

Pregnant woman of the darker hue clothed in deep purple Roxy gown speaks to her womb,

as she nurtures the within, which is a better way of addressing Life given.

- Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories

5.15.17

"No, wilderness is not a luxury, but a necessity of the human spirit, and as vital to our lives as water and good bread... " sounds like, on first read, a response to questions appalled at any protest against urban expansion of buildings into the wild free spaces throughout the country. The need for eliminating the rules and regulations that govern, punish and control white business men's impulses to destroy and taint everything everywhere has risen to a fever's pitch under little man, Trumps dictatorship. But, speaking about the land in this way does not resonate, nor cause these types of men to rethink their motives and restrain their actions because it is too close, and probably is the sentiment of women speaking thus.

Women, water and land. Three things white men historically have held in contempt. . .

Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

[June 01, 2017]

You Know It!



naked brown asana Jomel Neter

"Dark matter which is invisible and delectable only by gravitational pull in the entire universe is made up of dark energy described as a cosmic anti-gravity, as yet totally unknowable!" - Jomel Neter

Now how can I translate that knowledge into a practical form, an asana, a way of life? - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 6.26.16

"Treasure and savor every moment of the wisdom and the substance that sustains life in the mysterious way that it does." - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories 6.26.16

 

If There Is To Be Anything, Let there be life...

Kim Kardashian West with her son. March 2017.

mother healing through relaxation ...

"Mothers run great risks investing in themselves mothering their children, and doting over their husbands. It takes strength to carry the energies of a family. It is in the essence of woman this capacity. It is different from the role of men. Equality as a question is insignificant because roles determine usage of energies. It is how we were made and what is profoundly beautiful about being a woman, a man, a mother, a father." - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 5/7/17

pregnant Juno Brown dancing Shiva on one leg at Afro Punk Sept. 2014.

Abbey Clancy adored by the father of her child, Peter Crouch.

Pregnancy as Beyoncé Knowles said, 'It is the most powerful creation to have life growing inside of you. There is no bigger gift.'

Tree of Life 

A Riddle to Existence.

Feet shaped by heels!!!!

Women do not care the damage to their bodies as long as their feet can wear and look good in high heels. It was proven during the 1990's on a few talk shows that were quite graphic and complete in their revelations about the needless deterioration of the body parts affected by the altered state of being in a body supported by heels. So, in that spirit of understanding let it be said: "all lives depend upon the relationship between living and Death, as a force of change, transformation or judgment."

It is, admittingly, a strange thing to evaluate if one is vain enough to believe against the facts of imbalance vs. beauty and acceptance. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 5/8/17 

Kaylee, a red head, in blue dress & orange stilettos 5

What We Don't Know We See Anyway!

Ryan Conner makes profound statements with a smile, a suggestion of art as poetry, poetry as her soul, and delightfulness an endearing quality that demands respect because like all dispositions it is an energy supporting life. ~ Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories [March 8, 2017]

I Know. I remember. It still Is.

I don’t know what it is about you. Maybe it’s the way nothing else matters when we’re talking, or how you make me smile more than anyone else has. It could be the way you say the right thing at the right time. But whatever it is, I just want you to know that it means everything to me.

author unknown

A Woman Telling a Story!

What gets under my skin more than anything is people not living.


I spent sometime in the Kootneys this last week, and bless the Kootneys but I was talking with somebody about someone changing careers and they said, "If I was them I would just lie down, take it and work for another 10 years even if I hated... it to retire." Every molecule in my being detested those words. It makes my hackles raise and my mouth froth resent.You guys--I hate when people don't. live.

What's not living?

Doing the movements--the degree/the debt, the office job, the pension, the mortgage, waking up everyday hating a job you have to work to support the house you didn't really want to buy and the degree you didn't really use for the pension you'll never use because you'll get a dis-ease from your miserability and die before you can enjoy it.

Our generation is blessed with living in a world where we can do whatever the hell we want--we can pull jobs out of our a******* and throw pasta on walls. We live in a cool time--are you aware of what we can do, what you can do? How some of my friends left their 9-5's and started their own business and are absolutely killing it is not extraordinary to me.

I don't think I or they are special. I think too many people lay down in a life they don't love and go, "well, I guess I'm here so... **** it, I'll just stay."

No **** we are a bunch of black out weekly alcoholics. No ****we are addicted to Netflix so we can check out of real life. No **** we get depressed because we feel it is hopeless and there's no point.
The thing that gets the most under my skin is walking around the world and seeing people who have stopped living. I see them on buses and in restaurants and walking on the street and it ******* devastates me. It's ******* miserable. It's a club 70% of our world has prescribed to. I went to shake them and light a fire in their eyes.

You must quit the life you hate to start living. I don't mean brush your teeth, eat, make money, spend money, sleep either.

Start living. -JR (Jan. 11, 2017)

JR at her leisure in somewhere U.S. of 'I do whatever the hell I wanna do!' (Jan. 2017)

Who ever JR is I bet JR is a woman. The cadence of her speech. Anyway, I subscribe to living. It is much easier to live than be someone else waiting for something else for what you don't know is going to happen for you in the long ago from now (retirement)

When JR referred to our generation was she talking about the Baby Boomers? I think JR was because the likelihood of freedom in life would come from that era, not this one. A lot of it has to do with the Baby Boomers. Our generation, for the most part became ex-hippies who found family, career and the fast track. Later the adventurer overtook the complacency of 9 to 5 and off many went unable to resist the voices within their head saying go here, go there, do this, do that before you wrinkle, grow old, and die unfulfilled! From our status, or point of view how do we help this young generation? They picked up our contradictions and applied them alongside the crazy shifts of inconsistencies we modeled for them.

Anyway, enough of that. I assume the good looking woman at her leisure is JR! I am going out to my back deck wrapped up in my large white blanket and smoke a good pipe. My cats will come out to sit with me from their warm places I built for them and we will share some good moments. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

HOUSING as an industry in poverty.

Indigenous People Of America 

Housing in North Dakota on a Reservation.

If you don't understand this and these conditions perhaps the words and insight of Supreme Court Justice Scalia will help you to understand why Indian life on the reservations are often so bad.

He said, and I quote: "United States policy is revolved around conquest... So, Indian nations are conquered nations. And the treaties have been upheld." - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories Jan. 15, 2017  

8 Miles from home...

Nan Province Thailand

"I have had an adventurous life. I want to travel to Thailand to be still in the spaces there."

Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories

Nan Province in Thailand

Tucked under the Laotian border in Thailand’s extreme north, Nan Province has a long history of independent or semi-autonomous rule based on its remoteness more than anything else. Even now this isolated, rural expanse doesn’t quite get the same amount of tourist trade as other regions in Thailand. But traveler accommodations are increasing, and visitors are generously rewarded with vistas of forested mountains, sublimely beautiful temples, and gloriously green countryside such as this.

Thong National Park Thailand

Sacha & Jmayel El-Haj are Professional Photographers/Videographers from the UK who travel the length and breath of Thailand with their dog. They have been together since the tender age of 16 and married in June 2011 in the Moroccan Desert. This is the link to their page.

These two young people made a decision the civilization we live in and benefit from should be made by more and more young people. They made a decision "to live a life unknown. Where their successes would be gauged by happiness gained and experiences shared." It would jar the sensibilities of American life out of its myopic gaze into a swirling vortex of pure pleasure, powerful enlightenment meant for the possibility to live deeply and as Jesus said, "more abundantly." - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories Jan. 7, 2017


Find out how ‘8 miles from home’ started Here…

Weight of life, Ease of purpose.

Rebecca Romijn posing for her series 'The Librarians'.

Rebecca Romijn, is an American actress and former fashion model born on November 6, 1972 in Berkeley, California. Like the rest of us who have excelled and achieved she keeps track of her progressions weighing them against the purpose(s) of her life as she understands. It is a discipline of mind, and a focus of will.

There is an arsenal people use to get where they are supposed to get in life. Without purpose it is difficult, if not impossible to achieve much of value. Why live if you know not why you should?

Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories
8.21.16

enamored by black.

Law of Attraction - Ask, Believe, Receive 

Kim Kardashian arriving at the Ganesvoort Hotel in NYC. in quite splendor June 26, 2014.

Kimi Koutoure

Gabrielle Union at the 102nd White House Correspondents' Association Dinner in Washington, D.C.,

on April 30, 2016. photo by Larry Busacca  

They had dreams. Wonder how their lives panned out? How did their lives ripple into the world circles of family and friends from then until now? These are eternal and internal riddles forever, it seems, unraveling. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories October 27, 2016

Fight to be Your Self

2 women playing with each other

"Living is easy with eyes closed,
misunderstanding all you see.
It's getting hard to be someone but it all works out,
It doesn't matter much to me."

 

John Lennon, musician  

 

IN The Peaks of Knowing

Life only lasts so long as the mystery of why we are here vibrates into the long distance hum of non-existence. Death, as an ally, is different from the finality of death as much as fear is the province of incompetence accompanying the way many people retreat from discovering the traditions and the mysterious ways of sacred life.

 

Gregory E. Woods

Keeper of Stories

October 11, 2015

ancient civilizations

angst of a man

 

Give To Life



full bodied Black woman

Life involves challenges
laying them down strategically
as much as answering their inner calling
such challenges create movement
and this movement belongs to the Soul ...
and it will activate within us change
because to live is to change
and to live long, is to change much. ~ Mereana Taki 6.8.15

 

 



Maori warriors from Mereana Taki