Tag Archive | motivation

Always look at the bright side of life

~”Hate has four letters. So does love.

Enemies has seven letters. So does friends.

Lying has five letters. So does truth.

Hurt has four letters. So does heal.”~

“Transform every negative energy into positive energy. It’s your perception that makes the difference.”

Yesterday, something terrible happened(or maybe I’m just being dramatic?)! I deleted my WordPress app on purpose because it wasn’t working for a couple days and I thought maybe deleting it then putting it back on would get it a better connection. But when I went to reinstall it, I saw that it’s no longer available for BlackBerry! And then I saw that my post did go through after I deleted it! So it was working just not good but now that I deleted it I can’t get it back. Imagine my horror and regret! Lol

The blog is a significant part of me. It’s how I mostly share my experiences, life lessons learned, photos, try to uplift or inspire people…

I don’t post everyday, I even sometimes go weeks without posting but I do post a couple posts each month, at least. But in the three years I had the blog, I can’t remember a day not preparing drafts to eventually post. Every single day I’m writing or planning blog posts even when I don’t publish them yet. Everything I learn, I often think about how I can prepare it to post here, every song, every book that inspires me. Every season. I am so inspired to post here. To help or inspire others.

On the computer I have, there’s some pop up that won’t let me use WordPress.com and I like using my phone better anyway and on my phone it’s nearly impossible without the app. Posting text content is easy, it’s the photos it won’t let me post without a lot of trouble.

I felt a kind of despair yesterday briefly off and on in waves. Going out of my head. But Buddha’s wisdom and light keeps me going! Buddha teaches about non attachment and being blissful no matter what. Buddha would never sink to despair over technology problems or even something as tragic as someone dying or severe physical pain.

He teaches that it’s ok to have material things, friends, family…but to not be dependent on any of it for our happiness or wellbeing. To know and accept that everything we have and everyone we meet, will eventually end somehow. And he teaches us to be the best we can be so we can help all other living beings be more happy and peaceful.

And I draw on his wisdom and strength to lift me and help me help others in any way I can.

You don’t have to be a Buddhist to benefit by his wisdom.

And I am reminded of the above quote. For every negative thing there’s something positive, something to learn. Some way to use the experience to help someone else in some way. We can take the negative energy and put a positive spin on it.

This sucks!

But oh well, it’s done now!

I thought of my WordPress app and how blessed I always felt to have it but it did contribute to me wanting to pull out my hair on occasion! Thing was annoying! It was slow and would post multiple of the same letters in words and was so hard to deal with. And it took up much space on my phone. Sometimes half of my post wouldn’t show up after I hit publish. It wouldn’t let me change the date when it got it wrong. This is the main reason I did not post as much as I would like to. It did get the job done well in the end though and I miss it now. I miss it terribly. I miss the layout and seeing the little icon on my phone. The colors which I thought were kind of on the boring side. I miss everything about it and I would take that distress and annoyance it brought me, any day if I could just have it back. I would prefer the annoyances and still have the app. But that’s not the case. I don’t have it and so I will be thankful for the positive things my loss brings with it. Another positive thing – now I have more space on my phone. I would prefer to have less space and have the app but since I can’t have it, I can still celebrate having more storage space!

I can still post here but maybe not many pictures because it seems it only let’s me post one. Pictures make blog posts better I think, especially long blog posts, and I love posting my random inspiration posts with all the photos! Maybe I’ll find a way! I guess if you really, really want something, you let nothing stand in the way.

This also reminds me of Johnathan Huie’s Zero based gratitude idea where instead of comparing what we have to what we had when we had more, we can just be thankful now for everything. Even if we have so much less than we previously had. Who cares what we had and lost? When it’s gone it’s gone.

We can learn and move forward.

I posted about this concept here:

https://inspirationalgem.wordpress.com/2014/04/01/what-if-today-we-were-just-grateful-for-everythingzero-based-gratitude/

And here is Mr. Huie’s essay:

http://ezinearticles.com/?Zero-Based-Gratitude&id=2753810

Also here’s a good song meant to be funny but with a sweet little message about looking on the bright side of life always, no matter how much it sucks.

Mobile:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=u2UP86bciVA

Desktop:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&persist_app=1&v=u2UP86bciVA

The singer Monty Python is a comedian and I read he makes fun of religion. I don’t know much about him or his jokes or if they are vicious jokes or just stupid ones and I don’t necessarily agree with all his views or anything. I’m just promoting his light attitude about looking on the positive side. “Laugh and smile and dance and sing…” he sings. The singer even goes all the way as to encourage us, when we’re dying, to think life is a piece of shit anyway! Lol “Life’s a piece of shit when you look at it…” that way you won’t care so much about dying! Lmao I don’t view life as shit but I hear his message loud & clear!

Always look on the bright side of life.

Always look on the light side of life.

And there IS a bright side.

Always.

And if not, you can create one.

I hope your night/day is a good one!

❤

Xoxo Kim

Inner Strength <3

Jun21

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

So, I had a cluster-like headache at work last night. It’s the second one I ever had at work.
It was devastating.
The last one I had at work was in October, eight months ago. Luckily back then it was a cool, dark, dreary night and was slow so no one had to witness it. But now it’s Spring/Summer and very busy so when I was struck with it, there were customers at the window. I never want to freak anyone out and I learned to control my reactions to these headaches a little bit better in general, not always though. Sometimes I still scream til I lose my voice.
It’s rare to have a headache during work hours; they usually occur around 2:00 in the morning til 5:00am.
I had to keep hitting my face and clutching my head and trying not to scream.

It takes everything I have in me not to bang my head against the walls. There have been nights I cracked my head for hours over n over against a wall. All night long.
And kept feeling what felt like my brain shaking because of the force.
But I was near insanity.
It’s an incredible sense of loneliness.

When I talk about my headaches, I often explain what they are like because they aren’t “headaches.” They are cruel, vicious attacks.
I have tmjd, not cluster headache (CH) disorder, that I know of, but my condition triggers cluster-like headaches.
It feels like a hot poker being driven through the eye socket and being held there for minutes to hours and can be off and on for hours, days, weeks or months or unfortunately for some, every single day with no remission. There’s no known cure. On top of the severe burning agony like scalding hot water being poured over the side of the face, is the worst throbbing tooth pain and ear pain and pressure.
Like all our nerves exposed and being squeezed
It involves the trigeminal nerve, I heard/read.
They are also called suicide headaches & ice pick headaches(like the head being split with an ice pick). It’s that bad.
There’s no pain that I know of that can be used as a reference point to compare the magnitude of this pain to. Being burned and brain freeze are the closest things.

They can make the eye droop and water and the nose run on whatever side of the face the pain is on. Sometimes my face swells up on the side and turns red or even a purple/bruised color. It feels like and sometimes looks like my face is melting. It’s not pretty. Pain pills do nothing. Not prescription ones, not ones bought in a store. The headaches only occur on one side of the face. It can be either side.
Mine was on the right at work.

I thought I was dying, the pain was so bad.
I don’t know if physical pain can literally drive someone insane but I keep thinking it will.
I wanted to run out of work and run to the bar across the street screaming but I knew my boss likely wouldn’t have anyone to come in work for me and did not want to leave her or the customers hanging.
No matter how much I suffer, I have come to generally be mindful of how my actions may affect others and try to always do what is best for them. I don’t always succeed but generally, I try.

It itself is not a life threatening condition and not like I was in danger of dying or anything.
But some people do attempt and die by suicide because the pain is so immense. It feels unbearable. I don’t really think I will kill myself anymore when I have them. I used to though. During the headaches, I often keep thinking “I can’t take this, I can’t take another second, how much more can I possibly endure….?!?!?”

Take something freezing cold like ice cream or frozen drink and let it against your teeth without swallowing or put mouth wash in your mouth and keep it in over ten minutes no matter how much it burns and when you feel you really can’t take anymore still keep it there, and you can get maybe a fraction of an idea of what these headaches are like. The headaches hurt more.

My cluster-like headaches aren’t
very frequent in general. I can go for months without having one. But just one headache is enough. The first one I was struck with when I was 24 years old, scarred me for life.
Just one of these head attacks, even if you never have another, will scar you emotionally, no matter how strong you are, I can almost guarantee it.
It will break you in a way you can never be put back together. The physical pain is extreme. There are just no words.
If I found out someone was going to have one of these and I were able to experience it instead of that person, I would take on as many as I can so no one else ever has to. My heart sinks and breaks at the mere thought of some poor person having to endure this.

That’s why some people with them kill themselves even when they aren’t depressed, because the physical pain is immense in the moments they occur. It’s like nothing else in this world exists anymore.
Just a world of screaming agony.
It’s like being in another dimension, I often say, a kind of pain that feels unearthly and like it can’t possibly exist. But it does exist.

I have said that I couldn’t dream up this kind of agony in my worst nightmare.

I can crumble just writing this.
They shatter me.

But it’s ok. It’s always ok. It’s all about our attitude, perspective, reaction.

They begin abruptly and often unexpectedly and end just as abruptly. No warning.
One day I was out food shopping with my mom and nothing was wrong with me that day. I wasn’t in pain at all. I reached my hand up to pull the handle on a freezer door and in an instant my face and head was struck hard with the agony. It’s pure, raw horror. Hell on Earth.

When the headache at work struck me, I tried so hard not to scream and wail in agony .

I decided to muster all the strength I have in me, all the courage and love.
I decided to be mindful of every sensation around me and on me. I held a wet rag in my hands and focused on the sensations against my skin. I focused on the lights in the room and the colors surrounding me. I summoned the love I have for life itself, living beings, and various things…until the headache ceased. It lasted less than a half hour. It was excruciating.
I kept thinking how can I take this experience and use it to help someone somehow when it’s over. And it helped me bear it better knowing that later I would use it to our advantage.

I still felt a kind of gentle calm in the center of me. And I embraced it with all I have in me.

It inspires me to write. My headache inspires me instead of destroy me like they often seem to do.
All I kept thinking is how many others are suffering or in some kind of pain and how I can share my experience here, to help in some way even if it’s just a fraction.

“I choose to FIGHT BACK! I choose to RISE, not fall! I choose to LIVE, not die! And I know, I know that what’s within me is also WITHIN YOU.” (Mayor Pappas, “City Hall” movie quote)

I can turn my pain into inspiration and motivation and comfort for someone else.
And so can you.

“Displace the pain
Put it in
A camera
A story
A poem
A song
A lover
A canvas”

Whatever you do, displace the pain. Put it into something positive, creative, loving.
And pull others into your light. Use your pain for the better, turn it into beauty and light and love and other people can draw on your strength.

Much love to you. ❤

😀

Xoxo Kim

The whole world is a garden <3

Jun9

” If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden.” ~ Frances Hodgson Burnett

Everywhere we look, we can find something beautiful even in the ugliness, the darkness, the gray…

It’s up to us to look and find when it doesn’t easily jump out at us.

I hope you are having a beautiful day/night!

Xoxo Kim

It is the question that drives us

May13

“I’ve got a song
I’ve got a song
And I carry it with me and I sing it loud
If it gets me nowhere, I’ll go there proud” ~ Jim Croce

Often, many of us think results are most important, getting, receiving, things working out in the end, the end result, succeeding the way we intended….and while those things can be important, I realize more and more that the most important thing is our drive, our intention, will, inspiration, motivation itself, not always just the results.

This is something that I think people who have suffered a serious physical illness/pain or severe depression may be able to understand better than people who have never experienced those things. But I think anyone can come to see my point, whether or not you agree.

When we are severely sick or deeply depressed, we can lose our appetite. Not just for food but for life. It’s like there’s nothing. Just nothingness and emptiness and numbness. For some of us, sometimes we don’t even want to win. Often, we don’t want to live or to die. Even wanting to die takes a kind of passion and energy. If you want to die, there’s a spark in you somewhere. Seize that spark and hang onto it like your life depends on it. It does.

Take that little sliver of life still left in you and use it for the better. Apply it to something other than wanting to die. Even when it’s hard. Use that little spark to help others, help the environment, do volunteer work, create something, post words of wisdom to uplift or inspire someone else, keep pushing through the numbness and lifelessness and pain and do something, anything, for the better…

“Always have the highest bar for yourself. Wake up everyday and, no matter how crappy you feel, want to change something for the better. Do something that makes someone happy. Create something that inspires someone. Be someone’s light when they are hopeless.” – Dave Grohl

Just the fact that we have passion, interest is an amazing thing even if everything crumbles to seemingly irreparable pieces in the end. But often, people don’t think of this. We are too focused on the end, not the journey itself.

I thought about this more last week while reading a text about the movie the “Matrix” and philosophy. The “Matrix” movie is deeply philosophical but many people don’t realize or care about that aspect. It’s just a fun, action packed thriller, probably, for the average person. But for those with philosophical minds and especially us philosophy phreaks, we see and love that it runs deeper than that.

In some ways, the story is extremely similar to the story of Socrates, the ancient philosopher who is said to have been put to death for challenging the common beliefs of society, shaking up the status quo. According to the ancient texts, Socrates was constantly nagging people, but with loving intentions, about the nature of things and beliefs that no one else questioned and just accepted as truth.

This led to him being executed, according to the old writings, mostly by Plato.

Check out some of Plato’s writings for free, here if you want:

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/13726/13726-h/13726-h.htm

Socrates is often considered to be arrogant, as he questions and questions until the poor person contradicts himself or makes a mistake, but he is completely humble. He backs people into corners and intimidates them. But only because he believes it’s important to think and question and own up to flaws in our reasoning and belief systems. He believes examination of how we live is more crucial than anything, for living a good life.

Socrates questions and intimidates and puts people in awkward situations where they contradict themselves, yet he admits that he knows absolutely nothing. That he knows nothing more than anyone else.

“Wisest is she who knows she does not know.”

He does this excessive questioning just for the sake of questioning and exploring. The fact that he believes he knows nothing but still badgers people like this knowing that he can’t possibly judge their answers as correct or incorrect since he doesn’t know himself, reveals that his quest is mostly to shed light on the fact that questioning itself, exploration, examination alone is crucial for a good life. (I wouldn’t recommend his way of going about it though, forcing people to stand there and answer when it’s annoying the piss out of them!)

Here’s an example of Socrates’ exasperating method of questioning:

Socrates: What is holy?

Euthyphro: Holiness is what all the gods love and its opposite is what all the gods hate, unholiness.

Socrates: Is what is holy holy because the gods approve it, or do they approve it because it is holy?

And on and on.

What a gadfly Socrates is! Lol But he does have a point, doesn’t he? And the fact that someone loves something is not essential to the thing’s nature. It’s not its nature. It’s accidental. If someone stops loving something, that something still is what it always was. I love Coca Cola, always have, always will but if I stop loving it, it’s still the same substance. Maybe it would be different if I were a goddess as opposed to the mere mortal that I am, and I love it?

In philosophy we have a specific definition for “accidental.” An accidental quality is simply a trait that is part of someone or something but not crucial to its essence or nature. My eye color for example. It doesn’t make me what I am. If it changes or was never what it is but a different color instead, I would still be the me that I now am. (at least I think so) In fact my eyes were always pure blue then when I was a teenager, they turned bright green mixed with blue! (I was freaked out…) But I’m still me. Hair color, size…are other examples of accidental qualities. And think of coffee with a flavor, say, raspberry, the raspberry flavoring is accidental, not essential. Coffee is coffee with or without raspberry flavor. Anyway here I am doing what I do best, getting carried away while writing and going off on a tangent!
(in Philosophy, we speak/write of philosophers as if they are alive even if they haven’t been alive in centuries, it’s just what we do! Lol)

Coincidentally I was thinking about posting this topic on Sunday before the free hugging event and then I experienced something where I was able to apply it!

Sunday, May 3rd, was Global Free Hug Day! I got out of the house and to the park later than I planned and I couldn’t stay long. I decided to try LOVE park first! The famous Philadelphia park with the big LOVE statue that people all around the country or world come to visit and get weddings pics and other pictures and things in front of it! (I get to see it everyday if I want! Lol sorry, just had to brag! ;-D)

And it’s there that I experienced the most love out of the parks I visited! No one really stops to read signs often! I was with my mom and sister who did not want to participate so it was just me hugging and no one was really looking at me. Some people quickly glanced at my sign (which I think turned out beautifully even with my dreadful handwriting!) and looked away not really reading! It can be awkward looking at a stranger and reading something that stranger is holding.

My mom told me i wasn’t going to get any hugs! 😦 Because no one was walking near me and I couldn’t stay very long! Also, I’m not loud or very bold. So I wasn’t going to yell “free hugs!!!” like some people!! It took enough courage just to stand there with the sign! 😀 But I did!

It was disappointing but I was reminded that all that matters is that I have the inspiration and motivation and courage to participate in free hug day!
All we can really do is attempt!

We can appreciate that we have the will, the desire, the motivation and inspiration, the love, the life in us, to do something.

So at least I had the will, passion, and desire. That’s not to say people who don’t want to participate in free hug day don’t have passion, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but since I do like things like this, it’s great to have the motivation! And this goes for anything we have motivation to do. This is just one example.

As I mentioned in a somewhat recent post, I have been struggling hard with grief. We lost my close friend/coworker, Diane(she was 58 years old), a couple months ago, unexpectedly and I have been grieving since she died and always will but it was really hitting me hard for a while. So hard. The more days that would go by, the more difficult it would get. It’s worse now than when it first happened. For days and days the worst of it wouldn’t let up. It’s not depression, just raw agonizing grief that hurts so much I can hardly stand it. And anxiety and fear, sometimes close to panic. This is the longest I have gone without seeing Diane, in the almost ten years I have known her. It feels extremely confusing. She was very loving, funny, and beautiful.

A couple days before global Free Hug day, I thought I had no strength to do much and while I still wanted to do hug day, I wasn’t sure how I could but I reminded myself it has the potential to help others. And if something can result in even a fraction of good for someone else, it is worth doing no matter how lifeless it feels or in pain I am. I can keep on pushing through it all whether it’s grief and loss, depression, physical pain..even when it seems I have no strength or courage.

But I did have the strength and motivation to do hug day and other things I thought I couldn’t do. And I told myself that’s all that matters!

Anyway, I did get a couple hugs! Yay!! And some beautiful pics of the park! And I will post about Hug Day soon! The pics are on my other memory card and I’m having some problems with my phone and the cards and I want to include the pics! 😀

I am reminded of Nimo Patel’s “Planting Seeds” song about how all

we can do is try then let go and whatever happens, happens and that’s it.

Here are some of his lyrics.

“…but the roots are always growin’ no matter if I’m there or never around…whatever grows will grow, whatever dies will die, whatever works will work, whatever flies will fly, whatever fails will fail, what’s meant to soar will soar, I am planting seeds, nothing more.”

“It’s like your whole life you’ve been training for this moment
And when the time comes you just disown it,
Meaning you just surrender don’t control it…”

“But now we’re learning when we let it go, it overflows
With no credit to take cuz no credit is owned.”

“…but the real gold is joy, when life starts to flow
And when it does, you just smile, cuz now you know!”

Here’s the video:

Mobile:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhcKIGCE_Pk

Desktop:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&persist_app=1&v=ZhcKIGCE_Pk

I wrote about this topic in my super long “Fear & Hunger” post a while ago.

Check it out here if you want:

https://inspirationalgem.wordpress.com/2014/12/16/fear-hunger/

And I am also reminded of another beautiful song I listened to for as long as I can remember and it often helped me with my depression when I was young, before I learned to cope well, and is still one of my favorite songs! It’s Jim Croce’s “I Got a Name.”

Here is the desktop video version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHVBzLGAIbU&app=desktop

Mobile:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hHVBzLGAIbU&app=m&persist_app=1

If you listen closely to the lyrics, you can hear the message. It’s about living and loving and being inspired in general no matter what happens or doesn’t. It’s about living with a song in our hearts and if it doesn’t work out for us, let’s just be happy we tried. Intention, trying, the will and desire counts for something!

So let’s honor our drive, our motivation, our inspiration and desire. Our will. Let’s cherish it and be mindful of it. It’s good to win and succeed how we planned. But it’s even better to want to win and succeed. Wanting to win is everything, even if we are greatly disappointed in the end. We can still appreciate our desire and will. Let’s find our inner song and embrace it even if it seems to lead us nowhere. Just having a song in us is cause for celebration.

I’m wishing you much love now & always!!

❤

Xoxo Kim

Befriending our emotions

Apr16

“Life isn’t about learning how to weather the storm. It’s about learning how to dance in the rain.”~Vivian Greene

I read a novel, which I posted about last week, called “First Do No Evil” by Dr. Carey Baldwin, medical doctor and author, wife, mother, and with quite a few advanced degrees! She writes mystery books. The books are part of a series but can also be read individually. They’re mostly about doctors, usually a thirty something year old woman with a painful past who is now in some sort of trouble, like being stalked or the target of murder/homicide attempt, who meets a man who tries to help her and they begin to fall in love. The books are full of mystery, adventure, and romance. The characters are of substance and the stories are fascinating, page turners. Dr. Baldwin, the author of this book, former clinical psychologist, and now a family medical doctor, is a hopeless romantic and a genius! So her novels include romance along with the thrilling mystery and adventure. Her books are intended for adults, not appropriate for teenages, as they contain explicit sexual scenes and adult language/content, and physical violence, even murder. Some romance novels are hallow, with no depth, not much of a plot, but these ones are not like that. They are full of beauty and amazing life lessons.

Here is one such lesson:

“Above the clunking of snow chains, at last, Danny heard his phone. Grabbing it, he checked the display. It was the captain. His breathing grew ragged, and the hairs on the back of his neck lifted. Fear can do funny things to a man. It can paralyze his diaphragm and vocal cords so he can hardly breathe, so he can’t even manage to scream for help; or it can pump his muscles so full of adrenaline he can fend off an army of aliens. Fear can be a man’s worst enemy, or his best friend. Danny knew he had a choice.
He chose friend.”

This is a fantastic reminder of how seemingly negative or unpleasant emotions can serve a purpose if we allow them to.

Guilt – can trigger us to make things right – it can inspire us to say sorry if we wronged someone, tell the truth, and avoid doing things to hurt others and be more mindful of our actions.

Anger – can fuel us or break us. When we get super angry about a certain issue or at a certain person, anger can trigger us to reach out to do something. Reach out not in a destructive way but in a productive way to help or to try to make things better. If we are angry about a political cause, for example, we can reach out in compassion and love to help, not give into the fury and react in a hostile way. Love and compassion can inspire us to act and so can anger and fury when we use it in a constructive way.

Sadness – When we are sad, we can reach out to help or uplift others in similar situations. Our own sadness can deepen our empathy.

Grief and loss– grief can help us in a similar way and can inspire us to build our lives into something better, we can become like new, use our grief to push us forward and rebuild ourselves while also reaching out in love and empathy to console others.

Disappointment/sense of failure/frustration – teach us lessons and motivate us to work even harder. We can acquire/develop more skills along the way and use our experiences to help others.

Pain of any kind can be our catalyst for positive change in general and can deepen our wisdom and strength and empathy. Pain can bring us to ruin and then we can take that ruin and become even better. Sometimes after experiencing severe pain of any sort, we can change our lives to be better in general than even before that pain.

Jealousy – When we feel jealous that someone has something we don’t, that jealousy can inspire us to work harder for what we want or to work on ourselves to accept how we are instead of wanting what we cannot have. It can also provoke us to look within and see what is going on, to see what we feel is lacking or why we feel that way. Then we can become even better/stronger than before.

Fear/panic – fear can pump us to act or trigger us to collapse and we can choose which to allow.

Unpleasant seeming emotions can inspire and motivate us to create, to build, to reach out, to survive.

Depression, anxiety, chronic pain, illness…anything that seems negative or unpleasant can be our friend, our teacher, our motivation.

Think about your unpleasant emotions. How have they helped you? How can they help you now and in the future? How can you use them to your advantage instead of letting them drag you down? What can they teach you? Tapping into the wisdom of each experience and emotion is a skill that we can develop to be better.

~Let pain make you better, not bitter.~

I’m wishing you much love and light today and always. I hope you are having a beautiful day or night wherever you are! ❤

Xoxo Kim 😀

Summer Breeze <3

Apr14

(today is April 13th, not 14th but WordPress insists on making it a day later when it’s late and I post something and it takes a lot of work on my phone to change it so I’m not today)

“I am here to serve. I am here to inspire. I am here to love. I am here to live my truth.” ~ Deepak Chopra

“Sweet days of summer
the jasmine’s in bloom
July is dressed up
and playing her tune
And I come home
from a hard day’s work
and you’re waiting there
not a care in the world” ~ Seals & Croft

I woke up with this song on my mind today, I love the feel of it. Today is very warm, almost feeling like Summer! How pleasant! A soft, gentle feeling, Summer’s song is in the air.

What a light and lovely song with a simple message. Just lay back, appreciate and be mindful of the beauty all around, and let go of all our concerns for a while. Soak up the gentle air and sweet scents of the warm weather. It’s a soothing message, a sweet caress to the soul.

Spring hours started back up at work so I’m going to be working a lot more. I work at a store and we sell candy & ice cream & water ice. We stay open all Winter but have much less hours. Each shift, only one of us works so it can get very hectic in Spring & Summer. We make ice cream sundaes, milkshakes, lemon splashes, pizza pretzels, banana splits….

Sometimes there’s like twenty people at the window. It’s window service so they don’t come inside. Then we have lots of cleaning and stocking to do, which is one of the more stressful things because it can take a while after we close and only one of us is working. And on top of that people try to come after we already are closed and keep wanting stuff. The other girls have no problem turning people away but I feel so sorry saying no we’re closed. I want them to have what they want but it doesn’t stop at just one or two late night stragglers, more people see them being served then they come and expect things as well. Some nights I stayed open over a half hour after closing. But it has to end somewhere so last year I mustered up the strength to start saying no. Sometimes I still give in but mostly I am good with saying no.

I feel sorry for them and I can see the disappointment but we have a closing hour and also my dad and sister come to pick me up after work and expect me to be done when I’m supposed to and often had to wait very long which my dad can’t stand.

Sometimes we have to draw the line and say no even when it hurts.

It definitely gets to be distressing at some points but I absolutely LOVE this job. I worked here for nearly a decade and always plan on having another, more “real” or “professional” job like in an office, or hospital, or as a legal assistant…but I always said I would still love to work as a server in a store/restaurant for one or two days a week because nothing can take the place of the feeling of serving people, encountering many different kinds of people, most of them happy to be here, seeing the joy in their eyes when I place the sundaes on the counter, hearing their various stories. I love the happy families who come with little kids.

Having a cashier/server job brings a kind of joy that no other job can. Other jobs can certainly be just as joyful but this is a certain kind that has to do with seeing so many different kinds of people in a happy setting. It’s very rewarding. Not always happy, not everyone is friendly, some are definitely rude and some are kind of creepy, trying to hook up with me by saying weird sexual things (sometimes I have to call/go to the bar across the street and get some big strong men to come over and help me out, lol ;-D) . But even they deserve compassion and those situations teach me about remaining positive and compassionate in unpleasant situations.

I never viewed this as a life draining or “dead-end” job like some people feel about sever/cashier jobs. It’s true it’s not for everyone and it’s not the most important job someone can have but it’s important to each customer in the moment that person is there. It’s important to be attentive to the person’s desires. I learned so much in my years here. I learned about multitasking, being attentive to the needs of others, patience, keeping calm and staying pleasant even in the face of difficult people and working under pressure, remaining calm in crisis situations like something breaking (cash register, freezers…) when theres lines of people into the streets, and so much more. What great life lessons! And those lessons can be applied to life in general.

It kind of feels like I’m writing a cover letter or resume here. Lol ;-D

I always wanted a job helping others. I had a specific idea of what “helping” means. What I had in mind is a counseling or psychiatric technician job, talking to people, helping them in a clinic or hospital setting. I still would love to have that sort of job! But I’m more open-minded now and I realize that all jobs are helping someone in different ways. Even something as simple as filing papers all day, alone, is helping. We need people who file papers in offices and other places. But I always wanted a job working closely with people and I still do.

But no matter what job we have, no matter how seemingly trivial, there are opportunities throughout each day to help someone, even in the most simplest encounters. Just a friendly smile or uplifting tone of voice, expressing true concern for their needs…

And even if we have no job, each moment there’s an opportunity to help someone, somewhere.

I am reminded of this quote:

“Your job is not to judge. Your job is not to figure out if someone deserves something. Your job is to lift the fallen, to restore the broken, and to heal the hurting.” ~
Joel Osteen

I don’t like telling people what their job is or whatever and it’s not my place to but I love the beautiful sentiment of this quote. This is exactly how I want to live. But I don’t want to tell people they “should” live this way. It’s up to us to choose for our own selves. Encouraging people is good, telling them how to live is not.

And on another note…

I have much Spring cleaning to do for my room! I’m the biggest slob! I have books, clothes, even empty soda cans tossed all over in like every corner of the room, on my dresser, my chair, everywhere. Lol My sister says my room is disgusting like a seventeen year old boy’s room. Lol it’s true I do tend to leave food, like pizza, on my dresser now and then. And am very disorganized.

So that’s my goal for now, it’s not going to be fun! Lol But necessary.

I bought pretty candles at CVS not only on sale but I had a coupon to get even more money off and for two candles it only cost like three dollars! It would have been like twenty something for two. Of course they are tropical scented! My favorite! So after I get my disgusting bedroom in order, I will set them out on my dresser to look and smell pretty! I plan on getting the coral scented one soon!

My other goal is to go to sleep earlier and wake up earlier and go out to take pictures all over the city! I take lots and lots of pics each day but often it’s when I’m already going out somewhere. I want to make it a point to go for walks and take pics. I love walking and walk everywhere I can. And I take pictures almost as much as I breathe.

Ok, not really but I think it gets the point across. Pictures are my passion. And I’m learning so much about composition and taking beautiful pictures with an iPhone. I think I’m the only one left on Earth with a blackberry phone and the only one on Earth without an iPhone so I don’t really see any blackberry photo tips. So I read stuff about Iphones a lot and some can apply to my phone.
Many of us are under the impression that we need a big expensive camera and equipment to take gorgeous pictures! And I do hope to get a camera like that one day!

But smartphones can take amazing pics! It’s all about creativity, learning skills, concepts, and determination more than the kind of camera. Someone can take an amazing smartphone pic while someone else can take a very shitty or uninteresting picture with a big extravagant camera. It’s more about skills than the device.

Not only am I a slob, I’m a bum who sleeps too much, too late into the afternoon. It’s very unattractive but I’m planning to fix that. And getting up early to go out and take pics is my motivation!

So I love how this song somehow made its way into my head today even though I can’t even remember when I last heard it! And it reminded me of all these thoughts and lessons! So inspiring.

I hope you’re having a lovely day and cherishing the weather, whatever it may be, wherever you are! Remember there’s something beautiful in every season!

I’m at work now and when I’m not serving people I’m trying to write this. I can’t really take the time to edit it much so if it’s full of spelling, grammar, punctuation mistakes, that’s why! Lol

I’m wishing you much love, joy, and happiness today and always!

Check out “Summer Breeze” here!:

Mobile:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KdWobrZUyMA

Desktop:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&persist_app=1&v=KdWobrZUyMA

Xoxo Kim

Today <3

Apr9

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” ~ Howard Thurman

Today is a very cold, very gray, beautiful wet day. It’s not exactly raining but everything seems wet. It’s night now but all day was gray and beautiful. It’s very cold, almost like Winter or the end of Fall. It’s bittersweet. I know it’s probably the last day or one of the last days that is cold. I LOVE all four seasons and they all have their blessings and unique qualities. They are all beautiful. I cherish each one and try to always be mindful of the beauty they are. But it’s always Winter inside my heart. In Winter and Fall I rarely wish for warm days. In Summer, there are more days I long for, even crave Winter or Fall.

I’m soaking up every single bit of wet cold beauty I can today!
Today on my way to Buddhist meditation class I was astounded by the almost palpable beauty. It was almost as if I could touch it, not touch the beautiful things but touch or hold the beauty itself. Touch or hold the concept, the very essence of beauty. I felt very alive and felt the heartbeat of the city become one with my own, as if throbbing in my chest, pulsing through my veins. I felt it deep in my bones, tingling in every cell of my body. Every breath I took, I felt I was breathing in the sounds, the sights, the scents, the intense beauty of the city. This feeling is not new to me but it always feels new. I feel it often, sometimes immensely, sometimes more quietly, sometimes not at all. But I can never get used to it. Sometimes this feeling, this life inside disappears for so long I am convinced it will never be back again. Then out of the blue, it comes and tightly embraces me like a long lost friend who promises to always come back to me.

This feeling has always come naturally to me but with practice and certain experiences, I have come to strengthen it. Sometimes it comes out of the blue, like today. And sometimes I can summon it on my own.

One thing that I find that helps me deepen this sense of beauty and gratitude and awe of everything around me, is taking pictures/photography. For people who are interested in capturing beauty in artistic forms like painting, drawing, or photography, whether as a hobby or professional career, it can be easier to see, feel, taste the beauty all around because our brains get trained to see things and look for things to capture in a photo or painting or drawing. Then even when we’re not out looking, even when we are without our phones or cameras or paints and pencils, these little gems jump out at us. The more interested I have become in taking pictures, the more developed my sense of awe has become. I originally loved taking pictures because I feel so much beauty and want to capture & share it, but then picture taking only enhanced that feeling of awe in me.

Photography, painting, drawing, writing…. can all capture simple beauty in a way that makes it stand out more than it does in “real life.” I think many of us generally overlook very simple, very mundane things such as reflections, shadows, a sliver of light creeping through the slit as a result of a door on a dark room being ajar when the hall or other room outside is lit. We often stand in awe or deep appreciation of something dramatically beautiful such as bright, colorful flowers, a beautiful woman in a wedding dress on her wedding day or in stiletto heels and tight blue jeans walking down a street, a dramatic sunset over the ocean waves while lounging on a beach, a baby who is just born, an expensive mansion, an exotic animal, amazing looking food, an incredible looking car, an elegant dress, a flashing diamond ring,…you get the picture! But how often do we look in wonder at a shadow on a ground, maybe a shadow of a tree or person, the way sunlight reflects on signs or cars, the fuzz on a honeybee, the gentle illumination of street lights on a dark street at night, tattered signs, faded poles at busstops with the bus numbers on them, old pay phones, broken glass glittering in the daylight against concrete, an empty beer bottle resting in vibrant green glass, a lemon floating in iced tea, glistening ice cubes chilling a cup of soda….for many, it’s probably never or extremely rarely. But in photography, paintings, drawings, and writing like poetry or novels or descriptions, these things can be beautifully captured and portrayed in artistic forms that can’t help but force us to see, notice, feel the beauty of them, these things we tend to ignore in real life outside of artistic creations.

And for people who engage in these activities, they can help us further ingrain our habit of seeing and feeling the beauty in real life outside of poetry and novels and photos and paintings or drawings. They help deepen our wonder at the things our eyes and hearts catch. They make it easier for simple treasures to jump out at us as we’re walking up a city street, sitting quietly at a riverside, driving on a busy expressway, meditatively peering out a bus window on a dreary gray day or a green day with life blossoming all around.

But not everyone is interested in photography or painting, writing, or drawing. Whatever you’re interested in though, it’s fantastic to pursue it, engage in it, get lost in it and let it reel you in. This can bring you to life, fill you with passion for all of life, enthuse you in general. When we are so happy and passionate in one aspect of life, it can carry over into other aspects, even ones that aren’t so great at the moment. It’s like falling in love or having a big crush. You know the intoxicated feeling when you meet someone you are very attracted to or seeing someone you are in love with? That feeling carries over to everywhere and suddenly life is amazing in ways you never really noticed or forgot about…it can be like this even if we aren’t in love with someone. It’s falling in love with life itself.

We don’t need “big” things, lots of money, kids, or romantic love to feel this way often. These things are great too but we don’t need them to be in love with life. All we have to do is open our eyes, heart, and look, see, feel, stop ignoring the simple things, the mundane things, the blessings surrounding us always. You don’t have to be a photographer, a painter, or an artist of any kind.

“Such a feelin’s comin’ over me
There is wonder in most every thing I see
Not a cloud in the sky, got the sun in my eyes
And I won’t be surprised if it’s a dream
Everything I want the world to be
Is now comin’ true especially for me” ~ the Carpenters

Imagine feeling this way everyday or at least very often or even just more often than now.

It’s possible.

Isn’t this beautiful?! It just goes to show how someone can inspire us and we can see life through that person’s eyes every now and then even if we aren’t interested in the same things. We can feed off of the passion, life, enthusiasm of others. This police officer is deeply inspired by his wife who is a painter with a passionate thirst for life, and while at work, he wishes she was there. This is out of a fiction book I’m reading called “First Do No Evil,” Book 1 in a series by Dr. Carey Baldwin who is an author, a medical doctor/family doctor, and has like two ph.d’s as well, she’s a wife and mother of multiple children. Ummm…is she like Wonder Woman?! I read Book 2 in this series already, not realizing it’s a series. They can be read together or separately and in any order and still make sense. The same characters appear in the books and there’s some subtle references to other books but the author makes it still make sense just to read one individually. She’s an amazing writer of mystery books. It seems most of her books are about doctors. Usually her main characters are a very strong,
beautiful, compassionate, loving, and broken woman who is 30 something years old, has a very painful past, a medical degree, and gets into trouble like is being stalked and needs help. I love her characters and how much depth they have. They are so realistic. And she’s a doc herself so she knows her stuff! Her novels involve romance, mystery, adventure, and healing. They also involve humor, sometimes I laugh hysterically, uncontrollably. They contain adult content in certain scenes. Very vulgar language at some points, and hot sexy scenes, definitely only for adults. Amazing plots, characters, and endings!

Let’s remember to allow others to inspire us and remember to be the inspiration to anyone we can!

I hope you are having a wonderful day or night wherever you are! Much love to you!

Xoxo Kim

Planting Seeds <3

Apr2

“Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.” – Martin Luther

I recently discovered an amazing, absolutely AMAZING music group called Empty Hands Music, the main singer is named Nimo Patel and he sings about love in every song. The kind of love he sings about is universal love, love for the world, life itself, and every living being. Universal Love means wishing everyone well no matter what, wanting everyone in the world to be happy (but not at the expense of others) even if those people don’t want the same for us in return, no matter what nationality, skin color, religious views, financial status, living situations, sexual orientation, political views, lifestyle, ethnicity, location in the world, education level…He sings about how it doesn’t matter if we pray to a god or are an atheist, it doesn’t matter what our views are, if we are full of gratitude for life or just trudging through life not thankful for a thing, if we have a family or are on our own, if we act on lust or are celibate, old, young, single…none of it matters, we are all made the same, underneath we are all as One. And it’s good to have compassion and empathy for all living beings.

He sings about how amazing life is, the trees, the bugs, the people, the clouds in the sky, joy, sorrow, pain, the ants on the ground, hope for tomorrow, strength, lessons learned, everything near & far, everything and how thankful he is for it all. He sings about kindness and giving the world all that we can give. Give, give, give even if others do not give to us and even if they are not appreciative. All that matters is that we love. He sings about acceptance. Accepting life as it is. Working to better the world but knowing we won’t always succeed at everything and just try our best and accept the results.

I can’t even decide which song is my favorite but I can now say they are my favorite music group as all of their songs are about loving others. And not just people we know but everyone everywhere. All around the world. It’s the best thing ever. What a dream come true this group and this man is! Nimo Patel was rich and famous, a rap singer who admits that he thought he only cared about money and fame, thinking that is what life is, and he showed video clips of himself running around acting so cool in black shades with like a million fans chasing after him. Lol He had it all and thought he was living the life! Then one day he woke up and realized that’s not love and it’s not for him. So he gave it all up and now works in India helping financially poor and struggling people who have next to nothing financially and materially but have enough love in their hearts to heal the world! And that’s exactly what they’re all doing together! They are children and adults, old and young, and they are all beautiful and he features them in his videos, people of all skin colors. Beautiful inside and out. He still sings but now he uses his talent of singing and song writing to change the world and touch lives for the better.

There’s nothing wrong with being rich and famous or wanting to be. But it’s not good, in my opinion, to believe that’s more important than everything else. But rich and famous people can use their riches and fame for the common good, to bring awareness to and help out with causes that help people/animals. And some of them do! This life just wasn’t for him but the message isn’t that celebrities and rich/famous people should give it all up or can’t be loving. Actors bring characters in tv shows and movies to life to entertain us and inspire us, make us laugh and uplift us. Many of them donate money to organizations to help out in the world and the fact that they’re famous brings even more attention to those organizations. And singers and song writers can use their talent to touch people for the better.

That’s what Nimo Patel does.

I been listening to his songs and watching his videos for days now all day long! Lol

The one I’m sharing here is “Planting Seeds.” This song is about acceptance. Like I said, accepting that the world is how it is. This doesn’t mean not working to change things for the better. It means doing just that, working hard wherever we go to make the world a better place for all of us, doing simple things each day to make each life we encounter a little bit better, then surrendering, disowning the situation and accepting whatever outcome occurs, accepting that we will not always succeed how we hoped. We may “fail” and things will not work out, we may not see results, we may not even be around to see if we succeed in our endeavors but that doesn’t even matter. We don’t even have to see it! Just plant those seeds and let go! Whatever happens will happen.

“It’s like your whole life you’ve been training for this moment
And when the time comes you just disown it,
Meaning you just surrender don’t control it…”

“But now we’re learning when we let it go, it overflows
With no credit to take cuz no credit is owned.”

“…but the real gold is joy, when life starts to flow
And when it does, you just smile, cuz now you know!”

I love these lyrics. This message is all about planting seeds of love and kindness everywhere we go even if we won’t be around to see the results, planting those seeds without expecting credit or anything in return. Pay someone a compliment even if you don’t know if that person will warmly receive it, and if the person doesn’t seem uplifted or touched by your sweet compliment, be happy anyway, write a sweet message to someone on a blog or social media account even if you may not get a message back and still be happy you wrote the message even if you don’t get a response, it’s not about us being appreciated in return, it’s about genuinely wanting to touch others for the better, follow blogs you like and share them even without asking for that favor to be returned, buy a homeless person a coffee, look into a stranger’s eyes and smile and be happy you did even if s/he doesn’t smile back, give tips to people working in coffee shops even when they don’t seem friendly, plant those seeds of lovingkindness even when no one is looking or listening to know you are expressing lovingkindness. Even if it doesn’t work out how you hoped. At least you tried. And that counts for something, it’s a beautiful way to live!

We cannot and do not have to control the outcome or stress about the results. All we can do is try our best. We don’t have to feel low, feel regret, feel like we worked for nothing if we don’t see the results we hoped for or don’t see any results. All that truly matters is that we plant those seeds, leaving a trail of love everywhere we go!

Remember:

“…whatever grows will grow, whatever dies will die, whatever works will work, whatever flies will fly, whatever fails will fail, what’s meant to soar will soar, I am planting seeds, nothing more.”

And be all that you can be.

Here is the video for the song!

Desktop:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&persist_app=1&v=ZhcKIGCE_Pk

Mobile:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhcKIGCE_Pk

Much love to you! And don’t forget to plant those seeds of love today! ❤

Xoxo Kim ❤

Sharing is Caring <3

Mar31

I’m reading a beautiful novel called “The Well of Loneliness” by Radclyffe Hall, which takes place in the 1920’s and is classified as “Lesbian fiction.” It’s considered to be the very first novel to condemn homophobia and the unfair treatment of gay people. It was originally published in 1928.

While it’s not an autobiography, it is inspired by the author’s real life. It’s said to be the “thinly disguised story of Radclyffe Hall’s own life.” It’s about a woman named Stephen who is considered to be very different than the average woman. She’s somewhat masculine and is a lesbian. Even when she’s not open about her sexual orientation, people can kind of sense it. But this is the 20’s and not only is homosexuality condemned by society, it’s not even thought of much and almost never talked about. Even though people have an idea of the concept, it’s like they don’t even know what it’s called or how to even talk about it in words or fathom it. It’s so unheard of, it’s like there’s not even a word for it, it seems in this novel. They all have an idea about Stephen, that she’s not how she “should be.” As a child she was said not to have the “pretty little ways” of the other little girls. She wanted short hair and to be a boy.
Since she was a child, she worked out unlike other little girls. Now she’s muscular and considered to be unusual. She also fences “like a man.” She doesn’t like girly things and dresses in masculine suits with ties.
She is considered quite attractive, just not in a feminine way.
She’s kind of shy, lacks confidence, and often feels as if she’s being mocked by those around her.
But she knows what she wants and goes for it even though others criticize and exclude her. I love how Stephen loves and cares deeply for animals. And people too.

People know as a young woman she’s not romantically interested at all in men. And they do not like this at all. She is only interested in being friends with men.
But men/boys feel threatened by her because she’s better at boy activities than even they are.

Even Stephen herself doesn’t understand what is going on. She knows, as the people in her community suspect, that she’s only romantically attracted to women. She thinks there is something wrong with her but also she knows there’s nothing wrong with her. She knows her attraction and love for other women is not wrong or unnatural or immoral but she can’t help but feel in some way that there’s something “wrong” with her because of how others treat her.

To her, her love feels so right, so natural, so strong, it can’t possibly be wrong.
Most people won’t accept her. They gossip about her very unkindly. The only two people who seem to accept her, homosexuality and all, are her dad and her teacher.
The novel is about how she falls in love with a woman who loves her back and no one around them accepts this and won’t even let them in their houses. This puts a kind of strain on their relationship. Then a man comes along and says he can give Stephen’s lover the “respectability” that Stephen cannot if she will leave Stephen for him. This is a threat to their relationship and puts their love for one another to the test.

One of the most beautiful lines in the novel is:

“‘You’re neither unnatural, nor abominable, nor mad; you’re as much a part of what people call nature as anyone else; only you’re unexplained as yet- you’ve not got your niche in creation. But some day that will come, and meanwhile don’t shrink from yourself, but just face yourself calmly and bravely. Have courage; do the best you can with your burden. But above all be honourable. Cling to your honour for the sake of those who share the same burden. For their sakes show the world that people like you and they can be quite as selfless and fine as the rest of mankind. Let your life go to prove this- it would be a really great life-work, Stephen.'” (pp. 154)

One of the characters in the book plans to say this to Stephen but she has to be careful or they both can get into social trouble if it’s overheard by others, Stephen for being a lesbian, the other character for supporting her .

Isn’t this beautiful?! While there’s nothing intrinsic to homosexuality itself that is painful or immoral or wrong or detrimental and there’s nothing about consensual adult homosexual encounters/relationships that is wrong, to many lgbtq people, it can feel that way because of the way others view and treat them or their sexuality. Homosexuality isn’t a burden. What is the burden, is having to put up with prejudicial attitudes and discrimination.

I think the line I shared above can apply to all of us with any situation we have whether good, bad, or neutral. We can have a situation that is painful or frustrating or distressing either because of the thing itself or the way people view the thing. For example when someone has depression or anxiety, that itself is not good, and on top of it, people often misunderstand or misjudge those who struggle with those disorders. And then there are even good things that can become painful because of how other people react. Like some goals and dreams some people have which may not be supported by friends and family of the person. For example, some people want to be an artist and the family won’t accept it, maybe thinking it’s pointless or that the person won’t get much money or get anywhere in life being an artist. But being an artist of any sort is a great thing! It’s amazing. But it won’t always feel that way with other people pressuring them to be/do something else. Stephen or anyone can have a beautiful romantic relationship with a lover of the same gender or even a different gender but it can feel “wrong” or painful because other people try to get in the way for whatever reason.

But as this line in the book shows, there’s always someone out there somewhere in a similar situation who can really be helped in some way by our stories. They may be feeling very lonely and hopeless and knowing examples of others in similar situations can bring them consolation, inspiration, motivation, and help them muster the strength to keep going.

It’s not always easy to share our stories because no matter what there’s always going to be those who criticize unnecessarily, mock, judge, try to get in the way…,whether they are friends, family, acquaintances, or strangers.

But I think it’s worth it to share our stories, the good, the bad, the beautiful and the ugly, the taboo, and the unthinkable…to help others somehow. Some people want desperately to share their story of a life situation they experience/d but they are deathly afraid of being judged. It’s ok to be afraid. But I think we can “feel the fear and do it anyway.” There’s someone, many someones, out there who need us and can draw on our strength. When people criticize us unnecessarily and judge us negatively, we can love them and move forward, letting them judge and criticize. It has nothing to do with us or how we really are.

I love this book even though I haven’t read it all yet. It’s so beautiful, the story, the love, the imagery, the boldness, and how it’s written, almost poetically. The beauty and imagery just flow. And it’s written with passion and deep understanding as the author herself, has in reality experienced very similar circumstances as Stephen. It’s a very old story but it’s not written in a way that is hard to understand. I was expecting to not understand some things as the English language long ago wasn’t exactly the same as now and in some old texts they had to allude to certain taboo concepts like homosexuality, suicide, adultery…as those things were considered unthinkable. But this book is quite candid. It’s said to be “Shockingly candid for its time.”

There’s not much allusion. The author is upfront in her writing. I love the candor. The author, I feel, is a hero for having the courage to write this novel back then, when she would have been horribly judged and criticized, discriminated against. In fact, her novel was banned and her literary career was almost ended. Imagine how many people were/are helped and inspired by this novel. Sadly, these things linger even today but fortunately they are often less severe than way back then, still, they are all too common. I think this novel is a gift to the world (and I haven’t even read the entire thing yet. Lol) I’m happy she had the balls to write and get it published back then. Imagine the strength it took. Even today lgbtq people are discriminated against and the targets of prejudicial attitudes, so imagine how much more courage it took back in the 20’s to put her story out there!

So I find so much wisdom in the story and feel I must share it!

Much love to you! ❤

😀

Xoxo Kim ❤

Random Inspiration #15 {Struggles & Strength}

Mar29

” I got something to tell you
I got something to say
I’m gonna put this dream in motion
Never let nothing stand in my way “ ~ Billy Ocean

Here are some of my favorite quotes about how struggles can strengthen us if we let them and help us grow. And my pictures to go with the quotes!!!<3
😀

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view.”
~Edward Abbey

“Sometimes when you lose your way, you find YOURSELF.” ~
Mandy Hale

“Keep traveling, even if you don’t know where the road will end.” ~
Lailah Gifty Akita

“I don’t need to go to heaven or hell. I have been both places and always wanted more. I will settle for somewhere in between, so eternity never becomes dull and every miracle is something I never take for granted.” ~
Shannon L. Alder

“No one learns to be a good driver by driving along a straight road.”

“Love, happiness, peace – these are not final destinations. They are in every moment, every breath, everything.” ~
Vironika Tugalev

“The path to our destination is not always a straight one. We go down the wrong road, we get lost, we turn back. Maybe it doesn’t matter which road we embark on. Maybe what matters is that we embark.” ~
Barbara Hall

“…and as for this little lady, the best thing I can wish her is a little misfortune.” ~
William Makepeace Thackeray
(The Rose and the Ring)

Struggles, challenges, misfortune, mistakes, guilt, pain, any kind of obstacles can all serve as a catalyst for positive change. We can become even better than we were before. Difficult circumstances can be our inspiration to grow.
We don’t have to go out looking for trouble, it will appear on its own. And we can use it to our advantage.

“When the going gets tough, the tough get going…when the going gets rough, the tough get rough…”

” I’m gonna get myself ‘cross the river
That’s the price I’m willing to pay” ~ Billy Ocean

I’m wishing you much love (and a little misfortune…lol jk ;-D)!! ❤

Check out Billy Ocean’s When the Going Gets Tough:

Mobile:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=opMNboyz5Ng

Desktop:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&persist_app=1&v=opMNboyz5Ng

Xoxo Kim ❤