Three Small Steps that Could Change the World

This post is related to: One Thing the World Needs More Of: Compassion. Both subjects started out as journal prompts, and I had an easy answer for both. Three words immediately popped into my head: education, compassion and tolerance. These three things are needed more than ever in the world today. These three "small" steps are more important than ever, and could easily change the world considering the amount of hate and crime in the world in recent years, and more recently with the backlash to President Trump's election in the U.S. and his subsequent inauguration and executive orders.

One Thing The World Needs More Of: Compassion

One word: Compassion. In the dictionary, it's a noun defined as "sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others."

Forget hate, anger, fear, and anti-whatever. Remember to have some compassion for your fellow humans, your neighbors, strangers, and your loved ones.

In this current day and age, we need more compassion for ourselves, for each other and especially for those who are less fortunate than us.

With compassion, comes so many other things too, like empathy and understanding. Many times the urge to help others is strong with the people who are compassionate, empathetic, and understanding. They are often synonymous, turning compassion into a verb because it drives people to act. 

When I Google'd compassion for the definition, I also found that there is an organization called Compassion International, which is a Christian humanitarian aid organization dedicated to the long term development of children living in poverty around the world through sponsoring opportunities. I'd have to do some research on it before forming an opinion, but it's a great example shown just in their name, short mission statement, and actions that they have compassion for children living in poverty. They have created opportunities for the children by creating the opportunity for other compassionate people to help them who may not otherwise know how to help. 

Compassion drives out fear and misunderstandings because it shows that the people who are compassionate are also educated, selfless, and will do what they can to help others. We need more people with compassion in this world to drive out the fear, to educate others to drive out the hate, and to be pioneers and lead by example. And then, hopefully one day, sooner rather than later, we'll finally see more peace, love, and harmony in our world.

Poem: A Bucket List Consists of Peace & Happiness

create your own happiness

love yourself first
go to bed early
get up early
wake up with a smile

exercise
drink water
treat your body like a temple
you are its god
worship yourself

be modest
treat others the way you want to be treated
give respect to get respect
give love to receive love
read. write. educate yourself.

be kind.
create a bucket list.
complete your bucket list -
before you kick the bucket
travel

be happy alone
learn to live alone happily
be honest, yet tactful
be the person you needed when you were younger
understand that it's okay to not be okay

you are stronger than you realize
breathe deep
indulge yourself
find a healthy stress reliever
don't rely too heavily on any one person or thing

meditate
find balance
you're going to be okay -
because you already are

Review: Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert
Published September 2015 by Bloomsbury
Paperback, 276 pages
Read: September 20-27, 2016

This is the book I needed to read right here, right now in this chapter of my life. I saw this sitting on a friends coffee table in May. I've been struggling with finding my inspiration and sticking with it. Gilbert managed to tell me in her own unique way that maybe, just maybe, what I'm doing isn't so wrong after all and that I'm on the right track. Keeping my day job to pay bills is the logical thing to do until I feel confident that I can rely on my artistic endeavors to support me. There's also nothing wrong with taking the leap into the unknown and quitting your day job to focus solely on your artistic projects. This same friend of mine who read this book in the spring, took such a leap and she's doing very well for herself. We met through our day jobs and she got to a point where she was no longer feeling appreciated and creative so she took a leap to quit her 9-5 job in April to go to work for herself as a marketing and social media consultant for non-profits, start-ups, and small businesses. She couldn't be happier, and it's reassuring to see it work for her and so then maybe, just maybe, it might work for me too.

From Elizabeth's personal stories to others stories she's shared, each one had a purpose of being an example of the point she was trying to make. It was obvious that she wrote this book for herself, not for any one else. She even flat out said so and that's where I knew I had to keep reading. She drove home the fact that to create your own big magic you need to do it for you and only then will it actually happen. As soon as you start doing it for others, it'll take away the happiness, the real inspiration, and will block the creative juices from flowing, and your break through will fail to happen. And if you're not getting the results you want, take some time away from that project and focus on something else for awhile and that new project just may even be the answer or solution you've been looking for all along.

I could keep going and will stop here to say that you need to read the book for yourself because you might even get something completely different out of it depending on where you're at in your life journey.

Create Your Own Happiness

I spent today at a free-form writer's retreat in Grand Isle, VT, sponsored by the Burlington Writer's Workshop. My plan was to work on a personal essay, which I did, and then I got distracted by one of my favorite quotes. I'm not quite sure who wrote it, but it's definitely awe inspiring!

It reminds me a lot of another quote I love, "Life is too short to wake up with regrets. So love the people who treat you right. Love the ones who don’t just because you can. Believe everything happens for a reason. If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands. If it changes your life, let it. Kiss slowly. Forgive quickly. God never said life would be easy. He just promised it would be worth it."

Both of these inspired me to write this poem:

Create Your Own Happiness
Embrace the people who support you
and cheer you through the bad times.
They're the ones who will celebrate your successes.

You will need to actively and consciously remove yourself from the drama
and the people who create it because it's not just a one time thing.

Be the change you wish to see in your own life
and you'll be able to naturally apply that to the rest of your life
and to be the change your meant to have in the world.

Realize that you are a work in progress.
You are constantly evolving.
Every aspect of your life will change, sometimes slowly
and sometimes suddenly and unexpectedly.
Sometimes the change is a planned choice
and sometimes it's an unintentional external force.
How you choose to manage that change will determine your success.

Confront your demons head on.
Grab them by the horns and bring them down.
They will battle you day in and day out.
Some days they will win, leaving you feeling defeated.
The important piece to remember is to not let that defeat consume you.
Choose happiness.
Choose to get back up after falling
and get back to living.
Create your own happiness.
Be who you want to be.

Be Kind, Always

Think about a time in your life when you were going through something difficult, such as grieving the death of a loved one or a job loss or bad breakup, etc. Think about how it felt when someone unexpectedly said or did something positive for you. Even if it was a small gesture, it made your day, right?

Now say or do something like that for someone today, and every day. Even a simple, "you look good in that color shirt" or a "hope you're doing well! I'm thinking about you" will suffice.

Last night after a long week, I had 2 friends unexpectedly tell me I'm strong enough. It made me feel important, appreciated, and loved.

Never underestimate the power of positive thoughts and kind words. A positive attitude and reinforcement from friends, family, or even strangers, will help you through the most difficult times and even affect your health in the greatest way possible.

As Minor Myers Jr. said, "go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good."

Inspirational Quote of the Week

This is one of my favorite quotes and it applies to so many aspects of life, especially now that I’ll be moving to Vermont in about 9 days.

Life is too short to wake up with regrets
So love the people who treat you right
Love the ones who don’t just because you can
Believe everything happens for a reason
If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands
If it changes your life, let it
Kiss slowly
Forgive quickly
God never said life would be easy
He just promised it would be worth it.

Quote of the Day: Here's to You

"When you're trying to motivate yourself, appreciate the fact that you're even thinking about making a change. And as you move forward, allow yourself to be good enough." Alice Domar

This quote reminds me of a friend who's been going through a hard time. This sums up everything I've been trying to them. Maybe, just maybe, someone else's words will have a greater impact on their thoughts than mine ever will. You know how as a parent your words are just lost on your children but they'll believe the same advice from a friend? Yea, that's how I feel right now with this friendship. It doesn't matter what I say or do, there's always an excuse involved and it's frustrating, so frustrating.

Please, do whatever you need to do to get to the point of applying the above quote to your life. Change your mentality and outlook on life. You'll be amazed at the progress you make in life, one day at a time.

Give yourself permission to be frustrated, down on your luck, depressed, upset, not in a good place. Recognize that it's okay to not be okay, that's okay to not be in the best place in your life right now.

The important thing is to then give yourself the same permission to be good enough. Allow yourself to accept that this stage, this experience, and who you are at this moment and every moment is good enough. 

Quote of The Week

"Sometimes you have to distance yourself from people, not because you don't care, but because you need to move forward with your life."

When you get to a point in a relationship when all you feel is pain, you know it's time to move forward with your own life.  Sometimes you have to realize that you need to protect yourself & in order to do that, to stop putting yourself in situations that are hurting you.  For some reason, it's easier said than done.  It's harder to pick up and walk away knowing how much time & effort you've put into the relationship.  Because it's not just the other person you're leaving behind.  You're also leaving behind a piece of your heart.  You're not distancing yourself to hurt the other person, you're doing it to protect yourself, to live your own life, make your own decisions - to move forward with your own life.

Quote of The Week

"Some people change us whether we want them to or not. They come into our lives, enter our hearts and we are touched forever. We are never the same after all of the special moments we've shared--from the pool parties to the picnics, from sledding in the parks to the trips to the beach in the summer, and from dinner on Friday nights to the movies on Saturday afternoons. And the moments that mean the most are the priceless ones shared during those outings when we've realized that none of us could have ever truly lived without the other." (me)

And the one that inspired the above:

"There comes a time in your life, when you walk away from all the drama & people who create it. You surround yourself with people who make you laugh, forget the bad, & focus on the good. So love the people who treat you right, pray for the ones who don't. Life is too short to be anything but happy. Falling down is a part of life, getting back up is living."