Tag Archive | life

Go With the Flow

Oct24

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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!

❤

Lots of love to you!!

😀

xoxo Kim ❤

Squirrel <3

Oct22

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For about a month now, maybe longer, this adorable little squirrel has been visiting in the backyard! My mom and me often see him/her throughout each day hopping the fences or sitting on the fence staring in at us, often while eating! It’s the cutest thing ever! S/he even got bigger since we met. S/he rips the trash bags apart in the yard and gets it a mess. My mom and me have to clean it everyday. 

It’s cute but my mom isn’t very happy about it! It’s so cute to watch him eat with his little mouth going and little paws holding on to whatever he finds to eat!

My mom and me put food out for him everyday, which he loves. We often put out cupcakes or croissants and see him sitting on the fence eating them or running away with them. So adorable! 

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We weren’t sure what squirrels like best or what is safe for them to eat and my mom put cat food out for our squirrel friend but everyday it was still there but the other food would be gone and the trash ripped apart.

My mom looked up on the Internet to see what other food to give him and found that squirrels are vegetarians! That’s why he wouldn’t eat the cat food! Cat & dog food has meat in it, they can’t be vegetarians or they can get very sick. 

He likes pizza, cupcakes, rolls….i don’t give him pizza because the sauce may not be safe but he stole pizza out of the trash bag one day! lol

My dogs bark and growl at him like madd when they see him out the back door window!
But he just sits there looking in, unperturbed.

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He doesn’t let me get close though. He runs away. So I just let him be. I can mostly only get pictures through the door window or he’ll run.

I read that squirrels can live about ten years outside and up to approximately eighteen years in captivity!

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I would love to bring him in just for the Winter so he can be safe & warm but I would never keep him as a pet. It would be unethical since they are wild animals or outside animals. Maybe he would live longer but he may not be happy. He loves the outdoors, playing and running, hopping the fences and he probably has squirrel friends outside somewhere!  I hope he finds a good place to live when the weather gets cold. 

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I have been feeding him pumpkin cupcakes which he loves! He sits there holding them in his little paws munching away! And sometimes he takes them and runs away, maybe storing them somewhere or sharing with other squirrels! Occasionally he comes in the yard with food he got somewhere else! I wonder if others feed him too or if he steals it! Lol

He seems very attentive and watches me when he sees me, sometimes looking directly at me, other occasions looking out the corner of his eyes. 

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It’s just so cute!! He has a big fluffy tail!

So I just decided to share my cute lil squirrel friend to brighten your day!

😀

Lotssa luv to you!! ❤

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 ❤

Just a reminder about Time

Oct18

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“Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.”

In our fast paced culture (US and maybe some others but I heard U.S. is the worst for this…) we often feel that we have to be productive always or do something we “should” be doing or it’s a waste. But let’s remember to have fun also and waste all the time in the world if we’re loving it! Even if it’s just being lazy once in a while doing nothing! ;-D

😀

Good Day or Night to you! 😀

❤

In the news….

Oct17

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“I see skies of blue,
And clouds of white.
The bright blessed day,
The dark sacred night.
And I think to myself,
What a wonderful world.”

❤ ❤ 😀

We often think of the news on TV and in the papers as negative, heartwrenching, life draining. And it often is. I hear so many people say they avoid the news because it just drags them down. 

But sometimes there are happy things or heartwarming things in the news.
One day at work this week the news was on when I went in and they were talking about a big house fire while the owners were away and couldn’t get to their dog who was inside. My heart just sank when I heard that. They showed the footage and the big house was up in flames with the poor furbaby inside. 

I’m thankful the people weren’t trapped inside. And I wished desperately the dog wasn’t either. 
Then they showed a man, I don’t know who he is, just come seemingly out of nowhere, walk in the burning house and come back out holding the dog, bringing him to safety, and without a word just walked away! The news people said he got no credit or anything, just appeared, saved the dog, and walked off!

Isn’t that amazing! And I’m sure he wasn’t looking for credit or anything but to save the doggy! The newspeople did praise him to each other.

He probably doesn’t even want to be labeled as a hero, true heroes usually don’t, that’s why they’re heroes, they help people and other sentient beings just to help them, not for image or for credit or a thank you. 

I’m so thankful the people and dog are safe and hope all the people putting out the fire are safe. I don’t know how bad the fire was but hopefully much of their stuff is saved but at least their lives are! That’s the most important of all! It’s devastating to lose everything we own but nowhere near as devastating as lives lost. 

I decided to share this little story just to put a bit more positivity into the world/on the Internet. There is so much positivity already but we can never have too much good news, ever!

In the news, it does often seem to be one bad or gossipy thing after another but that’s only because that’s what often stands out or makes the news. If I’m walking up the street and a person helps me carry my bags, picks up something for me that I drop, smiles at me, pays for me in line if I don’t have enough money….all that won’t make the news. But if I’m out and get shot to death or assaulted, that will surely make the local news. People will ask “what’s this world coming to with someone getting shot dead on the street? What a horrible world! People are monsters!” And that is tragic but what about the person who gives me money when I get up to the register in a store and forgot my wallet, what about the person who gives me his seat on a bus, what about those who risk their lives in a massacre to save others like what just happened in that tragic university massacre?

All these little things, these beautiful acts of kindness that surround us each day are not dramatic enough to go on the news usually and even when they are, they are unfortunately overshadowed by the bigger tragic news, they are appreciated by those involved or witnessing, then often either forgotten or just not spoken of much again even if we never forget. 

I saw a few blog posts and statuses about the horrible tragedy but in none of those I saw did any of those who wrote them mention the heroes who ran not to save their own lives but to save the lives of others. I think it’s important when writing about tragedies to also mention the goodness in the midst of it if we hear of it.
The murderers (who sometimes admit they do this for publicity) get more credit, even if negative, than the heroes, the other people who attempt to save their lives, the doctors and other medical professionals, the first responders and police, the fire men/women, anyone who saves or helps in any way. 
We remember the names of the murderers but not the innocent victims or the heroes. We talk about the tragedy and insanity and senselessness of what happened but not give thanks to those who did any little thing they could to make it somehow better.  In my opinion, it’s best not to write the murderer’s name when we write of carnage that took place. Especially when those murderers admit they want publicity and attention. I appreciate the programs and news reports that do not mention the name. I wouldn’t either. In the initial report it would have to be mentioned but every paper and program doesn’t have to say it. Let’s acknowledge the victims and our heroes, not a person who intentionally claims the lives of the innocent. We can still have compassion for murderers without giving them too much publicity. I don’t want them to die or suffer but I also don’t want them to become popular for their monstrous actions. 

People say don’t watch the news, it will drag you down. Then others argue back that if we don’t keep up with the news and what’s happening around the world, we will be ignorant and kept in the dark. Both can be true. Both have valid points.  So should we watch the news or not? Stay in the dark or be dragged down? 

I think there’s a solution. If we want, we can watch the news sometimes but then balance it out by reading and watching positive things as well. Pay attention and take note of all the goodness that goes on around us whether we are involved or a witness. If all we do is watch the tragedies and gossipy drama on the news and talk shows, then our brains are being overwhelmed in the negative, only getting one side of life, the dark side. We expose ourselves to the darkness but not enough of the light. 

Sure it’s good to know what’s going on in the world around us. But the media has the tendency to magnify the drama and the tragic. Not always but often. 

When we watch the news and start thinking “what a terrible world” and feel overwhelmed, we can then go to youtube and watch random acts of kindness videos, read inspiring stories that show someone helping others, look around us on the streets and see the kindness shown to others.

The world isn’t all bad. We only are mostly shown the bad through some media outlets but there’s so much more than that. 

Let’s honor & acknowledge the goodness.

Check out these happy videos!! So beautiful! ❤

Simple acts of kindness – mobile

Simple acts of kindness – desktop

Kindness – mobile

Kindness video – desktop

These videos show simple acts of kindness in everyday encounters that we are all capable of. These videos are most likely “staged” or made up but they are based on real life acts of kindness & meant to inspire! Just watching them gives many of us a warm, loving feeling. ❤

Let's remember that just because our job or the media or something else mostly exposes us to the bad in the world, it's not all there is.

Let's expose our own selves to the goodness. 😀

What a Wonderful World – Louis Armstrong – mobile

What a Wonderful World – desktop

Just listen to this song! His loving voice, his gentle love. And it will bring you up. ❤

The pictures are beautiful too!

😀

Lots of love to you today & always! ❤

xoxo Kim

Minute by Minute

Oct10

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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 ❤

Happy Birthday, John Lennon!! <3

Oct9

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(this isn’t my picture, I don’t know the source)

Today is John Lennon’s 75th b-day!

In honor of him and his message of love & peace, I am sharing a few John Lennon songs here!

I heard/read that at one point, John Lennon was an abuser of women which I don’t care for at all. 
There’s never a reason for a man to put his hands on a woman in a violent away unless he really has to to defend himself or someone else. For the most part, men are bigger and stronger than a woman is and even if I hit a man first (I wouldn’t!) there’s no reason for him to hit me back. Some people strongly disagree (like my mom!)  and think as long as a woman hits a man first it’s ok. I think that is totally not ok!
Unless I catch him off guard or he’s very old or sickly or something, I can’t do much damage to him(there may be exceptions…). but a man hitting a woman can generally do worse damage, even knock her to the ground or break a bone.

Can I do that to a man? Most likely not. Unless I’m coming at him with a weapon or something. Or unless I’m exceptionally physically strong for a woman, which I’m not. I’m kind of thin, not really tall, and not at all physically strong. 
Someone, especially a man, can probably knock me out with one blow. Lol I don’t recommend it though! 

If a woman hits a man, I think it’s good to have her arrested though. 

In an interview, I think in the 90’s, one of his sons called him a hypocrite saying he preached love and peace to the world but did not show it to his own family.

John Lennon also used homophobic slurs or made a mockery of people(he had a person, a gay man, he was close to and loved in a platonic way but that doesn’t make it ok, in my opinion, to sling around insults), another thing I don’t at all care for. But then he decided to give peace a chance. It’s so great he came to his senses and all these years later his message of love is still touching us and inspiring the world. And I’m thinking it’s likely that decades and decades into the future, his message will still live and breathe into the world. I want to help keep it alive.

Whatever we are now, we can change for the better and move forward, lifting others along the way. 

And maybe he wasn’t always peaceful and loving and maybe did not show it to his family but that doesn’t make what he said about love & peace any less true. Even if he did not live up to it.

That’s a question that would come up now & then in philosophy when I was in college. What if a person says amazing things, preaches very great morals but doesn’t live up to them or even try to generally live  up to them or practice what s/he preaches her/himself? Does what the person says still stand? Is it still amazing? Or is it all hogwash or rubbish?

Well, it is good to practice what we preach. That’s for sure. We are hypocrites if we talk about how people “should” live then we don’t even try. But you know, the truth is the truth and nothing can change that. Maybe in some cases we can disregard what someone says and call it bullshit because the person won’t even try to live that way. But in some cases the message still stands. With peace & love, we can never go wrong. So even if Mr. Lennon was the biggest hypocrite, his message is still a sweet one.  Still, people are probably much more likely to take you seriously if you live up to your message. 

Here are some John Lennon songs:

Imagine – mobile

Imagine – desktop

“You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world…”

Seriously, listen to this message and tell me it’s not brilliant no matter how the singer lived!

I’m sorry for his broken family though, I know what it’s like in some ways. My compassion goes out to them.

Woman – mobile

Woman – desktop

“And woman hold me close to your heart,
However, distant don’t keep us apart,
After all it is written in the stars”

“So let me tell you again and again and again…I love you.”

Jealous Guy – mobile

Jealous Guy – desktop

“I was feeling insecure
You might not love me anymore
I was shivering inside
I was shivering inside
Oh I didn’t mean to hurt you
I’m sorry that I made you cry
Oh my I didn’t want to hurt you
I’m just a jealous guy”

It’s great to say we’re sorry and own up to our mistakes. 

A few Beatles songs:

Here, There, & Everywhere – mobile

Here, There, & Everywhere – desktop

“I want her everywhere and if she’s beside me
I know I need never care
But to love her is to need her everywhere
Knowing that love is to share
Each one believing that love never dies
Watching her eyes and hoping I’m always there.” ❤

The Word – mobile

The Word – desktop

“Say the word and you’ll be free
Say the word and be like me
Say the word I’m thinking of
Have you heard the word is love?
It’s so fine, it’s sunshine
It’s the word, love”

All You Need is Love – mobile

All You Need is Love – desktop

“Nothing you can make that can’t be made
No one you can save that can’t be saved
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time
It’s easy
All you need is love”

This is an incredibly beautiful song! Of course love isn’t all we need though! We need food/sustenance, drink, air…if we want to live.

But you get the message, right?!

😀

❤

Also, for John’s 75th birthday, someone put this together.

Isn’t is so sweet that someone cares enough to compile a quote or song lyrics for each year since John Lennon came into the world? That couldn’t have been extremely easy and must have been very time consuming!   

So John Lennon wasn’t the saint the world makes him out to be but he did also have positive qualities. And it’s good to share those. He was a great singer! 

It’s so tragic and senseless what happened to him. And so good people still have him in their hearts all these years later, including people who weren’t even yet alive until after the tragedy. He is so famous and so loved! I can just imagine what the world must have been like shortly after the tragedy struck. 

He missed out on the whole rest of his life because someone choosing to act viciously decided to take it upon himself and end someone else’s life. It’s so wrong that one person can just out of nowhere go and end someone’s life just because that person feels like it. Wherever he is, if he’s still alive, I hope he realizes how wrong it is now, not in a way so he suffers with guilt but so his compassion is deeper. I think that whenever we do something wrong, we can be sorry but use our guilt and regret for good, not let it destroy us but let it inspire us to deepen our compassion and reach out to others. We can take what we learn and discover and help someone else. And if we’re murderers it won’t do much to help the dead individual but at least good things will be happening inspired by the tragedy. 
I’m not sure if any murderers are reading but if there are, you can maybe help prevent future acts of violence by learning things like anger management, compassion, empathy…and then teach others. 
There are people who have acted very violently, even killed people, then turned their lives around, even in prison, and went on to help other people, like other prisoners, with personal development and things. 
You may never be getting out but you can still help others. 
It won’t ever make up for that monstrous action but some good will at least come of it.
Either way, as we know, nothing brings back the dead one. But we can use our life lessons to do some good. 

Much love to you, murderers, abusers and all, they probably often need it the most! ❤

Xoxo Kim 😀

p.s. PLEASE whenever you write something using technology, SAVE it every couple of minutes. No! every couple of seconds! You can never save too much! I thought my post disappeared before I saved it and almost had a cow! Then it reappeared! Thank goodness! This thing took so much work and time to put together!

It's always worth it even if no one sees it now! It will always be here.

So save your work! I want to spare you that sinking feeling! 😀