Monthly Inspiration / April
Inspiration • May 4, 2025 • Written by Ashley Vemwell & Zachary Vemwell
April was here and gone with a flash, bringing with it an unexpected season of change. It was a month of returning to our senses, embracing new routines, stretching out wings with an air of respite, and breathing in the sweetness that comes with spring.
In April, we reflected on Susan Sontag’s powerful reminder that attention is vitality, explored how Becoming Supernatural by Dr. Joe Dispenza encourages us to live with intention and coherence, and shared the work of artist and friend Terry La Rue, whose fine art photography offers an unflinching and poetic glimpse into life shaped by pain and resilience. Each piece this month circles back to the same quiet truth: there is freedom in paying attention and power in expression.
A QUOTE
“Pay attention. It's all about paying attention. It's all about taking in as much of what's out there as you can, and not letting the excuses and the dreariness of some of the obligations you'll soon be incurring narrow your lives. Attention is vitality. It connects you with others. It makes you eager. Stay eager.”
Susan Sontag
There’s something quietly radical about this reminder. In a world that constantly rushes us toward productivity, milestones, and more, more, more… Sontag draws us back to something simpler, something foundational—attention. Not the kind shaped by urgency or noise, but a slow, spacious noticing. Awareness. A deliberate way of being that turns life vivid. Paying attention is to live with presence—to find color in new ways, notice the words between words, and let the world touch us before we race past it.
As she says, attention is vitality. It draws us into contact with meaning and deepens our connection to the world around us, to our inner landscape, and to each other. It keeps us awake to the subtleties of life. Further yet, to remain eager in this pursuit is a gentle insistence against apathy. As the world grows more complex, as responsibilities layer on and curveballs hit out of nowhere, to stay open and alive, porous yet grounded in self, is a quiet act of freedom.
A BOOK
Becoming Supernatural by Dr. Joe Dispenza
Becoming Supernatural bridges the realms of science and spirituality. Dr. Joe Dispenza blends neuroscience, epigenetics, and quantum physics to reveal how our thoughts, emotions, and energy patterns don’t just influence our lives: they design them. The book offers an abundance of practices, from meditation to breathwork, as tools to shift perception, regulate the nervous system, and begin living in harmony with the deeper intelligence of the body and the field beyond it.
Dispenza explores the “quantum field,” a space of infinite potential that opens when we move beyond the habits of the past and into the frequency of intentional creation. He speaks to the power of heart coherence, the awakening of the pineal gland, and the role of visualization in catalyzing personal transformation. Woven with case studies and step-by-step guidance, this book serves as a roadmap for those seeking to unlock their innate potential and embrace a more expansive way of being.
An Artist
Terry La Rue
Terry La Rue is a Seattle-based fine art photographer and printmaker. His work is an intimate expression of the intricate landscapes of chronic pain. Living with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, a rare and life-altering condition, he channels his experience into art, speaking to his unabashed, unapologetic truth and translating his internal world through the external world.
His series, Frames Between the Pain, is a testament to this journey. Through monochromatic images, he blends both the figurative and abstract, reflecting the internal battles waged within the confines of the body.
Terry’s work has been exhibited internationally, including solo exhibitions at Leica Galleries in Los Angeles, Bellevue, Washington, D.C., and Miami, as well as group exhibitions in Japan and New York. Each piece invites viewers to pause, feel, and connect with the often unseen struggles that shape our human experience.
