“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.”
I love life affirming things and love to share them with others.
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”
“Our human compassion binds us the one to the other – not in pity or patronizingly, but as human beings who have learnt how to turn our common suffering into hope for the future.”
This quote is attributed to Nelson Mandela. I don’t know if it really is. But it’s a beautiful concept!
I agree! Compassion and empathy aren’t about feeling sorry for others but understanding and wanting their pain/suffering to end.
Empathy and compassion connect us to one another. We can take our own experiences of both pleasure & pain and use them to help others and see hope in them. ❤
There’s always love & light even in the darkest places. Let’s reach out and bring light to others.
The last few days and especially yesterday have been extremely difficult for me. People have been criticizing me in a destructive way saying I have been in a “bad mood” and snippy but they have no idea what is going on in my head. This is more than a bad mood. Each negative, critical thing they say about and to me only serves to cut me deeper.
I am reminded even more how important kindness is. It’s good anyway but we don’t always know when someone is suffering and one kind word can be so healing and one vicious word can be so destructive if we let it be. It can contribute to the suffering.
Valentine’s Day was my close friend’s favorite holiday. I love all the candy hearts and roses and pretty stuff in the stores but it was never a big day to me. I never seriously loved it necessarily as a holiday and never dreaded it like many do. It’s just another day, a holiday for commercialism and consumerism but I really don’t care. I think it’s sweet when people like to celebrate it. It was one of Diane’s most special days. And guess what? She was at work (I took off that day for a meditation retreat) last year on that day and her heart just stopped. Forever.
In almost ten years I never went more than a week without seeing her.
The agony comes in waves. One minute in my head it’s like “I got this, I can handle this” then the very next minute it’s like “Oh wait, no I can’t! I can’t do this” and the wind is knocked out of me then it’s back to “oh yeah I can handle it” on & on. It feels like blades are cutting me up inside.
At some moments I feel that if it were physical pain, it would feel like an emergency, I would think I’m dying and need an emergency room. But it’s not physical, even though it feels almost physical, and I know what it is. I am not dying.
I have nothing inspiring to say about it. And I won’t even pretend to always see the light in it.
I saw her son recently and he’s dreading the day. They were very close.
It’s so good to see him.
My mind is somewhere else these days. In some distant place. I’m very forgetful and can’t concentrate on what is before me.
Last night I was out shopping and I met a couple Earth angels.
I saw this little lady pushing a shopping cart and I felt drawn to her for some reason. She had a big smile on her face and I wanted to say hello. So I walked closer to her and smiled and looked her in the eyes but I quickly looked down because I was overcome in shyness and then felt kind of embarrassed for approaching her because she doesn’t know me but she said very cheerfully “hello, how are you?” like it’s the most natural, expected thing to have a stranger approach just to be friendly, and her smile was brighter still and a spark lit up her eyes. I felt so healed. So comforted. What a beautiful reminder that people are often more receptive than we may think they are. So many are ready to connect with each other, even “strangers” if only we reach out. And even if they aren’t receptive, so what?! I’m so happy I found those few seconds of courage to initiate contact! 😀 ❤
Thank you, lovely little lady. ❤
Another lady, who works in the store, saw me carrying cat food and told me it's on sale tomorrow in case I want to put it back until then but I needed it then because we're all out! But I deeply appreciate her kindness. I did not get a shopping cart and was by myself and later I was having difficulty carrying all the stuff to the register and she saw me and helped me! Again, another act of kindness! So sweet! ❤
I saw a little girl and her dad shopping as well and her dad was carrying a big bag of dog food and telling her, "this is your dinner tonight" and she burst out laughing saying "no daddy, that's dog food!" and he was laughing and said "nope, it's your dinner" and the little girl laughed harder. It seriously brightened my whole night and I couldn't help but smile and giggle myself. Even now as I write this. Sometimes just being our own self can inspire and uplift someone. 😀
Today I also encountered a few Earth angels.
Today, walking to work, I saw a delivery man and he said hello to me and told me to have a great day! How can I not now?! ;-D
I also saw one of my customers on the street and it's so sweet getting to talk to her!
When I got to work my boss' mom was there, she's 80 something years old, and she was talking to a bunch of men and said very loudly "money talks & bullshit walks! No truer words were ever spoken!" lol It's so funny!
So many sweet people all around! I just love them!! ❤
These Earth angels remind me to be the best me I can be for others, we never know who we may be touching or how deeply with just being us and doing simple acts of kindness. ❤
Also I'm reminded that if we truly look and remain open, we will see Earth angels everywhere around us. Everywhere.
I haven't been being my most loving self. I have been very pissed and devastated and that's ok but I'm reminded to not let those overwhelming emotions conquer me into being bitter and unkind and to instead allow my usual compassionate, loving self to prevail. ❤
Look what I found!
Yum! :-p 😀 Just for me!
I’m still happy and still find things to laugh hysterically about everyday! I love being easily amused! 😀
"Money talks
But it don't sing and dance
And it don't walk
And long as I can have you
Here with me, I'd much rather be
Forever in blue jeans"
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"Honey's sweet
But it ain't nothin' next to baby's treat
And if you pardon me
I'd like to say
We'll do okay
Forever in blue jeans"
“Good mornin’ sun, I say it’s good to see you shinin’
I know, my baby brought you to me
She kissed me yesterday, hello to silver linin’
Got spring and summer running through me”
Today, I got to watch the sun rise early in the morning! How beautiful!
I don’t usually see it rising. It was pink & orange and brilliant looking.
It doesn’t look as bright in the pictures as it really did.
Watching the sun rise is always a beautiful start to the day.
How can we watch the sun rising in the early morning and not have a great day?! ;-D
Also I thought of this sweet song today! Isn’t it lovely? Another one of those sweet, happy songs.
We don’t have to have a lover though, to feel this way! Lol
“Hey everybody on the street, I see you smilin’
Must be because I found my baby
You know, she’s got me on another kind of highway
I want to go to where it takes me” (98.6) ~ Keith (performer)
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I love the way he feels as if the whole world is happy for him! 😀 ❤
I think a good goal to have this year would be to get a picture of the sun rising for each month of the year. Usually when I catch the sun rising, it’s by accident, I just wake up to it and run out and get a pic. But it would be sweet to catch for each beautiful month! I think I will! Luckily I already got January’s before it’s over & I miss my chance this year! Now I hope I remember each month! ;-D
These pictures here aren’t edited. I do have ones I put an effect on earlier to make the colors pop and they are pretty but since that isn’t real, I’m just sharing these for now.
To some people, they may not be as pretty as the edited ones but I love what they symbolize: the gift of a new day. And the blessing of having the chance to watch the sun coming up. I have my vision to see it and the chance to see it. Also, I have passion & desire and a sense of wonder. And the life of a new day.
“And now I’m left without, but you’re here within
As I watch the sun go down, watching the world fade away
All the memories of you come rushing back to me
As I watch the sun go down, watching the world fade away
All I want to do is kiss you once goodbye” ~ Jimmy Somerville
This is a song I love and sometimes I listen to it when my grief (about different losses) is at its worst. I discovered this song a few years ago after my dog, Koko, died of old age.
I felt destroyed and like my loss is unbearable. My agony over the loss of my dog felt like it was killing me. Sometimes I still feel that. Shortly after my dog died in 2013, I was so griefstricken and was searching for anything to help me and I stumbled upon this song riddled with love & loss.
It’s a beautiful song about the devastating loss of a friend. It’s very sad but hopeful too.
Grief & loss can feel so lonely but it’s something almost everyone experiences at least once at some point. We almost all will lose a friend, a parent, a pet, a grandparent…and we won’t all experience it the same exact way or handle it the same. But underneath it all, is that sense of loss & grief that most of us will relate to in some way.
“I never cried the way I cried over you
As I put down the telephone and the world it carried on
Somewhere else, someone else is crying too
Another man has lost a friend, I bet he feels the way I do”
I love this line here because it displays empathy. Whatever we are experiencing, pleasant or unpleasant, no matter how unique our inner experience is or feels, it’s very likely someone else, somewhere out there, is feeling or has felt the same way or very similarly.
It’s great to remember that, not just because we can feel less lonely but it deepens our empathy for others and can deepen our sense of connection and oneness with others we know or not know personally.
It’s not good that others are suffering but since there are people suffering like us, it’s good to reach out to each other or share our stories so others can feel a sense of being understood.
Empathy isn’t just about understanding or feeling the pain of others but also sharing in their joy, success, and happiness.
I have been listening to this song and thinking about my friend/coworker, Diane, who I was close to and worked with for almost ten years. She died unexpectedly of a heart attack at work almost a year ago. I experience all kinds of emotions about it, anger, confusion, fear, despair, pain…, sometimes I feel as if I’m drowning or suffocating. But I also experience love & gratitude which I know are strong enough to conquer all those horrific emotions. Love & gratitude won’t burn them out completely but they make them easier to bear.
Grief doesn’t go away usually, but we learn to handle it as the days go on and it heals to a certain degree.
“I’ll never let you down, a battle I have found
And all the dreams we had, I will carry on
As I watch the sun go down, watching the world fade away
All the memories of you come rushing back to me
As I watch the sun go down, watching the world fade away
All I want to do is kiss you once goodbye, goodbye
Goodbye, goodbye”
Beautiful lyrics! ❤
I feel his pain. </3 ❤
Let's remember the positive qualities of the ones we lost and honor them each day. Bask in the happy memories and the fact we got to know them as long as we did even if it wasn't very long. We could have never encountered them in this life but we did and that's a blessing even with the severe pain.
“Be melting snow.
Wash yourself of yourself.” ~Rumi
❤
Today I woke up with the headache worse than usual when I wake up, but it wasn’t the worst. Now it’s a lot better.
I woke up with this feeling like this life can’t be better than this. I have no money (I haven’t been working because of the weather, my boss closes for wicked weather! ) and I have a chronic headache but life is still beautiful!
I feel so inspired, so beautiful, so hopeful, so grand. The sun is shining brightly through the bare trees, the ground and everything is covered in melting snow and ice and sludge. It’s so hard to walk because my shoes slip and fill with cold slush. And it’s all so beautiful.
I saw a few birds flying by out my bedroom window. Some of my favorite kind of days are cool/warm Winter days that remind me of an impending Spring. Especially when they are covered in snow and the sun is shining brightly!
I love when the seasons collide and mesh together to form a beautiful medley.
Today I’m eating chocolate Oreo cookies with green mint in the middle instead of the original white cream. They are delicious!! Mint is my absolute favorite! The scent of the mint in these cookies is heavenly.
The air is so cool and so sweet today. It caresses my skin so gently and is exhilarating.
I’m generally happy but I also have recurring episodes of severe depression. The episodes often come close together. They last hours,days, weeks, or months. They used to last around three and four months, sometimes longer. And often in the middle I would have less severe, but often still severe, depression. Through the years I worked on myself to be better and better. Now I’m still not cured but my depression is much less frequent. The duration of my depressive episodes usually isn’t months anymore. Usually they last a month or less now. And I don’t have longterm depression in the middle anymore. Sometimes I still have symptoms in the intervals but not always and not usually as bad. Also, I cope with the depression much better now.
This sunny afternoon, I was thinking what a sharp contrast this beautiful feeling is when compared to that deep, dark, depression I lived (and sometimes still live), for years and years.
What a beautiful, sharp contrast.
Just last night I felt somewhere all the way in the back of my mind that I may be detecting an impending episode. But it quickly vanished. I’m so thankful! Because it’s already in me to have depression, I can have symptoms very briefly that end as quickly as they begin. I can usually detect what kind of episodes I am about to be hit with and approximately how long I will have to endure it. And I can sometimes make it so it doesn’t hit too hard. Isn’t that amazing?! I have different degrees of depression, different severity levels, and different durations. Some only last hours to days while others last weeks to months. Some are severe and some beyond severe. Some are suicidal depression and some are not.
But today there’s not an ounce of depression in me. I am very mindful of not being depressed. One of the great things about having to live a life of longterm depression is when I’m not depressed, I never take it for granted. I realize even more how great it is to be happy! I realize not only how incredible it is to live but to want to live.
And today I am even more mindful of it than usual.
I am filled with immense gratitude.
And I am inspired by this beautiful season.
Winter inspires me deeply.
Yesterday I went for a walk to a couple of stores and I went out of my way just to walk more and to take beautiful pictures!
I will share some here!
This is the same picture with two different effects. Kids and their daddy sledding up on a hill having fun. It was so sweet and inspiring to hear their laughter & squealing and see their love. I remember when I was a little girl and would go sledding with my friends and my dad.
I love the shadows and reflections upon the snow that the fence puts there with the sunlight streaming through the slits.
The sun always comes out again. ❤
I love seeing workers doing work outside.
It’s not all beauty & fun though, I heard a few people were hurt and killed in the recent storm and a few died of heart attacks while shoveling the snow including an 80 something year old man and an eighteen year old girl who was pregnant. Seriously?! An 18 year old?! Her unborn baby and her both died. My heart just sinks. My love & compassion go out to all those affected by these terrible tragedies. How heartbreaking.
Last night my mom, sister, and me watched the movies My Girl & My Girl 2. I haven’t watched those movies in many years and never realized how inspiring they are.
Here is a song that the girl’s mom sings on a video in the second movie:
“Light up your face with gladness
Hide every trace of sadness
Although a tear may be ever so near
That’s the time you must keep on trying
Smile, what’s the use of crying?
You’ll find that life is still worthwhile, if you just smile”
😀
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“Smile though your heart is aching
Smile even though it’s breaking
When there are clouds in the sky, you’ll get by
If you smile through your fear and sorrow
Smile and maybe tomorrow
You’ll see the sun come shining through for you”
A beautiful, inspiring reminder to smile even when things aren’t so perfect. There’s always something to smile about!! 😀 ❤
“Life ain’t always beautiful
Sometimes it’s just plain hard
Life can knock you down, it can break your heart
Life ain’t always beautiful
You think you’re on your way
And it’s just a dead end road at the end of the day
But the struggles make you stronger
And the changes make you wise
And happiness has its own way of takin its sweet time”
I love this beautiful Country song, written by Cyndi Goodman and Tommy Lee James and sung by Gary Allan.
It’s so inspiring and touching. And especially knowing one of his real life experiences of deep pain that may have influenced his choice to sing this song and with so much passion.
The song is about how life can be hard and sad and not all good but it’s still a beautiful journey overall.
“happiness has its own way of takin’ its sweet time”
Just because we aren’t happy right now or sometimes doesn’t mean we are destined to be unhappy forever. We can always become happy at any point as long as we are alive.
Gary Allan is a man who experienced true tragedy. He lost his beautiful wife to suicide in 2004. What an unimaginable loss for him and their kids and other family and friends. My heart goes out to them. Imagine the pain and horror they must live with each day.
His wife, Angela, suffered with severe headaches and depression for years and took her own life one night while she was at home with the children. Poor baby. It’s so devastating that she suffered how she did and couldn’t see the light through her darkness. I wish I could give her a hug.
We can want to die one second but just a second later change our mind. Imagine how many suicide victims probably would have changed their minds if only they held on just a second longer. Imagine how many pulled the trigger just a second too soon. The depression, the headaches, the suicidal inclination, for many of us aren’t temporary. They are chronic or episodic and they come and go. Come and go. Appear then disappear. But even though they always come back, and even if they stay a while, they always go again or can if we hold on. It does not always feel as if it will or can end or that we can live with it. But the pain can end and/or we can learn to cope better. And we can still find beauty in pain, both physical & emotional.
“No, life ain’t always beautiful
Tears will fall sometimes
Life ain’t always beautiful
But it’s a beautiful ride”
This song is full of so much strength and determination. So much hope. Instead of giving up and becoming bitter, he takes his pain and puts it into his singing to share beautiful messages with the world.
We can all take our pain, no matter how serious or minor, and turn it into good whether it’s through singing, writing, sharing our experiences or positive message any way we can. Even if it doesn’t reach as many as a famous person’s does, it can still reach at least one. And that is good enough. ❤
This song here can apply to any pain or problems we may have.
Even through his agony and loss he can see beauty in this life. It's ok that life isn't always beautiful. We can seize all the beautiful moments and acknowledge them, honor them, cherish them instead of getting sucked into the bad and overlooking all the goodness.
Just because pain and tragedy and nonsense exist in life doesn't mean beauty and goodness is outweighed or has to take the back burner. Why let the bad side have all or most of the attention and energy? We have a choice where to place our attention. For some people, it may take a lot of practice to generally see the good. But it's always possible.
I feel a pull in my chest and deep beauty well up in it when I listen to this song or read the lyrics.
I just love his gentle, kind of sad, but hopeful voice. It’s so beautiful.
❤
"No, life ain't always beautiful
But I know I'll be fine
Hey, life ain't always beautiful
But it's a beautiful ride
What a beautiful ride"
1 Corinthians 13:4-7New International Version (NIV)
“4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
(this one isn’t mine)
I’m not religious but I love churches! And I just love the little golden cross at the top and the Wintery feel of my photo here. Churches are one of my favorite things to take pictures of! They are just beautiful. And while I don’t believe in any gods, I still find deep beauty & inspiration in some of the messages and love of people who believe in them or one of them.
I am someone who finds beauty & inspiration everywhere, even in things I don’t agree with and even in dark situations.
But this year, as part of my one word challenge, I’m being even more mindful of beauty everywhere. Beauty is my word.
😀
So I decided to share my pictures here with a Biblical (at least in some versions) quote I find beauty in. And also I want to share a sweet Jesus song I find so much inspiration in.
I want my one word challenge to be about not only finding beauty in my own views and things I completely agree with but appreciating the beauty in other views and opinions I don’t share.
“Surely nations were not made for war
Or the broken meant to be ignored
Surely this just can’t be what You saw
Let Your Kingdom come here in my heart
And I will live to carry Your compassion, to love a world that’s broken
To be Your hands and feet
And I will give with the life that I’ve been given
And go beyond religion to see the world be changed
By the power of Your name
The power of Your name”
Isn’t this incredibly beautiful?! It’s not just a message that can only apply to those who believe in Jesus. It’s meant for each one of us. Jesus, whether he was/is a real man or only a character in a fairytale, is symbolic of love, compassion, and hope. Those are messages that can apply to all of us. We can look within us to find that power to help transform the world around us.
I invite you to look for and find beauty in places you don’t think you are likely to find it. Maybe in certain political views for example or in the people who hold views you yourself do not. There are views I don’t agree with but appreciate people’s courage to share them or the determination they have to work for their cause. If we really try, we will find glimpses of beauty even in the most unlikely places.
“Come, come, whoever you are. Wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving. It doesn’t matter. Ours is not a caravan of despair. Come, even if you have broken your vows a thousand times. Come, yet again, come, come.” ~Rumi ❤ 😀
“As much as we can be overwhelmed by the world, we can also draw hope from it, from beauty, from promise, from the simple fact that we have the talent to imagine our future selves from all the possible lives that pass before our eyes. We must imagine our lives well. We must engage our conscience.”
Some years ago, I watched a movie called “The Life Before Her Eyes” over & over. I love movies that have to do with friendship. This movie is a very sad movie but very good. It’s about two high school girls who are best friends, one is a “good girl” and the other is a “bad girl” but they are the best of friends. Their friendship is so tender and loving and warm and even after they get into an argument. The girls do a great job playing the part. A true friendship like this one is a great blessing! I think platonic friendship is one of the greatest gifts in life.
A kid comes to school one day with a gun and kills a lot of people, including one of the girls. The other girl develops severe post traumatic stress and struggles with her loss, guilt, and anxiety and caring for her family after she grows up with a family of her own years later. She can’t let go of the past and overcome it and move forward. I wouldn’t expect someone to completely forget that her best friend was murdered and all those other people and wouldn’t expect her grief to go away but it’s possible to heal to a certain point. She has a lot of difficulty. I recently watched the movie again.
This line above is out of one of the scenes. Isn’t it inspiring? So full of hope & beauty.
I love how many scenes in this movie can be analyzed and interpreted, like they have underlying meanings.
It’s a great movie but I would never recommend it to someone who has ever been involved in a school (or any) massacre, especially one involving gun violence. It may be a serious trigger.
I hope you are having a beautiful day/night!
😀
Much love & light, ❤
Xoxo Kim
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