For anyone who remembers Q&V, go straight there to check out a new one-off issue I’ve drawn. For those who don’t know - I once drew a comic strip which I put online, you can still visit Volume 1 here. Then follow the links to Volume 2 if you want to read that one as well.

You’ll find me on a boat,

Heading out to sea,

Rolling on the waves,

Travelling to me.

Someone once said that if we wish to discover new oceans we must have the courage to lose sight of the shore. This is how Columbus discovered America: with courage, he sailed out away from the shore, not along it. He was brave enough to lose sight of the land he knew and journey into the unknown. We too must finally be brave enough to let go of the life we are currently living, in order to reach our dream life, the place and the person we long to be. We must let go of how we define ourselves, of the thoughts we think, and the routines and habits that we adopt, in order to experience new ones.

And if there’s a shared goal or destination you have in mind, even better. These boats have space for many souls, and the more oars that are pulling for you, the better.

If I could put to you, in words,
The beauty of Creation,
And open your heart to the power of its Love:
That would be a gift worth having,
A gift worth sharing,
And a gift worth dying for.

It can be easy to think that somehow words and art are meaningless and make no real contribution to life. This is a reminder, to me and to you, that language is a great gift indeed.

Hold to Love,
Even when the raft of your being
Is smashing against the rocks of your hopelessness.

Hold to Love,
Even when the tears of your despair
Are flooding the fields of your bountiful harvest.

Hold to Love,
Even when the careless words of others
Crush your spirit and leave you doubting your worth.

Hold to Love,
Even when your dreams are being shattered
Into the tiniest shards of multi-coloured glass.

Hold to Love,
Even when the waves of your existence
Are battering the shores of all you hold dear.

Hold to Love,
Even when your highest vision for yourself
Is being called into question by those around you.

Hold to love,
Even when the winds of change
Are a hurricane sweeping you off your feet.

Hold to Love,
And you will do no harm,
Heal all pain,
And end all shame.

Cracked by the freezing wind and the hammer blow,
My heart can sustain me no more,
Or at least, I thought that true,
Until I felt inside a second heart,
And knew the first to be a mask,
A shell I wore to tow the line,
To hide the light,
To disappear.

Imagine the joy I felt to find
A heart of infinite depth,
And the fear to see that my heart would sustain me,
But only as much as my courage would allow.
Forever now, each day, each moment,
I blaze my love out to all sides,
Lest the shell reforms,
And engulfs the light of my radiance,
Until in apathy and cynicism,
The world turns grey.

It is interesting how tragedy is often what softens the heart the most, though naturally it can go the other way as well, and turn our hearts to stone. If tragedy does befall you, then I pray that it serves to reveal your radiance.