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Love Isn’t Blind

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“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! ❤

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Lots of Love & hugs to you!!

xoxo Kim

Stuff

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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! 😀

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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! 

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I painted my nails for Christmas already! It will chip off wayyy before then! But that’s ok! 

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Here’s more pics of me at work!

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I’m not weird or anything! I promise! 

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Totally not a weirdo! 

I’m laughing hysterically at myself. 

I don’t know what I’m doing. 

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Just showing off my pretty nails! 

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I love being me!! ❤

The sky was so pretty today walking to work, this picture does no justice to the real thing!!

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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!! ❤

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I hope you are having a beautiful day/night! Hugs & love to you! 

Xoxo Kim

Hello, November

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(Fall is always welcome in my heart!!)

Old friend,

We meet again!! 

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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!!

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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! 😀

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“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!)

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“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

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“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

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“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

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“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

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“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.

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“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

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“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

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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.

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“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.

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“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

Rainy Day Bells

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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!

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“In every change, in every falling leaf there is some pain, some beauty. And that’s the way new leaves grow.” ~Amit Ray

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“The best thing one can do when it’s raining is to let it rain.” ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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“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

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“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! 

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“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

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“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!

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“Let your life lightly dance on the edges of Time like dew on the tip of a leaf.” ~Rabindranath Tagore

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“If words were leaves, would you prefer fall or spring?” ~Jarod Kintz

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I like Fall & Spring both. They both have beautiful qualities!  

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“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

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Let’s grow unused to everything!! ❤

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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. 

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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.

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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

Rainy Day Bells – mobile

I hope you’re having a beautiful day/night as I am! Lotsa love to you! 😀

❤

Xoxo Kim 

Go With the Flow

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(meee! <3)

I was waiting for my good friend, Mike, earlier, we were going to get some Vegan pizza! yum! :-p

And this quote appeared in my e-mail box!

“Experience life in all possible ways — good-bad, bitter-sweet, dark-light, summer-winter. Experience all the dualities. Don’t be afraid of experience, because the more experience you have, the more mature you become.” ~Osho

I love it! Sometimes it’s so tempting to resist or deny or repress painful emotions but that just makes it worse. When we embeace them, accept them, sit with them, we can heal them and deepen our wisdom & empathy. If we experience them too often, it’s a good idea to seek to change this, but just about everyone experiences unpleasant emotions now & then. And that’s ok!

Sometimes it can even be tempting to resist positive emotions, maybe out of fear of losing them later or out of a feeling of not deserving happiness or joy, for whatever reason. But in my opinion, there’s no “deserving” or “not deserving”, it’s just what is. Emotions, positive or unpleasant, come and go and it’s good to accept them as they are.

What a great reminder!

http://www.enlightenedbeings.com/

The link above is the place where I get the e-mails full of inspiring ideas such as this!

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Lots of love to you!!

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xoxo Kim ❤

Our Hawaiian Paradise

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(me on the Wildwood beach this Summer)

In Orison Swett Marden’s book, Cheerfulness As a Life Power, you can read it online here,he shares an amazing excerpt I would love to share about being lighthearted, cheerful, and carefree. 

It’s old so there’s no copyright so it’s no cost to read online! I have the Kindle book. It’s not a very long book.  

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Here it is:

“Our Hawaiian Paradise”

“A newspaper correspondent, Annie Laurie, has told us all about the new kind of American girls just added to our country: –

‘They are as straight as an arrow, and walk as queens walk in fairy stories; they have great braids of sleek, black hair, soft brown eyes, and gleaming white teeth; they can swim and ride and sing; and they are brown with a skin that shines like bronze…there isn’t a worried woman in Hawaii. The women there can’t worry. They don’t know how. They eat and sing and laugh, and see the sun and the moon set, and posses their souls in smiling peace. 
If a Hawaiian woman has a good dinner, she laughs and invites her friends to eat it with her; if she hasn’t a good dinner, she laughs and goes to sleep, – and forgets to be hungry. She doesn’t have to worry about what the people in the downstairs flat will think if they don’t see the butcher’s boy arrive on time. If she can earn the money, she buys a nice. new, glorified Mother Hubbard; and, if she can’t get it, she throws the old one into the surf and washes it out, puts a new wreath of fresh flowers in her hair, and starts out to enjoy the morning and the breezes thereof.
They are not earnest workers; they haven’t the slightest idea that they were put upon earth to reform the universe, – they’re just happy. They run across great stretches of clear, white sand, washed with resplendent purple waves, and, when the little brown babies roll in the surf, their brown mothers run after them, laughing and splashing like a lot of children. Or, perhaps we see them in gay cavalcades mounted upon garlanded ponies, adorned by white jasmine wreaths with roses and pinks. And here in this paradise of laughter and light hearts and gentle music, there’s absolutely nothing to do but to care for the children and old people and to swim or ride. You couldn’t start a ‘reform circle’ to save your life; there isn’t a jail in the place, nor a tenement quarter, and there are no outdoor pool. There isn’t a woman’s club in Honolulu, – not a club. There was a culture circle once for a few days; a Boston woman who went there for her health organized it, but it interfered with afternoon nap-time, so nobody came.’
When, hereafter, we talk about worrying women, we must take into account our Hawaiian sisters, if we will average up the amount of worry
per capita,in our nation.”

This is so beautiful and I get vivid images going through my head of these beautiful smiling women and their beautiful babies playing in the sand all day loving & living without a care in the world!

This is a beautiful inspiration to us all and how blessed we are to be able to encounter it!

If we are someone with a serious condition like an anxiety or depressive condition that requires professional or medical help, this most likely will not cure us but it can be a great supplement and reminder to let go of whatever is preventing cheerfulness and positivity in our heads. And if we don’t have a true mental health condition, we still likely experience anxiety or distress once in a while and this excerpt is a fantastic guide to help us cope and let go. 

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I love how the writer writes that these girls, if they don’t have a good dinner, just forget to be hungry. That’s so inspiring! They can complain about not having good food but instead they just go to sleep and wake up happy. And if she can’t get up enough money for what she wants, she just reuses the old and makes it beautiful!

Imagine if we do this often, forget to be hungry when our food sucks, reuse our old things if we can’t buy new ones and if they can’t be reused, just forget to want them until we can get them later! Instead of complaining about the weather, soak up whatever beauty we can in the weather we have. When we’re sick, instead of complaining, use the experience as a good excuse to nurture our selves more. We can seize every situation we are in and practice looking at the bright side, looking for any bit of good that we can!

Let’s remember to laugh in the sun, breathe in the sweet fragrance of the flowers, feel the soft air upon our skin, sing, and splash, and play! There’s no such thing as being “too old” as long as we’re alive. Forget the stress, the problems, the potential problems, the negativity & be happy now!

😀 ❤

Lottsa love to you!!

xoxi Kim ❤

Minute by Minute

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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 ❤

In Love With Nowhere <3

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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