Tag Archive | beauty

Beautiful.

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(the sunset today – the moon is out too, a thin sliver, how beautiful!)

“It was early morning. Smoke hung in the air. There was sunlight passing through the smoke. It was beautiful.

‘It is beautiful!’ the Tao said.

And so it was.”

This is out of a Kindle book I have called “Tao Sutra: Opening the Door to the Senses,” a book full of short stories like this laced with wisdom, love, life lessons, and beauty.
It’s written by Amit Basu.

This perfect lil story reminds us to acknowledge the beauty all around us at any given moment and also that attitude is just about everything. If we believe it’s beautiful then it is.
There is always something to see beauty in. ❤

Thank You for the recent comments to me! I always appreciate each & every one of them and all of my readers!
I will respond soon! ❤ 😀

xoxo Kim

Bloom. <3

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“A flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it….it just blooms.”

We all have a unique combination of things, gifts, experiences, abilities, goals, ways of doing things, loves, likes, dislikes, physical attributes, personality traits, mistakes, flaws, perfections, accomplishments, beauty, ugliness, wonder, brain/body chemistry, dna, memories….

It doesn’t make sense to try to have competitions with others and compare ourselves in negative ways. 

We all have our own histories, our own pace, our own ways…

Let’s bloom where we’re planted, work with and appreciate what we have and where we are, focus on our own life and context.

“Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

Forget what others are doing and wanting and what everyone else has and focus on our own aspirations and desires. There’s always going to be someone with more and with less, with more developed abilities, more accomplishments, more money, and those with less.

There’s always going to be someone who seems to have it all or seems to have accomplished things more quickly. 

But we each have our own pace and situations.

“If one is a greyhound, why try to look like a Pekingese?”

This is a beautiful reminder to blossom as our own self, just the way we are. The one next to us may have much more but it doesn’t make us inferior. We all are very similar in some ways and different in other ways. 

But no one can take the place of another. ❤

So let's just be us and bloom where we are while loving each other and encouraging others to do the same.

Much love & light, always! ❤

😀

Xoxo Kim 

A glimmer of hope <3

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(this isn’t the best picture but I love it. Today the sun was reflecting so passionately off those broken windows on that abandoned factory. I never really saw anything like that. So orange, so fierce, so bright…)

“I’ll say goodbye to love
No one ever cared if I should live or die
Time and time again the chance for love
has passed me by
And all I know of love
is how to live without it
I just can’t seem to find it.” 

This is a song I have loved for just about as long as I can remember. 

I listened to it often as a young girl and always felt I can deeply relate to it.

Like she says “no one ever cared if I should leave or die” I have felt that way for much of my life, like I have no one. Even when I was surrounded by people, friends, family….I thought they couldn’t possibly really love me.

Not only have I often felt unloved but completely unlovable. 

Even when I would meet a potential new friend or out with friends I already had, I would think “no way can this person really like me…”

She, in this song, struggles with finding a reason to live, a sense of purpose. A struggle I know all too well.

I always loved how listening to this song, her sweet, soothing voice, made it seem to me like someone understands me. Not that I want her to ever suffer but since she is, it’s good we find each other.

I remember when I was young and I told my mom I can relate to this song sung by Karen Carpenter and she said “You two are just feeling sorry for yourselves.” lol It made me laugh. 

And it kind of does sound like that, whining that no one loves us or would care if we die.

Anyway, I have always loved Karen Carpenter and I sense that she was a very broken but very beautiful person. I never knew her for real but I heard that she struggled with an eating disorder and self destructive behavior and I struggle with depression myself and can often sense it in others and I sense it in her.

But she was so strong. Very tragically, her self destructive behavior ultimately contributed to her early death.

I know she was and is still very loved by her family, friends, and many, many fans.

“There are no tomorrows for this heart of mine”

Oh, girl, I hear you! lol 😉

This song, while heartbreaking and so very sad, is also riddled with so much hope and strength.

Even through her terrible pain, her feelings of worthlessness, her suffocating loneliness, she has a spark of hope that things can get better and she goes on. And on and on.

Carrying on through all the darkness knowing that the future is uncertain for all of us, it can and probably will bring with it good and bad, blessings and tragedies, love, hope, pain, people who will love us and those who will not, breakups, losses, and new beginnings and friendships.

“Surely time will lose these bitter memories
And I’ll find that there is someone to believe in
And to live for something I could live for.
All the years of useless search
Have finally reached an end
Loneliness and empty days will be my
only friend
From this day love is forgotten
I’ll go on as best I can.
What lies in the future
is a mystery to us all
No one can predict the wheel of fortune
as it falls
There may come a time when I will see that
I’ve been wrong
But for now this is my song.”

“I’ll go on as best I can.”

Preach it, sister! 😀

Every word speaks to me in a deep way, the pain, the hope, the love…

This song in some way also reminds me of Billy Joel’s musical suicide note, Tomorrow is Today, which is his real life experience. 

I don’t know for sure, but I suspect that in both Karen Carpenter’s song she sings here and Billy Joel’s song, they are referring to romantic love. They seem to both have “bad luck” with it and feel like life is over. But we don’t need romantic love to be truly happy. It’s beautiful to have but it’s not the end of the world because we have been jilted (even if over & over) or can’t find a lover.
We don’t have to say goodbye to LOVE because we aren’t blessed with it in the romantic sense. Even if we don’t have good luck with platonic friendships or family love, we can still live in a world of love. Universal Love. Love as a state of BEing.
Loving life itself. And everyone we encounter, all living, sentient beings.
There are so many ways to love whether it’s a warm affection, well wishes for others, helping those in need, helping uplift and inspire others, a hug or smile, volunteer work, just BEING love…the ways to love are endless. ❤

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(this isn’t my photo)

❤

Let's NOT say goodbye to love. Even if we aren't or don't feel loved in return. This world needs our love. It desperately needs it! 

It needs our love, Billy Joel's love, Karen Carpenter's love, and everyone else's. Love is how we stay alive long after we are gone. 

Very sadly, Karen Carpenter is gone but her love still exists here and our love for her. Luckily Billy Joel's suicide attempt did not go as planned and he's still with us putting more and more love out into the world. 
We can never love too much. ❤

I would have loved to know her and be her friend. I'm so sorry she lost the battle. I think she was recovering or mostly recovered but the physical damage was too extensive.

I hope you feel loved and feel love for others and if not, please carry on, like the song suggests, we never know what the future will bring us. It can bring with it hope, healing, love…<3

😀

Goodbye to Love – mobile

Goodbye to Love – desktop

Much love & light to you. ❤

Xoxo Kim 

Hello, March

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(this picture is not mine)

Yes, hello there, March! I love you & thank you for existing! ❤ 😀

I LOVE the Month of March! I'm so inspired every year in March. I'm inspired every month (though I'm least inspired in August and other Summer months) but in March, my inspiration usually runs deeper than other months.

Here is why. March. It's a sweet medley of
 all four seasons. It like has madd mood swings. One day it's all Summery and hot then the very next day there's a snow blizzard and it's below freezing, other days it's sunny & warm or cool and Spring is in the air. Some days, it doesn't know what season it is and all throughout the day the weather changes hot then cold, cool and warm. 

There's something so beautiful about this last Winter month and knowing Spring is about to bloom.

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The trees are still bare but there are some signs of the coming Spring, some green growth blossoming.

The days are often warmer then the nights are still cold. March brings with it rain, snow, sun, wind, moonlight…just lovely!  

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(cute or creepy? To me it’s cute! :-D)

I can strongly relate to this wonderful, beautiful month and all its chaotic beauty. 

I’m like this myself sometimes. 
I recently have been depressed and dangerously suicidal off and on with joy and happiness in the middle. This happens now & again. Sometimes triggered by something specific (like recently), sometimes not triggered by anything. 

(I will share my recent struggle in a later post)

It’s beautiful to be so full of life.

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March inspires me to create even more than other months. It inspires me to take out my arts & crafts journal and to take lots of pictures and to tap into my most creative parts!

Every March, this deeper inspiration just comes flooding into me and it’s just beautiful.

Last night and early morning was perfect! I was laying in bed reading a ghost story and the night couldn’t have been more perfect for a ghost story! It was dark and cold and raining hard and extremely windy! The windows were rattling and the bare tree branches were shaking! 
Just perfect!  

I’m reading a novel called “The Haunting of Blackwood House.” My first impression of the main character, Mara, wasn’t a real good one.

She seems kind of rude at first. And she kind of mocks her realtor who has a breathing condition and talks in a breathless way and calls people “honey” very frequently. I don’t mind being called “honey!” lol 😀

Something about this young woman just rubbed me the wrong way. She acts out of anger and lashes out somewhat frequently it seems. Not like real frequently but she gets all worked up and claims she can’t help it. But she’s sorry later, which is good, because she tries to make up for it. She doesn’t really want to hurt anyone. I prefer reading books where the main character is lovable/likable. It’s not her anger that I have the biggest problem with. I don’t not like people because they have anger problems. 

It’s hard to suck it up and read a book where the main character is super annoying. But it’s a great book and I’m only on page 73 out of 344. It’s a Kindle book.

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I learned later that the young woman was abused as a child. Her family wasn’t trying to be abusive probably, but they are extremely religious and brought her up in a way that damaged her psychologically. She lived on her own for four years now and still has terrible nightmares. Not all extremely religious people are abusive, in fact, I think most aren’t. But it is possible to unintentionally use religion in a very detrimental way against others. These people made her go to people claiming to be psychics and they made her attend frequent séances and told her horrifying ghost stories they claimed were real. They used ouija boards and killed her pet rabbit claiming someone on the other side told them too. 

After learning this, my compassion for her deepened. 

But even when I viewed her in a somewhat negative light, I also have found things in her that are very respectable and inspiring. 
She’s only 22 years old and has been on her own since 18 years old. She doesn’t have much money but she has a job and her own apartment, a loving boyfriend, and she gets by on her own. She’s extremely independent minded and wary of accepting the help of her boyfriend. She’s kind of on the poor side (financially) and he’s upper middle class and lives with his mom. 

He offers to let her have or borrow money which she refuses because she is proud to be independent. I think that is very respectable. There’s nothing wrong with letting her man help her out but it’s great to choose to be an independent woman. And if she wanted, she can take advantage of his money but she never does. She just loves him for him and doesn’t need him. It’s great to be wanted, not needed. She’s with him because she wants to be. 

But she does allow him to help her in some ways. It’s great to find the balance of being independent but also accepting help when needed. 

Him and his mom offer to let her live with them but they are Christians and very into their religion and she is so repelled by religion because of the way she grew up. Just the thought of it sickens her. This is another thing I love about her, she’s not just an atheist, she’s totally put off by religion, outright loathes it, it seems, but she still accepts the views of others and will even have a serious romantic relationship with a very religious man. This shows open-mindedness. Some people in her situation would reject him. But she loves him just the way he is. She just won’t live with him and his mom and their religious ways. His mom is more religious and he lives with her to take care of her but the girl wouldn’t mind living with just him if he doesn’t go overboard with the religion.

They have been together for six months and deeply in love! I love it! ❤ They have an extremely loving relationship. I love watching it unfold. They are so cute together! I'm a sap! Lol ;-D He is big and strong but very gentle and loving and loves to help people. 

Anyway, she has some money she has been saving for a house but it can't be too expensive.
The apartment she currently lives in is trashy. Lol

Recently a house was brought to Mara’s attention. It's like a mansion in the middle of nowhere. She falls in love with it even though it needs serious repairs. The structure is good though and it's safe to live in.

It's way less money than it would have been because in the early 1900's (I think), a serial killer lived there and like seven people died in the house. He took his victims back to his house and murdered them and then he hanged himself in there. (eww)

No one wants to live there now and the house has been on the market for 20 years. It has a reputation for being haunted. But the girl isn't even fazed. To her, there's no such thing as ghosts and so what if people died there, it's just a house.

So she buys the house and still has money left.

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Another thing I love about Mara is she is very intelligent, educated, and informed. I don’t know if she has a college education, probably not, it only mentions her work, but she is clearly just as educated as anyone who does.

She stands up for herself and is assertive and bold and makes decisions based on facts and logic and what she wants. She doesn’t just accept nonsense because most do.

I agree with her atheistic views but I do practice Buddhist techniques but in a secular way. She probably wouldn’t like that. Lol

I don’t think I would want to buy a house seven people died in though, or even one person, especially if they were murdered. Nothing to do with hauntings and superstitions. It’s just the thought of the whole thing! Like eww! :-O

But it’s a great book up until now! And I am reminded of a life lesson to look for the good in others even if we don’t like other things about them and that it’s not always wise to go by first impressions.

I love the feeling I get reading about this young woman starting her life how she always dreamed after struggling so much, buying a new house and getting a new job and becoming who she always dreamed of being. It inspires and thrills me. 

I’m nearly 30 years old and still don’t have a place of my own, work only at a store, the same job I had as a 20 year old college girl, which I love but sometimes I think I should be more accomplished by now. It can seem kind of pathetic, sometimes, how I turned out. Oh well though, it is what it is, and it inspires me to hear about/read about others who are successful whether they are real or characters in a fiction book.

Right now the only ghost-like thing that happens is the old rocking chair started rocking on its own! But Mara brushes it off as a draft of an unknown source. 

The whole kitchen table was set with 20 year old, rancid food, all the old furniture is still in there and it seems as if the last family who lived there (20 years ago, years after the serial killer incident…) all left in a hurry, in the middle of eating their food! The table is all set and all like they were prepared to eat then had to bolt and fast. 

Interesting! I can’t wait to read more! I love reading it in the dark at night! 😀

Something must have been seriously wrong for an entire family to run out, just leaving everything in the middle of eating, and never coming back. I heard something for real like that in the news. A whole family just left in the middle of eating and disappeared and were later found dead, murdered I think. This one is just sad, not thrilling because it really happened. 

❤

I hope you are having a beautiful day/night wherever in the world you are!  😀

Hugs & love to you now & always,

Xoxo Kim 

February Sunrise

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“It’s been a long dark night
And I’ve been a waitin’ for the morning
It’s been a long hard fight
But I see a brand new day a dawning
I’ve been looking for the sunshine
‘Cause I ain’t seen it in so long
But everything’s gonna work out just fine
Everything’s gonna be all right
That’s been all wrong”

Last night I remembered my goal to get at least one picture of the sun rising each month this year! I was startled because today is the last day in February and I was thinking if I blow it now, it will be too late!  

But I was determined! So I looked it up to see when the sun would be rising today. It’s 6:35AM so I got myself up at 6:12AM to wait! I went out into the backyard and listened to the birds chirping and watched them as they flew by. It is so magical just to sit outside and truly listen and watch the beauty of nature all around. 

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I took pictures but some moments I put my phone down and allowed my whole self to be engulfed in the beauty. Then I watched as the sun began to rise. It wasn’t a dramatic sunrise. Sometimes it’s really pink or orange and very noticeable. Today it was just a hint of orange that I was able to see but still beautiful and at least I accomplished my goal this month!

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And I got to see so much morning beauty! I’m usually not up this early. I also am delighted to see that the moon was still out! I saw it through the almost bare tree branches. 

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(this one has an effect on it)

When you see it you will shit bricks. lol 😉

The tree reminds me of an impending Spring! It has little things growing on it!

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This morning it feels like it’s about to be Spring!  

I was and still am in awe of the stunning beauty everywhere I look. I am plunged into the depths of it and feel it in my whole being. So much love! ❤

So much wonder!

“‘Cause I can see the light of a clear blue morning
I can see the light of a brand new day
I can see the light of a clear blue morning
And everything’s gonna be all right
It’s gonna be okay”

Light of a Clear Blue Morning – Dolly Parton – mobile

Light of a Clear Blue Morning – desktop

It’s just a mountain; I can move it. ❤

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(This one is not mine!)

😀

~Hugs~ ❤

Much love & light to you, now & forever!

Xoxo Kim 

True Beauty <3

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This isn’t my photo but I love the message that our size isn’t what truly makes us beautiful. Our personality is what is true beauty.

But also, physical beauty is not wrong to celebrate & appreciate and there are beautiful girls (both physically and inside) of all sizes, colors, ethnicities, nationalities, cultures, religions, ages…all around the world.

Let’s build each other up and celebrate diversity & beauty of all kinds. ❤

Hugs & love,

xoxo Kim

Still shining

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(this isn’t my photo)


Just a reminder that we can still sparkle even after we have been broken, after any storm, any trauma, any pain or suffering…we can move forward sharing our gifts, our life lessons, our deep wisdom, and laughter with the world.

We can be broken, have scars, flaws, pain but still keep shining, keep loving, keep being beautiful.

❤ 😀

Much love & light,

xoxo Kim

Live. <3 <3

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“We’ve got to live, no matter how many skies have fallen.”

(attributed to D.H. Lawrence)

I love this quote! It inspires me so deeply because I struggle with severe depression and suicidal urges/thoughts/contemplation. So anything that encourages me to live is so inspiring & consoling to me.

I even have a bracelet that simply says, “LIVE.”

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I love life affirming things and love to share them with others.

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To live is the first step, as long as we are alive, there is hope. Life is hope. ❤

No matter how hard it gets, carry on, keep going, keep living, keep loving.

“Oh so your standing in the middle of the thunder and lightning
I know you’re feeling like you just can’t win, but you’re trying
It’s hard to keep on keepin’ on, when you’re being pushed around
Don’t even know which way is up, you just keep spinning down, ’round, down…
Every storm runs, runs out of rain
Just like every dark night turns into day
Every heartache will fade away
Just like every storm runs, runs out of rain
So hold your head up and tell yourself that there’s something more
And walk out that door,
Go find a new rose, don’t be afraid of the thorns
‘Cause we all have thorns”

mobile:

desktop:

Much love & light & hugs to you! ❤

xoxo Kim