nature

February 16, 2025Cristen Writes

Home is where the heart is

I sat beneath an oak tree once. It was a beautiful, strong tree with roots so large that they ruptured the surface and provided the perfect little nook where I could sit with my book. I didn’t read that day, though. Instead I spent that time marveling at that tree and letting my mind wander […]

June 4, 2024Cristen Writes

Little Things

I love the little things. Like natural light trickling through open blinds, or the way the painted sky calls me away, at least for a moment, nearly every morning and night. Books half read laying face down, waiting expectantly to be picked back up and adored again from the same page. I love getting lost […]

October 8, 2022October 8, 2022Cristen Writes

Lost

Sometimes I just have to disappear. I don’t mean ethereally, like in meditation or by consuming art, though I need that regularly too. I mean physically disappear. Sometimes I need to lose myself so completely that I’m lost to others as well. I have to shut off my phone, forget the world, and lose my […]

April 13, 2021April 13, 2021Cristen Writes

All is Well

In the pre-dawn hours, I drink in the last glow of a tiring moon, to the flat sound of my footsteps on quiet streets. Those same streets today are lined by ancient oaks so strong, and a sky so heavy and low, it’s as if they’re holding it up until it can find its blue […]

March 31, 2021March 31, 2021Cristen Writes

This is Home

This is home, she thought to herself, as she stared at interwoven branches casting heavy shadows against the afternoon sun; though she was miles away from the place where she laid her head to rest at night. That particular balance of stillness and sound that can only be found in nature filled her, until the […]

March 23, 2017September 15, 2025Cristen Writes

We the Dreamers

We are the dreamers, the ones with souls as deep as oceans and with the reflections of stars in our upturned eyes. We’re the wistful, the hopeful, and the quiet ones, gazing off in the distance with that absent but knowing smile. With our heads in the clouds and our hearts on our sleeves, we […]

February 16, 2017September 15, 2025Cristen Writes

My Kind of Spirituality

My kind of spirituality is the kind that needs no name. It respects no rules and fits no form. It’s as unique as an evening star, and fluid as the morning mists. My kind of spirituality doesn’t come from the pages of a book, but rises up from the depths of my soul. My sacred […]