Sakura Sanctuary

13/12/2023

🌹✨ Exciting News! ✨🌹

Dear friends and fellow book lovers and yogis,

As you know I have taken time out from Sakura to pursue my writing dreams and I am thrilled to announce that the upcoming release of my debut Women’s Fiction novel, “Falling Kashmir Roses,” will be on my birthday, January 24th! 🎉✨

In the meantime you can go to my new website for details and if you subscribe to my newsletter you will get a FREE prequel - a short introduction to the two main characters and the story of their serendipitous meeting.

👉 Link is www.gwenb.com

🌹📚 Your support means the world to me, and I can’t wait to share this emotional story with you.

Thank you for being a part of this incredible journey! 🙏❤️

23/11/2023

Tomorrow: 4-6 pm. All welcome❤️

20/11/2023

I am super excited to be hosting this event. It’s going to be a wonderful, art full afternoon. If you are in the area, please drop in on Saturday the 25th of October, 4-6 pm. .cronje.artist is a phenomenal talent and I love her work - it’s going to be a great exhibition. 💗

10/11/2023

Exciting!!

31/07/2023

AS TIME GOES BY

As time goes by,
You will loosen your grip on that rock,
The one you always thought was home,
And you will realise that home is not a place,
It’s a state of mind.
Let it go.

As times goes by,
You will learn to see yourself more clearly,
The girl who was always too much of one thing,
And too little of another, was actually
Everything she needed to be.
Let her out.

As time goes by,
You will let the simple things become the big,
And you will allow the big things to become the simple,
And that readjustment will be,
The day you really start to live,
Let it be.

As time goes by,
You will be forced to say goodbye many times,
And your soft little heart will shatter but,
It will still beat and that will bring you,
All the purpose you need.
Let it beat.

As time goes by,
You will stop choosing wealth over peace,
You will stop choosing money over time,
And you will see that the treasures you need,
Are in the smiles and the laughter.
Let them in.

As times goes by,
The moments you remember when your life flashes past,
Are never the awful memories my friend, it’s the joy,
The summer nights, the lazy days with loved ones,
The midnight chats and the morning hugs,
Let them happen.

Let them all happen.

Donna Ashworth
Art by the amazing Autumn Skye ART

You can pre-order signed copies of my new poetry book here (if you wish ♥️)

https://www.waterstones.com/book/wild-hope/donna-ashworth/2928377222192

09/07/2023

I Don’t Know Why People Try to Put Love in Boxes

  I don’t know why people try to put love in boxes neatly edged with ribbon. Love is a waterfall mist that spirals and flows in colours and when it descends or rises in you — it’s often quiet, the way the sun reaches the horizon line at dawn and slips over in a single second, or the way

17/06/2023

I was driving home today from a little trip away and as I got closer to home, rainbows started appearing. I know a few people who are going through some hard things right now. And I just wanted to say don’t forget to look up. One day the sky will open up and show you beautiful rainbows. Things may be a little bumpy right now, but if you keep your eyes to the sky you might realise that even the moments that seem insurmountable pass. The clouds will open for you. The rainbows are coming. Hang on. 🤗

17/02/2023

In the face of this unprecedented tragedy unfolding here in NZ it’s easy to feel helpless and overwhelmed - here is some great advice from my friend Sandra. ❤️🙏

Helplessness in the face of tragedy - https://mailchi.mp/46c00b5f7307/helplessness-in-the-face-of-tragedy

27/01/2023

🙏

This, I've learned, is the foundation of self-love: knowing that we are so much more than our greatest mistakes, our weakest moments, or our most shameful decisions; and realizing that we can be who we want to be right now, not just in spite of where we've been, but also because of it ..

~ Lori Deschene ~

Artist Credit : Irig Galkina

27/01/2023

🙏

27/01/2023

🙏

"The greatest gift you can give somebody is your own personal development. I used to say, “If you will take care of me, I will take care of you.”
Now I say, “I will take care of me for you, if you will take care of you for me."

--Jim Rohn

Artwork | Brian Kirhagis

10/12/2022

30/08/2022

Been away for a wee bit, and came back to dancing ducks, spring blossoms, and our beautiful tail wagging doggy. It’s a glorious time of year! 🙏❤️

18/08/2022

I don’t know why people try to put love in boxes neatly edged with ribbon.

Love is a waterfall mist that spirals and flows in colours.
And when it descends or rises in you — it’s often quiet, the way the sun reaches the horizon line at dawn and slips over in a single second, or the way the moon arrives in your window.

Unannounced.

I wonder why people try to put love in boxes?
I’ve loved many ways — upside down and right side up.
Romantically, I’ve loved men, but who is to say that one day it won’t be a woman that climbs into my heart?
I mostly know that love weaves its way through open souls.
Even the broken-hearted.
Because love knows hearts don’t break to close.

I wonder why people try to put love in boxes — why they trap birds in cages, kill lions for trophies or burn the wilderness to ash.
I suppose the wild is a frightening thing, all of that freedom dancing, untamed.
How dare love be bold and unrepentant?
The wretched and the beauty of it, all interposed.
The thing is, love will burst the banks of any coercion — because love doesn’t answer to anyone. Have you noticed how the forest bursts to life after a burn?
Love is not interested in dogma or religious books, or social norms. It transcends all that.

It’s bigger than everything.

I don’t know why people try to put love in boxes or package it in string.
Oh, the insanity of clipping a Raptors wing.
So terrified of its indiscriminate beauty, people do despicable things.
You can’t change the essence of a thing by holding it tight, you can’t turn a mountain into the snow.
And you can’t trap a soul and make it belong to you,
That’s the opposite of love.

Love is boundless.
That’s why so many fear it.

It’s the ultimate liberator.
it’s the open sky and the clouds.
It’s the river and its banks.
It’s the rainbow
It’s the essence of everything in existence.

Therein lies its indelible light.
Only because it’s free,
can it eclipse you and me,
and transcend.
————
We still love the dead.
Sometimes even more than the living.

In one heart
Gwen B

24/06/2022

Traditionally Matariki, the Māori New Year is a time to acknowledge the dead and to release their spirits to become stars. It’s also a time to reflect, and to be thankful for the abundance in nature, to feast and to share the bounty of the harvest with family and friends.

Matariki is signified by the rising of the star cluster Matariki (otherwise known as Pleiades) heralding the drawing to an end of one cycle and the emergence of a new one. It also signals that Hine Takurua (the winter maiden) has firmly taken residence upon the land.

“There isn’t a single individual who doesn’t come from people who looked up to the stars to understand who they are.” - Dr Rangi Mātāmua

My reflection for this time.

Am I looking for peace in a peaceful way ?

Am I looking for clarity in a clear way ?

Am I looking for love in a loving way?

Mānawatia a Matariki !
————

01/06/2022

Gentle,
is soft
and spacious,
a moment of ease,
tenderly
allowing
yourself to breathe,
softly in and out.

Gentle is a
featherlight
touch,
a place to go
to find some rest
when it’s all too much
push and pull.

Gentle,
is a loving conversation
with yourself,
a kind word,
a reassurance,
a patient smile.
Gentle
is being ok for a little while,
in amongst all the Crescendo.

Gentle,
is a delicate scent,
or lying
on a plump bed
of autumn leaves,
or feeling the brush
of a blossom breeze,
on your soft and buttery skin.
Or maybe floating about on the sunlight like a dandelion wish that’s lost in the wind.

Gentle,
is poise,
both solid
and soft
like the ground
beneath
your feet,
that grows forests.
A place with little noise,
but abundant with the sounding whispers of butterfly wings and bright and cheerful birds.

Gentle’s calm restorative way
is calling out to you today.
Not tomorrow
or in an hour,
or next week.
Be gentle as we speak,
because
Gentle,
might just be
the simple happiness
you seek.

Sometimes we over complicate things.

In one heart,
Gwen B

27/04/2022

As Autumn settles in, it’s the perfect time to slow down.

”Slow' and 'down' are modes of the soul; they are connective modes, ways of keeping connected to oneself and to one’s environment. 'Slowing downwards' refers to more than simply moving slowly, it means growing down towards the roots of one’s being. Instead of outward growth and upward climb, life at times must turn inward and downward in order to grow in other ways. There is a shift to the vertical down that returns us to root memories, root metaphors, and timeless things that shape our lives from within. Slowing downwards creates opportunities to dwell more deeply in one’s life, for the home we are looking for in this world is within us all along.
- Michael Meade