The Flow
The place I feel most content is out in the park or woods by the lake or wherever there’s water.
There’s where I can hear the brook babbling and gaze upon the ripples floating on the water. The lightest hump, the steepest incline, the deepest plunge.
This is healing for me because I can see the transference of energy through each motion as the water transitions from shallow and flat to a movement of a rhythm that is constant with every effort to move on to another space and to flow with the current to a new destination…..
I long to be that body of water moving and flowing with every beat of my heart to upward and forward movement to something greater up ahead!
Who I Am
Every joke I share, every piece of bright fabric I place on my body, and every piece of jewelry has awakened some sense of life and being present to me. Beauty is grounding and anything sparkling and colorful, any lighthearted kind word or a smile is an indication that I am here and I am feeling something. I have not checked out. My heart is not hardened. I don’t feel hate, anguish or disgust. I feel something good and I want to make It better.
This is who I am. This is how I am.
Whatever it takes to be here and present I will color it, draw it, write it, picture it and live it.
My mission is to help others see the beauty within themselves.
Crystal Lee Dandridge (Pictured Left) is a US Navy Veteran that hails from Newark, NJ. She is a creative, counselor, and author with the Red Badge Project. Crystal regularly brings her inspiration to the Circle of Return Veterans Council at Seward Park Audubon and will be claiming her Rite of Return next Spring.
