“The quality of your life doesn’t depend on the quality of what you have; it depends on the quality of your feelings.”
An attitude of gratitude is better than any possession!
Just stopping by to share this inspiring message! 😀
❤
Lots of love to you!
❤
xoxo Kim
When I woke up yesterday morning I did not want to get out of bed. I was warm and cozy and sleepy. My dogs did not want me to get up either. But I had to get up for work. I laid in bed for a while longer drifting back to sleep, and my fan was on because it’s back to feeling like Summer here again. In November! Above my fan a spider was dangling on a strand of his/her web coming off the ceiling. What a blessing to wake up to! S/he was moving closer & closer to the fan until s/he was looking like she was going to go right inside. I jumped up quickly to turn off the fan so the little darling wouldn’t be slashed by the blades.
I was up later than I should have been and after the shower and all I left the house, letting the spider be. When I came home that night, the spider was on my lamp now, building a beautiful spider web around the shade! I am so honored that s/he chose my room! S/he could have gone anywhere in the world! ❤
I don’t know how to tell if this sweet thing is a boy or a girl.
I got some beautiful pictures! I wanted to get more and better ones but my phone camera kept going out of focus and the spider was afraid. S/he kept leaving quickly pulling her/himself up on her/his web.
My phone camera isn’t always good at capturing small things.
I felt so connected to the spider and as one with the uni-verse as I watched her spin her web, it seemed almost miraculous. Such delicate beauty and intricacy. Simplicity but also complex.
It’s just awe inspiring.
The little beauty just hung upside down on her web. At first it scared me a bit because I thought maybe s/he was dead, hung herself on her own web or something but s/he was breathing and moving. Lol Silly little thing! And so cute! Just hanging upside down like that!
Here are some pics:
“Rainbows, spiderwebs, sunsets…the world is full of wonder if only you look.”
“Nothing is insignificant.”. ~Samuel T. Coleridge
“See the good all around you, even if you have to squint.”
“If I see a spider in my house, I put it in a cup, and then I take it outside. I save it. What is wrong with me?” ~Jacqueline Emerson
I do the same(after getting one million pictures!)! And there’s nothing wrong with us. Our compassion just extends to other forms of life than our own species and the cute little cuddly animals most people probably have compassion for.
And here are a couple pictures I got on my beautiful walk to work today!
And while we’re on the topic of beautiful things, here’s me!
I am so blessed to live in a world with so much beauty and to have so much love & compassion for the life all around me! ❤
The Black Widow – Alice Cooper – mobile
Love & hugs to you(and if you don't like hugs or don't want my hugs then just love to you!)! <333
😀
Xoxo Kim
“Love, it is said, is blind, but love is not blind. It is an extra eye, which shows us what is most worthy of regard. To see the best is to see most clearly, and it is the lover’s privilege.” ~J.M. Barrie
This is a great concept which can apply to romantic love or life in general. We can focus on what is “worthy of regard” and accept and forget the rest. Everyone and life itself is made up of good and bad or the potential for good and bad. Love in our essence let’s us see the good through the not so good. There are and will be things we do not like and things we love. Let’s focus on what we love! ❤
😀
Lots of Love & hugs to you!!
xoxo Kim
“Wherever you are, and whatever you do, be in love.” ~ Rumi
❤
xoxo Kim
Me falling asleep at work.
I’m not exhausted but just a mellow kind of sleepiness. Pleasant, I guess you can say.
“When I am silent, I have thunder hidden inside.” ~Rumi
Warning: My silly side is really showing in this post!
My headache is a bit worse than usual today but nowhere near as bad as when it flares up severely! But a headache will never conquer me! 😀
Thank You so so much to everyone who reads, “likes,” likes, shares, reblogs, comments on….my content here! I deeply appreciate it!
When I set up the account a few years ago, I never expected one comment or like or anything. But I chose to post anyway knowing someone can always find it later and also I just love to write & share! And it’s always here to look back on whenever I want. I’m not good with networking and don’t know much about blogging, I just post things I find inspiring or funny and hope it can touch someone else who may come across it. I post for others and myself but mostly to try to uplift or inspire someone else.
I’m at work alone (but not lonely) on a cool, dark, slow night and next door these people are having a fire sitting out in a lot and it’s cozy and smells like fire. Thankfully it’s just them having a little Fall/cool weather celebration and not an emergency going on!
I painted my nails for Christmas already! It will chip off wayyy before then! But that’s ok!
Here’s more pics of me at work!
I’m not weird or anything! I promise!
Totally not a weirdo!
I’m laughing hysterically at myself.
I don’t know what I’m doing.
Just showing off my pretty nails!
I love being me!! ❤
The sky was so pretty today walking to work, this picture does no justice to the real thing!!
I walked out of my house later than I was supposed to, for work, because I was dicking around doing other stuff, and couldn’t get a good picture!
(I have been wanting to use the term “dicking around” for some reason and finally got my chance! :-D)
I’m thankful the wifi here is working (on & off) and I can check out the Internet once in a while. I have books with me also but like to check the Internet as well when it’s slow.
There’s so many little things to be thankful for like free wifi! The sound of refrigerators buzzing, the warmth of a coffee pot or machine being on, people having a bonfire in a lot on a dark night, pizza fries with extra cheese (which I’m getting after work! My mom is ordering them for me!), friends including online friends!, pretty pictures, beautiful buildings, a lovely city, Kindle app, the pleasant smile of a coworker, moms who order food for us!, the swirling of ceiling fans, the ability to laugh at our own self! The list goes on & on!! ❤
😀
I hope you are having a beautiful day/night! Hugs & love to you!
Xoxo Kim
“No act of kindness no matter how small is ever wasted.” ~ Aesop
Today Positive Focus has declared “I Choose Kindness Day.” We are encouraged to perform at least one act of kindness today. It’s good to do this every single day but it’s ok to have a whole day specifically designated for Kindness. Just like Valentine’s day & Mother’s Day, and birthdays! It’s good to love our mom every day, celebrate all kinds of love every day, celebrate and cherish a person’s or animal’s life every day in various ways but there’s nothing wrong with having a day dedicated to it. We won’t be celebrating with cakes and roses and extravagant restaurants and material gifts every single day so we can reserve one day for that and celebrate in more subtle but still important ways every other day of the year.
Carol CC Miller, the founder of Positive Focus, is giving out free hugs today!
Here are a list of some suggestions for Kindness Day. We don’t have to go all out and do something “big” like volunteer at a soup kitchen or something (although that would be fantastic!)! The point is to incorporate kindness into our every day situations.
1.) Smile at a stranger.
2.) help your mom in the kitchen
3.) give money to a homeless person (many people say not to because they use it for alcohol but think about it for a second. They also have to be buying food. They can’t live on just alcohol! Maybe they are buying alcohol but then they still need money for food! And not all of them are into alcohol or other drugs. People say give them food instead but just because they are homeless doesn’t mean they want food off of a stranger. I don’t want to encourage people to eat something they don’t know where it was or who did what to it. Would you eat food some random stranger comes up and gives you? I know people say “beggars can’t be choosy” but the line has to be drawn somewhere…they still have choices to make.)
4.) give a tip to a person in a cafe or restaurant
5.) put an insect outside instead of killing
6.) write a sweet message on social media
7.) give someone a genuine compliment
8.) write an inspiring quote on an index card and put it in a public place to be found
9.) feed a stray animal or squirrels and pigeons in a safe place
10.) pick trash up off the ground
11.) pick objects up off the floor in a store and put them back on the shelves
12.) pay for someone’s coffee or something in line
13.) ask someone “how are you today?” not just as a social obligation or thing to do but to really listen and care
14.) instead of lashing out, take a deep breath and hold our tongue when someone provokes us to be angry. Kindness can be acted on in the most subtle or none noticeable ways like not doing something unkind that we are so tempted to do. It won’t stand out most likely, most won’t be conscious of our act of kindness but it doesn’t matter, we aren’t trying to get credit. And even though they won’t realize, they would realize if our act wasn’t done and feel the unpleasant effects.
15.) give someone a hug (if we know the person likes or doesn’t mind being hugged!)
16.) Sincerely wish the best for someone even if the person doesn’t know it, this generates positive energy and gets us more in the habit of loving and positive thinking.
17.) put a dollar on a park bench or let it blow away in the wind. Maybe a person in need will find it. At first it probably feels like wasting money but it’s really not, think how happy you would feel finding one dollar and know someone else will feel that way too
18.) let someone in front of us in line in a store
19.) forgive someone for being rude, smile at a person who carelessly pushes by you on a crowded street or bus, let someone go before us in traffic…..
20.) Share an inspiring post on social media – social media is a great way to show love or potentially show love to thousands of strangers each day or even just one, it gives us the opportunity to reach people we never would without it. It’s truly an incredible invention that we so often take for granted or use for negative purposes like arguing and getting offended and trying to offend people or “stalking” people we don’t like just to see what they’re up to or wasting hours on boring mindless junk because we don’t want to think of something better. But one positive post will still be here in years to come and even if no one sees it now, in future years or days, someone can stumble upon it.
I’m not telling people what to do or what anyone “should” do! These are just some ideas to make the day a bit sweeter for others. I don’t think anyone “should” do these things and I don’t always do all these things myself! I won’t be doing all of them today. It’s just good to do sweet little things once in a while to bring some more light into the world. But you are enough just how you are and we don’t have to be heroes or saints or constantly doing things for everyone to be good or worthy or kindhearted.
Here is a beautiful song by Nimo Patel:
“Throw your hearts up
Let it fly high
Let your love for all the world
Spread through the skies
Let it drop down
Let it all go
Spreading kindness to every
Single living soul
Can you see your love… for me shining through
Cuz what you see in me, I can see in you
And soon enough, you and me…we’ll be outta time
And kindness… will be all we can leave behind”
Love is how we live on long after we are gone. Our loving essence lives forever. Let it ripple and touch others. Live & love.
Live to love.
Love to live. ❤
Do you have any ideas for acts of kindness? Post them here in the comments or maybe just try them out! ❤ There is an infinite number of ways to show kindness in this life.
“Blessed are those who can give without remembering and receive without forgetting.”
I hope you are having a lovely day! Much love to you!! ❤ 😀 ~Hugs~
Xoxo Kim
(Fall is always welcome in my heart!!)
Old friend,
We meet again!!
I see no reason not to be happy in this beautiful season!! Colorful and crunchy leaves decorating the streets, crisp air, cool nights, houses decorated for Fall, cheerful holiday tunes right around the corner (I already have a few Christmas songs on my playlist! To me, it’s never too early for Christmas cheer!), scarecrows & pumpkin pie, my little sister’s b-day!! Yay!!
November is speckled with all kinds of gems of beauty & inspiration!
And it’s actually starting to feel like Fall now! It felt like Summer almost all October!
I couldn’t be happier! It almost doesn’t feel real! 😀
In honor of this lovely month, I’m sharing some quotes and my pictures! 😀
“October extinguished itself in a rush of howling winds and driving rain and November arrived, cold as frozen iron, with hard frosts every morning and icy drafts that bit at exposed hands and faces.” ~J.K. Rowling
(I am not a Harry Potter fan but this is a beautiful quote!)
“November comes
And November goes,
With the last red berries
And the first white snows.
With night coming early,
And dawn coming late,
And ice in the bucket
And frost by the gate.
The fires burn
And the kettles sing,
And earth sinks to rest
Until next spring.” ~Clyde Watson
“But there is always a November space after the leaves have fallen when she felt it was almost indecent to intrude on the woods…for their glory terrestrial had departed and their glory celestial of spirit and purity and whiteness had not yet come upon them.” ~L.M. Montgomery
“In November, some birds move away and some birds stay. The air is full of good-byes and well-wishes. The birds who are leaving look very serious. No silly spring chirping now. They have long journeys and must watch where they are going. The staying birds are serious, too, for cold times lie ahead. Hard times. All berries will be treasures.” ~Cynthia Rylant
“The November evening had a bite; it nibbled not-quite-gently at her cheeks and ears. In Virginia the late autumn was a lover, still, but a dangerous one.” ~J. Aleksandr Wootton
“November is usually such a disagreeable month…as if the year had suddenly found out that she was growing old and could do nothing but weep and fret over it. This year is growing old gracefully…just like a stately old lady who knows she can be charming even with gray hair and wrinkles. We’ve had lovely days and delicious twilights.” ~L.M. Montgomery
“In November, the smell of food is different. It is an orange smell. A squash and pumpkin smell. It tastes like cinnamon and can fill up a house in the morning, can pull everyone from bed in a fog. Food is better in November than any other time of the year.” ~Cynthia Rylant
I have always felt that food is always better in the cold. It tastes better and has a better feel. Somehow, my experience with severe, suicidal, long-term depression helped me realize this. It’s difficult to explain how. It’s just easier to be painfully and beautifully aware of things in a deeper way with a life of depression. Or something like that.
“In November, the earth is growing quiet. It is making its bed, a winter bed for flowers and small creatures. The bed is white and silent, and much life can hide beneath its blankets.” ~Cynthia Rylant
“In November, the trees are standing all sticks and bones. Without their leaves, how lovely they are, spreading their arms like dancers. They know it is time to be still.” ~Cynthia Rylant
This wasn’t taken today but I’m dressed for Fall weather so why not share it here?! This was a few days ago! I don’t usually wear long sleeved shirts. I like sleeveless ones all year! 😀
“In November, people are good to each other. They carry pies to each other’s homes and talk by crackling woodstoves, sipping mellow cider. They travel very far on a special November day just to share a meal with one another and to give thanks for their many blessings – for the food on their tables and the babies in their arms.” ~Cynthia Rylant
This is one of the best things about the holiday season. I’m in this spirit all year but when the holiday season is near, I feel a sense of unity in the air and receive all kinds of subscription e-mails about gratitude & loving each other and kindness. Many people who aren’t in this spirit every day, get in the mood around now and it’s a beautiful atmosphere.
“November came roaring in with gusty winds and more wet weather. Mandy’s depression would not go away. Her garden seemed sad, too. It was virtually empty now, and the few brave flowers that remained there were flattened by rain, their yellows stalks sprawling in all directions. Most of the trees were bare, and the woods had a wet carpet of leaves.” ~
Julie Andrews Edwards
This is sad but beautiful. I know what it is to be deeply, deeply depressed, I struggle with severe episodes that can feel unbearable and can relate. It always returns but it always ends. Even when I think it never will.
“Flurries early, pristine and pearly. Winter’s come calling! Can we endure so premature a falling? Some may find this trend distressing- others bend to say a blessing over sage and onion dressing.” ~Old Farmer’s Almanac
So much wonder all around! I am overwhelmed! But in a good way!
I wanted to get some pictures outside but I was stuck at work all day and then when I got out it was very dark! Gets dark so early these days! Nightfall is so beautiful! ❤
I hope you like the quotes & pictures!! Happy November to you!! I'm sending you lots of love!
~Hugs~ ❤
😀
xoxo Kim
“Time spent with a cat is never wasted.” ~Colette
“What greater gift than the love of a cat?” ~ Charles Dickens
Today in Buddhist class I found out it’s National Cat Day then I saw people posting about it on Facebook!
yay!
In class, the monk told us that people working for Uber were taking kittens around to let people pet to brighten people’s day! How cute!!
😀 ❤
The kitty above is Lacey!! And tomorrow just happens to be the anniversary of the day she came to live with us years ago!!
She's getting a special can of food! Shes so cute and loves to snuggle! She's not always the sweetest girl and sometimes whacks us with her paw!
She may have a psychotic problem. She chases stuff that isn't there.
She loves to be hugged & petted and loves to sink her nails in soft material and suck on it!! It's just the cutest!! ❤
I love my adorable Lacey! ❤
She often has her tongue sticking out!
I hope you are having a lovely day!
much love to you!! ❤
xoxo Kim 😀
It’s a rainy day in Philadelphia today!! Raining all day & night!!
I was on a little excursion earlier today getting some lovely photos of green leaves covered in raindrops!
I decided to get creative & share some of my pics here with some beautiful quotes!
“In every change, in every falling leaf there is some pain, some beauty. And that’s the way new leaves grow.” ~Amit Ray
“The best thing one can do when it’s raining is to let it rain.” ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.” ~ John Ruskin
“October is the fallen leaf, but it is also a wider horizon more clearly seen. It is the distant hills once more in sight, and the enduring constellations above them once again.” ~Hal Borland
Oh, October, I’m going to miss you!! But this month has felt more like Summer & Spring than Fall most days! I love all the Fall decorations I see all around the city!
“Every particular in nature, a leaf, a drop, a crystal, a moment of time is related to the whole, and partakes of the perfection of the whole.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Never say there is nothing beautiful in the world anymore. There is always something to make you wonder in the shape of a tree, the trembling of a leaf.” ~Albert Schweitzer
I agree but I wouldn’t be so demanding about it!
“Let your life lightly dance on the edges of Time like dew on the tip of a leaf.” ~Rabindranath Tagore
“If words were leaves, would you prefer fall or spring?” ~Jarod Kintz
I like Fall & Spring both. They both have beautiful qualities!
“He’d grown unused to woods like this. He’d become accustomed to the Northwest, evergreen and shaded dark. Here he was surrounded by soft leaves, not needles; leaves that carried their deaths secretly inside them, that already heard the whispers of Autumn. Roots and branches that knew things.” ~Michael Montoure
Let’s grow unused to everything!! ❤
This picture isn’t that good, it was supposed to be black & white with one green leaf but it did not work out! All the leaves are orange/yellow and one bright green. But the whole pic showed up looking all dreary and not in a good way. But I save most of my pictures even if they aren’t really good just because they’re mine and there may be some good to them. This is outside work tonight.
He was so happy to see me after work! He doesn’t like when I’m reading a book, writing, or using my phone, he wants all my attention to himself and insists on crawling on me when I’m doing anything that doesn’t involve him. So while I am attempting to write this post, he’s on me demanding attention. He doesn’t like having his picture taken and doesn’t like the “beep beep beep” of the camera. When he’s angry he hits his little face with his paws, sometimes one front paw, sometimes both! He just has always done this and his babies do too! It’s so cute!! I almost always stop what I’m doing to give him attention. ❤ ❤ His name is Emmy.
😀
This is me at work tonight on a very slow rainy night!
And here’s a rainy song I used to listen to a lot a decade ago!
Rainy Day Bells – The Globetrotters – desktop
I hope you’re having a beautiful day/night as I am! Lotsa love to you! 😀
❤
Xoxo Kim
“I have discovered gold in a creekbed as thick as sin in Goldstrike. I do not count it yet as either a blessing or a curse. Time will tell. Gold is an able servant but a cruel master.” (Hunter Bell’s Diary, June 6, 1857 p. 88)
I’m reading a novel called “The Looking Glass” by Richard Paul Evans, and found this quote in it on page 88. I’m not on page 88, I just started reading it but it has quotes throughout so I was flipping through the pages and this one struck me with its deep wisdom and I just knew I have to share it!
It’s true money can bring us a kind of happiness and solve our problems if our problems are financial related. I wouldn’t be happier in general if I just won billions of dollars but I would be happy about the money, which I can’t be now since I don’t have money to be happy about. Money wouldn’t solve all my problems but it would help with financial struggles. But even with financial struggles, someone can be very happy. My general happiness would remain but I would have an additional joy or happiness now. Money isn’t bad or evil, material objects, pretty things, expensive things aren’t bad or wrong. I don’t believe they can bring us true happiness or fulfillment but they can add to our happiness and bring a certain kind of joy.
But mostly, I think they will only bring a lot of deep joy if we’re already basically happy. They can complement it.
What isn’t good is to believe we need money or all kinds of material things to be truly happy. And it’s not good to be jealous of people who have more or better or bigger things(i have been jealous on some occasions of what someone else has). It’s not good to steal or use people for their money or take advantage of friends who have more money. It’s also not good to spend more than we have and then be in all kinds of debt (I have done this myself). But this isn’t the money’s fault.
There are people who say winning the lottery “ruined” their lives and studies that show many people who have won significant amounts of money became less happy than they were before the money. I heard people say the money “made” them less happy. This seems like a strange kind of irony. We would think money would help us be happier! But this just goes to show, money isn’t inherently good.
“Money made me less happy.”
I don’t agree with this. They may have become less happy after receiving all that money but not because of the money itself. Because of how they handled and viewed the situation. Money has no power unless we give it power. It can’t make me anything. It can’t ruin anything. Unless we let it. This goes for many/most/all things outside of our selves.
But as this quote suggests, money, when we give it power, can be cruel. We think it will solve our deep innermost problems and it doesn’t. And then we become disappointed which contributes to our pain. Sometimes if we expect something to make us better and it doesn’t, our spirits sink even lower than before. Also, some people get lots of money and then spend more than that thinking they have it to spend and go in debt.
This man is wise enough to know not to automatically count all that gold as a blessing. The real blessing is the wisdom to handle it well.
I have never been rich, financially, but there are occasions I spent way more money than I should have, thinking it would help my depression and sometimes it helped temporarily and often not at all. But even on the occasions it cheered me up a bit, a deeper emptiness and disappointment often followed, only adding to my depression. I expected all the pretty things to fulfill me and they did not. This only escalated my misery along with putting me in some serious debt.
There are occasions I was depressed and waited for packages to come in the mail and anticipated the happiness they would bring me. I was thrilled, ripping the package opened. But for what? All I found was an empty space. An empty place, deep inside me that material things can never fill. They can add to my happiness, temporarily bring me joy. But never can money or things bring me true, deep, happiness. When I’m already happy and get a sweet package in the mail, this is way better than being depressed and expecting it to fulfill me. Pretty things can for sure cheer me up but not make me happy if I’m not basically happy already.
If someone’s only problem is not having money for food and this is seriously contributing to despair or unhappiness, money can help significantly. We usually need money for food and food to live. Money is important in some ways but it’s not everything. As long as we have enough to have our basic needs met, that is enough even if we can’t go on shopping sprees, live in a big extravagant house, have the most expensive up to date technology and car and clothes…
But for the most part, money won’t solve our problems. Financially rich people still die, still get sick, still get depressed and anxious, and experience loss. And financially struggling people can still be happy and generally satisfied. And the other way around. Rich people can be happy and fulfilled and poor people can suffer with emotional pain and feel purposeless. It’s all about our attitude. And we can work on our attitude and develop/strengthen positive habits.
I think this is true for physical beauty, cosmetic surgery, relationships of any kind, mostly anything external. They complement our happiness, cheer us up, help us cope and we can be happy about them even if we’re not very happy in general. But they themselves can’t make us happy or truly blissful in a general way. We can have very good relationships, be physically beautiful and still be miserable even if we are happy with how we look and the relationships we have. But I think connecting with people, animals, nature, the outside world, helping others….add to our (for most of us probably) happiness and bring a deeper joy more than money and other inanimate objects.
Money and material things are great when we rule them instead of them ruling us. And it’s good to remember we don’t need them for true happiness.
“Detachment doesn’t mean you own nothing; it means nothing owns you.”
Connecting with others, helping, focusing on the good, an attitude of gratitude….these are better ways to be happy! (in my opinion)
❤
Here's a sweet little love song for you:
In This Life – Collin Raye – mobile
In This Life – desktop
“For all I’ve been blessed with in this life,
there was an emptiness in me.
I was imprisoned by the power of gold.
With one honest touch, you set me free.
Let the world stop turning,
let the sun stop burning.
Let them tell me love’s not worth going through.
If it all falls apart, I will know deep in my heart
the only dream that matters has come true;
in this life, I was loved by you.” ~ Collin Raye
I love the message here. And it’s a beautiful song. This person opened him up to a new view and he realized what is truly important and even if this person leaves him, he is still changed by this person’s love and will still always cherish being loved at one point by him/her. He knows it’s love that’s important in this life. This is different than a lot of romantic love songs because it’s not like a pathetic attachment love song like “if you leave me, I’ll lay down and die” or “without you I’m nothing.” He knows he will be changed in a positive way even if “it all falls apart” and just the experience of being loved by that person is enough forever. And I know it’s a romantic love song (probably) but this can apply to all love, platonic and universal and romantic. The power of love trumps the power of gold!
❤ 😀
Much0 love to you!
Xoxo Kim ❤ ❤
p.s. Just to make you smile:
“Whoever said money can’t buy happiness simply didn’t know where to go shopping.” ~ Bo Derek 😀 ;-D
