Tag Archive | Positivity

Love to Live <3

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“If we look at the world with a love of life, the world will reveal its beauty to us.” ~Daisaku Ikeda

If we maintain a positive attitude, we see beauty more easily and that helps further increase our positive mood and love for life. ❤

I love beautiful reminders like this!

Thank you for the comments, I still have a few to get to! I have been working more/later hours at work and it has been busy! It's an ice cream/water ice place and they tend to get busy in warm weather! So I have been posting here late and mostly just short posts. But I make it a point to post something at least once a day!

I appreciate every comment I receive!
Thank you so much!! ❤ 😀

Also, I have quite a few wonderful blogs to catch up on! ❤

Much love & light to you, I hope it's a beautiful day or night wherever in the world you are!

It's a lovely Spring night here in Philadelphia! I am so happy many flowers & trees have fully blossomed. It seems to have been happening gradually but then I just noticed today how they seem to have just appeared right before my very eyes!
When I saw the beauty of the green leaves, I was filled (and still am!) with immense gratitude & felt so much love and awe well up inside. ❤

Reminds me of this song:

Baby What a Big Surprise – Chicago – mobile

Baby What a Big Surprise – desktop

One of my favorite music groups!! Always has been! ❤ 😀

xoxo Kim ❤

Magazine Monday!! <3

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This is the third edition of Magazine Inspiration on Monday!  

Here goes!

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“Come with me, my love
To the sea, the sea of love
I wanna tell you just how much I love you.”
❤ ❤ ❤

Sea of Love – Honeydrippers – mobile

Sea of Love – desktop

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❤

Immersed in a sea of love. 😀

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https://inspirationalgem.wordpress.com/2016/01/20/one-word/

Finding beauty in the magazines and in each & every day. ❤ 😀

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More next week! 😀

Much love & light to you!

❤

xoxo Kim

Forget your perfect offering

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“Ring the bells that still can ring. 
Forget your perfect offering.
There is a crack in everything.
That’s how the light gets in.”
~ Leonard Cohen “Anthem”

❤

Let’s not forget to ring those bells, the ones that still can ring. The bad in the world, the bitterness, the pain, the negativity, the shattered bells that no longer ring….that cannot take away the goodness that still exists, the beauty, the love, the togetherness, the light…<3

Not only does the darkness and pain not take away the goodness all around and within us, it can allow us to see an even brighter light if we allow it, a greater strength, deeper wisdom & empathy, a more profound love. ❤

Much love & light to you,

xoxo Kim 😀

Magazine Inspiration #2

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Here is the second edition of my Magazine Monday Inspiration!

It’s my inspiring project to find positivity, beauty, love…anything wonderful in magazines I have laying around and continue to get. It’s also a great reminder to look for beauty everywhere! I’m naturally good at that but stil love reminders and developing new positive habits.

Here we go!

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Ignite something within, surround ourself with inspiring things, songs, quotes, thoughts…

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Love is all around. All we have to do is open up to it and allow it to permeate our existence. Bask in the beauty of love everywhere. ❤

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We can’t always just force ourselves to be happy but we can choose our reactions, thoughts, actions and immerse ourself in happy things. Happiness can be a natural state but can also be a byproduct of our choices.

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Some words are inspiring just to see and can motivate us to act. Let’s tap into our inner strength and allow it to guide us throughout each day. Strength doesn’t mean we never feel weak or never have setbacks or relapses. Inner strength is to keep going and get back up whenever we fall. Inner strength is not being held down for too long.

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Red is one of my favorite colors. It’s passionate, beautiful, sexy, happy, and loving. I love everything red. ❤

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A dream itself is beautiful and inspiring even if it’s not yet realized or acted upon. It’s the very first step. ~Dream~ Just having a dream is beautiful no matter how simple it is or trivial it may seem to others. A dream is a reminder that we are alive and have an inner spark.

“Like the fool I am and I’ll always be
I’ve got a dream, I’ve got a dream
They can change their minds but they can’t change me
I’ve got a dream, I’ve got a dream
Well, I know I can share it if you want me to
If you’re going my way, I’ll go with you”

I Got a Name – Jim Croce – mobile

I Got a Name – desktop

This song has inspired me since I was young, the lyrics are beautiful and the music. It’s a fantastic message about the importance of just having a plan, a goal, a dream and being true to our own self. A dream doesn’t have to be something big like having an advanced school degree, starting a business, having a family of our own, it can be but it can also be something seemingly more simple like making the best of each day, appreciating the simple beauty all around, living a more healthy lifestyle…

all that truly matters is that we have that hunger. A hunger for life.

“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 go there proud”
~Jim Croce ❤

Magazines, even shallow ones have so much inspiration hidden within the pages. We can interpret the photos and words any way we want even if it's not the way it's intended to be interpreted.

I hope you are having a beautiful day/night and find the beauty all around and within. ❤

xoxo Kim 😀

A cup of coffee <3

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“You’re the blessings
Every time I try to count,
You’re the lessons
That l learn
Every time I turn around,
You’re the water when I’m burned
Every time I think I’ve found
Everything I’m looking for,
You’re the sign sayin’
Stop to take a bow”
~ Empty Hands/Nimo

In Buddhist class last night, our teacher encouraged us to think about and  meditate upon the kindness of others whether or not they intended to be kind. 

Sometimes people do things unintentionally that are very convenient to us, even if they were not trying to be helpful. For example, if someone points out a flaw not trying to help but to hurt, we can still be helped by the criticism, changing the flaw if it really is one and would be good to change. For that, we can be thankful for our “enemy” for aiding in our positive change. Instead of focusing on the anger or pain of what that person tried to do, we can focus on the gratitude. We can consciously transform an unpleasant situation into a life lesson.

If someone is very negative and rude, that person isn’t trying to be kind but we can seize the situation as an opportunity to practice compassion and strengthen our virtue of patience.

Atisha, an ancient Buddhist master, had an assistant who frequently acted in a very vicious manner against Atisha. He slandered him to others and talked negatively about him in an unnecessary way right to his face. Atisha spoke of love and compassion in front of many people, giving public speeches to help make the world better. This assistant of his was verbally abusive to him in front of everyone. Most of the people back then loved Atisha. And they began asking Atisha why he doesn’t replace his abusive assistant with a new one. There would be so many people ready to assist Atisha in a very loving way. But Atisha refused the offer. 

He called his assistant his best friend and explained how the man was helping him further develop and maintain his virtue of patience.

For this, Atisha was extremely thankful. He took this potentially infuriating situation and used it for good, to deepen his compassion and strengthen his patience.

Most of us probably have situations no matter how serious or very minor, that we can use to deepen and maintain our compassion and patience. Stuck in traffic, being cut off in traffic, people at work getting on our last nerve, friends or family testing our patience, experiencing an act of betrayal, being the target of slander, diagnosed with a serious physical illness, depression, anxiety, being gossiped about, receiving a rude comment online, being rejected, experiencing a painful breakup, “wasted” years in a terrible relationship – at least you have experience and know what you don’t ever want again! –  ….Everything can be practice. Everything and everyone can be our teacher if we allow it. 

Everyone else praised Atisha, lavished so much love onto him, he couldn’t really practice patience because it was never tested by them. This person who was difficult to deal with taught him so much love in a different way.

“How can I be patient if there’s no one to be patient with?”

Be thankful for those who push our buttons and test our patience.

“How can I give if there’s no one to give to?”

Be thankful for those who allow us to give and those experiences which provide opportunities for us to give. Give our stuff, our time, our energy, our love, our wisdom….

Our teacher talked with us about gratitude for the kindness of others and she gave an example of something as simple as a cup of coffee. How often do we think much about a cup of coffee we are drinking?  

Many of us, probably most, take for granted all the steps and processes it takes to get that cup onto our table or into our hands. It did not just appear. The kindness of others all lead up to that one cup of coffee getting into our hands. 

Someone had to gather the coffee beans, roast them, package it, put it on the shelves in the stores, create the packages to hold the coffee, someone had to make the cup, the table, someone is responsible for giving us life to have hands to hold,  a throat with the ability to swallow, a stomach to digest, and who knows what other steps had to be taken, processes we don’t even know about, just to make it so we eventually get to drink the coffee. To us, it seems so simple to open up the package and make the coffee or walk to a store and buy a cup of it. But so many people and things came together to make that happen.

And that goes for everything in this life. Everything we have even if we worked hard for it, is only possible because of the kindness o f others. Maybe we work hard to get money to buy clothes we love and feel independent for working so hard to buy expensive clothing but someone had to make those clothes, businesses have to be possible to sell them, our boss gave us our job and if we are self employed, still, we did not get here literally  alone. So many have helped along the way both intentionally and unintentionally.

We’re none of us completely independent or without something and someone to be grateful to. 

Also, our biological mom brought us into the world and either took great care of us, at least enough to keep us alive, or entrusted someone else to do that for her, for us.

So we have our mom to be thankful for, both our biological mom and our adoptive mom if we have one.  (and fathers too)

Also, we have doctors and nurses and others to thank for saving our lives if we were ever sick or seriously injured and needed medical attention. And the ones who helped us when our mom was pregnant and gave birth. 

When I was 21 years old, I got very sick and needed emergency kidney surgery. My kidney was obstructed, enlarged, and almost ruptured(a kidney stone damaged it temporarily and blocked my whole system on the one side) . There was a small chance it was going to have to be removed but the doctors were almost sure they got to it soon enough(luckily they were correct!). I was in severe pain and my whole body felt sick. I knew something was very wrong and my family took me to an emergency room. I thought if whatever was wrong wasn’t going to kill me, that the physical pain would. Back then it was the worst physical pain I ever felt. I really believed I was dying, not just because of the pain but I knew something was wrong internally. 
I had all kinds of things done to me in that hospital, Catscan, IV drips, blood drawn, surgery….

It took so much to diagnose my condition and fix it. The doctors and nurses and technicians and others all had to do so many things, clean instruments, scrub their hands, set up machines, communicate with each other, cancel scheduled surgeries to take me first since mine was an emergency (I heard the doctor on the phone canceling multiple vasectomy appointments just for me), put me under the anesthesia, so many, many other things to save my life….

It is their job but they chose those jobs because they want to help others. And of all the people I encountered those days, I did not encounter one rude person(many people cannot say the same when they have medical emergencies/situations), just one doctor who wasn’t the friendliest but he had to work long hours and encounter many patients acting in rude manners probably. It can’t always be easy being an emergency room doctor. 

For once I wasn’t depressed and all the work they did for me was/is so life affirming. It felt as if my life is valuable, something. Something worth saving. 

I still remember and cherish the kindness of all those who worked hard to save my kidney and me. The memories always warm me. 

Also, I am thankful for the doctors, nurses, technicians who helped me during the hospitalizations for suicidal depression/psychosis when I was young. Some of them were very loving and some very cold and rude. But I’m forever grateful for the experiences and they all helped me in various ways. Even today during my lovingkindness practice, remembering the coldness of some of the people I encountered during my hospital stays, helps me practice and strengthen compassion & patience. Even old experiences can help us today. 

Also construction workers who are often complained about blocking streets, using loud equipment…if it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t have the roads paved like we do, things wouldn’t get built or fixed.

The next occasion we go to complain or see it as an inconvenience, let’s stop instead and give thanks. It may not be helping us directly or at all but they are making the world a better place as a whole. 

It’s amazing to think this way. I have always been naturally very grateful even before I realized the concept of gratitude. Since I was a little girl I have always felt thankful for everything and very blessed. I remember frequently feeling that I had the best life. 

But after consciously practicing appreciative living techniques and especially after I began taking Buddhist classes, I am even more frequently thankful and often in a deeper way.

Our recent class is a great reminder to contemplate all that others do for us whether or not they intend to be kind. Whether they are forced to do community service as a penalty for violating a law, actually meant to be vicious, accidentally do something great for us, or truly meant to be loving and kind, we can pay them gratitude even if just a feeling in our own heads. Our energy can have a ripple effect and can influence our actions and it’s just a great way to live, in gratitude for the kindness of others. 

It’s fascinating to think of all the kindness that exists in one cup of coffee!

I encourage you the next moment you are drinking coffee or tea or whatever you drink, to think of all the ways in which others made this possible for you. We probably cannot think of literally every way! There’s so many! But we can think of some.

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(not my photo)  

Thank you to all the various kinds of doctors, nurses, technicians, police, construction workers, lawyers, janitors who clean buildings, store cashiers, restaurant workers, delivery people, secretaries, those who put out fires and save lives, mail workers, those who pick up trash and recycling, teachers, professors, veterinarians, volunteers, and all the others who make the world go round. 

Let’s pay them back with a friendly smile, a thank you or thank you note, a helping hand whenever we can,  any act of kindness, even just a feeling of gratitude or acknowledgment in our head. And let’s pay it forward putting as much of our own love as we can out into the world.  ❤

Here is a beautiful love song to the whole world:

“So I lift up my hands now
And I open my heart
And my gratitude goes out
To everything near and far”
~ Nimo

Grateful – a love song to the world – mobile

Grateful – desktop

😀

Much love & light to you!

xoxo Kim

Evolve.

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“May their negative actions ripen upon me
And may all my virtues ripen upon them.”

A great (Buddhist) reminder to see the negative, bitter, unpleasant…actions of others and situations as an opportunity to learn, grow, strengthen our own wisdom and virtues, develop deeper compassion and patience. 

And to always react positively, compassionately, lovingly, patiently…and hope that it inspires others. 

Even if we don’t always act or react in a positive way, any occasion that we do is great. 

Any situation that is unpleasant can teach and remind us. Every moment we act in love even if it’s just holding our tongues instead of lashing out, is planting seeds so in the future we will be more patient and loving.

And we never know who we are inspiring with our love!

Instead of letting unpleasant circumstances drag us down, allow them to inspire us, teach us, remind us, help us build and strengthen our virtues while inspiring others. ❤

I hope you are having a beautiful day or night wherever in the world you are! It's a beautiful, cool, Spring night here in Philadelphia – USA! 😀

Much love & light to you, always,

❤

xoxo Kim

Magazine Inspiration <3

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So it seems I found me a new hobby!

Yeeeaaahh!

And it wasn’t exactly intentional.

And I’m going to share it here for all to join me!

I love magazines. I always have. Fashion magazines like ones full of hair and makeup, beautiful women, sexy men, and pretty things I will never have enough money to buy.

I used to spend an embarrassing amount of money on them when I was young and had more money. I blew over 60 dollars on magazines before! All in one night!  Seriously, I grabbed every magazine off the shelves. You read that correctly. Over SIXTY dollars. On fashion magazines. In one night. 

They used to be my very favorite things to buy  along with makeup.

Through the years I kind of lost my passionate interest in magazines because I came to find all kinds of stuff on the net where I can look at hair, makeup, gorgeous girls, sexy men, and lots of pretty things I’ll never have the money to buy.

But recently my love for those kinds of magazines has been rekindled. It’s ok, my sister gets free samples on the Internet and sometimes the library has them for free and sometimes my grandmom  gives us her old magazines so I won’t be splurging and blowing 60 dollars, I promise.  And the mags just have stuff I don’t find on the net. And flipping through magazines brings a different thrill than scrolling on a screen. 

Recently I found a magazine in our stacks of magazines with the girl, Amanda Seyfried, on the cover and I couldn’t resist. The girl is a true beauty, in & out. How can anyone resist her?

I skimmed trough the magazine to find her and instantly that joy I always felt as a girl & young woman, indulging in trashy magazines came flooding back to me.

My eyes devoured all the images and beauty across the pages. {my guilty pleasure}

And I remembered and felt what I felt all those years ago. 

I can’t help it. It sucked me in to the point of no return. So yeah. {thank you, Amanda for being so beautiful. 😉 } 

But something else caught my eyes.

There are so many inspiring words, sayings, and other things across the pages. Not just a bunch of pretty faces and bangin’ bodies and insanely expensive material things. Seriously, the prices of some of these things! It’s obscene! 
But a girl can look & dream! 

Much of the inspiring sayings are shallow in the context in which they are intended here. But they can have a deeper meaning and apply to life in general, not just the material world of commercialism & consumerism.

I took pics of the most inspiring things I encountered and decided to share them here.

Now my guilty pleasure doesn’t have to be so guilty! Lol ;-D

I vow to frequently look for deeper inspiration in all the shallowness & materialism & darkness.

Here goes it! 

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Yes, let’s remember to not negatively judge others. Let’s get to know people first, give them a chance, the benefit of a doubt, assume the best until we get to know them and accept them even if we don’t like things about them. We can be judged too. No one is perfect in everyone’s eyes!
The only thing we really know for sure, basically, when we see a babe with tattoos is that the girl wanted a tattoo so she got one or many. And good for her! 😀

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I love this! Not only is it a great reminder to be mindful and accept our circumstances. We are here (wherever here is: stuck in traffic, hectic day at work, in a painful phase of life, getting a full body massage, having tea with friends, basking in the daylight…)whether we like it or not, let’s make the most of it. But I find it so comforting for another reason. It’s a reminder to cherish this life. I’m here. So simply put. That’s all that truly matters. I’m here. In this life. Even if I’m not doing good, not very successful or anything, it’s ok. I’m here.

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Everywhere we go. ❤ Scatter gems of love throughout each day.

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If this isn't inspiring, well then, what is? 

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I read a novel many years ago called "She's Come Undone," which I think may have been somewhat popular. I thought it meant something bad. And it is about a suicidal girl with depression. I thought she just lost it, crumbled, fell apart. Lol 

But I realized after reading it that "coming undone" in her case means all the pain and bad things falling apart, crumbling to ruin, to give way to healing and love and beauty. So in a way, she did fall apart and crumbled but only the depressed, victim part of her. The true beautiful her now has space to breathe, grow, and just be.

We can come undone to build ourselves up even better, stronger, wiser.

I don't remember much of the novel. It was ages ago but if I remember correctly (I don't know if I do…)there are some distressing scenes in the book including a rape scene and a suicide attempt. So if you check it out and you yourself have experienced any sort of trauma, I hope you'll be cautious because that can be a trigger for serious distress. ❤ ❤

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"No matter how long we have been traveling down the wrong road, it's never too late to turn around and begin again as long as we're alive."

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"Wherever you go, go with all your heart." ❤

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Red is sexy. ❤

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But it doesn't have to be. It's really very simple, we just insist on making in complicated. Let go, stop cherishing our own needs & desires above the ones of others, let's stop demanding things to be certain ways, accept life as it is, good, bad, ugly & beautiful, help it when we can, let go when we can't, breathe. Bask in the simple joys all around us. And just go with the flow. See?! It's simple! 

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Sharing is caring. Sharing our stories, experiences, our stuff, our love, our time & company…<3

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❤ ❤

This goal of finding beauty in the midst of something not so beautiful (these magazines are often shallow, seem to promote unhealthy lifestyles in some ways, are incredibly materialistic sometimes, often portray women in degrading ways…) can apply to all of life. We can find/create love & beauty in places there seems to be very little of it. We can choose to embrace the positive, no matter how few, things of situations, people, objects….instead of rejecting them because of the not so positive traits they also possess, instead of dwelling on or focusing more on the unpleasant. 

There are little gems of inspiration everywhere we look. 

All we have to do is be perceptive, remain open, and welcome things even if we wouldn't usually be open or welcoming to those things. 

I plan on sharing more magazine inspiration in the near future, maybe each week!  

Much love & light to you now & always!

Xoxo Kim 

For them. <3

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(this is not my photo)

I wrote this a month ago but never posted it yet. It has been saved in my drafts for a while. So here it is!

Caution: This may be a trigger for some. It’s about my suicidal urges. I hope you click it off and not read if you have even the slightest concern that details about my suicidal inclination may trigger serious distress. Or you can just scroll through and look at the inspiring photos instead! 😀

One night and early in the morning recently I experienced violent suicidal urges. I haven’t been extremely depressed. Like I said, it can just appear out of nowhere and then leave out of nowhere. This was triggered by something in my external environment. It’s usually not triggered by anything like that but it can be. Usually problems I have don’t trigger it but recently a problem I encountered did trigger it.

Sometimes when this happens and whatever my problem is goes away, it’s too late and I’m already pulled in. The problem going away won’t always pull me out of the depression or suicidal urges/thoughts. The damage is done.

The problem I encountered ended kind of quickly and everything was peaceful and calm again and it was over. But my suicidal urges lingered on all through the night and into the morning and even later in the day. I still have them once in a while.

It’s not really important what the problem is/was. I mentioned here before how I am extremely playful and love to joke and clown around. My sister doesn’t like it. My playful personality often clashes with her more serious one. My jokes are never insulting or degrading or mocking. They never have been and they never will be. I am not that way. Sometimes when my sister leaves a room or my mom does, I just joke around and say “don’t be too long.” Or “hurry back” or something dumb like that. Sometimes if someone asks me to get something, I bring something else as a joke. Like my mom asked me for an envelope when we were in a post office one day and I brought a very large envelope over just to be funny. She wasn’t amused. She said no one likes a clown.
But I’m amused still. Lol
One day years ago my mom wanted a tuna sandwich and I convinced my sister to let me bring her back the two feet long one. It was hilarious! Still is! At least to me!

My mom thinks it’s annoying and my sister finds it beyond annoying when I joke usually.

My mom is easily amused but not as much as I am but she doesn’t like when people can never be serious. It’s not that I’m never serious; I just have a very playful nature and I wouldn’t have it any other way!

My sister doesn’t handle things well at all so something I see as an innocent joke to be funny, she sees as an attack on her.

One night she was leaving the room and I said “don’t be long!” and laughed and she got revenge on me by taking my clothes and hiding them and taking a bottle of soda and pouring it all over my bed. I had to sleep in wet sticky stuff I couldn’t get up because it was late at night.
Occasionally the memory still provokes those horrible urges.

My mom and dad mostly took her side and made me out to be a monster. This doesn’t happen often or anything.
They said my joking has been going on too long. They did not agree with how she handled it but I was still the “worse one” for acting dumb.

Also, I love to compliment people. Sometimes I’m too shy but I’m much better with it. I love to compliment the girls at work when I love their clothes, makeup, or hair or anything. I’m not shy around my sister so I’m frequently complimenting her on her style and hair and stuff. But she thinks or claims to think I’m mocking her or just joking when I do. And I’m really not. Again, I’m not like that. So she told me recently never to compliment her again and even if I’m not mocking her, she couldn’t care less about my opinion of her, good or bad. It’s ok if she doesn’t appreciate my compliments and doesn’t care what I think. It’s unfortunate but I’m not crushed. Not everyone will love and appreciate us or warmly receive our good intentions and that really is ok!

But I never want someone to think I’m making a mockery of someone or joking like that! I never would!

I’m not sensitive like my sister. I can handle stuff like people talking negatively about me (when I’m depressed though, it can add to it) but I don’t like it and would never do that to someone.

My sister doesn’t mind me writing about it. I’m not writing as an insult to anyone to make anyone look bad. My sister writes about our arguments and stuff on Facebook. I don’t like people taking problems with family and friends to social media trying to make them look bad (even when it has nothing to do with me). It’s inappropriate. But I think it’s ok to express our problems certain ways, unbiased ways like I’m doing. It’s good to write about/share our problems and life lessons learned. Generally, I don’t write things that involve others but occasionally I do but not in a negative way.

I know I’m not completely innocent because even though I don’t intend to infuriate people, I know my jokes annoy them. I just don’t think they’re that bad because they are not abusive or insulting, just dumb and immature. It’s just how I am.

I’m thankful to be the way I am. I won’t change me ever but I can just not say joking things to those who can’t take a joke. There will always be those who love the playful me and those who do not. I don’t have to put too much into those who don’t.

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This is me a few nights ago. I felt a sudden burst of inspiration to get dolled up, put on a pair of five inch heels and take pics of myself. ❤

This isn’t about slandering anyone, it’s about my experience and my decision to hold on when it seems so much easier to give up and kill myself. Instead of just hinting at something or saying I recently experienced a problem, I will say what it is.

I haven’t been this suicidal in quite a while. Not this bad.
:-O

It’s not just suicidal thinking; it’s very impulsive, violent urges all throughout me and images in my head that are extremely hard to resist. Sometimes it’s just thoughts but on more seldom occasions, it’s this. And sometimes I don’t know how much longer I can hold on when it’s like this. They get harder and harder to resist.
I know it’s a choice to act on them or not and I don’t have to but it’s so hard when it’s like that.
And sometimes I want to act on them and terminate myself.
I would never kill someone else, I’m not that much of a monster, but this is only me.

I have terrible urges to throw myself in speeding traffic when I’m out walking sometimes, just out of nowhere, but I never would because that would involve others.
I have other urges too sometimes, like recently when I was alone at night, that won’t directly involve others. I won’t ever hurt anyone else or take anyone else out with me when I go or involve anyone in my nonsense. No matter how low I sink, I always know never to hurt or even involve anyone else directly, no living sentient beings, no humans, no animals, no insects. I used to go to the subway sometimes when I was in college and plan on ending it or just seeing if I was able to get up the nerve. Sometimes I came so close. Usually I couldn’t bring myself to go not even close. It was so so scary. When the train comes speeding, loud and clanking and that lethal air blasts at me and I take a step back. It’s so very different than merely fantasizing.

I knew it is selfish because it can make people late for things like work and appointments and scare people who have to see. But I thought their inconvenience would be nothing next to my pain and I justified it. But I realized later that it’s not ok to involve others even if they won’t be hurt. No one else should ever be interfered with just because I have problems. And imagine the psychological damage some may suffer having to witness something like that and the poor person in charge of operating the train. It wouldn’t ever be that person’s fault but still that person would have to live with that. And some people suffer serious guilt even if it’s not their fault at all.

So now I only seriously contemplate ways that won’t interfere with others directly. It’s true that someone will have to find it and it won’t be pleasant for whoever it is. But when almost anyone dies, any way, the corpse will have to be found. I can’t help that.

Anyway, usually things like this problem don’t depress me. I’m very easy going. But that night, it just triggered me to become depressed. Very, very depressed. I was already depressed in a very mild way off and on for a few days.

I felt like nothing has any flavor, I had no purpose and never will, nothing sounds or feels right, nothing really interested me too much, soda had no fizz to it, colors weren’t as vibrant. I had some slight desire. Like for food, reading ghost stories, and taking pictures but nowhere near as passionate as usual; I still liked it though. It was like it was weakened or covered in plastic, like everything covered and I couldn’t really touch it. I knew it wouldn’t matter if I killed myself because I really wanted to die and no one would have cared anyway and there was no purpose in anything for me. I saw no reason for me to live and I did not want to live at all. I wanted everything to end, not just the pain, the good with the bad. I just wanted to be dead. But I kept holding on anyway.

I remember seeing a bright red car that brought some sense of feeling back into me.
The color so vibrant and lovely. All was momentarily ok. It reminded me that there’s always beauty in the ugly, light in the darkness, even if it’s very simple, like a bright red car.
It’s possible for things like that to help me to a certain extent even when I’m in the deepest, darkest despair because I’m naturally very positive and I strengthened my natural habit of seeing the beauty and goodness around me, even more, with practice through the years.

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As depressed & suicidal as I have recently been and I still saw all positive, happy, beautiful things just jumping out at me. Even when I wasn’t trying. It was annoying some occasions because I wanted to die so badly, so desperately, but felt guilty and absurd acting on it when there was all beautiful things and positive thoughts jumping into my head uncontrollably. Lol My mind is so much in the habit, both naturally and an intentional conscious habit I have practiced & developed, of positive thinking and an attitude of gratitude, that I think so positively even when I’m on the brink of killing myself. Now, it’s not always enough to stop me or make me want to live but it’s so helpful (and annoying) and makes it less likely I will go.

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(mine! 😀 )

I couldn’t believe some of the inspiring shit running through my head when I was trying to muster up the “courage” to kill myself.
I would think of all reasons I should die and be convinced then my mind would come up with:

“But….you can be greater than anything that can happen to you!…”

“But…there’s always something to hold on for…”

“But…all I have to do is change my way of thinking about these things…”

“But…we all have something to contribute to the world…how can I if I end it…”

“But…I can use my pain to our advantage and potentially help someone else…”

“But…there’s still so much beauty surrounding me…”

“But..don’t sweat the small stuff! And it’s all small stuff!..”

“But…it’s all about the attitude and I can change the attitude!”

“But…be Brave! Keep going!…”

And more….

Often for every agonizing thought and great reason to kill myself, a positive, beautiful thought would uncontrollably pop up, a reason to live.

Kept getting in my way. Blah! Lol 😉

There’s something so positive ingrained into me and threaded throughout my whole existence. There’s so much love in me even when all I want is to be dead.

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(lol this isn’t my photo)

Also, when I want to but don’t kill myself, it’s not always because some part of me truly wants to live. It’s not necessarily ambivalence, though sometimes it is. It’s just that we all have this biological/evolutionary will to live, which is different than a psychological desire to live. Nature has equipped us with this to keep our species going. A single celled organism with no consciousness has this same will to live.
It doesn’t mean the thing “wants” to live.

Even long after the desire burns out and the will is reduced to just a shred, this will to live is fierce. A thin sliver is so fierce. It’s not my choice. It’s primitive to keep me going, it doesn’t mean I want to. It’s hard to overcome it. Suicidal urges are unnatural to it. They contradict it.
And it’s often stronger than those urges.

It annoys me when people say/write that just the fact that we’re alive, shows we must not be sure if we want to die. No. I have been so sure.
It’s just this evolutionary thing or whatever, really gets in my way.

That night and early in the morning I battled recurrent violent urges to kill myself. Even in my slumber. I dreamed of dying. Taking myself out. I even had a certain method in mind and a plan. I had uncontrollable images flashing through my head of what I wanted to do to myself, what I planned to do.

It was so physical.

I kept getting up in the night, getting ready to go then changing my mind.

Whenever I seriously considered killing myself that night and early in the morning, I thought of all the inspirational things I post and share and truly believe in. And I thought of the sweet messages people write to me expressing encouragement, gratitude, appreciation….and I wasn’t sure I wanted to throw it all away just like that.

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(not my pic)

I know what it’s like to suffer and to experience true joy & happiness & love and my main intention with the things I post is to uplift others and inspire anyone I can. How inspiring can I be to others if I intentionally kill myself? That’s a very unfortunate message to send to the world, don’t you think? When things are too agonizing, painful, overwhelming, we give up?

I don’t want to end with that kind of energy. I don’t want to leave that negative energy in the uni-verse. When/if I kill myself, that negative energy will linger. It’s not good for others. And it’s just a bad, bad message to the world. Every single act I perform, every word I speak, every breath I take has the potential for a ripple effect to some degree for better or for worse. So why not make them all positive? Or positive as possible.

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(this isn’t my photo)

And I thought of all the potential I have to touch someone else for the better even if just a very small, simple way. Each day I live, each moment, each breath, is a chance to love someone else. Each encounter no matter how brief, can brighten the world for another. And this is true for all of us.

No matter how much pain I’m in and how much I want to die, how much it feels like I have to die, I can still help someone else somehow.

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(not my photo)

For a couple hours, I laid in bed in a near catatonic state, no energy to move, no desire, no strength to even pull a trigger if I had a gun. At some points, when I’m depressed, I have literally zero desire for anything other than death and can’t even think of living to help others or for the good things. Sometimes even the joy the good things can bring, doesn’t seem enough to keep me alive. I seriously could hardly move or even breathe. Usually my depression is not this bad, even when I was young and depressed more frequently, it was not usually to this point.

And I thought of all the poor people who lost their battle with depression and suicidal urges.

I want to carry on for them.
I don’t really know if it makes sense but it does to me.

It doesn’t mean they weren’t strong or inspiring or beautiful or would have never wanted to live again. They just couldn’t see it then. But if they held on longer, even just a second longer(suicidal thoughts and urges can be so fleeting, coming and going,…a fraction of a second can make all the difference), they could have found that strength, saw their own beauty. So I want to keep going even when I don’t, to put more love and beauty into the world. The world has been deprived of theirs so I’ll try to put even more for all of us. It’s so hard sometimes but I’ll try. I can never take their place and never would anyway but I can honor them.

For some of us it won’t go away and stay away. It comes and goes.

Like waves in an ocean.

Sometimes the oceans are calm and peaceful and the waves, gentle. But other moments the ocean is loud and aggressive, the waves are violent, threatening to knock us over and pull us under. But if we stand strong, they won’t keep us down too long.

Sometimes I have to battle these violent waves right now until it becomes calm and peaceful again.

I may have written here before about my analogy to the oceans and waves.

It’s so fitting.

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(yeah, sometimes it is! Not my pic though!)

I’m very open about my condition. It’s something I battled most of this life, not constantly, but sometimes frequent. Like I said, it can flare up out of nowhere for no reason or be triggered by an external factor or triggered by my own thinking or memories sometimes. It’s not my personality or attitude or even a mere mood. It’s like a sickness that takes me over even though I’m naturally, generally happy. In the same way a physical illness can.

I want to be open and honest about my experience with depression, even the darkest, ugliest parts. And I want to be open & honest about my pleasant experiences and happiness. The depression doesn’t take that away.

I’m very open on here and in person. I often share the blog here on Facebook where people I know in person and those I don’t, have access to it. I want people to know my name and see my face and read my story.

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Here I am! 😀 This is me a few days ago! My smile is genuine. We can see if someone is truly happy in the moment, usually, not by the smile but the eyes. There’s a spark whether or not we’re smiling. 😀 ❤

I have nothing to cover up. I’m the same me in person as I am online. I write more than I talk and probably reveal more in writing because the opportunity to write just makes it easier but I’m the same.

I never felt compelled to keep my depression and suicidal contemplation a big secret. And I never will. I did used to be more hesitant to talk about it but still found the courage. Sometimes I still hesitate before speaking or posting certain things that have to do with my condition but I usually always find the courage to eventually share it.

I don’t tell it to just everyone. Some I would never tell to directly but I don’t care if they know. Some people are much easier to tell than others, more inviting, more open to it, especially those who know the pain intimately.

I don’t tell people when I’m seriously considering ending my life, of course not. I’m not trying to get put away (it’s not so bad being hospitalized, I experienced a couple hospitalizations both voluntary and involuntary – it’s a hassle though but helpful in some ways) or inflict guilt upon anyone. If I tell someone I want to kill myself then I really kill myself, that person may feel guilty even if the person doesn’t like me or really care. I don’t want anyone to carry that burden. I don’t go into much detail about my fantasies usually or plans or things like that because I don’t want to distress anyone. But basically, I’m very open about it in general.

For now I choose to keep going for all the people who lost our battle and especially for the people still alive, like me, who have so much difficulty holding on sometimes, for anyone whose life may cross mine even years into the future, who I can help in any way, even if it’s just actively listening, letting someone borrow my pen, a warm smile, a loving hug, an inspiring post, a sweet conversation…..

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(not my pic)

Who knows who I can help maybe without even realizing the impact? Whether it’s in a practical way like letting the person have something of mine or in a way like listening to someone talk or being encouraging to others.

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(this totally IS my photo! ;-D)

Just because I’m a suicidal wreck (lol) doesn’t mean I don’t have what it takes to love or to help. ❤ In fact, my experience helps even deepen my empathy for the problems of others and helps deepen my wisdom. Even when I’m currently on the brink of ending it, I can still love.

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(not my pic)

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(I usually do! And yeah, this isn’t mine!)

I can’t be sure I won’t ever kill myself but for now I plan to hold on. ❤ ❤

Not for me but for them. ❤

😀

~Hugs~ & love to you.

Xoxo Kim

Every woman has a name <3

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“I grew up realizing that the most precious jewels to behold were people who didn’t care about fitting the average social mold but dared to dance to the calling of their own music.” ~ Bradford Keeney, Ph.D. (Everyday Soul, pp. 45)

I read a novel called Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah about two best friends who were friends for over thirty years since they were teenagers, then they had a vicious falling out over an act of betrayal on the part of one of the girls. 
Their friendship seems destroyed beyond repair. 

(as I always mention about books/movies with rape scenes, this book has one on page 32 and 33 {of the copy I have, I don’t know if it’s the same for every copy} if you want to skip it. Scenes like this can trigger serious distress for someone who has previously experienced trauma whether it was earlier today or decades ago so I always try to remember to caution people I tell about things I read/see that have those scenes)

Interestingly after reading it and preparing this post, I found another book, a personal development book by Dr. Keeney, I felt drawn to and began to read and in the book, he writes that line I quoted above, on page 45, which is very relevant to this topic I’m writing about here! 

Some of my favorite novels & movies are ones about friendship, especially friendship with two girls/women like Beaches, For a Good Time, Call, Brokedown Palace, Snowflower & the Secret Fan, The Last of Her Kind, The Red Scarf…

I never had many friends, especially female friends, and most of the ones I have been blessed with, dissolved, either through a falling out or just drifting apart when one of us moved or went to a different school, things like that. I always wished I had more. 

This is a beautiful story and the ending is breathtaking. I love it! ❤

There won't be any really big spoilers here but I'm going to share two lines out of the novel because they are full of so much wisdom.

The one woman, Tully, is a journalist who travels the world and she doesn't have time for a serious romantic relationship or children but she loves her job.

Our society though (US society) places so much pressure on people to have families, get married, have children…and often sees those who, for whatever reason, stay single or do not get married or have kids, as not being fulfilled or not fulfilling life's "ultimate purpose" or not being complete or as "worthy" as those with families of their own.

So the woman in this book at some points feels low about choosing a very demanding career that contributes to making it very difficult to have other commitments. She meets another woman with a similar job who says this:

"'There's a price, that's for sure. For my generation, at least, you couldn't do this job and be married. You could get married-I did; three times-but you couldn't stay married. And forget about kids. When a story broke, I needed to be there, period. It could have been my kid's wedding day and I'd have left. So I've lived by myself.' She looked at Tully. 'And I've loved it. Every damn second. If I end up dying in a nursing home alone, who gives a shit? I was where I wanted to be every second of my life, and I did something that mattered.'
Tully felt as if she were being baptized into the religion she'd always believed in. 'Amen to that.'"
(p. 239)

There is so much truth to this!

It's different if someone chooses this kind of career and also wants a family and feels unfulfilled for not having one, then that may be a problem but if we choose this kind of life and love it and are so passionate about it, we shouldn't have to feel incomplete and not satisfied because of what society or others say or imply.

Like this lady says, who cares if we die alone if we lived the life we truly wanted? Some people can't even imagine living this life with no family and so much work but to others it's a dream come true. 

It's different if we already have a family; it's not a great idea to abandon or neglect them to throw ourselves into our work and then die alone. But for people who choose to live a single life of almost constant work because they love it, good for them! 

Then there's this:

“That’s the funny thing about writing your life story. You start out trying to remember dates and times and names. You think it’s about facts, your life; that what you’ll look back on and remember are the successes and failures, the time line of your youth and middle age, but that isn’t it at all. Love. Family. Laughter. That’s what I remember when it’s all said and done. For so much of my life I thought I didn’t do enough or want enough. I guess I can be forgiven my stupidity. I was young. I want my children to know how proud I am of them, and how proud I am of me. We were everything we needed-you and Daddy and I. I had everything I ever wanted.
Love. 
That’s what we remember.”
(pp. 467)

Beautiful!

The other woman, Katie(who I just quoted), the best friend of, Tully, all her life just really wanted to be a wife and at home mom. It was her passion since she was a little girl, to fall in love, get married, and have children and stay home and care for them and the household. And that’s what she did and loves it. But just like single women with very demanding careers and very little time for true romantic love and children are criticized for their lifestyle, so too are stay at home wives and mothers for not doing or being “enough.”

See, we can’t win either way! We do one thing and we’re criticized and we do the opposite or something else and we’re criticized for that too.

So this woman, while loving her life, her husband, and her kids, frequently feels as if she should be “more,” do more, live more, want more.

These girls live kind of opposite lives, are both successful in different ways, both made choices they love, yet they envy each other and feel like they should be more or different than they are, just because of what society expects and demands. They both have regrets on and off and wonder if they should have made different choices. 

There’s nothing wrong with either of their lives. Like I said, it’s different if we truly want more or different but we don’t have to feel like we’re not enough and especially not feel like we need more because of what others say or do.

“And even when your world was shakin’
Even when your breath was taken
Even when your blue eyes turned to gray
Small town debutantes and queens
Every woman has a name
Cocktail waitresses with dreams
Every woman has a name
And every girl whose love survives
A broken heart to stay alive
You signed your picture in the frame
Every woman has a name”
~ Alice Cooper

If you’re a single career girl with no family of your own, you are enough even if you hope to one day change something and even if you don’t.

If you are an at home wife or mommy, you are enough. 

If you have a big important career and also have children, you are enough, even if your kids had/have babysitters and daycare. It doesn’t mean you aren’t a great mom or were/are selfish. You gave your child life or this life if you adopted your children, and take care of his/her needs and love him/her. 

If you choose not to have kids or can’t have kids, you are enough. 

If you work at a low paying job that isn’t that important, you are enough. 

If you have an impressive career and lots of money and material things or inherited lots of money and don’t work a day, you are enough.

“Housewives cryin’ on the phone
Every woman has a name
Sacred sisters all alone
Every woman has a name
And even on the coldest day
When the kids are gone, moved away
It’s lonely now
There’s no one there to hold your hand
And play
See it written on the grave
Every woman has a name”
~ Alice Cooper 

Some people try to make us feel guilty or low no matter how we live, either we have too much or do too much or not enough, we’re greedy and selfish or pampered for having a lot of money and spending it on ourselves and we are lazy, unmotivated, or inferior if we don’t have much money or material possessions. Mothers who go out to work are called selfish and criticized for leaving their kids but stay at home moms are also criticized for doing “nothing.”
People who want nothing more than to be a family person are criticized but so are those who don’t want children.

Whether we want more or to change or truly want to be right where we are, we are enough just as we are. We’re not less than anyone else or less than we would be if we had more or lived differently than we currently do. And there’s no certain way we “should” feel or live as long as we’re not interfering directly with others. 

How about no matter what our situation is, we vow to continuously look for and celebrate the positive in it while also encouraging others to do the same for themselves…

I absolutely LOVE how this author conveys the message that any life we choose is a good life as long as we’re happy with it and every woman has worth. She portrays the beauty of being a stay at home mom and wife and how they do so, so much work, just as much as those who work paid jobs and even more work than some people with jobs outside the home. But she also captures the beauty of being a busy career woman and how ultimately LOVE is what’s important, all love, friendship love, family love, the love for our work and life itself. And family doesn’t have to be just about being biologically or legally related. These two girls are like sisters even though they aren’t related, because they love one another and show concern and encouragement to each other. They cheer each other on even through moments of jealousy and insecurity and betrayal. We can have love no matter our job or lifestyle. 

❤ ❤ ❤

Every Woman Has a Name – Alice Cooper – mobile

Every Woman Has a Name – desktop

Much love & light to you, always 

Xoxo Kim 

Courage to overcome

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“Find courage to overcome the circumstance.” ~
Lailah Gifty Akita

This is a great reminder that we cannot always choose our circumstances but we can choose to react in a positive way. 
Even if we cannot currently choose our emotions, we can choose to think and react positively even if we aren’t truly feeling it just yet.
“Fake it til’ you make it.”
If we act in positive ways and choose positive thoughts, we are more likely to begin to feel and live in positive ways, strengthening and developing positive habits. 
This isn’t always easy, it can be so tempting , so easy to give in and succumb to unpleasant situations, emotions, and negativity.  
But it’s worth the work it takes to become and remain positive. Even if we’re naturally, generally positive, there’s usually always room to evolve and be even better.
We can choose to do something as simple as stopping to take a few deep breaths instead of reacting in unpleasant ways, reading uplifting quotes, going outside for a walk or to look at the beautiful sky…

Our teacher in Buddhist class tells us to stop after an unpleasant encounter and before reacting, take a deep breath and ask “What would Buddha do?” 
We don’t have to be a Buddhist to adhere to this wisdom. Buddha is a symbol of peace, calm, love & compassion….

Even if we don’t know for sure what Buddha would do, we can be certain of what he would not do. He would never react with violence or bitterness or give up and quit his life of compassion, he would never allow problems to wear him out.  

I saw this quote today and decided to share here! It can apply to the most minor problems like being stuck in traffic, someone looking at us in unpleasant ways or saying something we don’t like and to more serious problems like depression, physical illnesses, grief, and other difficult situations.

What a great reminder!

😀

Much love & light to you,

xoxo Kim ❤