“True beauty is a warm heart, a kind soul, and an attentive ear.”~Ken Poirot ❤
xoxo Kim
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Magazine Inspiration <3
So it seems I found me a new hobby!
Yeeeaaahh!
And it wasn’t exactly intentional.
And I’m going to share it here for all to join me!
I love magazines. I always have. Fashion magazines like ones full of hair and makeup, beautiful women, sexy men, and pretty things I will never have enough money to buy.
I used to spend an embarrassing amount of money on them when I was young and had more money. I blew over 60 dollars on magazines before! All in one night! Seriously, I grabbed every magazine off the shelves. You read that correctly. Over SIXTY dollars. On fashion magazines. In one night.
They used to be my very favorite things to buy along with makeup.
Through the years I kind of lost my passionate interest in magazines because I came to find all kinds of stuff on the net where I can look at hair, makeup, gorgeous girls, sexy men, and lots of pretty things I’ll never have the money to buy.
But recently my love for those kinds of magazines has been rekindled. It’s ok, my sister gets free samples on the Internet and sometimes the library has them for free and sometimes my grandmom gives us her old magazines so I won’t be splurging and blowing 60 dollars, I promise. And the mags just have stuff I don’t find on the net. And flipping through magazines brings a different thrill than scrolling on a screen.
Recently I found a magazine in our stacks of magazines with the girl, Amanda Seyfried, on the cover and I couldn’t resist. The girl is a true beauty, in & out. How can anyone resist her?
I skimmed trough the magazine to find her and instantly that joy I always felt as a girl & young woman, indulging in trashy magazines came flooding back to me.
My eyes devoured all the images and beauty across the pages. {my guilty pleasure}
And I remembered and felt what I felt all those years ago.
I can’t help it. It sucked me in to the point of no return. So yeah. {thank you, Amanda for being so beautiful. 😉 }
But something else caught my eyes.
There are so many inspiring words, sayings, and other things across the pages. Not just a bunch of pretty faces and bangin’ bodies and insanely expensive material things. Seriously, the prices of some of these things! It’s obscene!
But a girl can look & dream!
Much of the inspiring sayings are shallow in the context in which they are intended here. But they can have a deeper meaning and apply to life in general, not just the material world of commercialism & consumerism.
I took pics of the most inspiring things I encountered and decided to share them here.
Now my guilty pleasure doesn’t have to be so guilty! Lol ;-D
I vow to frequently look for deeper inspiration in all the shallowness & materialism & darkness.
Here goes it!
Yes, let’s remember to not negatively judge others. Let’s get to know people first, give them a chance, the benefit of a doubt, assume the best until we get to know them and accept them even if we don’t like things about them. We can be judged too. No one is perfect in everyone’s eyes!
The only thing we really know for sure, basically, when we see a babe with tattoos is that the girl wanted a tattoo so she got one or many. And good for her! 😀
I love this! Not only is it a great reminder to be mindful and accept our circumstances. We are here (wherever here is: stuck in traffic, hectic day at work, in a painful phase of life, getting a full body massage, having tea with friends, basking in the daylight…)whether we like it or not, let’s make the most of it. But I find it so comforting for another reason. It’s a reminder to cherish this life. I’m here. So simply put. That’s all that truly matters. I’m here. In this life. Even if I’m not doing good, not very successful or anything, it’s ok. I’m here.
Everywhere we go. ❤ Scatter gems of love throughout each day.
If this isn't inspiring, well then, what is?
I read a novel many years ago called "She's Come Undone," which I think may have been somewhat popular. I thought it meant something bad. And it is about a suicidal girl with depression. I thought she just lost it, crumbled, fell apart. Lol
But I realized after reading it that "coming undone" in her case means all the pain and bad things falling apart, crumbling to ruin, to give way to healing and love and beauty. So in a way, she did fall apart and crumbled but only the depressed, victim part of her. The true beautiful her now has space to breathe, grow, and just be.
We can come undone to build ourselves up even better, stronger, wiser.
I don't remember much of the novel. It was ages ago but if I remember correctly (I don't know if I do…)there are some distressing scenes in the book including a rape scene and a suicide attempt. So if you check it out and you yourself have experienced any sort of trauma, I hope you'll be cautious because that can be a trigger for serious distress. ❤ ❤
"No matter how long we have been traveling down the wrong road, it's never too late to turn around and begin again as long as we're alive."
"Wherever you go, go with all your heart." ❤
Red is sexy. ❤
But it doesn't have to be. It's really very simple, we just insist on making in complicated. Let go, stop cherishing our own needs & desires above the ones of others, let's stop demanding things to be certain ways, accept life as it is, good, bad, ugly & beautiful, help it when we can, let go when we can't, breathe. Bask in the simple joys all around us. And just go with the flow. See?! It's simple!
Sharing is caring. Sharing our stories, experiences, our stuff, our love, our time & company…<3
❤ ❤
This goal of finding beauty in the midst of something not so beautiful (these magazines are often shallow, seem to promote unhealthy lifestyles in some ways, are incredibly materialistic sometimes, often portray women in degrading ways…) can apply to all of life. We can find/create love & beauty in places there seems to be very little of it. We can choose to embrace the positive, no matter how few, things of situations, people, objects….instead of rejecting them because of the not so positive traits they also possess, instead of dwelling on or focusing more on the unpleasant.
There are little gems of inspiration everywhere we look.
All we have to do is be perceptive, remain open, and welcome things even if we wouldn't usually be open or welcoming to those things.
I plan on sharing more magazine inspiration in the near future, maybe each week!
Much love & light to you now & always!
Xoxo Kim
Spring <3
“Springtime is the land awakening. The March winds are the morning yawn.” ~Quoted by Lewis Grizzard in Kathy Sue Loudermilk, I Love You
<3:-D
xoxo Kim
Dandelions. <3
“Dandelions, like all things in nature are beautiful when you take the time to pay attention to them.”~June Stoyer ❤
This is a picture of me last Spring in June outside a Buddhist center here in Philadelphia after the Avalokiteshvara Empowerment. Avalokiteshvara is said to be the personification of perfect compassion for all sentient beings.
I saw this quote and thought of the picture. It was a beautiful Spring day. Like today! 😀
I hope you are having a lovely day or night wherever in the world you are! ❤
😀
xoxo Kim
Sunshine Award
Thank you so, so much, Sonali, at Howling With the Wolf:
https://howlingwiththewolf.wordpress.com/
for nominating me for this lovely award! I’m so honored and happy to receive it! Please go check out her wonderful blog! She’s an amazing person and writer! I’m so happy our paths crossed here on WordPress!! ❤ ❤
Here are the questions and my answers.
1. If you could pick one line from your About Me page(or whatever you renamed it to) to describe you, which line would you pick?
"I believe in Metta or Universal Love, ONE love. Loving and wishing the very best for every living, sentient being everywhere. This includes those who are not so easily lovable.
I’m extremely easily amused! I laugh at the dumbest and most inappropriate things. It’s fun but gets me into trouble now and again! I even laugh when I’m alone and at things that happened years ago. It’s very easy to entertain me. Lol I love being around lots of people but I also take pleasure in my own company."
This is two lines/paragraphs isn't it? Oh, well! They describe me well! ❤
2. Which is your favourite post from your own blog and why? (It could be because of the memories attached or the frame of mind you wrote it in, a comment you received)
https://inspirationalgem.wordpress.com/2013/11/29/love-humanness-oneness/
This for sure is one of my favorites! It's beautiful and awe-inspiring. Lol No, I'm not giving myself a big pat on the back or bragging! It's awe-inspiring because of the excerpts I share out of Dr. Buscaglia's book Personhood! The man is amazing!
3. Is there anyone who knows enough about you to give you advice that you would actually take?
I would take the advice of someone if it seems wise to me even if the person doesn't know me well. I'm very open so I think people know me well usually. Even some of my online friends give me suggestions sometimes for what to read or youtube videos…they think I would love. I always appreciate it when people pay attention to my personality enough to know what I would probably love or not like. Some of my friends both online and in person friends have let me known when people tagged me in violent, racist, homophobic…stuff on facebook because they know I don’t like it. I don’t always see my notifications and my profile is public and i have thousands of friends and I occasionally get tagged in and added to groups with content that I disagree with. It’s great to have people know me well! ❤
4. Has your blog changed your life? In what way?
Yes! I love the connections I have with people here and I think even more positively after posting so much positive stuff. And even more than I used to, I question what each experience is teaching me and how I can potentially share it to help others.
5. Do you have any siblings?
I have one sister. She's over ten years younger than me.
6. Are you more comfortable with friends on your blog or in real life? (Yes, I borrowed this question)
Both! I love having both online and in person friends.
7. What is your favourite TV show or movie?
I don't watch TV, except sometimes if someone else is already watching it. I love movies even though I don't watch them a whole lot. One movie I love is "What Happens in Vegas" because it's hilarious and the memory of first seeing it. I laughed so much watching it in the theatre, for a few minutes I thought I was literally going insane, I could not stop laughing so hysterically. The fact that I just got out of a psychiatric hospital back then did not help my concern that I was going insane! Lol a good belly laugh is just what we need when we are just released out of a nuthouse. It's a fun memory! ;-D ❤
8. If you were stranded on an island, what three things would you like to have with you?
A camera for sure! There would be so many things to take pictures of! My hairbrush! Lol My hair gets so tangled easily! Books or a Kindle(with books already on it since I'm nearly certain there would be no wifi)!
9. If you had an unlimited amount of money to spend, what would you do with it?
I would definitely help as many people as I can, both organizations that help others and individual people who need help.
I always thought it would be amazing to be a multi- billionaire simply to have the opportunity to run up to random people on the streets and say "Here have a billion dollars!" while handing them like a briefcase full of cash then running off. Lol Amazing!
Imagine the confusion and looks on their faces.
Also, I would give money to help animals. I would also pay off all the debt I'm in! Lol And of course, I would go on a few shopping sprees! 😀
Which two clothes would you choose from your closet to define your personality?
One would be the socks I have. They are all colored or have patterns that are fun, silly, playful…I'm very playful and love colors and designs that stand out or are just not plain. I almost never wear black or white sox. They have to be vibrant, colorful, pretty…
Also, a white hoodie I have that says "love" because I'm very loving and try to live each day full of love.
11. If you could go back to the past and meet one person, who would you meet?
I would love to meet the Buddha!
“RULES:
Thank the person who nominated you in the blog post (basically say something nice about him/her..we all like to hear good things about us right?
Answer the 11 questions set by the person who nominated you.
Nominate 11 blogs to receive the award and write them 11 new questions to answer.”
Here are my questions for you to answer:
1.)What is one song you know of that you find has a great message?
2.)What is one of the most inspiring quotes that you know?
3.)
(not my photo)
Would you? Lol
4.) What is one cliche or quote you do not agree with or think is plain stupid? For example: “Blood is thicker than water” & “You can’t love
anyone until you love yourself…” To me, both are baloney.
5.) What is one thing you love about yourself?
6.) What is one personality trait you love to see in others?
7.) If you were able to have any healing power what would you choose?
8.) If you had to choose a vacation in a warm, tropical place or a cold, Wintery place, which would you choose?
9.) What do you think is a more important virtue, justice or mercy?
10.) Do you feel more drawn to live in a big city full of traffic and buildings and noise and lots of people or a quiet countryside with mostly just the chiring of crickets in the night and the surrounding stillness?
11.) If a tree falls in the middle of a forrest and hits the ground but there’s no one to hear the loud crash, does it still make a sound? (philosophy was my major in college, I have to ask!) Lol
I’m nominating some beautiful blogs which haven’t already been nominated in this case for this award.
https://pathsofthespirit.wordpress.com/
https://herladypinkrose.wordpress.com/
https://justaladywithablog.wordpress.com/
https://worldstrata.wordpress.com/
https://bhharned.wordpress.com/
https://autismthoughts.wordpress.com/
https://fargaregardsanna.wordpress.com/
https://lipstickdreamsblog.wordpress.com/
https://meloheartsite.wordpress.com/
Please go check out these lovelies including Howling with the Wolf!! You’ll love them as much as I do!
There’s many more blogs I love just as much but the list has to end somewhere! Lol
Even if you don’t participate in awards I still love you and your blog!
And if you want, you can still answer the questions or some or one, even if you don’t want to participate in the award. You can answer here in the comment section if you want! I would still love to see your answers!
Also, I still have a few sweet comments to catch up on here! Thank you so much! I will respond soon! If I ever don’t respond to a comment, it’s either because I did not see it or will respond soon but haven’t got around to it yet(unless it’s a rude comment or sarcastic or something then I may not respond at all even if I see it! Lol). I never ignore well intentioned comments, I will always acknowledge them most likely with a comment in response or if not then a “like.”
Much love & light to you today & always!
😀
xoxo Kim ❤
March Sunrise
“Just before Sunrise there is a dark night.”
Today I decided to get up early and watch the sun come up.
It was a cold, lightly windy morning. My dogs and me went into the backyard bright & early and watched the amazing sun rising into the perfect blue.
It’s awe inspiring to witness! First, it was a darkened blue sky with hazy white/gray colored clouds, then a hint of orange appeared!
Breathtaking! The most amazing thing to see is the first hint of the sun rising.
The Sunrise always reminds me of hope and new beginnings, like almost anything is possible and everything is ok and will always be.
Just before the sun came up. Isn’t it beautiful?!
Like always, I took pictures at some points but also just watched some moments and basked in the pure beauty. In my opinion, just seeing/feeling beauty is often more important than capturing it!
😀
Even now, hours later, I still feel that awe surge through me that I felt while watching it. ❤
I hope you are having a beautiful day or night wherever in the world you are!
❤
Much love & light,
xoxo Kim
Beautiful.
(the sunset today – the moon is out too, a thin sliver, how beautiful!)
“It was early morning. Smoke hung in the air. There was sunlight passing through the smoke. It was beautiful.
‘It is beautiful!’ the Tao said.
And so it was.”
This is out of a Kindle book I have called “Tao Sutra: Opening the Door to the Senses,” a book full of short stories like this laced with wisdom, love, life lessons, and beauty.
It’s written by Amit Basu.
This perfect lil story reminds us to acknowledge the beauty all around us at any given moment and also that attitude is just about everything. If we believe it’s beautiful then it is.
There is always something to see beauty in. ❤
Thank You for the recent comments to me! I always appreciate each & every one of them and all of my readers!
I will respond soon! ❤ 😀
xoxo Kim
Bloom. <3
“A flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it….it just blooms.”
We all have a unique combination of things, gifts, experiences, abilities, goals, ways of doing things, loves, likes, dislikes, physical attributes, personality traits, mistakes, flaws, perfections, accomplishments, beauty, ugliness, wonder, brain/body chemistry, dna, memories….
It doesn’t make sense to try to have competitions with others and compare ourselves in negative ways.
We all have our own histories, our own pace, our own ways…
Let’s bloom where we’re planted, work with and appreciate what we have and where we are, focus on our own life and context.
“Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
Forget what others are doing and wanting and what everyone else has and focus on our own aspirations and desires. There’s always going to be someone with more and with less, with more developed abilities, more accomplishments, more money, and those with less.
There’s always going to be someone who seems to have it all or seems to have accomplished things more quickly.
But we each have our own pace and situations.
“If one is a greyhound, why try to look like a Pekingese?”
This is a beautiful reminder to blossom as our own self, just the way we are. The one next to us may have much more but it doesn’t make us inferior. We all are very similar in some ways and different in other ways.
But no one can take the place of another. ❤
So let's just be us and bloom where we are while loving each other and encouraging others to do the same.
Much love & light, always! ❤
😀
Xoxo Kim
Strawberry <3
Strawberry is one of my favorite flavors. Not even for the taste itself, though it is delicious!
😀
Cherry is my favorite and grape and I also love blueberry poptarts more than I love strawberry. For ice cream, mint chip is my favorite.
Strawberry laffey taffeys are good, though, not nearly as good as cherry!
But there’s something about strawberry I don’t understand.
It brings life back into me. Life & hope.
Strawberry was Diane’s favorite ice cream.
Diane is my friend & coworker who we lost unexpectedly to a heart attack last year, which is one of the most difficult experiences of this life of mine. I feel my heart now, like it’s physically breaking. Sometimes I’m overcome in grief like it’s almost paralyzing.
She would eat strawberry ice cream a lot at work.
She absolutely loved it.
I always loved the pink color more than the flavor and I love the frozen strawberry pieces, how they feel against my tongue.
When she would eat her strawberry ice cream, the pink color always made me want to eat some too. Even when I was depressed and couldn’t really taste anything else, the strawberry almost always tasted like a sliver of Heaven on Earth, to me. Even flavors I like better do not usually do that for me.
Even when nothing else tempted me to eat it, strawberry would (still does!) and I would always forget what strawberry ice cream would do for me until Diane would come over and eat it.
I always felt so thankful. ❤ ❤
I remember often thinking "Thank You, Diane!!" when I would be depressed and she would be eating strawberry ice cream back in her room at work. And I would be eating it now too feeling a spark of hope instilled in me because something actually tasted like something in the midst of my deep, dark despair. That little glimpse of what still is, what can be, often kept me going.
As I mentioned, I was recently depressed and nothing had any flavor. Even my soda does not feel as fizzy when I'm like this. It's like flat even though it's not.
Depression can do some weird shit. Lol
It's like being in a separate world than everyone else.
Like I mentioned here before about the movie, The Langoliers, when they slip into something like another dimension but not quite, more like a time rip or lapse or something, and everything is bland, not just the taste of food, but the feel of everything. Nothing has rhythm, color, flavor, feeling. Everything is like a cheap imitation of the real thing. The air is dead. It’s disgusting.
But I recently bought strawberry sugar wafers because PINK! (lol can’t go wrong with pink!) and wasn’t expecting to really taste them but I was restless and wanted something to do. I had no desire for food or drink but I ate the wafers anyway and the strawberry struck me and just was/is amazing. Still not the same as if I wasn’t depressed but still, nothing else can touch me like that usually, in a state like this. But strawberry does!
I thought instantly of Diane (she’s always on my mind but this brought my conscious awareness to her at that moment) and I came to love strawberry even more, remembering how she loved it and always brought so much love to me even with my depression, I always felt so happy to see and talk to her.
She was so understanding of people with depression and substance addiction and other problems that not everyone understands or cares to understand.
Oh, sweet Diane! ❤ </3 ❤
I don't know just how I came to find myself propelled into a world without her here with me but I'm so thankful I got to know her in this life.
And so thankful for the memories of strawberry ice cream and her love.
We were friends and worked together for almost ten years but I would have loved her just as much and grieve just as hard if I just met her. Time isn't what matters, the depth of love and connection is what does. But it's a blessing to have known her for nearly a decade.
She loved Rod Stewart and whenever I hear the song "Rhythm of My Heart," I think of her and it plays so frequently on random shuffle
when I write about her and it just start playing now! Lol ❤ ❤
Anyway, I just want to write about my experience with Strawberry.
It's one of the beautiful things and my word this year is Beauty!!
I hope you, whoever you are, are full of happiness & love & light & joy & inner peace.
If you have what I have (depression) or any problem or condition whether it's just as bad as mine, worse, or not as bad, I hope you have or soon find something that can almost always bring you a sense of joy or comfort or hope, when nothing else seems to. Maybe a song, or a memory, a book, or movie, or quote, or activity, or maybe a certain color or flavor….
I don't just write "much love & light…" often just to end my posts. I truly wish with everything I have that everyone can be happy and feel love for others and feel loved themselves. When I write that, I actually feel it. I don't know who is reading but I know everyone is someone, like me, with hopes and joy and happiness and pain and fears, losses, and the potential for suffering and the potential to evolve and the capacity to love…
And I love you because I know you are someone.
❤
So, much love & light to you, always. ❤
Xoxo Kim
Grateful <3
“I’m thankful for a pair of shoes that feel really good on my feet; I like my shoes.
I’m thankful for the birds; I feel like they’re singing just for me when I get up in the morning… Saying, ‘Good morning, John. You made it, John.’
I’m thankful for the sea breeze that feels so good right now, and the scent of jasmine when the sun starts going down.
I’m thankful…” ~Johnny Cash
Today I woke up in a state of deep gratitude. I often live in gratitude but I’m not always as conscious of the depth of it as I was this morning. I woke up early to the sound of cars outside and construction work off in the distance, which I love to hear!
It was so beautiful to hear. And my little pomchi was all curled up sleeping on me. My adorable baby! I was flooded with gratitude for the personalities of my sweet furbabies!
I love cuddly dogs who love to snuggle with me under the blankies!
And I was (still am) very thankful that I was exhausted all day yesterday, with my exhaustion increasing then decreasing off and on. It was hard to work at some points. And today I’m also incredibly exhausted and fatigued.
I am depressed and have been very depressed for a week now. Last week my depression was severe emotional pain and suicidal inclination. This week I’m not suicidal and it’s not so much emotional pain but lack of energy, food and everything tasting bland, music doesn’t sound as good, my whole body feels heavy…
The reason I am so thankful for this struggle is I used to live like this almost constantly for years, this horrible exhaustion and fatigue and depression. Day after day, year after year.
It would lift occasionally, sometimes even lift for a few months then go back to severe depression.
The fatigue was horrible. I had trouble staying awake at work and in school. I had to take naps all day.
I stuffed myself with junk food, which I’m sure made my fatigue worse and even brought it on sometimes.
Fatigue and depression was just how I lived.
But in May 2010, I began to truly get myself better and through the years better and better and now I still have depressive episodes and symptoms sometimes, sometimes even frequently, but they are not as often and they are usually easier for me to handle.
Like I mention sometimes, depression that I speak of is not a mere mood, attitude, or grim outlook on like. It’s like a Sickness. I can even often, now, separate my attitude and the depression. Just because I’m depressed doesn’t mean I can’t be positive about it or even have a sense of happiness with it. Not always, but sometimes.
And depression isn’t always a low mood even if it usually is. Like now, it’s more physical and other symptoms but I’m not miserable.
Right now, I’m not the happiest girl on Earth like I usually am! Lol But I’m not on the brink of killing myself either like last week!
😀
Anyway, my couple of days of exhaustion and fatigue, really stood out and because of this I am reminded that I no longer live this way. It’s so rare now that when it hits, it’s startling.
This is a good thing! I love thinking about how much better I am now.
Even when I’m severely depressed, I’m usually not that fatigued anymore. I appreciate this reminder and it also reminds me to be thankful for unusual things we may often overlook.
Even though I’m depressed, I’m still overflowing with gratitude, some points it’s so deep. It IS possible to be both depressed and grateful. It’s not always going to happen and the gratitude likely won’t be as deep as when we aren’t depressed but we can still be thankful.
Here is a truly beautiful song about being grateful for everything, looking on the bright side of life no matter what. ❤
"I've got a heart that can hold love
I've got a mind that can think
There may be times when I lose the light
And let my spirits sink
But I can't stay depressed
When I remember how I'm blessed" ~John Bucchino
Grateful – Sung by John Bucchino -mobile
“Grateful, grateful
Truly grateful I am
Grateful, grateful
Truly blessed
And duly grateful”
😀
Much love & light to you, now & for always. ❤
xoxo Kim
