Summer Love♡

Summer is my least favorite season. Excessive heat tends to get me more than any other extreme weather. Also, Summer themes (beach, vacations, bbqs, pools…) just don’t appeal to me as much as Fall & Winter themes (holidays, pumpkins, snow, hot chocolate…). For work, i have to be outside for much of the day, everyday, which can contribute to it being easier to see the unpleasant side of Summer. So I decided to focus on the goodness of Summer and list all the things I love about it!

Here goes!

1.) Waiting for a bus is much easier (in my opinion) when it’s very hot than very cold. It’s hard to be still in bitter cold weather.

2.) It’s often more pleasant to sit in a park on a hot Summer day than a freezing cold Winter day. As I said above, it’s hard to be still when it’s extremely cold. Also, I love the sounds of the birds and people and dogs in the park all around me.

3.) All the beautiful people and animals out & about on a warm Summer day. I love being surrounded by all the living things.

4.) The insects, birds…. I love all the butterflies and fireflies and other beautiful creatures all around.

5.) Walking by cafes and restaurants with outside tables and seeing all the people happy & laughing together.

6.) Flowers & plants & trees with green leaves!

7.) The feel of walking into an air conditioned building after being out in the heat.

8.) The feel of stepping out of a freezing cold air conditioned building into a lovely summer day. The heat feels so welcoming then.

9.) Tropical scents

10.) Gentle summer breezes

11.) Crickets churring at night

12.) Suntans! I love getting a natural tan walking in the sunlight!

13.) Carnivals!

14.) Cold showers

15.) It eventually ends & gives way to Fall! 

 

So here are a few of my favorite things about Summer!!

It’s always great to focus on the bright side. And there’s always a bright side! If not, create one! Think of something you don’t care for or something that just isn’t your favorite then list the good things that still exist about it or the positive things as a result of it. This strengthens our mind to develop or maintain a positive attitude. It’s also so uplifting to list the good.

I hope you are having a beautiful day or night wherever in the world you are! 

Much love & light,

Xoxo Kim

Thou shalt not steal

Recently I heard Christian people on the radio talking about the Ten Commandments in Biblical Scripture. I’m not a Christian woman but find their conversation deeply inspiring. The men were saying the language (I forget which one but for this post it’s not very important anyway. I think it may be Hebrew?) directly translates into English as “Do not steal”  but often we hear\read “thou shalt not steal.” The men said this second phrase “thou shalt not steal” is much more powerful than “do not steal” and before they started explaining I was a bit confused. At first glance, at least to me, a command such as “Do not steal” seems more direct and assertive, even threatening, than “you should not steal.” Telling me not to do something can be an implicit threat or warning “Do not…or else..” where telling me I shouldn’t do something seems a bit more passive or laid back. It doesn’t seem like a command or demand. It’s more like just someone’s little opinion.

I’m not a big fan of telling others or myself what we should or should not do. I think “should” can be too limiting and contribute to feelings of failing or too much pressure. But soon I realized what these Christian men were talking about and it’s very powerful and can apply to us all, not just Christian and other religious people.

“Should” or “should not” is more like an internal thing while someone else’s commands, laws, rules, threats, abuse, opinion…..are external and cannot affect us if we do not let them. “Do not….because I said so” is authoritarian and someone else’s rule slapped onto us. It may or may not be a good rule but it’s external and we can rise above whereas “should” is something moral, internal. Of course someone else’s opinion of “should” is external and “should” is subjective but it’s more of an internal truth.

There are some things, in my opinion, we really should not do, like kill innocent beings, steal, spread vicious gossip, sexually assault….to name a few. That’s my truth and it’s more powerful than someone else telling me not to. It’s illegal for me to kill an innocent human but it runs deeper than the law telling me not to; I truly believe I should not kill an innocent person (or any innocent sentient being) and if I ever did I would have a bigger problem than being in legal trouble. I would have an internal struggle knowing I did something very wrong that resulted in the pain or ending of someone else. It’s not illegal to kill most insects at least where I live, and I don’t negatively judge those who do, but I do not kill them on purpose and when I do accidentally, I have a struggle within. And there are occasions people said things to me meant to have an effect I did not allow it to have. There are occasions I experienced domestic violence and was physically forced to do or not do something that wasn’t my choice but I did not let it destroy me and know it’s not a reflection of who I am and that this life is still beautiful with so many beautiful things and I kept my mind calm even though externally it was chaos. When I am abused the abuser is degrading itself, not me. Murderers, sexual predators, bullies, those engaging in vicious gossip only degrade themselves not those they hurt or try to hurt. We may be hurt, broken, devastated, traumatized, petrified, bleeding, bruised…..but we are not as destroyed as those who tried to destroy us. And we can stand up & rise again.

(not my photo)

Abuse of any kind, vicious lies being told about us, others trying to control us, societal expectations…..these are all external and can affect us greatly if we allow it. But with work, practice, meditation, self exploration, self love, other positive things….we can rise above and others cannot touch us. Even if they do physically, it will not drag and keep us down or touch our essence. What matters is what we know, our own truth, knowing, attitude.

It’s what’s inside that is more powerful than the outside.

Much love & light to you always! Thank you to everyone who reads my content & those who comment! When I see a comment I always or almost always respond usually with a comment back or a “like” and if I seem to ignore it it’s very likely I did not see it. I appreciate every comment & everyone who reads! I have a whole lot of catching up to do! I got a new job recently and worked nineteen days in a row! But I love it! ❤😍😀

~Hugs~

xoxo Kim 

Beauty

“All in the eye of the beholder – Some of the most destructive forces in the world (Fire & Water), can also have the power of beauty.”~
Martin R. Lemieux

xoxo Kim

Magazine… Thursday???

I totally forgot about magazine Monday! (lol that name is so cheesy! When I come up with something more clever or creative, I will change it!) I remembered when I woke up Tuesday morning thinking it was Monday morning! What a disappointment!

For the last two or three weeks I have been sharing inspiring photos I take of things in magazines. I look for positive things in “trashy” or degrading magazines or things that I put my own inspiring spin on. I meant for it to be every Monday but this week I forgot!

So here instead is Magazine Thursday! lol! ;-D

Some of these I may have already shared but they are the only ones I have access to right now. I’m at work but I have no customers at this moment. I’m getting more organized and prepared and will share new ones Monday (if I remember…)!

So here we are:

Let’s drop all negative thoughts & habits. 😀

What an interesting perspective! I feel that it can be interpreted different ways. What’s your interpretation?

The magic words! ❤

Let's open our minds to welcome everything good. ❤

Love everywhere. ❤

Let every year be the year of magical thinking! ❤ 😀

Here is the first edition:

https://inspirationalgem.wordpress.com/2016/03/28/magazine-inspiration-3/

😀

Much love & light to you now & always!

❤

xoxo Kim

My imagination

“Closed in a room, my imagination becomes the universe, and the rest of the world is missing out.” ~CJ

❤ 😀

xoxo Kim

Is it worth it?

“Everytime you get upset at something, ask yourself if you were to die tomorrow, was it worth your time being angry?”

This is a great reminder to stop and think about it when we are angry. It’s likely unnecessary and not worth it. It’s so true. When we really contemplate some things we do and say, we may see they aren’t worth the energy & space they take up. How about replacing them with more positive, loving enery, words, thoughts, & actions?

Everything will be so much better!

I hope your day/night is a great one!

❤ 😀

Much love,

xoxo Kim

Church

1 Corinthians 13:4-7New International Version (NIV)

“4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

(this one isn’t mine)

I’m not religious but I love churches! And I just love the little golden cross at the top and the Wintery feel of my photo here. Churches are one of my favorite things to take pictures of! They are just beautiful. And while I don’t believe in any gods, I still find deep beauty & inspiration in some of the messages and love of people who believe in them or one of them. 
I am someone who finds beauty & inspiration everywhere, even in things I don’t agree with and even in dark situations.
But this year, as part of my one word challenge, I’m being even more mindful of beauty everywhere. Beauty is my word. 

😀

So I decided to share my pictures here with a Biblical (at least in some versions) quote I find beauty in. And also I want to share a sweet Jesus song I find so much inspiration in.
I want my one word challenge to be about not only finding beauty in my own views and things I completely agree with but appreciating the beauty in other views and opinions I don’t share. 

“Surely nations were not made for war

Or the broken meant to be ignored

Surely this just can’t be what You saw
Let Your Kingdom come here in my heart
And I will live to carry Your compassion, to love a world that’s broken
To be Your hands and feet
And I will give with the life that I’ve been given
And go beyond religion to see the world be changed
By the power of Your name
The power of Your name”

Isn’t this incredibly beautiful?! It’s not just a message that can only apply to those who believe in Jesus. It’s meant for each one of us. Jesus, whether he was/is a real man or only a character in a fairytale, is symbolic of love, compassion, and hope. Those are messages that can apply to all of us. We can look within us to find that power to help transform the world around us.

I invite you to look for and find beauty in places you don’t think you are likely to find it. Maybe in certain political views for example or in the people who hold views you yourself do not. There are views I don’t agree with but appreciate people’s courage to share them or the determination they have to work for their cause. If we really try, we will find glimpses of beauty even in the most unlikely places.

It’s worth the challenge!

❤

Much love & light,

xoxo Kim

Finding the Beauty

“Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

It’s not all about what we look at but how we see it, our mindset, our attitude and perspectives. There are lots of beautiful things outside of us but they will not do much for us if we don’t have beauty within.

But the good thing is, we all have the capacity to feel beauty, even when it’s hard. We just have to be receptive, open up and truly pay attention. Imagine what it would be like without the senses we have and our ability to understand and all the beauty around us. ❤

This picture is of a beautiful and very large pine tree outside a church. For years I would stop and look at it, take so many photos in all the seasons throughout each year, even collect its pinecones that would fall to the ground. I'm so sad because recently I watched as workers cut it down! I feel grief & disappointment. 

But I'm thankful I got to see it for the few years I lived close to it and get all those pictures. I still carry the beauty of it within. No one else seems as sad as me about it. No one else seemed to pay much attention.

Here is a picture of the church on January 9th, 2015.

I know the date because this is the picture I chose for that day on the 365 photo project. I don’t post there everyday.

Here is what I wrote that day:

“This is a church bathing in the sun on a cold Winter day. It’s beautiful and brings me a sense of hope.”

The church is being demolished so they had to cut the tree to get to it. I will miss seeing it and the tree and those creepy black steps that are mostly encased. 

This reminds me to always pay close attention to people and things and all the beauty around me. It’s still good to cherish and be mindful of everything even if we knew we would have it forever but we don’t have things forever and it’s harder to lose people and things we did not appreciate as much as we could have. There is more potential for regret when we lose things we take for granted. 

So let’s cherish everything we are blessed with! And still keep the beauty within us even when it’s gone. 

😀

Much love & light to you,

Xoxo Kim ❤

Our Hawaiian Paradise

(me on the Wildwood beach this Summer)

In Orison Swett Marden’s book, Cheerfulness As a Life Power, you can read it online here,he shares an amazing excerpt I would love to share about being lighthearted, cheerful, and carefree. 

It’s old so there’s no copyright so it’s no cost to read online! I have the Kindle book. It’s not a very long book.  

Here it is:

“Our Hawaiian Paradise”

“A newspaper correspondent, Annie Laurie, has told us all about the new kind of American girls just added to our country: –

‘They are as straight as an arrow, and walk as queens walk in fairy stories; they have great braids of sleek, black hair, soft brown eyes, and gleaming white teeth; they can swim and ride and sing; and they are brown with a skin that shines like bronze…there isn’t a worried woman in Hawaii. The women there can’t worry. They don’t know how. They eat and sing and laugh, and see the sun and the moon set, and posses their souls in smiling peace. 
If a Hawaiian woman has a good dinner, she laughs and invites her friends to eat it with her; if she hasn’t a good dinner, she laughs and goes to sleep, – and forgets to be hungry. She doesn’t have to worry about what the people in the downstairs flat will think if they don’t see the butcher’s boy arrive on time. If she can earn the money, she buys a nice. new, glorified Mother Hubbard; and, if she can’t get it, she throws the old one into the surf and washes it out, puts a new wreath of fresh flowers in her hair, and starts out to enjoy the morning and the breezes thereof.
They are not earnest workers; they haven’t the slightest idea that they were put upon earth to reform the universe, – they’re just happy. They run across great stretches of clear, white sand, washed with resplendent purple waves, and, when the little brown babies roll in the surf, their brown mothers run after them, laughing and splashing like a lot of children. Or, perhaps we see them in gay cavalcades mounted upon garlanded ponies, adorned by white jasmine wreaths with roses and pinks. And here in this paradise of laughter and light hearts and gentle music, there’s absolutely nothing to do but to care for the children and old people and to swim or ride. You couldn’t start a ‘reform circle’ to save your life; there isn’t a jail in the place, nor a tenement quarter, and there are no outdoor pool. There isn’t a woman’s club in Honolulu, – not a club. There was a culture circle once for a few days; a Boston woman who went there for her health organized it, but it interfered with afternoon nap-time, so nobody came.’
When, hereafter, we talk about worrying women, we must take into account our Hawaiian sisters, if we will average up the amount of worry per capita,in our nation.”

This is so beautiful and I get vivid images going through my head of these beautiful smiling women and their beautiful babies playing in the sand all day loving & living without a care in the world!

This is a beautiful inspiration to us all and how blessed we are to be able to encounter it!

If we are someone with a serious condition like an anxiety or depressive condition that requires professional or medical help, this most likely will not cure us but it can be a great supplement and reminder to let go of whatever is preventing cheerfulness and positivity in our heads. And if we don’t have a true mental health condition, we still likely experience anxiety or distress once in a while and this excerpt is a fantastic guide to help us cope and let go. 

I love how the writer writes that these girls, if they don’t have a good dinner, just forget to be hungry. That’s so inspiring! They can complain about not having good food but instead they just go to sleep and wake up happy. And if she can’t get up enough money for what she wants, she just reuses the old and makes it beautiful!

Imagine if we do this often, forget to be hungry when our food sucks, reuse our old things if we can’t buy new ones and if they can’t be reused, just forget to want them until we can get them later! Instead of complaining about the weather, soak up whatever beauty we can in the weather we have. When we’re sick, instead of complaining, use the experience as a good excuse to nurture our selves more. We can seize every situation we are in and practice looking at the bright side, looking for any bit of good that we can!

Let’s remember to laugh in the sun, breathe in the sweet fragrance of the flowers, feel the soft air upon our skin, sing, and splash, and play! There’s no such thing as being “too old” as long as we’re alive. Forget the stress, the problems, the potential problems, the negativity & be happy now!

😀 ❤

Lottsa love to you!!

xoxi Kim ❤

Best Days <3

“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson 

This post is about a day that I can say with complete certainty is one of the best days I ever experienced. I can’t say I have one day that is “the best day of my life.” I have occasions many days that I can say qualify as “the best.” And I don’t think there should be just one or a few days that are the best. I want to make every day as best as possible. Some will be better than others. Some will even suck for the most part and that’s quite alright!

But some days really stand out to me as the absolute best! And Monday, June 1st, 2015 is one such day!

Why do I remember the date? I’m really not sure. Maybe because it’s the first day of the month? Nothing significant happened at all. I wasn’t on vacation. In fact I was at work! How many people can say one of the best days of their life, was at work during the work hours?! Lol But I can! 

There was no “socially acceptable” (for lack of a better way of putting it) cause for celebration. It wasn’t a holiday (that I know of), no hanging out with friends, no graduations, weddings, engagements, job promotions, childbirths, amazing news,…that I was somehow associated with.

It was just a slow, calm, rainy night at work. I was alone, drinking hot tea, reading my zombie-like/apocalyptic thriller which I was loving to pieces. It’s my favorite! I was listening to a few great songs over and over, including Len Barry’s Bristol Stomp. I probably had a headache (because when do I not have a headache?), I did not have much money (because when do I ever?), my grief was still somewhat new (I lost a coworker, who I was close with, to unexpected death in February) it wasn’t my favorite kind of weather (except the rain and it was cooler that night than it has been), it was bordering on Summer. I’m more of a Fall/Winter kind of girl, it was quiet and still and I was waiting for a mystery thriller novel to come out that was to be released in eight days. 
Book 2 of a series by Dr. Carey Baldwin, and I waited seven months for that thing to be released!! Seven months! (and I’m in the middle of another seven waiting for the next! January 2016!) I could not wait! I was so happy that day knowing in just over a week, it would be in my hands (or on my Kindle app to be more accurate). I read it in less than one day!  It’s not a novella or anything, I just read it non stop til it was through. (And so did a few others because when I looked there were already four reviews for the book, just a few hours after it was released! So, it appears I’m not the only fanatic who waited up all night til it showed up on Kindle then devoured it all in one sitting!)   

So my point is that nothing significant at all happened. And the conditions were not perfect to me. Like I said, I had no money, it wasn’t like it was my favorite season, I wasn’t at home being able to do whatever I wanted or on a big fun-filled vacation…yet I can safely say it’s one of my sweetest, most cherished memories. One I will always keep with me.  

I did not want the night to end. I remember I stood up and looked at the clock on the wall hoping it wasn’t nearing 10:00pm because then I would have had to leave. I wasn’t obsessing over the time. I was being mindful that night. But I stole a glance as I leaned against the counter in the store I work at. I remember the exact moment it happened. It was just after 8:00pm. The moment I declared, just in my head though, this to be one of the best days of this life of mine. I even smiled to myself and felt awe at the fact that I can find so much beauty in simplicity and monotony. And as is typical of me, I also felt amused. 

This can seem pathetic of me or absolutely wonderful depending upon the way we look at it. 

Pathetic version: “seriously?! This girl must have nothing going on, must have a very boring life for a night at work with nothing happening to be the best! Omg, How sad!”

Or!

Absolutely wonderful version: “seriously?! This girl must have an amazing life to be able to take an ordinary day, rainy, at work, nothing big going on and STILL find wonder in everything!! Omg!”

Lol

See?! All how you look at it! 😀

Let’s go with option number two though!? ;-D

My whole point? Any old day can be the best and our conditions do not have to be perfect to us, at all to be happy, thrilled, serene, to find love and joy and feel that this moment is absolutely, without a doubt, perfect. We can be in pain, broke as a joke, at work!, with nothing of importance (in a social way) going on and it still be the best!! It’s all about mindfulness, gratitude, and attitude! 

I can’t say for sure what makes a day “one of the best,” really. There were other great days I was in a fantastic mood, reading something sweet or doing something else fun, even in conditions that were more “perfect” to me. Weather I like better, more money that day, something blatantly thrilling happening, out shopping, on a fun vacation, out at a restaurant….and were still beautiful days but did not necessarily stand out to me as “the best” or as great as that day. It’s not always something that can be identified or defined. But attitude and mindfulness and gratitude definitely play a big part. 

“Goodness is easier to recognize than to define.” ~ W.H. Auden

We often tend to think that a “best day of my life” has to be something tremendous like our wedding day, having/adopting a child, getting engaged to be married, graduating some school or program, vacation days, holidays or some dramatic celebration, winning the big lotto,…and it’s fantastic to have those as some of our best days but it’s also ok and amazing to declare a simple, ordinary day as one of those best days! Let’s not hold back waiting for more or better or the perfect conditions, to be happy and consider this day the greatest day of the year/our life! This day is ours to cherish. ❤

“Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so. One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return.” ~ Mary Irion

I found this image here:
Tina Lewis Rowe – Insights, Information, and Inspiration 

We may think of normal days as boring or plain or mundane and feel the need for something more. It’s ok to want and work for more. But let’s remember to cherish those normal days and keep in mind that one day, we may wish with everything we have in us, that today was just a normal day. People struck with tragedy, illness, pain, violence today….may wish that today was just like any other day. No matter what happens today though, we can find some good if we try. 

And even if a day is really shitty, there can be some happy moments to seize and hold onto! Let’s remember those ones! Let’s create memorable moments each day or most days. Then we can look back and say “Yes! That was the best!” even if we don’t remember the date. Each day, for most/many of us, is probably so mundane, so ordinary, even if it’s fun and happy, that it slips our memory when it ends. If nothing “big” happens, it’s unlikely to stand out later. All those little pleasant moments slip away into oblivion never to be held again. The scent of the flowers that caress our noses as we walk to a store, the comfort of our child or puppy/kitty curling up on us to sleep, sitting in a cafe with a sweet friend, belly laughing at a hilarious joke or something we read or remembered or saw on tv, drinking hot tea, reading a wonderful book on a cool night…these things we appreciate then they’re gone. So let’s be more mindful of them while they are occurring. They are so fleeting. Let’s grasp them. Imprint them into our hearts forever. Make it a point to remember. Take pictures. Create gratitude lists. Publish blog posts/statuses about them, scrapbooking, journaling…or just be genuinely mindful and then we can always remember. 

“Life isn’t perfect but it has perfect moments!”

❤

Much love to you,

Xoxo Kim 😀