Tag Archive | attitude

Finding the Beauty

Dec17

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“Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

It’s not all about what we look at but how we see it, our mindset, our attitude and perspectives. There are lots of beautiful things outside of us but they will not do much for us if we don’t have beauty within.

But the good thing is, we all have the capacity to feel beauty, even when it’s hard. We just have to be receptive, open up and truly pay attention. Imagine what it would be like without the senses we have and our ability to understand and all the beauty around us. ❤

This picture is of a beautiful and very large pine tree outside a church. For years I would stop and look at it, take so many photos in all the seasons throughout each year, even collect its pinecones that would fall to the ground. I'm so sad because recently I watched as workers cut it down! I feel grief & disappointment. 

But I'm thankful I got to see it for the few years I lived close to it and get all those pictures. I still carry the beauty of it within. No one else seems as sad as me about it. No one else seemed to pay much attention.

Here is a picture of the church on January 9th, 2015.

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I know the date because this is the picture I chose for that day on the 365 photo project. I don’t post there everyday.

Here is what I wrote that day:

“This is a church bathing in the sun on a cold Winter day. It’s beautiful and brings me a sense of hope.”

The church is being demolished so they had to cut the tree to get to it. I will miss seeing it and the tree and those creepy black steps that are mostly encased. 

This reminds me to always pay close attention to people and things and all the beauty around me. It’s still good to cherish and be mindful of everything even if we knew we would have it forever but we don’t have things forever and it’s harder to lose people and things we did not appreciate as much as we could have. There is more potential for regret when we lose things we take for granted. 

So let’s cherish everything we are blessed with! And still keep the beauty within us even when it’s gone. 

😀

Much love & light to you,

Xoxo Kim ❤

Pro-act

Dec2

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“You cannot prevent the birds of sadness from passing over your head, but you can prevent their making a nest in your hair.” ~ Chinese Proverb

I love this! We cannot always control what happens to us but we can choose how to react. Sadness and negativity will probably occur for most of us but we don’t have to let it conquer us.

What a great reminder! 😀

hugs & love,

xoxo Kim ❤

The Winner

Nov8

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“A winner is someone who is able to learn from their failures and never give up.”

A winner isn’t necessarily someone who succeeds at certain things, a winner is someone with a certain kind of attitude, a way of looking at life and situations. Optimism, curiosity, positivity, love, seeing the bright side…are some qualities a person who is a true winner possesses.

I saw this quote today in one of my Kindle books, “365 Wisdom Pills.”

And here are a couple songs appropriate for this post (sort of?)! Good songs!! 😀

The Winner – Bobby Bare – mobile

The Winner – desktop

This is a great country song about what it really is to be a winner. A true winner turns his/her back on an invitation for trouble even if it seems uncool and wimpy.

Every 1’s a Winner – Hot Chocolate – mobile

Every 1’s a Winner – desktop

And this! A romantic love song. Every moment with his love is a winning moment!

I hope you are having a lovely day/night!

😀

Hugs & Love,

xoxo Kim ❤

Love Isn’t Blind

Nov3

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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! ❤

😀

Lots of Love & hugs to you!!

xoxo Kim

Headache

Oct26

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“Well, I found you
Maybe you can help me
And I can help you” ~ Frank Black

I woke up with the absolute WORST headache today! I woke up with it throbbing violently. It’s not the kind that feels like a cluster headache (those are the very worst) but feels like a bad migraine headache, which is also very bad. It’s like a living hell today. Eww! This pain is disgusting, it just throbs and aches and pulses in certain places escalating on and off all in the back, around the eyes…

For a while I couldn’t even listen to music, the sound even of low, slow, soft songs, was too much, just pounding into my head and made the throbbing worse. I thought it would make it better! Even the gentle soft notes felt shrill and rough against my head. I had to lay in bed with my dogs for a while, covering my eyes to block out any light. 

My dog, Emmy, he’s so adorable, he knew something was wrong with me and he kept putting his paw lightly on my face and licking my eyes! What a sweet boy! And he has a skin allergy he gets in Summer & the beginning of Fall but he was still more concerned about my pain. ❤ He knows when I'm depressed or lonely too and he tries to nurse me back to health. 

This is him:

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Isn’t he cute?!?! He’s a purebred pompom.

Laying down made it worse sometimes but I also couldn’t stand or sit up so had to lay a certain way. I felt as if there was no way out, nowhere to go, nothing to do. It’s not the kind that contributes to me feeling the urge to scream or run or panic or like I’m going literally insane but I felt so trapped and it was hard to remain still but also to pace. 

I had to work tonight and only one person works each shift so it’s not always easy to get off at the last minute. My mom suggested I try to find a coworker to work for me and stay home. 

But I decided to go. I don’t really like annoying people at the last minute and also I thought maybe it would be helpful to not give in to the pain and just do what I always do, get up, go to work, be positive. Not ignore or deny it but not let it conquer me. It can get us to have to stay in bed or not go to work but we don’t have to let it drag us down emotionally as well.  Sometimes pain or sickness is just too much and we just really cannot even stand up or do anything. For a while this is how it felt but I decided to get up and push through it. It throbbed so badly and at some points I almost felt despair. I wasn’t unhappy though, just unhappy about the headache. 

My physical pain disorder can be like this sometimes. Fortunately it’s not often that I have severe flare ups this bad. 

Anyway, I forced myself to get up and go to work. First I forced myself to do neck stretches and massages to try to help the pain. At first it can make it worse til it makes it better. This doesn’t always work but sometimes works wonders.  Today it worked. My pain remained but not as bad. It takes courage and emotional strength to get up and move with a violently pounding head. 

At one point the pain was so bad I slid to the floor with my head in my hands writhing in agony. And in the middle of all this I still found things to smile about! 😀

I remember laughing as I attempted to pick myself up off the floor. I couldn’t help but feel a bit amused. 

In some ways I feel the physical pain is worse than the depression because it’s harder to handle, in my opinion. It’s louder and demands attention right then. Sometimes I cannot lay down or remain still or do much of anything but collapse and scream or pace. But in some ways physical pain can be better because with physical pain it can sometimes be easier to dissociate in a way, it can be easier to still feel like smiling and laughing. It can strengthen our will to survive while depression often saps all the desire to laugh and the will to live. Not always but often it tends to do that. Physical pain can definitely sap our will to live and desire to smile but sometimes it’s easier than with emotional pain. Physical pain and mood can be separated. But depression is a mood or mood disorder so it’s kind of more difficult. It is possible though to be positive even with depression. It can be so difficult but possible. 

Also, emotional pain like depression seems threaded throughout my entire being or self or existence when I’m depressed. Physical pain related to my disorder consumes my entire existence it seems, but I often feel like it’s a thing separate than me while depression often runs deeper and feels like it is me sometimes. I’m thankful for the experience with pain. Both kinds. I feel that it deepens me and completes me and I see things in a way I would never know without it. I think I have had enough pain though in this life so it can feel free to go now! Lol ;-D I’m not depressed but last week I was able to detect an impending episode which I’m doing very well battling so it doesn’t become a full blown episode. Usually I have to battle it for weeks or months, however long the episode would have lasted, I guess. 

I was disappointed that my severe pain had to flare up on a day I have work. This kind of pain only usually lasts one day. Tomorrow is my day off and I was thinking why couldn’t it have decided to attack me then instead. But I’m more on the positive side, naturally & generally. And my brain automatically thought it’s ok because then my day off will be more fun without this pain! And if it was the other way around and my pain was on a day off, I can think it’s ok because then I won’t have to work in agony. Positive thinking is so wonderful! On days when it doesn’t come as naturally, I can usually force it more easily since I’m already in the habit. No matter how positive we are naturally, we can develop an intentional habit! It makes everything so much better! 

So I did come to work tonight and again there was a very happy story on the news!

I shared a little happy story a couple weeks ago about a dog and this story also involves a dog!

https://inspirationalgem.wordpress.com/2015/10/17/in-the-news/

On the news tonight, a girl and her husband were sharing their story and love for their dog.

They were at a friend’s cabin in the woods somewhere, celebrating the man’s 30th birthday, and someone left the door open and the dog, Hank, ran away into the wilderness. They did everything they were able to do but couldn’t find Hank. Their worst fear was that Hank was eaten by a wild animal. According to the news program, according to statistics, if a pet is gone for over 30 days, that pet most likely will not be back.

Hank was missing for two months when he was found alive & well and returned to his humans!
The girl said she looked out and saw the truck pulling up to their house with Hank’s head hanging out! Lol That’s so cute! She cried tears of joy to have him back. 

It’s so heartwarming to see the love they have for their furbaby. They have decorations in their house about dogs saying “All you need is love…and a dog!” and “Dogs are people too!”
I most certainly agree! ❤

I'm so happy they got their baby back alive & healthy & happy! They also have a cat and he was playing with the kitty! 

They said to always have hope because you never know when something can work in our favor even when statistics are not. I don't remember their exact words but that's the sentiment. It can apply to most things, I believe. 

It's good to have hope but let's remember not to let it hold us back. It's possible to obsess and overlook all that we have now, hoping for something more or better. So hope isn't always a good thing if not handled well. 

We can have hope for the future but also appreciate now.

For example, it's good to have hope that my headache will go away but not good to not let myself be happy now or hold off on things until it does. I can cope with the pain and make room for it, rest when I can, but still do what I want to when I can. I wasn't going to read my book at first because I thought it wouldn't be as fun reading it with a throbbing head. Then I thought but why not anyway because it's good to make the most of the life we have right now. If reading made it worse I wouldn't but it wasn't making it worse. This moment still matters even with a splitting headache. 

I'm so happy I walked into work to another happy story! Which just happens to be another story about a doggy!! ❤

Dogs really are some of the best friends we can have! I have six babies and they're just adorable! 

Here are two of them! 

This is Emmy

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 & 

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This is Woody, Emmy’s baby boy. 
Emmy has two babies, a boy & a girl, Quinny.

Emmy is two years old and Woody & Quinny are one year!

They are both loving and cute and snuggly.

Woody is very playful and wild. They love bones and toys & blankies.

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This is Prince Oscar. We don’t know how old he is but he’s definitely old! He’s so adorable and a big grump! He loves attention when we just wake up or walk through the door or even just down the stairs after leaving for a couple minutes! He cries until he gets petted.  He also loves sweets! Sometimes I bring him an ice cream cone after work. 

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This is my baby, Isis Summerjo, she is eight years old but very youthful! 
She loves attention and going for walks! She’s extremely gentle and loving & sweet.

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This is Woody’s twin sister, Quinny. She’s so happy & loving and gently puts her paw on our hands and on the other dogs’ and cat’s faces! She’s very gentle but when we’re least expecting it, the girl jumps up and nips our noses off! She’s a wild girl!  

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This is Boobie. She’s the mommy and she’s thirteen years old. She’s very cute and loves her babies. She makes sure they eat first and she cleans them. She begs for food by throwing her head back and opening her mouth to show us where food goes! She doesn’t play with toys but occasionally she would bring a toy to look cute to get our food! Lol so cute!! When her puppies were born we got them a pac n play and Boobie used to throw up in it on purpose to feed her babies even though they couldn’t eat it and were being fed properly! Lol my mom & sister found it disgusting! But she was only taking care of her babies! 

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“I got me so down, I got me a headache
My heart is crammed in my cranium and it still knows how to pound”

Headache – Frank Black – mobile

Headache – desktop

I like listening to this upbeat song and I found it one day a couple years ago while searching for songs about physical pain to help me cope with my headaches when they are bad.

I hope your day/night is a good one! Much love to you!

and if you are struggling with pain of any kind, always remember,

“You can be greater than anything that can happen to you.” ~ Norman Vincent Peale ❤

😀

xoxo Kim

Our Hawaiian Paradise

Oct20

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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 ❤

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 

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 😀

Some Zen wisdom for today {and everyday} <3

Sep27

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“Now that my house has burned down I have a better view of the sky.” ~ Zen saying 

Isn’t this beautiful? I can interpret this as a message of positive thinking. No matter what happens to us, there’s a brighter side even if we have to look really hard and get creative.

Also, another interpretation, clarity. When all our emotional clutter is cleared and our walls are stripped, we can see more clearly.
Let’s put away our phones and other technology for a few moments, let go of everything and feel the space around us.
There is beauty & bliss all around, within. ❤
All we have to do is open up and receive.

❤ Good day to you! 😀

Xoxo Kim 

p.s. I would never say this to someone whose house just burned down! It’s a good quote to share in general like this but I’m almost certain if your house burned down two seconds ago, you don’t want to hear/read this being directly said to you! :-O ❤