Lang Leav

Ever since I discovered this gem, I've been so greedy, not to mention selfish with her work. I realized how childish it is of me for not sharing this incredible poet, artist and astonishing talent of our generation with everyone and anyone.

So, here you go, I hope you take from her what I have in the short amount of time I've had stalking her work.

 not a single one she cared about, she'd chew them up and spit them out.

please be my future daughter

please

But first, coffee

With my morning coffee, I sit here, behind this screen, doing something awfully familiar ... wondering! I feel like the greatest of minds wonder, not to say my quality of wonders are even remotely in the same playing field of the greatest, but to wonder is absolutely critical to evolution (in my opinion). In order to learn, one must be curious. In order to receive answers, one must come up with questions. Here are a few of my wonders on this sunny California morning:

I wonder why it takes an unfortunate event or catastrophe to bring us into (clearer) focus with our lives. It's almost like we are unaware that from the moment we are born we are only dying and so is everyone and (nearly) everything around us. Why wait until something we already know could/will happen, to set our intentions/labors/goals back on the "right track?"

I wonder if hypocrites realize their title, not publicly, but privately. In that case, I wonder if anyone realizes their real attributes. I wonder if this wonder is too subjective.

I wonder how much of the unknown I miss out on each day; whether it's because I choose one activity over the other or because I take route A to work as opposed to route B, so on and so forth. What this unknown could consist of is just too fascinating not to wonder about.

I wonder why I'm yet to find something that lasts semi-forever or stays in the same shape, quality, and consistency of its first day. Everyone/thing I've ever met and/or touched has depreciated. At least I've always found a cause why it has. You should know, I don't rule out the smallest of small explanations.

I wonder why not enough people appreciate the mad people in this world. Before I go any further, I will clarify that by "mad" I do not mean to say a category of people who inflict any type of physical pain on any living organisms. Why do we put so much faith in large groups of numbers? Why do we always automatically feel comfortable trusting the majority? In most cases (and in my opinion), I sense the majority is just a good herd of sheep that has been conveniently brain washed by a higher (usually more intelligent) person or situation.

Don't Ask Me About Stolen Rum

 

some GREAT advice



I eat images for breakfast ...

 



My Painful Joy

I'm always intrigued by questions that I know I'll never have answers to. Odd, you think? Yes. Why, you ask? I don't wish to know, remember I'm intrigued by questions I know I'll never have answers to.

Where am I going with this ... one word & one person: Haifiz

 

My favorites, pick up The Gift for more brain food

 

 

 



My wish to you ...

A Daughter's Note to her Mother: My wish to my mom on this Mother's Day is that she realize that my love for her wasn't created when she gave me life like most scientists like to suggest, nor was it when she was there for me at every turn .. nope I refuse to believe it was any of that monumental stuff. As far as I'm concerned, all the Hallmark cards have it wrong. My wish to the woman who is responsibe for every breath I take is for her to understand it was that cozy house, the delicious meals, the smirky laughs, warm hugs, nonjudgmental reactions and tough discipline that made me fall in love with her. It's easy to give birth, it's also easy to plot yourself at a person's disposal. The content of a person runs deep in the smallest of reactions and gestures that we often look past, just as often as we probably look past the amount of gratitude we owe our mothers. And, so, with that being said my wish to my mom is that she understands that I not only think of her once a year when May flowers are blooming, but with every little something she does for me, every big day of my life.

When it rains in Los Angeles ...

We are reminded that we are far worse drivers than we realize and far more blessed with the sight of the sun than we appreciate.

Here's some uplift for a down shift in the weather*

*rest assured the weather man promises clear skies and highs of 70 tommorrow

Most importantly .. feel free to replace "GOD" with any other spiritual being, or none at all for that matter. Just give yourself the ability to find some form of humbleness where you are allowed to thank someone other than yourself for all that is beautiful around you. Thank Buddha, Allah, Jesus or Mother Nature, or a table lamp for all that it matters. Just know that something, somewhere in some realm of time was responsible for 99% of the beauty in life that you (probably) neglect 99% of the time.

The do's are easy the do not's .. NOT so much!

10 Things You Do Not Need To Be Doing

10. Do not try to buy happiness: we live in America, the land of the GREED, do not give power to a piece of cloth, leather or metal, it may be cliche, but it couldn't be more true when they say "the best things in life are free." Once you separate out the type of emotion you feel from buying something expensive to the type you feel from receiving something free, you'll realize all the money in the world couldn't buy happiness (NO MATTER WHERE YOU'RE SHOPPING). Do not allow money to substitute for dignity because if you do then you'll find that you can only afford a piece of gum.

9. Do not lie to yourself: you may have the entire world fooled as complete fools, but you can not escape your own mind. Self-progress only starts once we are willing to be honest with ourselves.

8. Do not try to be a superhero (to everyone): we all want to save the ones we care about, but you may have to accept that trying to do so may only end up with a burnt out you and result with only a partial success rate. Narrow your focus, you can't be everything to everyone.

7. Do not forget to count your blessings: today may be good, tomorrow may be bad and vice versa for the rest of your life, but the mere fact that "the rest of your life" is a thought to be had, is enough to be grateful for all you have. Someone out there is waking up and fighting with imaginary skills to be able to envision a day where they can go back to thinking they have the "rest of their lives."

6. Do not allow other's gravitational pull to lower you: just because someone refuses to advance in their own life does not mean that you have to lower your standards to accommodate their lack of enthusiasm for a better life. Keep floating upward and remember there are foot prints on the moon.

5. Do not convince yourself that you are not ready: you will never wake up with the feeling that you are a hundred and ten percent ready for something. Self-growth comes from being put in situations that force you to get ready. Engineers never woke up one day and said they were ready to formulate high rises, somewhere along the path they were forced to take pre-algebra that lead to algebra that lead to geometry and so on and so forth. Get out of that comfort zone and note, you are far more ready that you realize. Remember, will-power is like a muscle the more you use it the stronger it gets.

4. Do not get involved in relationships for the wrong reasons: it may take days in coming or even months and years, but do not allow a "time lapse" to be the reason why you enter into a relationship with someone. You are far more better off in the company of just yourself than bad company. Society will have us thinking we need to conform to many expectations of other society members, but the most self-damaging action is to allow this (wrong) reason be the (only) reason you enter into a relationship. Be it a career-related relationship, friendship type or most commonly a romantic one.

3. Do not hold on to the past: no matter how good or how bad, it is only self-sabotage if you do this. The idea of life is to move forward and you can not write the next chapter of your life if you are stuck re-reading the last one.

2. Do not spend time with the wrong people: no matter how blindsided you may be, there is always a tiny person inside of you yelling at you when you are surrounding yourself with people who you shouldn't be. The beauty of life is that we are blessed with making choices. Time flies and the last thing you need is to be spending it with people who don't make you happy or encourage you to be better.

1. Do not run from your problems: no one is saying it's easy, nor is it fun or anything else that would encourage you not to run, but sometimes you have to do what's not fun to end up having some fun. It won't be the time of your life and you won't be able to solve them over night, but the more you look your problems in the eye, the more closer you'll get to having days of fun.



When people say their really mean ...

... And you look at yourself and their angels in comparison.

Vent Session no.1 (period)

You'll hardly hear me complain unless it is to myself about myself. I don't tend to care what most people around me do or don't do. As a matter of fact, I relish knowing I have this type of carelessness about myself. Hence the fact that I will call this "vent session no.1 (period)" because frankly the chances of the numbers exponentially increasing are rare.

Since my introduction is complete, I may oh so pleasantly begin my venting session. I've noticed lately that I'm witnessing a lot of garbage people claiming a lot of what they are surrounded by, uh huh you guessed it ... GARBAGE. Obviously as human beings none of us like to feel threaten by any type of stimuli, be it a living organism or a non-living piece of matter. All violent dangers to living life aside, I find myself surrounded by (yes back to the wasteland) weak, silly, ugly individuals who would love to convince themselves and others that they are tough. I giggle when I use the term "tough" given that we all know where garbage ends up, but nonetheless this distorted idea in these distorted humans creates this distorted anger that affects my carelessness (and as mentioned before I adore my carelessness).

So what is one to do when encountered by these little people, not in size, but in substance? Normally, the old, extremely mean, extremely ruthless, extremely harsh me would say show them what they came knocking for .. show them what tough actually looks like, but instead I will advise all my readers to be above that and not only take out the trash and toss them where they below, but try living as far away from the wasteland as possible. After all their stink isn't of a floral descent.

So just,

IGNORE
IGNORE
IGNORE

Walk Slowly, Live Wildly

Want to smile?

Sure who doesn't?

The one's who don't make lists.

What kind of lists?

The kind that make you smile.
 Duh!

:)

Things That Make Me Smile:

• finding money in my winter coat
• getting a card/letter in the mail that doesn't have an "inc./co." in the sender box
• getting a hello nod or good morning from a stranger on the elevator
• gummy bears
• discovering new and good music
• vintage handbags
• eating cookies
• tulips
• over hearing someone compliment you
• my dog
• coffee
• online shopping
• instagram
• re-runs of old classics on Nick @ Nite
• the holidays
• having geeky conversations with geeks
• my niece
• fire escapes
• the mail man
• bubble baths
• coffee dates
• rainbows
• a good ending to a good book
• blogs
• crossing off things on a "to do list"
• silly jokes
• polite drivers
• watermelons
• palm trees
• lip gloss
• my dad kissing my mom
• sneakers
• coming of spring
• surprises
• Disney cartoons
• FedEx/UPS/Postal Service deliveries
• skype
• inside jokes
• tropical vacations
• sore muslces after a run
• smores
• DIY projects
• making other people smile
• jeans that fit perfectly
• opening and eating fortune cookies
• the crunchiness of celery
• cupcakes
• coconut smelling shampoo
• brick walls
• seeing old couples holding hands
• photography
• smell of old books
• crisp cool sheets in summer
• unexpected texts
• wrapping presents
• sound of kids playing
• decorating
• good hair days

Growth is your Best Friend

Thank you technology. Without you, I wouldn't have been able to see my dear friend's face from approximately 2,790 miles away and without you, I wouldn't have been able to have this wonderful feeling of pure and legitimate content in my heart.

If you're among the population of people who have been blessed and yes, emphasis on BLESSED to have gone through any type of emotional trauma, then by all means read on. If you are of the latter and have been blessed to live a life of Utopian nature, feel free to click the tiny 'x' at the top of the screen and continue on with your rainbow infested life.

Pain victims, take a second to think about the utmost worst time in your life. Think, think, think. Ok, now stop. Here's where you ask yourself if you're still the same person as you were when you were encountered by that situation. If a tiny midget doesn't pop up in your head waving flags with numerous descriptions, facts and statements of why you're no longer that person then you haven't truly given your situation a makeover to become a blessing. It's true that life is what you make of it and everyone has the ability to decide whether they want to be an optimist or a pessimist. Yes, all this is true, but despite these decisions, there are those of us who not only get by with a tough situation, but use it to come out truly a stronger person. Not a stronger person because we allowed time to pass by and the situation to dissolve, but because we picked up the ugly hurt and smacked some beauty on it and made it look better than it ever thought it could. Hmm, chances are I've lost you by now, but my simple point isn't that we turn unfortunate circumstances into blessings, but rather we turn them into blessings that we grow from. Permanent, truthful, real, authentic for the better growth. This is the true definition of a blessing. Not winning the lotto, not getting by life with no scars, but taking those scars and altering yourself to be a greater and grander you who can bring greater and grander things to the people you surround and the society you live in.

The Monsters Aren't Under The Bed Anymore

Let's get real. No, not the "stop talking behind my back" type of real nor the "you're a hater, be real" type either. Let's get real and face the real-ities of fear. How often do you get scared? What do you get scared of? How much do these fears impact your life?

 I find it far too unfortunate that we (and by "we" I mean mostly ME) live our lives with even a nano particle of fear. Granted, whether unfortunate or not it is in fact a well established part of every one's daily existence. So now that we've gotten quite "real" about the fact that we all, somehow fear something, let's dissect our fears: 

Is it the dark we fear? ... or is it our lack of ability to see what's in the dark?

Is it heights we fear? … or is it the thought that we may fall and not land safety?

Is it people we fear? … or the actions that they are capable of?

Is it failure we fear? … or the agony of judgement?

The more and more you think about it, fear is only a manifested crutch created by you and reinforced by outside sources. I Say, find gems in the dark, fall and brag about your scars, help people become capable of good as opposed to evil and if you're going to be judged, make sure you're wearing your best heels!

The Path Less Traveled

They say, if you want something you've never had, you've got to do something you've never done. Quite simple, yes? No. We're creatures of habit. Just look at the way we wash our hair: rinse, lather, repeat! Fine, that's a bad example, but really we are instinctively programmed as human beings to be comfortable doing what we're DUH, comfortable doing! I know there's probably a profound amount of scientific research out there to prove my point, but I'm too lazy to look for it and quote it. Ha! There's proof right there, that I, at the very least am a creature of habit (lazy habits - if you missed that one). 

Now to refute all that I just spent time saying, we as human beings need to break this ugly cycle. Yes, there is so much good that is to come of our "NEVER DONES" (cheers to some awful use of the English language-- but note it was intentional)! I'm working on breaking some bad habits. That's all that was meant by this. Of course I had to make it lengthy because that's one habit I refuse to break! ;)

So if anyone has been faced with some harsh realities in recent days .. know this, you are not alone and we will get what we want together. Let's just try a different path this time. Preferably one that has been used by none. And in conclusion, I must thank my favorite poet of all time Robert Frost for his inspiration when my bad habits came crashing down.

I Use My Evil For Good

The past couple weeks I've been thinking about karma. Usually, I stand by believing that all you do comes back to you. At times, I've wanted to push the universe around for what ever bad karma it was inflicting on me and yell, A BREAK WOULD BE NICE!

Then I realized, I had been so focused on my bad actions that had brought me my god forsaken bad karma, that I lost track of all that is bad could possibly be absolutely good. Now, don't get it twirled and tangled, this doesn't mean: pure, mean intentional type of bad because after all, Bill Gates said it best, "be kind to nerds, chances are you'll be working for them one day." So if I'm not talking about that kind of bad, what kind of bad am I talking about? Well, the kind that allows you to make mistakes and a lot of them!