Lucky One. <3

I love country music. It’s beautiful and amazing and I love that beautiful Southern accent, so gorgeous!

One of my absolute favorite songs, which is a country song, is “Lucky Man” by Montgomery Gentry.

It’s a beautiful song that inspires me everyday. The message in the song is how it’s possible even in the midst of bad things to see what great things we have. It’s about seeing the goodness of our lives no matter what. It’s a very realistic song. The singer admits that sometimes his life really just seems to suck and he compares it to what others have or what could/should have been. But then he looks around at the beauty of his own life and then he realizes all he has. I think this is something we can all relate to. I think just about everyone has those moments or days where we think our life is terrible or we feel ungrateful and uninspired and just want to curse it. But we can just take a breath and see all the greatness we are blessed with. 

 

“I have days where I hate my job, this little town and the whole world too

Last Sunday when my Bengals lost, Lord, it put me in a bad mood

I have moments when I curse the rain

Then complain when the sun’s too hot

I look around at what everyone has

And I forget about all I’ve got

But I know I’m a lucky man”

Montgomery Gentry 

 

For the last few days I haven’t been in the most grateful mood. I wanted to feel sorry for myself and felt myself being pulled into a whirlwind of negative and anxious thoughts.

But I forced myself to see the beauty all around me, to feel the beauty that can be tapped into at any given moment.

Last night I laid in my bed peering out the window feeling pissed and depressed not knowing of one specific reason. I wished I would see a star out the window like I sometimes do. I craved to be inspired by nature’s beauty. But the sky was complete blackness and that just disappointed me. Then sometime later, not sure if I drifted off to sleep or what or if I was just in a sleepy state but all of a sudden I was awake and peered out my window again and through the bare tree branches I saw not one, but TWO beautiful little sparkling stars peering back at me! I felt so amazed and so grateful. It was truly a beautiful experience! 😀

<3. 

I truly am blessed to have a bedroom with a window that has a beautiful view of a tree which in warm weather has gorgeous green leaves some resembling hearts and sometimes I can even see stars through the spaces in the middle of the leaves and in the cold weather the branches are bare and I can see stars clearly. So lovely. ❤

I could have had a window seeing a brick wall or whatever but I get to see the beautiful nature’s wonder!

On Valentine’s Day I had it planned to post a self-love post to help people more easily bestow love upon themselves instead of just always lusting after romantic or other forms of external love. But I was somewhat depressed that day and extremely fatigued and I pretty much slept the day away! I wasn’t depressed for any one reason. I guess it was just my chronic disorder acting up. So I slacked on that post but will still definitely post it!

 

I am a lucky girl. So blessed, it’s true.

I have five beautiful senses. A body that functions perfectly for the most part. I have the stars in the sky above me. What more can I possibly ask for?! 😀

Here is a list of happy and inspirations for me right now!:

 

1.) I’m so happy the it’s going to be Spring soon! I cannot wait now! Spring to me is symbolic of new hope and new beginnings, new growth and beautiful fruition.

 

2.) Salted caramel, mocha iced lattes with whipped cream! Yum! 😀

 

3.) Morning Glory body spray that smells lovely in my hair and is NOT tested on animals! I think the company is Calgon (??). Or something! Lol. I buy this stuff every year and forget! :-p 

 

4.) Philosophy books and readings I have recently come across! I love Philosophy!! ❤

 

5.) An attitude of gratitude itself is a reason to be thankful!

 

6.) My pain disorder has been inactive lately!

 

7.) Today I got to see my coworker’s smiling face unexpectedly and her baby nephew! So cute!! ❤

 

8.) Cute knick knacks!!

 

9.). Some inspirational websites I have recently come across!

 

10.) This quote: “We all take different paths in life, but no matter where we go, we take a little of each other everywhere.” ~ Tim McGraw

 

“And even my bad days ain’t that bad

Yeah, I’m a lucky man

I’m a lucky lucky man”

Montgomery Gentry

 

Look at the sun in my pic!! That’s what it really looked like that day! So big. So beautiful! So much inspiration!

❤

I hope everyone can take a moment to see the beauty all around us and stay strong even when you don’t feel much like it! Give more when you feel like giving up!! ❤

 

http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Lucky-Man-lyrics-Montgomery-Gentry/E02E4AACE15633B048257218000D672A

 

X0xo Kim 🙂 😀 ❤

 

P.S. I want to thank all of my followers on here!! I am so honored that you like my blog enough to follow it! Every single one is a true blessing to me!! I couldn’t be happier if I had thousands upon thousands like some people do! 10, 30, 100, 1000, or just 1 makes me happy! I want to reach as many as I can but just touching one life positively is beautiful. <3. And thank you to all the people who like/”like” my content even if you don’t hit the “follow” button!! 🙂

Roses <3

Recently I was sitting in the back of my dad’s mini van and my dad & mom were sitting in the front and I asked them if thorns have roses or if roses have thorns. I sort of expected my dad to get my underlying message but they both laughed at me and my dad said “Kim, did you really just ask that?!” And my mom said “Roses have thorns; the rose is the main thing.”. I laughed and that was that. Lol

 

“Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns; I am thankful that thorns have roses.” – Alphonse Karr 

 

We always have the choice to truly see the stunning beauty & the true goodness or to be conquered by the negative and the pain. Yes roses do have thorns but why dwell on that fact when we can just be grateful that thorns have sweet roses?

 

😀 ❤

 

Xox0 Kim ❤

Pain & Simplicity

I was thinking recently about how incredibly simple but also painful my life can be and at first that may seem boring, like a bad thing. But the truth is, to me, it’s a beautiful life. My life is generally uneventful and I have never been one to hit up the bars or clubs or have lots of friends and attend big parties every weekend, although I see nothing wrong with that, it’s just not me. Even in college, I would just go to class, some volunteer events and things like that, and then come home. I used to be embarrassed to tell people I just met when they ask me what I do for fun. “I read self-help books all day long” probably isn’t most people’s idea of a thrill but to me it’s one of the biggest.

My idea of fun is cafes with friends and movies with family and some other things too.

Right now, I have a job at a store and am planning on applying for more counseling jobs. I have been criticized by people, especially my family, for “doing nothing” with my life. But that is their idea of “nothing”, not mine. And as long as I’m happy and not hurting or interfering with others that’s all that matters, not what other people think. They live how they choose and I’ll live how I choose. That’s the way it should be.

The truth is, it is possible to be happy with a simple, uneventful, and even a very painful life. But we have to cut back on the comparisons. I used to frequently compare myself and my life to others my age usually. I criticized myself for not being interested in certain things that other people were interested in. I criticized myself for being “too simple”. But now I see the beauty in that. We should all live how we want and let others live how they want to live, not compare in any way. It’s not good to destructively criticize ourselves for not being like others but it’s also not good to act like we are better and other people are lower. We are all different but no one is better.

Recently my facial pain disorder has become more severe and developed on the other side of my face as well. It used to be usually only on the left. Now I have it on the left and the right. I am in pain more often than not. Often it’s mild pain that I am so used to it’s just there in the background the way a chair is against my body or clothes are on my body that I don’t even think of much until something brings my attention to it, or is moderate pain or bordering on moderate with recurrent severe and seemingly unbearable flare-ups. Sometimes the severe pain comes on suddenly without warning. But I have learned to cope with it better. I used to scream uncontrollably during severe flare-ups. I would scream loudly until I would lose my voice. My mom used to scold me for screaming through the night, saying people would think I was being murdered. But I couldn’t help it. I would be in agony and squeeze the bars on my bed or collapse with my face in my hands and just shake for hours in unspeakable, unfathomable pain that I felt was destroying me. Or I would pace constantly all night long until the sun would come up. The facial pain disorder also affects my ears. Think about the absolute worst toothache or any ache you have ever experienced in your life, multiply it by millions and imagine it all over your face, jaw, ears, head, neck, and shoulders and you may come close to understanding what many, many days/nights are like for me. After a severe flare-up ends I am worn out, exhausted, and in shock for a few days after because of the shock and immensity of it and it takes a while to start feeling like and being myself again. But I have learned to cope. And to eliminate or reduce the pain sometimes.

But even with this, I still have a beautiful, wonderful life of joy & beauty. I have also unintentionally developed this wonderful, positive habit of associating my pain with feeling blessed and thinking of joyous things. One coping mechanism of mine is focusing on the joy of life even through the pain as opposed to focusing only on or mainly on the pain. One night recently I was laying in my bed at night when suddenly I felt this shooting, stabbing pain sear through my face, jaw, and ear but instantly I thought of pleasant things like the stars outside my window that I can see through the bare tree branches. Often when the pain culminates to an unbearable level, now I automatically think of something good even if that good thing is in no way connected to the pain.

I have got into the habit of making the pain remind me of something good.

Facial massages, walking, stretches…all that helps reduce it or just helps me handle it better.

Another thing is cultivating and maintaining an attitude of gratitude.

Thinking about and listing things to be thankful for helps not only presently taking the mind off of the pain and onto pleasant things but gets us in the habit of looking for positive and beautiful things in general.

Here are some tips for gratitude journaling:

1.) Keep the gratitude journal ONLY for pleasant things. You can have other journals for other things but designate one just for gratitude lists.

2.). When you write what you’re grateful for, consciously meditate upon it. Savor the feeling, feel it with your body. Let it inspire you and fill you with awe. Be consciously aware. Not robotic and lifeless.

3.). Make this experience fun and positive and don’t see making the gratitude lists as boring or obligatory or as a hassle. Get in the habit of enjoying it! 😀

4.) Make the list as long or as short as you want or need.

5.). Mix it up, you can list everyday routine things you are thankful for in general or things that happened that day that do not happen everyday.

6.) It’s ok to list the same things sometimes on different days.

7.) Carry the journal around with you if you can so you can write things right away that fill you with gratitude.

8.) You can even write how those positive things make you feel or how you felt when certain things happened.

9.) You can also decorate your journal and the pages. Glue on pictures…

10.). Make this a habit. But it may take a while to form and for it to feel natural. After about three weeks it will probably start to feel more regular.

11.) Make the lists even on boring or “bad” days when it seems nothing good has happened. Make them especially on these days when you need some inspiration.

So even though my life can be very painful, it’s still great. And I love the simplicity of it. And I will not let my pain or my physical disability limit me in other ways or destroy me any longer.

We don’t need big things to happen every single day and we don’t need an absolutely painless life to love it. ❤

I hope this post helps some people.

X0xo Kim. ❤ 🙂 😀

To Do List

✓ Sing out loud

✓ Write

✓ Smile at people 🙂

✓ Make eye contact

✓ Think positively

✓ Find little doses of inspiration everywhere I look

✓ Be kind

✓ Smile 😀

✓ Draw

✓ Paint

✓ Read & share uplifting quotes

✓ Laugh until it hurts

✓Love

✓Count my blessings

✓ Hope for the best

✓ Imagine

✓ Write a gratitude list

✓ Do something that brings me immense joy

✓Meditate

✓ Bring hope and light to someone in the darkness

✓ Be silly and not care what people think about it

✓ Be me. ❤

✓ See the best in myself & others.

✓ Look for beauty in any form everywhere I can.

✓ Be uplifting

✓ Be lighthearted. ❤

✓ Give.

✓ Be an excellent listener.

✓ Seek to understand.

✓ Be empathetic

✓ Be compassionate

✓ Be a true friend

✓ Perform a random act of kindness

✓ Inspire

✓ Seek to be inspired. 

✓ Embody love. ❤

✓ Be mindful.

✓ See the world with wonder & awe & gratitude

✓ Write an inspirational & uplifting, anonymous letter containing positive quotes and messages, fold it up and leave it in some random place like a bench in a park, an empty seat on a bus, on a step…for a stranger to find.

✓ Take lots of pictures

✓ Be happy

✓ Eat delicious food.

✓ Be light. Be love. Be true. 

✓ Dance

✓ Empower myself. ❤

✓ Focus on the goodness.

✓ Contribute to the world.

✓ Be thankful

✓ Be aware of my senses.

✓ Be friendly 😀

✓ Breathe

✓ Notice the simple things.

✓ Stay calm even in difficult and chaotic situations.

✓ Inhabit my body.

✓ Be.

✓ Be the best me that I can be.

✓Live. ❤