Having been sick all week, I did not get the chance to write. But what I did do was read this article from the Huffington Post written by a very dear friend of mine, Liana Gergely. She is an incredible friend of over 15 years, an inspirational person, a fantastic writer and my soul sister. I have not only included the link to the article in this post, but I have also included the actual content in this post. Enjoy, and be inspired. Song of the Day:
[[[ Stay with Me - Sam Smith ]]]
Dear Liana,
Your 9th grade math teacher, who was full of embarrassingly-patterned shirts and sports-themed clichés, stood in front of your class one day and uttered the holy grail of high school geometry. "Kids," he began, "the shortest and most direct distance between two points is a straight line." And like any over-achieving, type A student, you believed him. You went through freshman year thinking that what was true in geometry, must, without a doubt, be true in life.
You began to see your life as a series of Points A and Points B. Before the breakup, after the breakup; high school, college; Grey's Anatomy Season 1, Grey's AnatomySeason 2. And then, you tried to get from Point A to Point B directly, effectively, and in one straight line, only to realize that you really couldn't. The feelings came in waves. Some days were easier than others, and sometimes you felt great hopes and great disappointments in the span of the same minute. Getting from Point A to Point B was more like riding a wave than driving down a straight and narrow path. Your professor's wise words may have been the holy grail of geometry, but your experience demonstrated that they weren't the holy grail of life.
And so began your lifelong realization that the transitions between things, whether it be relationships or seasons of the most addictive show on television, are far from straight, clean and organized. Being in the midst of transition is profoundly human and uncomfortable, not geometric and predictable. You may think that's the bad news. That life would be so much simpler if you could just "get there already." But growth happens in transitions, and how you hold yourself in the middle of change, big or small, is what builds your character. Your teacher lied, and I'm happy to tell you that that's the good news.
Here are some words of wisdom about being in transition: Trust yourself. You can walk in and out of anything and not lose yourself. Walk in strides, one foot in front of the other. Never leave your own side. Learn from the ocean. Watch how it doesn't stress if one wave is bigger than the other. Watch how it's impossible for a wave to crash too early or too late. Watch how it always resolves itself. Learn from children. Observe how they let things go. Their frustrations belong to the moment, their frustrations don't belong to them. When the next experience comes, they leave those old feelings behind and move forward.
Flow. Do, be active, take chances, make changes and then give up doing for a while. Just be. Tend to the uncertainty. It's not scary unless you keep it at arms length. Think of everything that has come out of uncertainty and the unknown: Picasso's greatest works, that guy you met at the coffee shop, a side street you didn't even know existed. Don't follow the fear thoughts. See them, but don't follow them. Here are some of the things that they will tell you: "You need to know what comes next," "You're wasting your time," "You're running out of time," "Everyone else is ahead of you" and "You should have figured this out already." Remember that shame is the false belief that you Should Have Already Mastered Everything. It's a lie. You're alive and going through this for the sole reason that you haven't mastered everything, and thank goodness.
Make space in your life. Give up one thing a day that is just taking up space but doesn't deserve to be there: a discouraging thought about yourself, a relationship no longer serving you, a pair of shoes, that let's be honest, are very last season and just not cute. Don't push, don't force. Allow confusion. Allow disorientation. What you resist, will persist. Embrace mood swings. Remember that a clear sense of purpose will return, or rather you will return to it. Be okay with not knowing what tomorrow will bring. Allow yourself to be surprised when tomorrow is better than you expected. Forgive and love the part of you that wants nothing more than to know what comes next for you. It's human.
Consider that the in-between is just as important as Point A and Point B. Sometimes you believe that the space between things is not life, but it is life. If you look closely enough, you will see that absolutely everything is comprised of the in-between, and that nothing is ever really final -- it is always shifting and transforming. Practice getting still. That is really difficult when you're so uncomfortable and all you want to do is look up more job postings, send more emails, and make more phone calls. But do you want a job, or do you want to be happy? Take a break from figuring life out, and trust that if you open your eyes you will see your next opportunity. And you won't be frantic when it comes.
Take up a hobby. Do something just because it feels good, and not because it will get you anything. Do things badly. Paint a picture of a tree that doesn't look anything like a tree, sing in the shower and be off pitch, cook a soufflé that even you don't really want to taste. Practice seeing your worth even when your product is not successful. Who you are is actually completely separate from what you produce, and that's a relief.
If you let it, this time can be a gift. Jodi Picoult says that "in the space between yes and no, there's a lifetime. It's the difference between the path you walk and the one you leave behind; it's the gap between who you thought you could be and who you really are; its the legroom for the lies you'll tell yourself in the future."
Take that extra legroom. Stretch wide. Make friends with it. No moment is final. No feeling is final. Straight lines between two points just don't exist. And frankly, they're boring. Wherever you are, remember: The best is yet to come.
So absolutely impressed by this performance. It gives me the chills.
Quote of the Day:
"Acceptance is not submission; it is acknowledgment of the facts of a situation, then deciding what you're going to do about it." ~Kathleen Casey Theisen
We have officially entered the heart of Gemini Awareness Month, so in honor of my Geminis out there, and the sign I am most compatible with, here's a post dedicated to just Geminis.
May 21 - June 20
So far, after several Gemini that have entered my life, I've learned that a relationship will end when a Gemini gets bored, when there have been too much heavy emotionalism or if their freedom gets restricted.
Sunday, June 8, 2014
Throwin' it way back with this Song of the Week:
Sunday Kind of Love - - Etta James
Quote of the Week:
"Some people bring out the worst in you, other bring out the best. And then there are those remarkably rare, addictive ones who just bring out the most. Of everything. They make you feel so alive that you'd follow them straight to Hell just to keep getting your fix."
Inspo for the Week:
Inspiration for cute stationary, influenced by Sugar Paper, Smock Paper, and Rifle Paper
"Now there are about 20,000 moments of 3 seconds in a 16-hour day, so this is what life consists of; it consists of a sequence of moments. Each of these moments is actually very rich in experience, so if you could stop somebody and ask, "What is happening to you right now?" a great deal is happening to us at any one of these moments. There is a goal, there is a mental content, there is a physical state, there is a mood, there might be some emotional arousal. Many things are happening. And then you can ask, "What happens to these moments?"" - Mitchel, 2003
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Quote of the Day:
"Sometimes when things go wrong it's because they would have turned out worse if they had gone right."
Man Crush Monday - a shoutout to my Dad for his birthday
Product of 1949, this man has done it all. He lived in various parts of the world, lived through some of the most important history, fell in love at first sight, and got married two weeks later, had three beautiful daughters, and is a successful entrepreneur. He's endured living in a house with 4 women, imparted his wise knowledge on us, been 'Mr. Mom' when our mother wasn't around, 'Mr. Fix-It' when we needed him, and everything he's done, he's done it for us. To the first man that won my heart over, Daddy!
#duckface
#daddysgirls #familyselfie #familyfunday
#yachtlife #themarina #happybirthdaydaddy
#lategram #toesinthesand
#LA #California
Sunday, May 4, 2014
“ Youth is a circumstance you can’t do anything about. The trick is to grow up without getting old. ” — Frank Lloyd Wright
We all better be getting ready for the workweek and setting those intentions! Let's strive to set our goals high and enter Cinqo-de-Mayo-week with a bang! Productivity. Peace. Persistence.
"When a wave of love takes over a human being... such an exaltation takes him that he knows he has put his finger on the pulse of the great secret and the great answer." - Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
"Exaltation signifies a peak experience -- functioning at full capacity in an elevated state. In astrology, a planet is exalted when it's in the sign allowing its greatest expression (so only 1/12 of the time). We, too, long for exaltation but like the planets, our lives achieve it only rarely. In love and sex, exalted feelings can easily overpower other emotions and experiences -- and thank the stars for that, since initial infatuation helps us overlook personal differences long enough for a loving bond to take root. We all have euphoric recall for our exaltations: when we hit the ball out of the park, when our words had meaning and were felt and understood, when our jokes made people laugh, when we thrived in joy.
Conversely, recalling peak experiences can dishearten us, convincing us that normal life is colorless or has passed us by. The vitality we feel one day to fulfill our potential can easily dissipate into doubt and despair. But the simple practice of acceptance is a great antidote for these fluctuations. True transpersonal exaltation is by definition bigger than any of us; its not a state we can will or manipulate into being. Still, while much of the world we do to grow our hearts is an inside job, and while the experience of exaltation cannot be commanded, it can be encouraged through a benevolent focus on others. Through affirming others' potential with gentle, persistent knowing and support, we exalt the qualities we hold dear. And in time we will realize that we love in others exactly what we value in ourselves."
I didn't write the above excerpt on exaltation, and I'm not sure I completely agree with all of it. However it's definitely been a trip to get curious about it. What do you think readers? Exalt in others that which you most desire in yourself. Take this weekend to see the best in others.
Also, the weekend can't end without me mentioning how absolutely fabulous Sophia Bush looked on Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show. #airhashtag #hervoice #hereyes #thatdress #chicagoPD #onetreehill
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Happy end of April, readers. Can you
believe its already May, the fifth month of the year! I've already forgotten
the resolutions I set in the beginning of the year- oh how time flies!
May means finals, graduation, and that the heat is coming on strongly. It means scooped out bread and one meal a day, scheduling appointments with your trainer and getting ready for your best bathing suit bod. May means the beginning of summer
travels, and when our minds officially check out of school work. It means tanning
at that rooftop pool, high-waisted short-shorts, and the never ending
margaritas. And of course, it means birthdays for my Taurus babies out there! What are we anticipating most for May? What do we want to make of this month? Are we ready? Let’s set our intentions for positivity; summer is when
we get to be free flowing, when our possibilities are endless. Of course we want a fleeting, summer love, who doesn't? So make it happen, let's get out there and bask in the summer sun. May is the best time of year – it’s that in between month when you are able to have the best of both worlds! When days are slightly longer and the weather teases you with heat one day, wind the next, and rain for three days after that. Are you excited
for graduation, nervous, or is it just a bittersweet feeling in general? Whatever you may be feeling, take it in, enjoy it while you have it.
Monday, April 28, 2014
It being Monday, let's make sure we've taken the moment to set the positive tone for our week, and think about our intensions. Yes, the work week has begun, but that's not all this week has to be about.
Take the opportunity to remind yourself to focus on today.
Let's make today peaceful so we can be as positively productive as we are capable of being.
What do we live for if we don't live for each day?
Some days, its okay if all you did was breathe.
When we focus on our inner peace, we give ourselves the strength to take control of our own lives. We want to be propelled forward; we want to take the necessary actions to take another step forward in our lives. Let the outside chaos not destroy the inner peace.
We will wake up each day releasing ourselves of the heavyness we carry with us, we will let go of our subconscious fears,
anxieties, and insecurities. We will relax our minds, and breathe through
our worries, and learn about ourselves and our lives
and flourish with each new day.
“Get out of your head and get into your heart. Think less, feel more.” ~Osho
