Archive | October 2015

Some Sunday inspiration for you {photos, quotes, and other goodies}

Oct11

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Here is a list of inspiring/thought-provoking/lovie quotes and some of my pictures! 

“We shape clay into a pot,
but it is the emptiness inside
that holds whatever we want”

We can do and be anything on the outside but always keep that emptiness within, reserve a place inside to be love, light, bliss…

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“Although gold dust is precious, when it gets in your eyes, it obstructs your vision.” ~ Hsi Tang

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“To seek is to suffer. To seek nothing is bliss.” ~ Bodhidharma

This is a very wise concept. It’s good to have goals and desires but it’s also good to let go once in a while and just be. Be without getting attached to goals, people, places, situations, things…

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“Detachment is not that you should own nothing, but that nothing should own you.”

“The highest state of love is not a relationship at all, it is simply a state of your being.” ~ Osho

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“Learning to let go should be learned before learning to get. Life should be touched, not strangled.” ~ Ray Bradbury

Yes, let go, disown, accept, BE.

“Do not let the behavior of others destroy your inner peace.” ~ Dalai Lama

This is a good one if you’re stuck being around people acting negatively. We can’t always surround our selves with only positive people and sometimes have to interact with or be near people with negative energy and vicious intentions or just bitter, miserable seeming people. But we do not have to let them destroy our INNER peace. I can be whatever I want inside no matter what is going on around me. No one can drag us down if we don’t allow it. Our environment can be chaotic, negative, even abusive but we can remain calm and positive within. True peace isn’t necessarily a peaceful external environment. True peace is being calm and undisturbed INSIDE, whatever our outside is like. 

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“The quieter you become, the more you can hear.”

Yessir!!

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“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” ~ Zen proverb 

When we open up and become receptive, we will see teachers everywhere, in the form of people, situations, things, encounters….
They are always around, we just aren’t always ready to receive. 

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I love how in these pictures it look like a gray sky kind of day but the sky was really quite blue that day! It was so bright blue with big fluffy clouds looking all pretty! I was amazed at the beauty and size of the clouds and took the pictures in a way so only the clouds can be seen around the trees.

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Look closely, you’ll see the blue shining through! This is the same day and so are the ones above these three pics! All blue skies!! 😀

“Flow with whatever may happen
And let your mind be free.
Stay centered by accepting whatever 
You are doing.
This is the ultimate.” 

We can try to help things when we can but when we can’t, it’s good to accept, just breathe and be and go with the flow.

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Seatbelts save lives so buckle up, buttercup!

And it may save you a traffic ticket or whatever. I couldn’t care less if you get a ticket though, (you deserve one if you aren’t wearing a safety belt anyway) it’s your life and safety I care about.

Even if I don’t know you, I want you to be safe and LIVE! ❤ ❤ ❤

“Sometimes the best way to solve a problem is to first let go of the idea that there is a problem.”

It’s all about that attitude!

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“Surrender to what is.”

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“For sentient beings, poor and destitute, May I become a treasure ever plentiful, And lie before them closely in their reach, A varied source of all that they might need.” ~ Shantideva 

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“What we learned as children, that one plus one equals two, we know to be false. One plus one equals one. We even have a word for when you, plus another, equals one, That word is LOVE.”

How cheesy! Lol But cute! You know I love my sap!

❤

“If with kindly generosity one merely has the wish to soothe the aching heads of other beings, such merit has no bounds.” ~ Shantideva

I know people often say actions speak louder than words and it doesn't matter what we feel or think if we don't act, and in some cases it seems true but I also think that just what we are, what we wish for, our energy…is important. 
We can't always act on what we feel or want and we sometimes, for whatever reason, may just choose not to, but that doesn't take away what we are or want. Just being, is often enough. Well wishes for others is sometimes enough even when we don't express them. What if I see someone suffering and want more than anything to stop it, even if I have to put all the pain on me and bear the burden myself, but for some reason I can't or won't take action or take action but it doesn't work, at least I still have the wish and desire to stop it which is better than not caring or even wanting to add to the pain. What if I see someone on TV suffering or hear of a tragic war in another country and can't do shit about it, that doesn't obliterate my love and compassion. They count for something! And when we feel compassion, we are often more likely to act in compassionate ways. 

“Sometimes people are beautiful.
Not in looks.
Not in what they say.
Just in what they are.” ~ Markus Zusak 

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“Courage to the fearful,
Freedom to the enslaved,
Strength to the weak,
Mutual affection 
To all sentient beings.” ~ Shantideva sentiment

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This thing, it’s superdelicious!!!!! A caramel apple with chocolate and peanut topping!! oh, my! I have been eating them everyday!! so yummy! The red apples are sweeter, jucier, and tastier than the green! mouthwatering!! ❤ 😀 Delectable! One of my favorite things about Fall!

“Out beyond ideas of wrong-doing and right-doing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about. Ideas, language, even the phrase ‘each other’ doesn’t make any sense.”

Thank you, Bill ( https://worldstrata.wordpress.com/ ), for sharing this one with me!!

“How wonderful will it be when All beings experience each other as limbs on the One body of life.” ~ Shantideva 

WE are all in this together!  

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This is my baby, my friend today! These things are so cute! I never share their pics on facebook because I don’t think most people feel the affection for them I do and while going through their news feed and seeing this, their heart will probably skip a few beats and not in a good way! I don’t think it’s as startling to see pics here of them, they are smaller pictures here, I think and it’s not like one individual picture just in your face. If i’m wrong and you are freaked out, sorry. I just have so much love for kreepy krawlies, no one can imagine or understand. And I want to capture and share their beauty & cuteness. I’m so thankful for their lives. ❤ I will save them every chance i get. 😀

And since I'm in the Halloween spirit, here's Michael Jackson's Thriller for you!

Thriller – mobile

Thriller – desktop

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“You hear the door slam
And realize there’s nowhere left to run
You feel the cold hand
And wonder if you’ll ever see the sun
You close your eyes
And hope that this is just imagination
But all the while
You hear a creature creepin’ up behind
You’re outta time
‘Cause this is thriller
Thriller night”

Much0 luv to you! ❤

😀

Xoxo Kim 

😀

Xoxo Kim 

Minute by Minute

Oct10

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“Life is not lost by dying 
Life is lost minute by minute 
Day by dragging day 
In all the small and uncaring ways.” ~ Stephen Vincent Benet

All the “little” things we do or don’t do, not paying attention, not caring, acting mindlessly or absent-mindedly, just drifting through each day not soaking up each moment or gem of beauty…all adds up to days lost, days and occasions we’ll never get back. Living to “the fullest” to me means making each moment, no matter what, the best we can. Whether we are sick or in pain, sad or happy, financially stable, poor, or rich, living our dream or not, have a great job, a dead-end job, or none at all, anxious or depressed…we can “bloom where we’re planted.” Make the most of what we have and where we are NOW.

Each moment won’t be the best but we can choose to make it as great as possible. It’s an amazing goal and habit we can develop.

Let’s pay attention to the simple beauty around us, the leaves, the cool breeze, the city lights, a heated room in the Winter, the deep blue of the sky, the twinkling stars in a midnight sky, the fragrance of flowers in the Spring, the taste of food we love, the sound of cars in the street, rain tapping on a roof, the softness of a blanket that comforts us through the night, the scent of cold air, the look in someone’s eyes, the softness of feathers or fur on a pet…

These are things so often overlooked by us each day. If we stop and pay attention to a single leaf, the crispness or greenness, an individual flower petal, the pastel softness, if we feel, truly mindfully feel the air carassing our skin while outside…it’s like a whole new world! A beauty that can make us go weak at the knees, make our breath catch, make us come alive, make our insides quiver, make us want to jump for joy! We can feel this feeling everyday!

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I saw this tree recently which still has green Springy/Summery leaves and not Fall ones yet and I looked at each leaf individually, not litterally every single one, but many. Instead of seeing it as a whole tree as one and all the leaves together like I usually do, I looked at each one separately, the vibrant green, the light tan/brown bark, the narrow trunk and branches, the way it looked against the sunset sky…and was (and still am!) astounded by the beauty. There’s so much we’re missing!!

All we have to do is look, open our minds and receive.

Our idea of living to the fullest may mean having our dream job, doing fun things like sky-diving, having a family, having lots of money…but while we’re working for those things, we can still live to the fullest! By tuning into each moment no matter what we’re doing! Being mindful, giving it our all, giving our whole self to whatever we’re doing.

This quote above is a wonderful reminder!

Lots of love to you! 😀

xoxo Kim ❤

Happy Birthday, John Lennon!! <3

Oct9

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(this isn’t my picture, I don’t know the source)

Today is John Lennon’s 75th b-day!

In honor of him and his message of love & peace, I am sharing a few John Lennon songs here!

I heard/read that at one point, John Lennon was an abuser of women which I don’t care for at all. 
There’s never a reason for a man to put his hands on a woman in a violent away unless he really has to to defend himself or someone else. For the most part, men are bigger and stronger than a woman is and even if I hit a man first (I wouldn’t!) there’s no reason for him to hit me back. Some people strongly disagree (like my mom!)  and think as long as a woman hits a man first it’s ok. I think that is totally not ok!
Unless I catch him off guard or he’s very old or sickly or something, I can’t do much damage to him(there may be exceptions…). but a man hitting a woman can generally do worse damage, even knock her to the ground or break a bone.

Can I do that to a man? Most likely not. Unless I’m coming at him with a weapon or something. Or unless I’m exceptionally physically strong for a woman, which I’m not. I’m kind of thin, not really tall, and not at all physically strong. 
Someone, especially a man, can probably knock me out with one blow. Lol I don’t recommend it though! 

If a woman hits a man, I think it’s good to have her arrested though. 

In an interview, I think in the 90’s, one of his sons called him a hypocrite saying he preached love and peace to the world but did not show it to his own family.

John Lennon also used homophobic slurs or made a mockery of people(he had a person, a gay man, he was close to and loved in a platonic way but that doesn’t make it ok, in my opinion, to sling around insults), another thing I don’t at all care for. But then he decided to give peace a chance. It’s so great he came to his senses and all these years later his message of love is still touching us and inspiring the world. And I’m thinking it’s likely that decades and decades into the future, his message will still live and breathe into the world. I want to help keep it alive.

Whatever we are now, we can change for the better and move forward, lifting others along the way. 

And maybe he wasn’t always peaceful and loving and maybe did not show it to his family but that doesn’t make what he said about love & peace any less true. Even if he did not live up to it.

That’s a question that would come up now & then in philosophy when I was in college. What if a person says amazing things, preaches very great morals but doesn’t live up to them or even try to generally live  up to them or practice what s/he preaches her/himself? Does what the person says still stand? Is it still amazing? Or is it all hogwash or rubbish?

Well, it is good to practice what we preach. That’s for sure. We are hypocrites if we talk about how people “should” live then we don’t even try. But you know, the truth is the truth and nothing can change that. Maybe in some cases we can disregard what someone says and call it bullshit because the person won’t even try to live that way. But in some cases the message still stands. With peace & love, we can never go wrong. So even if Mr. Lennon was the biggest hypocrite, his message is still a sweet one.  Still, people are probably much more likely to take you seriously if you live up to your message. 

Here are some John Lennon songs:

Imagine – mobile

Imagine – desktop

“You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world…”

Seriously, listen to this message and tell me it’s not brilliant no matter how the singer lived!

I’m sorry for his broken family though, I know what it’s like in some ways. My compassion goes out to them.

Woman – mobile

Woman – desktop

“And woman hold me close to your heart,
However, distant don’t keep us apart,
After all it is written in the stars”

“So let me tell you again and again and again…I love you.”

Jealous Guy – mobile

Jealous Guy – desktop

“I was feeling insecure
You might not love me anymore
I was shivering inside
I was shivering inside
Oh I didn’t mean to hurt you
I’m sorry that I made you cry
Oh my I didn’t want to hurt you
I’m just a jealous guy”

It’s great to say we’re sorry and own up to our mistakes. 

A few Beatles songs:

Here, There, & Everywhere – mobile

Here, There, & Everywhere – desktop

“I want her everywhere and if she’s beside me
I know I need never care
But to love her is to need her everywhere
Knowing that love is to share
Each one believing that love never dies
Watching her eyes and hoping I’m always there.” ❤

The Word – mobile

The Word – desktop

“Say the word and you’ll be free
Say the word and be like me
Say the word I’m thinking of
Have you heard the word is love?
It’s so fine, it’s sunshine
It’s the word, love”

All You Need is Love – mobile

All You Need is Love – desktop

“Nothing you can make that can’t be made
No one you can save that can’t be saved
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time
It’s easy
All you need is love”

This is an incredibly beautiful song! Of course love isn’t all we need though! We need food/sustenance, drink, air…if we want to live.

But you get the message, right?!

😀

❤

Also, for John’s 75th birthday, someone put this together.

Isn’t is so sweet that someone cares enough to compile a quote or song lyrics for each year since John Lennon came into the world? That couldn’t have been extremely easy and must have been very time consuming!   

So John Lennon wasn’t the saint the world makes him out to be but he did also have positive qualities. And it’s good to share those. He was a great singer! 

It’s so tragic and senseless what happened to him. And so good people still have him in their hearts all these years later, including people who weren’t even yet alive until after the tragedy. He is so famous and so loved! I can just imagine what the world must have been like shortly after the tragedy struck. 

He missed out on the whole rest of his life because someone choosing to act viciously decided to take it upon himself and end someone else’s life. It’s so wrong that one person can just out of nowhere go and end someone’s life just because that person feels like it. Wherever he is, if he’s still alive, I hope he realizes how wrong it is now, not in a way so he suffers with guilt but so his compassion is deeper. I think that whenever we do something wrong, we can be sorry but use our guilt and regret for good, not let it destroy us but let it inspire us to deepen our compassion and reach out to others. We can take what we learn and discover and help someone else. And if we’re murderers it won’t do much to help the dead individual but at least good things will be happening inspired by the tragedy. 
I’m not sure if any murderers are reading but if there are, you can maybe help prevent future acts of violence by learning things like anger management, compassion, empathy…and then teach others. 
There are people who have acted very violently, even killed people, then turned their lives around, even in prison, and went on to help other people, like other prisoners, with personal development and things. 
You may never be getting out but you can still help others. 
It won’t ever make up for that monstrous action but some good will at least come of it.
Either way, as we know, nothing brings back the dead one. But we can use our life lessons to do some good. 

Much love to you, murderers, abusers and all, they probably often need it the most! ❤

Xoxo Kim 😀

p.s. PLEASE whenever you write something using technology, SAVE it every couple of minutes. No! every couple of seconds! You can never save too much! I thought my post disappeared before I saved it and almost had a cow! Then it reappeared! Thank goodness! This thing took so much work and time to put together!

It's always worth it even if no one sees it now! It will always be here.

So save your work! I want to spare you that sinking feeling! 😀

We All Shine On

Oct8

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“Who in the hell d’you think you are?
A super star?
Well, right you are
Well we all shine on
Like the moon and the stars and the sun
Well we all shine on”

Last night I found it difficult to sleep, I kept twisting & turning and for some reason I was so unbearably hot. I put on two fans and the air conditioner and was still way too hot! My face was really hot and I felt all hot inside and just couldn’t get cool. My head was throbbing with migraine-like head pain and my vision has been so blurry. My chronic pain condition can do these things to me. Today was a busy day, I had plans to get up early and do stuff. It’s also Tara Day. Every month, on the 8th day, it’s Tara Day. She’s the female Buddha. So I went to the center for the chanting to her, then to the usual Thursday meditation class.
Tara is to remind us that a woman can accomplish things as well as a man (even better! Lol jk! ;-D ) 
 I knew I would be too exhausted to get up early today and it was disappointing. With my throbbing head and very little sleep, I wasn’t even sure how I would get out the door for the Tara chanting and meditation. But I did! 
I got out of bed at 5:00AM after no sleep and looked out the window. I was already joyful, even with a throbbing head and my disappointment. But when I looked out the window at the dark sky, my joy deepened. I saw faded white clouds and a beautiful moon with a star close to it! Then I looked to the other side and saw a sky full of stars! All twinkling for us all!
I’m happy for my little sleep because I wouldn’t have gotten up to see the sky! Well worth it. So much joy surging through me then & now.
What a happy girl I am!
I even got a picture! My phone camera usually can’t reach the stars and the moon doesn’t usually look good in my pics. But the moon looks so cute, a little crescent moon! 😀 And a sweet star!  
I won’t let my pain stop me too long or hold me back too much. I feel so connected to the world around me, when I look up to the night sky and moon, I feel as one with it.

I came upon this song tonight sung by John Lennon. I used to hear it often. It’s perfect for my post tonight! 

Instant Karma – mobile

Instant Karma – desktop

Here is Tara’s mantra:

OM TARE TUTTARE TURE

And this is one of the praises of Tara:

“Homage to you whose face is like
One hundred autumn moons gathered
And blazes with the dazzling light
Of a thousand constellations.”

Isn’t this just beautiful!

Remember to keep shining your light into the world!  
And remember, just like that moon and that star up in that dark, dark sky, your light is vibrant enough to shine and even in the blackest places.
Keep going even when you don’t feel like it. You can rest but always get back up!!

❤

Much love to you! 😀

And Happy Tara Day! 

Xoxo Kim

All the boy heard was the love…<3

Oct7

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(my sweet, silly, funny, loving little pomchies!! ❤ )

I read a novel a while ago called “Keeper of the Keys,” by Perri O’Shaughnessy, about a man whose wife disappears and he has a very painful and mysterious history with constantly moving with his mom to different houses and never meeting his dad who died years ago. After his wife disappears without a trace, he visits each house he lived as a boy, trying to find the secrets to his past that his mom keeps hidden. The fact that he did not know his dad growing up, and that he feels he never had a real home, contribute to his emotional anguish.

His mom paints a very negative image of his dad who is dead.

He visits his dad’s memorial and on pages, 193-4, it says this:

“He felt vast emptiness, surrounded by the dead and his own dead hopes. Every boy without a father probably harbors a secret illusion that his father would have been one of the good guys, if only. He’d load up a camper with canned food for trips to Yosemite to climb to Glacier Peak or Alaska to catch halibut, waking his son at five in the morning. Or maybe he would be the guy who dragged his boy off to museums to study the dusty Indian exhibits, who went on and on about the tar pits, and all the groggy boy heard, all the boy had to hear, was his father’s voice, not what he said. All the boy heard was the love.
The time they spent together would embed memories so deep, even if the man died, the boy could spend the rest of his lifetime savoring and honoring him.” 

This is heartbreakingly beautiful. The man is in agony over never knowing his dad. But isn’t it a beautiful concept? 

To have a relationship so loving that no matter how short lived it has been, it will still have the most incredible impact on us years and years later. Forever. 

This reminds me that it’s a great way for all of us to be with all those we are close to, everyone around us. To be so loving that we have a tremendous impact on someone even years after we are gone, no matter how our relationship ends. Whether it ends in death, just drifting apart, even a falling out, the good things we shared or did will still remain in memory. In this fantasy of the man, this boy’s relationship with his daddy is so loving, so beautiful that the man can die right then and for the rest of the little boy’s life, he will still remember and honor him. His love will outweigh the pain of his loss. He will still feel the loss and the pain but love will keep him going. 

Let’s create positive memories of each other and put mostly loving energy out into the world. Our energy affects those around us even if we aren’t always aware. 

When we are full of love and light inside, it really doesn’t always matter what we say, or if we say anything at all, people will only hear/feel our love.

I know what it’s like to be near someone who is so loving that it doesn’t matter if the person isn’t saying a word. I am enveloped in that soft, sweet, gentle love. We all have love in us, we all just don’t always act on it or allow it to be the main thing we feel and live each day.
But we can work to be better and better with it.

One of the people, I have been near who displays this kind of loving energy is an old lady I knew for years where I work. She’s a customer who comes occasionally. 

Some years ago at work one night, a man I do not and have never known, held a gun to my chest and said he would kill me and took all the money(I have nothing against him and hope he is doing well wherever he is and hope he’s no longer in that dark place he found himself in that night.). I was alone. This lady did not know me well but she was so concerned when she heard and she came the next night and asked me if I want her to walk me home that night. She would have had to walk back to her house herself after 10:00 at night for over 20 minutes! She is very small and old. And she would have done this for me! Isn’t that so sweet! Of course, I told her no but expressed my gratitude. And I will never forget that sweet act of kindness as long as I live.

Another day she heard another customer complaining that my service was too slow and it’s a man’s job, not a “little woman’s” to be working with water ice that is really hard to scoop. This lady told him in a sweet voice that I have been working there for years and always did a good job and know what I’m doing. I love how she came to my defense but not in an angry way against him. She was sweet and pleasant but firm. She defended me with compassion, not contempt for him.

She also gives me tips a lot when she comes. 

Those are indications of her loving ways. But when I really noticed her loving energy was when I felt it one day, not through her words or actions but just in her being, her essence. She was standing at the window and I just felt so enveloped, so immersed in her love. She is so gentle but her love is so powerful. 

Even if I never met her til that day at the window, I would have known her love even without her uttering a word to me.

We all have this ability to draw someone in, bathe others in our love, and at some moments, we probably do, but not all of us have developed and practice it in general. Some people are naturally more loving but even those who are less loving now, can develop it with practicing Lovingkindness to everyone everyday.

I hardly know this lady. I don’t know her name. She doesn’t come a lot to my workplace. She lives across the street. But I know her love so well. She is adorable and funny! 

One day I walked into the bar my boss owns, to give the cash back at the end of the day and the little lady was in there dancing and singing karaoke! She was singing that Oldie song “splish splash I was takin’ a bath!” lol it was so cute and funny!  

And she may not always act lovingly. She may get angry and disappointed and act less than kind occasionally, but if this is true, that doesn’t make her a less loving person as a whole. We can build our self up to be the best we can in each moment, even if we falter and aren’t always kind. But the more we practice and think lovingly, the more frequently we will act and feel loving. 

Some of us may be more receptive to one person’s energy than others are.  Even if we don’t always feel a person’s loving energy, it doesn’t mean it’s not there or that no one else feels it either. Some people just don’t sense energy much. And I think there are people with “matching energy” and when we meet those with energy similar to our own, we may click or have a deeper connection in some way than with others. But we all have energy and it’s good to make it positive. 

It doesn’t matter how long we know someone or have someone around. All the matters is the love we put out into the world. And the love we show those around us. ❤ ❤

Also check out Splish Splash, sung by Bobby Darin, a golden oldie! ;-D

Splish Splash – mobile

Splish Splash – desktop

It’s bound to put a big bright smile on your face, maybe even have you dancing around the room singing along!! ;-D

Lotsa love to y0u!! 😀 ❤ ❤

Xoxo Kim 😀

Anybody can beat anybody on any given day

Oct6

This is an old post of mine but WordPress just recommended it with the post I just posted tonight and I like the lessons here so I’m reblogging my own post! It’s nearly two years old but the wisdom is timeless. 😀 ❤

inspirationalgem's avatarA Dose of Inspiration

image

I recently read a novel by Morton Reed called, “Proof of Innocence,” which is a legal suspense thriller. It takes place in California, U.S.A. In the early 90’s and is about a young boy who is accused of attempting to kill his severely abusive father while his father was in bed sleeping.

While I found this book to be very enjoyable in various ways, I probably wouldn’t recommend it to anyone as it depicts horrific violence in graphic detail.

Serious domestic violence /abuse, extreme child & spousal abuse, horrific sexual violence.

At some points I wanted to put the book down and quit reading .

Some parts are deeply disturbing.

I have experienced domestic abuse and while it’s not nearly as bad as the abuse carried out by the character in the book, I can still relate in so many ways, especially to the emotional abuse, extreme anger outbursts, horrific…

View original post 918 more words

In Love With Nowhere <3

Oct6

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I read a fiction book called “In Love With Nowhere.” I loved the name as soon as I read it. I automatically interpreted as something positive like we can be in love with “nowhere” like either being physically “in the middle of nowhere” or loving each stage of life even if it seems to be going nowhere.

The book is about a man who is 30 something years old and struggling with severe substance addiction. He is a popular writer of horror fiction books and is well loved by many fans, but his addiction gets the best of him and his career, his marriage, and his whole life are suffering. 

So his agent sets up a place in the woods, a cozy cabin, for him to stay alone for a while to get better. He’ll have no contact with the outside world, other than walks through the woods and the kritters there,  and no access to drugs except smaller and smaller doses of Valium until he’s off it completely. He has to write a blog post each day to let the world know how he is doing and what he’s up to but he has no contact with readers.

Shortly after he gets to the cabin, very strange things begin happening. He’s not sure what’s real and what are hallucinations and delusions. He suffers immensely, both physically and emotionally. He experiences depression and serious physical opiate withdrawal symptoms.  He is plagued with nightmares and terrible visions. 

It’s a psychological thriller and a horror fiction book but runs deeper than just thriller and mystery. There are little life lessons and reminders throughout the book.

Also it helps deepen our empathy for those struggling with addiction. Some scenes are gutwrenching. The author really goes into detail about the physical and emotional torment that people with addiction experience. 

The book is also full of hope and inspiration.

There are little reminders to cherish the beauty all around us. To be mindful of nature and the people we see everywhere we go.

It also reminds us to take comfort in the simple pleasures, when we are sick and in pain, hot tea, a hot shower, a comfortable bed, a cool breeze, just focus on each little thing and allow it to distract us so we don’t have to focus too much on the pain or sickness we are experiencing. It’s ok to find sweet little escapes to help us cope and bring some sense of consolation no matter how small.

Also it reminds us to let go of our painful past, not to be haunted by mistakes we have made and horrific things that happened to us. Acknowledge that they happened, never repress them, but just let them go. They can’t be changed and letting them imprison us does no good to anyone. 

The book also conveys the message that as long as we’re alive, there’s always hope no matter how terrible our life seems now.

Also, it reminds us to smile big like a “simpleton!” lol! A couple occasions the man smiles a big goofy grin like a “simpleton,” The author calls it! My grandmom often called me a simpleton when I was little and I still think it’s funny! There’s nothing more beautiful than those moments where we are so filled with joy, we can just laugh and be silly without a care in the world no matter what’s going on! I have those occasions sometimes no matter how depressed or how much physical pain I’m in. We’re never too old or too bad off (as long as we’re alive) to be simple and silly and full of child-like wonder! 😀

Some scenes are beautiful and serene, some bizarre, and some frightening and very distressing but all together it’s a beautiful story and even though I don’t and never have had a drug problem, I can relate to so many of this man’s underlying experiences.

This isn’t really a spoiler but a line out of the book in case you don’t want to read it and read the book first.
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Just when the man is about to just give up, someone has this to say to him:

“You have so much potential, you can give the world so much, you will give the world so much.” 

“Like I said, the world needs you and eventually it will find a use for you. But not as a repressed drug addict.”

I find this message to be beautiful and inspiring. We are more than just our struggles and pain and we all have potential and so much to give.

We are more than a drug addict or a depressive or schizophrenic, or someone with an eating disorder or low self-esteem or someone drowning in grief. We are more than an asthmatic or cancer patient or an anxious person or whatever physical or emotional ailment or disease we have been afflicted with. So much more. Even when it feels that all we are is someone with pain or a disorder. 

We are not a disorder or a condition or an addiction. I am not my pain.
You are not your anxiety or painful experiences or emotions or words that have hurt you. You aren’t your bad habits or mistakes or flaws or shortcomings.

We have a whole personality and love and skills and gifts beneath those labels and agonizing experiences. Look, feel, and they are there. Here. 

We have so much potential.

So this book is a fun thriller and mystery but it’s also much more.  It’s grounded in hope and healing.

And I just feel the desire to share!

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Even if you don’t read the book, maybe you can find these little reminders helpful or inspiring anyway!

❤

Lots & lots of love to you! 😀

Xoxo Kim 

Best Days <3

Oct5

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“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson 

This post is about a day that I can say with complete certainty is one of the best days I ever experienced. I can’t say I have one day that is “the best day of my life.” I have occasions many days that I can say qualify as “the best.” And I don’t think there should be just one or a few days that are the best. I want to make every day as best as possible. Some will be better than others. Some will even suck for the most part and that’s quite alright!

But some days really stand out to me as the absolute best! And Monday, June 1st, 2015 is one such day!

Why do I remember the date? I’m really not sure. Maybe because it’s the first day of the month? Nothing significant happened at all. I wasn’t on vacation. In fact I was at work! How many people can say one of the best days of their life, was at work during the work hours?! Lol But I can! 

There was no “socially acceptable” (for lack of a better way of putting it) cause for celebration. It wasn’t a holiday (that I know of), no hanging out with friends, no graduations, weddings, engagements, job promotions, childbirths, amazing news,…that I was somehow associated with.

It was just a slow, calm, rainy night at work. I was alone, drinking hot tea, reading my zombie-like/apocalyptic thriller which I was loving to pieces. It’s my favorite! I was listening to a few great songs over and over, including Len Barry’s Bristol Stomp. I probably had a headache (because when do I not have a headache?), I did not have much money (because when do I ever?), my grief was still somewhat new (I lost a coworker, who I was close with, to unexpected death in February) it wasn’t my favorite kind of weather (except the rain and it was cooler that night than it has been), it was bordering on Summer. I’m more of a Fall/Winter kind of girl, it was quiet and still and I was waiting for a mystery thriller novel to come out that was to be released in eight days. 
Book 2 of a series by Dr. Carey Baldwin, and I waited seven months for that thing to be released!! Seven months! (and I’m in the middle of another seven waiting for the next! January 2016!) I could not wait! I was so happy that day knowing in just over a week, it would be in my hands (or on my Kindle app to be more accurate). I read it in less than one day!  It’s not a novella or anything, I just read it non stop til it was through. (And so did a few others because when I looked there were already four reviews for the book, just a few hours after it was released! So, it appears I’m not the only fanatic who waited up all night til it showed up on Kindle then devoured it all in one sitting!)   

So my point is that nothing significant at all happened. And the conditions were not perfect to me. Like I said, I had no money, it wasn’t like it was my favorite season, I wasn’t at home being able to do whatever I wanted or on a big fun-filled vacation…yet I can safely say it’s one of my sweetest, most cherished memories. One I will always keep with me.  

I did not want the night to end. I remember I stood up and looked at the clock on the wall hoping it wasn’t nearing 10:00pm because then I would have had to leave. I wasn’t obsessing over the time. I was being mindful that night. But I stole a glance as I leaned against the counter in the store I work at. I remember the exact moment it happened. It was just after 8:00pm. The moment I declared, just in my head though, this to be one of the best days of this life of mine. I even smiled to myself and felt awe at the fact that I can find so much beauty in simplicity and monotony. And as is typical of me, I also felt amused. 

This can seem pathetic of me or absolutely wonderful depending upon the way we look at it. 

Pathetic version: “seriously?! This girl must have nothing going on, must have a very boring life for a night at work with nothing happening to be the best! Omg, How sad!”

Or!

Absolutely wonderful version: “seriously?! This girl must have an amazing life to be able to take an ordinary day, rainy, at work, nothing big going on and STILL find wonder in everything!! Omg!”

Lol

See?! All how you look at it! 😀

Let’s go with option number two though!? ;-D

My whole point? Any old day can be the best and our conditions do not have to be perfect to us, at all to be happy, thrilled, serene, to find love and joy and feel that this moment is absolutely, without a doubt, perfect. We can be in pain, broke as a joke, at work!, with nothing of importance (in a social way) going on and it still be the best!! It’s all about mindfulness, gratitude, and attitude! 

I can’t say for sure what makes a day “one of the best,” really. There were other great days I was in a fantastic mood, reading something sweet or doing something else fun, even in conditions that were more “perfect” to me. Weather I like better, more money that day, something blatantly thrilling happening, out shopping, on a fun vacation, out at a restaurant….and were still beautiful days but did not necessarily stand out to me as “the best” or as great as that day. It’s not always something that can be identified or defined. But attitude and mindfulness and gratitude definitely play a big part. 

“Goodness is easier to recognize than to define.” ~ W.H. Auden

We often tend to think that a “best day of my life” has to be something tremendous like our wedding day, having/adopting a child, getting engaged to be married, graduating some school or program, vacation days, holidays or some dramatic celebration, winning the big lotto,…and it’s fantastic to have those as some of our best days but it’s also ok and amazing to declare a simple, ordinary day as one of those best days! Let’s not hold back waiting for more or better or the perfect conditions, to be happy and consider this day the greatest day of the year/our life! This day is ours to cherish. ❤

“Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so. One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return.” ~ Mary Irion

Mary-Jean-Irion-Normal-day-From-Let-Me-Hold-You-While-I-May

I found this image here:
Tina Lewis Rowe – Insights, Information, and Inspiration 

We may think of normal days as boring or plain or mundane and feel the need for something more. It’s ok to want and work for more. But let’s remember to cherish those normal days and keep in mind that one day, we may wish with everything we have in us, that today was just a normal day. People struck with tragedy, illness, pain, violence today….may wish that today was just like any other day. No matter what happens today though, we can find some good if we try. 

And even if a day is really shitty, there can be some happy moments to seize and hold onto! Let’s remember those ones! Let’s create memorable moments each day or most days. Then we can look back and say “Yes! That was the best!” even if we don’t remember the date. Each day, for most/many of us, is probably so mundane, so ordinary, even if it’s fun and happy, that it slips our memory when it ends. If nothing “big” happens, it’s unlikely to stand out later. All those little pleasant moments slip away into oblivion never to be held again. The scent of the flowers that caress our noses as we walk to a store, the comfort of our child or puppy/kitty curling up on us to sleep, sitting in a cafe with a sweet friend, belly laughing at a hilarious joke or something we read or remembered or saw on tv, drinking hot tea, reading a wonderful book on a cool night…these things we appreciate then they’re gone. So let’s be more mindful of them while they are occurring. They are so fleeting. Let’s grasp them. Imprint them into our hearts forever. Make it a point to remember. Take pictures. Create gratitude lists. Publish blog posts/statuses about them, scrapbooking, journaling…or just be genuinely mindful and then we can always remember. 

“Life isn’t perfect but it has perfect moments!”

❤

Much love to you,

Xoxo Kim 😀

You’ve got LOVE mail!! <3

Oct4

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“No stars are out tonight but we’re shining our own light.”

In the novel I previously wrote about, “The Last of Her Kind,” one character, a young woman, who I wrote about here,loves Mick Jagger and she heard that he was receiving “hate mail” so she decided to send him LOVE mail!

She writes this:

“I understand that you have received a lot of hate mail and even THREATS AGAINST YOUR LIFE. This has really freaked me out and has made me decide to write you LOVE MAIL every day. I don’t want you ever to forget that your true fans cherish and adore you and will always stand by you.” (pp. 170-1)

I just LOVE this concept! Not just sending someone love mail, that too, but bringing light and positivity into places where there is a lot of darkness and pain or negativity. It’s great to be positive in general but it’s especially important to bring light & love to places where it’s really lacking.

I love how this character decides to take action to bring love to a place that she knows needs more. She is kind enough to reach out and remind the man that people still love him. He may or may not need that reminder or even care about all the people who loathe or even love him. But it’s still good to see someone putting love out into the world. It’s the best we can do. ❤

If we see someone receiving unpleasant messages on social media, let’s make it a point to write that person positive or encouraging messages. If we meet or know someone who is hopeless, let’s attempt to bring some sense of hope to that person. Maybe it won’t work but maybe it will and at least the person will see someone cares. Let’s brighten a dark room with the light of our smiles. Bring our own sunshine to a rainy day. Send healing energy to someone sick or in pain.
Let’s remind people that for all the negative they encounter, there’s so much more positive.
Like the character in the book reminds Mick, while there’s so much hate directed at him, there’s also so much love.
Let’s focus more on the LOVE. ❤
Wherever we see that positivity, inspiration, light, or love is lacking, let’s bring our own to those places. ❤

And remember when someone unnecessarily criticizes us, writes us a rude message, doesn’t like us, wants to see us fall…there’s way more people who do like us and ones who would if they knew us. There’s more who want to bring us up and see us succeed. It’s sometimes easy to focus on the one or few unpleasant comments or remarks or experiences. But there’s more love in the world than negativity.

Also, as I mentioned in my other posts about this book, on pages 79-81, there is a r*pe scene in case you read the book and want to skip it.

And here’s a sweet song:

All I Need – Jack Wagner – mobile

All I Need – desktop

Lots & lots of LOVE & hugs to you, whoever you are, wherever you are!! 😀

Xoxo Kim ❤