Tag Archive | life

Smile because she has lived <3

IMG_14168953_1(1)

She Is Gone (He Is Gone)

“You can shed tears that she is gone
Or you can smile because she has lived
You can close your eyes and pray that she will come back
Or you can open your eyes and see all that she has left
Your heart can be empty because you can’t see her
Or you can be full of the love that you shared
You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday
Or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday
You can remember her and only that she is gone
Or you can cherish her memory and let it live on
You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back
Or you can do what she would want: smile, open your eyes, love and go on.”
~
David Harkins ❤ 😀

This poem is deeply inspiring to me. What the author suggests can be so difficult but it's worth the struggle and some occasions will be easier than other occasions. The poem can be comforting in grief but also apply to life in general. It's very hard to put a positive spin on death, grief, tragedy, and loss. But it is possible to see a glimmer of hope and light in it. And often necessary to aid in healing. 

And with life in general, it's good to remember there's often a bright side to even the most unfortunate situations and if not we can create one. If we still just cannot see a positive side to something itself, we can focus on other good things there are in life in general. This doesn't cure all problems but makes them easier to bear and just brings joy into our hearts in the midst of the sorrow. 

I just love this poem! ❤ ❤ ❤

IMG_14167545(2)_1
My heart goes out to all who struggle with grief, heartache, and loss of a person or pet, depression or physical pain/sickness. ❤ ❤ Grief is one of the worst kinds of pain someone can experience. I don't think there's anything worse whether it's the loss of a human or animal friend. And chronic pain conditions whether physical or depression can also be extremely difficult to handle. 

Like the poem says though, for all those lost, let's smile because they have lived. Let's carry their love and light in our hearts always.

Death cannot take away the love we have for them and the love they had for us.

Let's smile for them, love for them, live for them, and keep them alive in our memories forever. ❤ ❤ Let’s display some of their positive qualities whenever we can.

And for any problems we have, let's do whatever it takes to see that light glimmering in the darkness. Even when it's just a faint flickering. 

Look at the vastness of all the darkness of a midnight sky, it seems never ending, all the blackness. But just one small star is bright enough to shine through it all. 

“Into the darkness I fade. May my light lead me through.”

“The light at the end of the tunnel is not an illusion. The tunnel is.” 

Much love & light to you, always. ❤

Xoxo Kim 

30 Days of Photos – Day 22 – {Ordinary Angels} <3

IMG_14165156_zps232e7882

“It is extraordinary how extraordinary the ordinary person is.” ~ George Will 

The topic for Day 22 of the 30 days photo challenge is to get a photo of random people. 

August 22nd was day 22 for me.

It’s kind of rude taking pics of people without permission so it’s best, in my opinion, if this is done while their backs are turned or the picture is blurred or something or just show part of the person in a way that can’t be identified. Unless we ask for permission, which I’m not bold enough to do! Lol

I LOVE people! To most people I probably seem reserved or introverted. I have been mistaken for someone with social anxiety and even called “anti social” or a “loner” more than once. These are not at all true. I am very calm, although very shy in social settings, some more than others, if I don’t know the people well or don’t see them very often. It does take a while sometimes for me to open up but only because I’m shy, not because I am scared, anxious, or not trusting or not open or anything. I’m just the opposite. I’m extremely trusting of people in general, even strangers and people who have betrayed me before. It’s just my nature to be very trusting. And I’m very open to sharing my experiences and opinions when I do get talking, even ones that may be controversial or less than pleasant.

To me, being shy doesn’t feel like anxiety or fear or nervousness. It feels more similar to “awkward” or “embarrassed” though not exactly that. It’s impossible to put into words and people have always asked me why I’m so shy. There’s no specific reason. I just am. I’m the shyest one but also the most extroverted one in my family. I’m nowhere near as shy as when I was a kid. Then I struggled with crippling shyness. 

And “anti social” does not mean what many people think it does. It’s actually an inclination towards criminal activity or violence or aggression, not just someone who prefers to be alone or doesn’t like people. I am not anti-social in either sense.
 
And I’m certainly no loner. I love and often long to be around people. I wish I had lots more friends and a bigger family or knew more people in my family and everywhere. I’m just shy and don’t have many friends, it’s not because I want to be this way. I just am. I am a very shy extrovert! But it’s mostly not a problem. It doesn’t hold me back. If I wasn’t so shy when I was young though, I would probably have more friends. 

So I love the topic for Day 22 because people are something I love. 

I got one picture of people that day, not with their backs turned but luckily it turned out blurred enough so they can’t be identified or I wouldn’t have put it on or would have tried to blur it myself. I looked up the street and the scene looked pretty and two people were walking up and I took the pic and I’m happy with it. 🙂 It’s not the best but it’s a good attempt!

IMG_14168773

IMG_14168773

And here are some more pics I got on different days of random people/ordinary angels:

IMG_1520

IMG_14165932(1)

IMG_14165975(1)

IMG_14168865

IMG_14168772_1

IMG_14168997(1)

I think every person has potential and a light to be lavished onto the world and I believe people are basically good with good intentions.

It’s also my belief that no one is better than anyone no matter what religious or political views, gender, race, skin color, nationality, gender identity, weight, ethnicity, size, sexual orientation, living situations, financial status, job, physical appearance…

Beauty comes in various forms. And every life matters! 

I think we are all one and all connected and can help each other and deepen our compassion and love for others.

IMG_14166652(1)(1)

IMG_14168751

It’s true what the quote above says, the average or “ordinary” person is extraordinary. We all have love to provide to someone and can do something no matter how seemingly simple or small, to help heal, inspire, or uplift someone.

IMG_14168996_1

Here is one of my absolute favorite songs! A beautiful country song about how every one of us has some ability to help another in some way. We don’t need money, a job, don’t have to be famous or have lots of power or be popular or look any certain way…all we need is a compassionate heart and a desire to reach out to someone. ❤

Ordinary Angels – mobile

Ordinary Angels – desktop

”
It could be someone walking down the street
A stranger on a bus
A little kid on his way to school
Or any one of us
We all got a little superman ready to take flight
And save a life, oh save a life
Take a look around and you’ll see ordinary angels”
~ Craig Morgan

I love this song and the message that any one of us can do something, even the simplest thing like just smiling at someone, to help turn someone’s day or even life around for the better.

❤

There are an infinite amount of ways we can help, uplift, or brighten someone’s day whether the person is a stranger to us, a coworker, a friend or family member…we can genuinely compliment the person, look for the good in others, choose to understand someone who is being difficult or unpleasant instead of criticizing in a negative way or judging, understand that even the most loving, selfless people make mistakes and can act in a selfish or rude manner, leave one dollar on a park bench or bus seat for a stranger to find, write an uplifting note to a friend or for someone to stumble upon, write loving messages to people on social media, use our accounts for positivity and goodness, let someone in front of us in line at a store, give up our seat for someone else, feed homeless animals, put insects outside instead of killing them, choose to forgive and move forward, smile at a person who rudely bumps into us in a crowded place or gives us an unpleasant glare, practice patience, wish someone the best, show kindness to everyone we encounter, put money in a tip or donations jar, try to make someone laugh, send an anonymous gift to a struggling single mother or father, listen attentively to someone in distress without offering unsolicited suggestions or solutions, hug someone, encourage someone, help a child or old person cross a street, hold our tongue when we feel like saying something unnecessary and unkind, use our own pain to deepen our compassion for others ….so many ways!! We don’t need any certain paid or volunteer job or any job to help someone each & every day. We can all inspire and uplift others in every day, ordinary contexts no matter who or what we are.

Much love to you!

❤

xoxo Kim 😀

It’s beginning to look a lot like….Fall?!

IMG_14167605

“By all these lovely tokens September days are here, With summer’s best of weather And autumn’s best of cheer.” ~
Helen Hunt Jackson

As much as I LOVE Fall and am absolutely thrilled that it is almost here…sort of, I feel a tinge of sadness whenever I hear someone talk about the “end of summer.” Part of me even wants to yell it’s not the end! It’s still only August! We have the rest of August and the whole month of September almost!

I have been cherishing every bit of Summer. The warm and cool breezes, the bright green leaves and flying insects all around, the Summer nights with the bright moon and crickets chirping and the vibrant green light of the fireflies, the fragrances of green and wet Earth, the golden sun, the flowers…all of it. Well, all of it except for the disgusting heatwaves. I will never love 100 degrees weather and heatwave after heatwave. 

But my heart dances with joy when I think about how soon pumpkin coffee will be here(i think it already is here in some places but eww, it’s August, it’s not pumpkin season yet! Pumpkin coffee is made for cool nights with crunchy leaves floating around under an Autumn sky, not for hot, humid, sticky Summer nights!)!! 
And pumpkin smoothies and donuts and crispy colored leaves all over the ground! And cool nights and hoodies and the Eastern State Penitentiary haunted prison attraction! Who is not thrilled for all that?!

It’s absolutely amazing how just the thought of a certain season or weather can have me in a state of like pure ecstasy.  Something as simple as that. Like I just won a billion dollar lottery or got an amazing new job or am falling in love. I AM in love but at this moment it’s not romantic love for a person but love for life itself.

I love when I can feel this way.

And it’s not only when it’s my favorite seasons. I can feel it any part of the year, just out of the blue. It’s not a regular/general kind of happiness like I usually experience. It’s like a thrill that is usually reserved for when something out of the ordinary happens but I feel it out of the blue even when nothing unusual happens. It’s not a quiet serenity or calm bliss. It’s more of an ecstatic joy. And I love it! 

“Remember to be gentle with yourself and others. We are all children of chance and none can say why some fields will blossom while others lay brown beneath the August sun.” ~
Kent Nerburn

So here are some of the sweet signs of Autumn I have encountered:

IMG_14167609
These may not really be Fall leaves but they sure are crisp and colorful! And quite lovely. 

IMG_14167654_1

Today?! It’s only August but I guess it’s never too early to start preparing for flubug prevention! So influenza season is right around the corner, which means that pumpkin patches, haunted attractions, Halloween, hayrides, and other lovely Fall gems are too, so at least there’s a bright side! 😀

IMG_14167667_1

20150819184445

But let’s not forget it’s still Summer and have fun basking in all of the end of Summer treasures like this little thing here:

20150819225306

What in the world is this beautiful creature? He hisses real loud and flies in people’s faces scaring the piss out of them. He is BIG! Like gargantuan. Like bigger than a large butterfly.
Bigger than he looks in the pictures. 
 He has been hanging outside my work for a few nights and one night he came up to a man and grabbed his dollar and the man pulled it back and the thing hissed and flew away. Lol It was hilarious! He is really cute and I hope he lives a long, happy life wherever he goes. I kept trying to get him to put him in a safe place but then decided that he would just fly wherever he wants anyway and I don’t want to provoke a heart attack in him by scaring him silly when I’m trying to pick him up. 

He flew into the window with a loud thwack and I thought someone threw something at me until I saw him. 

IMG_14167571(1)

I love him. ❤

😀

Good day or night to you!

Xoxo Kim ❤

Warrior of the Light

IMG_14167230_1

“A Warrior of the Light is never predictable.

He might dance down the street on his way to work, gaze into the eyes of a complete stranger and speak of love at first sight, or defend an apparently absurd idea. Warriors of the Light allow themselves days like these.

He is not afraid to weep over ancient sorrows or feel joy at new discoveries. When he feels that the moment has arrived, he drops everything and goes off on some long-dreamed-of adventure. When he realizes that he can do no more, he abandons the fight, but never blames himself for having committed a few unexpected acts of folly. 

A Warrior does not spend his days trying to play the role that others have chosen for him.” 

AIR_20150529_00000(1)

This is a page out of a book I’m reading by Paulo Coelho, called “Warrior of the Light.”

IMG_14167199_1

It’s a book of wisdom about embracing life for all that it is. ❤

I love this message I found on page 11! It's beautiful and grounded in so much wisdom and love for life. ❤

It is my hope that it will inspire someone else like it inspires me. 😀

I'm wishing you much love & light. ❤

Xoxo Kim 

30 Days of Photos – Day 13 – {I’m Beautiful Dammit} <3

IMG_14167250

“Well, I woke up one morning,
flossed my teeth and decided,
“Damn, I’m fierce!” You look good!
You can be just like me! A goddess? Yeah!
Don’t just pussyfoot around and sit on your assets.
Unleash your ferocity upon an unsuspecting world.
Rise up and repeat after me: ‘I’m beautiful!'”

Day 13 of the 30 day photo challenge is to get a picture of our own self, specifically the face.

I got quite a few pics of me today! August 13th. Here goes:

IMG_14167244_1(1)_1

IMG_14167253_1(1)

IMG_14167284(1)

IMG_14167285

IMG_14167284_1(1)

IMG_14167241_1(1)

And without makeup:
IMG_14167296_1

IMG_14167297_1

And here’s a few recent ones but not today ones:

IMG_14165979(1)(1)

IMG_14164879_1_zpsf23d77c5

IMG_14164603_1_zpsc55456c4

I’m not usually this vain! Although I do love taking pictures of myself! I’m just having super, super fun with this photo challenge, taking new pictures for the topic of the day and going back and finding previous ones! 😀 And today happens to be photo of the self day! lol ❤

And here is a song I love, featuring Bette Midler:

I’m Beautiful – mobile

I’m Beautiful – desktop

❤

I love this song about celebrating our own and each other's beauty which includes physical beauty. There's nothing wrong with appreciating the physical beauty of a woman, including our own. It's fantastic to celebrate!  

We're often made to feel that physical beauty is wrong to celebrate, that it's shallow or stuck up or wrong to others who may not feel as beautiful. But it's not shallow or objectification  unless that's all we see and care about and it's not stuck up unless we act like we are better than others. And loving our own selves, expressing our appreciation for our own beauty in a truly loving way can inspire others to do the same with their own beauty. 

The most important beauty, in my opinion, is within. But that doesn't mean we should not also cherish the physical.

And physical beauty comes in various forms, dark, light, big, small, tall, short, long hair, short hair, blonde hair, black hair, gray hair, orange hair, blue eyes, brown eyes, wrinkles, curvy, scarred, stick thin, tattoos, young, old, middle age….there's no specific definition but we can cherish it when we encounter it. ❤

Also, non physical beauty comes in various forms, tender and quiet, fierce and assertive, loud and bold, simple and laid back, bitchy or syrupy sweet, inquisitive or just going with the flow, badass or gentle, witty and funny or thoughtful and warm, motivated or not…or a combination of all of these things. Let's embrace all that we are while encouraging, accepting, and building up others. 

Let's celebrate our own and each other's inner & outer beauty! ❤

I love how in the song she acknowledges her own beauty & strength while encouraging others to do the same. Confidence is sexy and it's even sexier when it's humble enough to allow other people to be just what they are and seeing beauty in it. 

And in this song, they make it clear that we are not “too” anything. We are perfect how we are. 

“I'm not too short, I'm not too tall,
I'm not too big, I'm not too small.
Ooh, don't lemme start lovin' myself!
Ooh, don't lemme start lovin' myself!
I'm not too white, I'm not too black,
I'm not too this, I'm not too that.
Ooh, don't lemme start lovin' myself!
Ooh, don't lemme start lovin' myself!
I'm beautiful, I'm beautiful, I'm beautiful, dammit!”

And it's our responsibility to live how we want to live and maintain our own happiness no matter what other people say, do, or think.

“Too wack, too smart, too fast, too fine,
too loud, too tough, too too divine.
I said you don't belong. You don't belong.
Too loud, too big, too much to bear,
too bold, too brash, too prone to swear.
I heard that song for much too long.
Ain't this my sun? Ain't this my moon?
Ain't this my world to be who I choose?
Ain't this my song? Ain't this my movie?
Ain't this my world? I know I can do it.”

It's one of those “feel good” songs it's almost impossible to hear or read the lyrics and not be inspired and uplifted. It's a combination of inspiring, upbeat, and funny. They encourage us to feel beautiful and not just feel it but scream it off the rooftops! 😀

If you got it, flaunt it! And if you don't, flaunt it anyway! 

(many years ago at work, my coworker, who was struggling with body image issues, said this. She came to work wearing tight, revealing clothing and decided to say to hell with society's definition of beautiful and sexy, just be what you are and flaunt it! It inspires me ever since. <3) 

Check out the 30 days photo challenge!

“I know who I am. I am not perfect. I’m not the most beautiful woman in the world. But I’m one of them.” ~ Mary J. Blige

Much love to you,

❤

Xoxo Kim 😀

30 Days of Photos – Day 12 – {build me up, buttercup <3}

IMG_14167204

Day 12, yesterday for me, August 12th, is the day for getting pictures of buildings.

My favorite buildings are in Center City, Philadelphia but I wasn’t there yesterday. So I will share a few I captured previously.

And one I got yesterday. The one above with the gorgeous blue sky. ❤

Buildings are my love. One of my favorite things to get pictures of!! I probably have like thousands. 

Yesterday as well as today, the sky was/is very vibrant blue dappled in big, fluffy, clouds! My very favorite kind of sky to look up to.

It's interesting because my favorite weather is gray, rainy, snowy, cold, cool, wintery, fall, with a chill in the air, dreary, barren…you know the weather that many/most seem to think is miserable and disgusting. But the sky is my favorite when I look up and it's an almost animated kind of blue with pearly white clouds drifting through the streaming golden sunlight. So beautiful. So inspiring.

Nothing brings me more alive. I feel a stirring  in me, a strange and beautiful pull, when I look around and up and see vivacious green trees, a blue, blue sky, golden beams of sun all around.

IMG_14165525_1(1)(1)

IMG_14165522(1)

The Blue Cross building, one of my favorite buildings. I never been inside.

20150804115107

20150804122421

IMG_14164494

IMG_14165161_1(1)

IMG_14165167_1(1)

IMG_14165442_1(1)

IMG_14165170

IMG_14165505_1(1)

I hope you are having a sweet day/night! ❤

😀

xoxo Kim ❤

30 Days of Photos – Day 11 – {It’s the attempt that counts} <3

IMG_14167196_1

Day 11 I was supposed to get a landscape/urbanscape/seascape picture but I wasn’t anywhere to get any good ones, just out running some errands with my mom while having a very severe migraine-like headache, triggered by my chronic pain condition(tmjd/tmd). I had to lay down for a while.  But I was still happy and the headache eventually let up after a quick rest, blueberry iced coffee, and a handful of Tylenol. Tylenol, which works wonders for me for regular pain, does nothing for these horrific headaches brought on by my condition, but sometimes it takes the edge off for certain pain before the pain begins to get severe or after the pain begins to end. But often only when I take like eight at once (which a doctor I used to have told me to stop because it is dangerous to the liver. But I can’t think of my liver and what may happen to it in the future when I’m in excruciating agony right now.) Not for all my tmjd related pain and not when it’s too bad already, but some. This headache was ending anyway and I took Tylenol to try to hasten the ending process. It seemed to work! Or could have merely been a coincidence! Who knows?! Or cares?! All that matters is it ended! I don’t usually take medicine because it doesn’t usually work. And Tylenol works the best when it does work. 

But I did get a couple pictures that I tried to come as close as possible to make constitute as a landscape or urbanscape photo. I don’t think I succeeded very well but trying (especially with one of the worst (migraine-like) headaches of my life) is success enough!! 

This was Tuesday, August 11th! It was a lovely rainy day. 

IMG_14167198_1

IMG_14167194_1

IMG_14167190_1

IMG_14167181_2

IMG_14167176_1

IMG_14167161_1

IMG_14167160_1

IMG_14167155_1

IMG_14167152_1

IMG_14167150_1_edit_1

IMG_14167147_1

IMG_14167148_1

IMG_14167144_1

IMG_14167143_1

I won’t ever let a devestating headache or any pain stop me or hold me back. It won’t kill my inspiration, only inspire me more deeply.

Check out the photo challenge here!

Much love to you,

❤

xoxo Kim 😀

30 Days of Photos – Day 10 {color me crazy}

IMG_14166248_1(1)

Day 10 for the photo challenge is supposed to be a day for a specific color we choose. I chose tan. I was drinking iced coffee which is tan and also my dogs are tan (all except Prince Oscar, the shih tzu who is black & white <3] and so are a lot of their bones.

Prince Oscar

IMG_14167294

He is the cutest boy!He often acts like a grump, begs like crazy, and loves to snuggle. And he can be a bit snappy when he doesn’t like something. He never learned to walk up & down steps and has to be carried! lol He’s heavy for a shih tzu! I love him! ❤

My mom always laughs about how almost every dog we ever had is tan. She wants an unusual or interesting color but we never get one! Lol She loves their personalities and how cute they are and would never trade them for anything but she thinks tan is a bore. 
When our puppy, Woody was born last year, my mom was thrilled because he was brown and she was thinking finally a different color dog. Then he turned tan! Lol It's hilarious! 

IMG_14044250(1)_1

Him when he was brown. ❤

My sister wants to write a book called “50 Shades of Tan” as a funny memoir about our life with tan dogs. 😀

IMG_14167115_1(1)
This picture was taken the day before but I like it so I’m sharing it here now.

And here are my babies!

IMG_14167124(1)

This pic was taken on Day 10 of the photo challenge. August 10th.

The other pics here were taken days before and after. 
IMG_14167173(1)_1

Baby & Mommy ❤

IMG_14167292

Baby & Daddy ❤

IMG_14167132

I’m not drugged in this picture. Lol It’s after a busy night at work after little sleep the night before. That’s why I kind of have dark lines under my eyes with a sleepy look. Anyway, I was not trying to get a picture of myself but my dog. My dad and sister said her eyes looked horrible and really funny and creepy so I put my phone on “mirror”/ autoshoot to see and got a picture! Lol Luckily I don’t look terrible in the picture!  

IMG_14167201

And since we are on the topic of color:

IMG_14166248_yellow_edit(1)

IMG_14166248_pink_edit(1)

Isn’t this amazing?! This is that picture at the top but I edited it with an app called Black & Color, which works very well for many pictures.

Want to participate in the 30 day photo challenge? You can check it out here!

And begin whenever you want! I’m having so much fun!! 

I hope your day/night is wonderful!<3

xoxo Kim 😀

30 Days of Photos – Day 9 {watching the wheels}

IMG_14167110_1(1)

“I’m just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round,
I really love to watch them roll,
No longer riding on the merry-go-round,
I just had to let it go.”
~ John Lennon ❤

Day 9 (August 9th for me) for the 30 day photo challenge is intended to be a day to capture a photo of anything with wheels.

It reminds me of this sweet and philosophical song sung by John Lennon. It's very thought provoking!  

What a lovely song…

“I tell them there’s no problem, Only solutions.” What an amazing outlook on life!

Whenever we think we have a problem, let’s just remember these words of wisdom. Every problem is an opportunity to evolve and strengthen our mind. And an opportunity to express and deepen our creativity, finding and creating solutions! Problems can also help us deepen our empathy for others, which is a great thing! Instead of feeling defeated by our problems, let’s instead feel exhilarated at the thought of all the solutions around and within us.

Watching the Wheels – mobile

Watching the Wheels – desktop

check out the photo challenge here!

Much0 love to you! 

❤

Xoxo Kim 😀

30 Days of Photos – Day 8 {still life} <3

IMG_14167089_1


Day 8 for the 30 day photo challenge is to get a still life photo. 

On August 8th, I took pictures of a fake flower (above) and then found apps online to make the pictures resemble still life paintings.  

fe6ebd56_o(1)

“In the midst of movement and chaos, keep stillness inside of you.” ~ 
Deepak Chopra

“Learning how to be still, to really be still and let life happen – that stillness becomes a radiance.” ~
Morgan Freeman

vintage-retro-photo-effect(1)_edit

“So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.” ~
T. S. Eliot

“To know yourself as the Being underneath the thinker, the stillness underneath the mental noise, the love and joy underneath the pain, is freedom, salvation, enlightenment.” ~
Eckhart Tolle

“I have patches of insomnia, and I’m fascinated by the otherness of the world at night. The stillness. Daytime preoccupations fall away, standards change, thoughts change. It’s a canvas for reinvention, I think.”
Morag Joss

Interesting! Seems like a positive view on insomnia for once. Even when something sucks, there has to be a bright side or something positive to embrace!  

vintage-retro-photo-effect_edit

“Each solstice is a domain of experience unto itself. At the Summer Solstice, all is green and growing, potential coming into being, the miracle of manifestation painted large on the canvas of awareness. At the Winter Solstice, the wind is cold, trees are bare and all lies in stillness beneath blankets of snow.” ~ 
Gary Zukav

This is a beer bottle outside of a bar/restaurant that I took a picture of and turned into a “painting.” 

f9ede1f1_o(1)

IMG_14167076_2

Want to participate in the 30 Days photo challenge?! Here you are: free e-course – photo challenge

Much love to you! ❤

😀

xoxo Kim