#Gratitude Is Key

[agentc0rn]

Project Hope completed!! :)

[thepersonalquotes]

You can do this by disciplining yourself to be selective in what you read, see, hear, say to yourself and the influence of others.

Mensah Oteh, Unlocking Life's Treasure Chest: Wisdom keys to keep you inspired, encouraged, motivated and focused

[keysatthecrossroad]

Mother Hekáte, comfort our weary souls and lift our lost spirits.

A dedication for our Morher from Keeping Her Keys I thought you all might enjoy. 🗝️

[amazing-captain-castiel]

*RUNS IN* HELLO HELLO HELLO I HAVE SOMETHING VERY IMPORTANT TO SHARE -- POPTART AND STICKERS ARRIVED TODAY!!!! The whole package is incredible and I've been looking forward to it all week!! Ell even drew a Leo and added my name on the back 🥺 my insides are in a happy puddle of tears and I keep happily wiggling and flailing. Thank you so much to the incredible @intotheelliwoods!! Now it's picture time!!

[thepersonalwords]

Achieving a goal is not the most important part of the process. The destination should never be your primary purpose or objective.

Mensah Oteh, Unlocking Life's Treasure Chest: Wisdom keys to keep you inspired, encouraged, motivated and focused

[jeanpatrice]

Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.

Henry Drummond

[positiveupwardspiral]

KEYS TO SERENITY:

1) Expressing gratitude

2) Increase social interactions

3) Practice mindfulness and / or meditation

4) Spend more time in nature

5) Exercise

[baby-xemnas]

i cant help but portray law as a type of guy that thinks "i'm so lucky and blessed i have to kms"

[acourtofquestions]

"You'll come back," Manon said.

It sounded like more of a threat than anything

Dorian smirked. "Would you miss me if I didn't?"

Manon didn't reply. He didn't know why he expected her to.

He'd taken all of a step, when Asterin clasped his shoulder. "In and out, quick as you can," she warned him. "Take care of Narene." Worry indeed shone in the Second's gold-flecked black eyes. Dorian bowed his head. "With my life," he promised as he approached her mount and grasped the dangling reins. He didn't fail to miss the gratitude that softened Asterin's features. Or that Manon had already turned away from him.

A fool to start down this path with her. He should have known better.

The hours that passed were some of the longest of Manon's existence.

From anticipation, she told herself. Of what she had to do.

Abraxos, unsurprisingly, found them within an hour, his reins sliced from the struggle he'd no doubt waged and won with Sorrel. He waited, however, beside Manon in silence, wholly focused upon the gate where Dorian and Narene had vanished.

Time dripped by. The king's sword was constant weight at her side. She cursed herself for needing to prove-to him, to herself-that she refused to let him go into Morath for practical, ordinary reasons. Erawan wasn't at the Ferian Gap. It'd be safer. Somewhat. But if the Matrons were there … That was why he'd gone. To learn if they were. To see if Petrah truly commanded the host there, and how many Ironteeth were present. He had not been trained as a spy, but he'd grown up in a court where people wielded smiles and clothes like weapons. He knew how to blend in, how to listen. How to make people see what they wished to see. She'd sent Elide into the dungeons of Morath, Darkness damn her. Sending the King of Adarlan into the Ferian Gap was no different.

It didn't stop her breath from escaping when Abraxos stiffened, scanning the sky. As if he heard something they couldn't.

And it was the joy that sparked in her mount's eyes that told her.

Moments later, Narene sailed toward them, making a lazy path over the mountains, a dark-haired, pale-skinned rider atop her. He'd truly been able to change parts of himself. Had made his face nearly unrecognizable. And kept it that way.

Asterin rushed toward the mare, and even Manon blinked as her Second threw her arms around Narene's neck. Holding her tight. The mare only leaned her head against Asterin's back and huffed.

Manon hadn't dwelled long on what she'd say.

And as the three hundred Ironteeth witches filed into the hall, some coming off their patrols, Manon half wondered if she should have. They watched her, watched the Thirteen, with a wary disdain.

Their disgraced Wing Leader; their fallen Heir.

When all were gathered, Petrah, still standing in the doorway where she'd appeared, merely said, "My life debt for an audience, Blackbeak."

Manon swallowed, her tongue as dry as paper. Seated atop Abraxos, she could see every shifting movement in the crowd, the wide eyes or hands gripping swords.

"I will not tell you the particulars of who I am," Manon said at last. "For I think you have already heard them."

"Crochan bitch," someone spat.

Manon set her eyes on the Blackbeaks, stone-faced where the others bristled with hatred. It was for them she spoke, for them she had come here.

jacket, then hoisting up her white shirt. Rising in the stirrups to bare her scarred, brutalized abdomen. "She does not lie."

UNCLEAN

There, the word remained stamped. Would always be stamped.

"How many of you," Asterin called out, "have been similarly branded? By your Matron, by your coven leader? How many of you have had your stillborn witchlings burned before you might hold them?"

The silence that fell now was different from before. Shaking shuddering.

Manon glanced at the Thirteen to find tears in Ghislaine's eyes as she took in the brand on Asterin's womb. Tears in the eyes of all of them, who had not known. And it was for those tears, which Manon had never seen, that she faced the host again.

"You will be killed in this war, or after it. And you will never see our homeland again."

"What is it that you want, Blackbeak?" Petrah asked from the archway.

"Ride with us," Manon breathed. "Fly with us.

Against Morath. Against the people who would keep you from your homeland, your future." Murmuring broke out again. Manon pushed ahead, "An Ironteeth-Crochan alliance. Perhaps one to break our curse at last."

Again, that shuddering silence. Like a storm about to break Asterin sat back in the saddle, but kept her shirt open.

"The choice of how our people's future shall be shaped is yours," Manon told each of the witches assembled, all the Blackbeaks who might fly to war and never return. "But I will tell you this." Her hands shook, and she fisted them on her thighs. "There is a better world out there. And I have seen it."

Even the Thirteen looked toward her now.

"I have seen witch and human and Fae dwell together in peace. And it is not weakness to do so, but a strength. I have met kings and queens whose love for their kingdoms, their peoples, is so great that the self is secondary. Whose love for their people is so strong that even in the face of unthinkable odds, they do the impossible."

Manon lifted her chin. "You are my people. Whether my grandmother decrees it so or not, you are my people, and always will be. But I will fly against you, if need be, to ensure that there is a future for those who cannot fight for it themselves. Too long have we preyed on the weak, relished doing so. It is time that we became better than our foremothers." The words she had given the Thirteen months ago. "There is a better world out there," she said again. "And I will fight for it." She turned Abraxos away, toward the plunge behind them. "Will you?"

Manon nodded to Petrah. Eyes bright, the Heir only nodded back. They would be permitted to leave as they had arrived: unharmed.

So Manon nudged Abraxos, and he leaped into the sky, the Thirteen following suit.

Not a child of war. But of peace.

[glitterghost]

Picking up my daily iced coffee & ordered a doughnut but they were out of the kind I wanted, so I said anything was fine, and I kid you not, they gave me FOUR instead of just 1.

[feisty-n-spicy]

Sprinkle it around like confetti 🎊

[quotelr]

You already have the abundance of life in you, and each day you must decide to live abundantly by choosing not to live in the past, by never taking counsel of your fear, and most importantly by seeing the greatness within you and embracing it.

Mensah Oteh, Unlocking Life's Treasure Chest: Wisdom keys to keep you inspired, encouraged, motivated and focused

[shadows-of-almsivi]

Salvation From the Dawn (from the Netflix Series "Devil In Ohio")

[keysatthecrossroad]

Hecate is the Goddess of Witches. Crossroads, keys, and black hounds are sacred to Her. She delights in offerings of garlic and honey, along with a representation of yourself.

To devote yourself to Her set your intentions clearly and leave her an offering at a three way crossroad and watch for signs from Her. Hearing dogs, finding keys, dreams of caves.

Keep Her close to your heart and you will never be far from Hers.

[falderaletcetera]

thank you sites for troubleshooting tech problems, thank you the inventor of the fajita, thank you health fads for enabling my oat milk hot chocolate habit, thank you moon (big today and blue tomorrow), thank you corrective insoles and night-time walks and the cool night air spilling through my window

[thepersonalwords]

Investing in yourself is one of the foundations for better relationships, health, happiness, success, and prosperity.

Mensah Oteh, Unlocking Life's Treasure Chest: Wisdom keys to keep you inspired, encouraged, motivated and focused