Losing A Shining Star

You don't need to know someone in person for them to bless your life.Robin Williams truly did inspire all of our imaginations and touch our hearts. He became the characters he played in a way very few are able to.. He made us believe in magic, and reminded us that we should never stop dreaming, that we should always keep a sense of child like wonder when looking at the world. He encouraged us not to take ourselves too seriously and that it was OK to be weird and wacky - We could be who ever we wanted to be! .

Sometimes it takes death to remind us we are alive. I think it's amazing to see so much love everywhere for a true shining star.. And I hope that perhaps it will encourage people to reach out to those around them, to see each other as fellow humans without judging with labels or division, and to connect more; to reach out and offer support, or to ask for help.

RIP to a wonderful soul, thank you for everything you taught us  .

"You know what music is? God’s little reminder that there’s something else besides us in this universe; harmonic connection between all living beings, every where, even the stars." Robin Williams

When We Write, We Come Alive

It is often said that when a writer writes, he/she writes from a place far deeper than the limits of the conscious mind.

Somewhere between the realms of the heart and the dwelling of the soul, a magical land nestles on the horizon; Between valleys and mountains, rivers and fields. It exists in our imaginations, but its promise is sweet like the apple of temptation held to our wet lips, crisp and juicy… dangerous. Real.

When we write, we sit and let our hearts reach the page the way rivers reach the ocean.

They rush and run, a steady flow, determined, always knowing where it’s headed but not the route it must take. Nothing can stop its course. In the same way, nothing can stop the words from spilling from inside of us and out into the world.

We draw our words like swords from a place of dreams, desires, nightmares and fears. Truths so raw they threaten to break us open as they burst through the barriers of our physical form. Our souls may bleed a thousand deaths as we dictate its longings onto the page as it settles and sets into a little piece of its own history.

Our mind will leave us and in its place an empty space, void of rationality and sense.. An urgency, a passion that reaches the very depths of our heart and begs to be etched onto the souls of those who read it.

Words are manifestations of ourselves. They are symbolic representations of the many truths and desires  which lurk inside each and every one of us.

They force their way out through hurried pens and scrambled fingers on keys. They pour like liquid gold out from under the places where we’ve kept them buried like hidden treasure. The unanswered questions of our own existence kept like hostages of our souls.

They bleed from our wounds, our hearts, our ink-filled veins.

Stirred from the bottom of our engorged hearts we scrape letters, smudged with tears and sweat and heartache. Signed with blood we write with poisoned ink, our pained revenges and our bittersweet goodbyes to old lovers and friends.

We lie naked and exposed, wrapped in the silken robes of stories told and secrets yet to be revealed. We let our hands gently reach out in the dark for others who understand that our words are our most precious gift. They are to be hidden in hand-carved ivory boxes, wrapped with satin and ribbons and delivered in the dead of the night, to be opened by those who’s hearts beat with the same gentle rhythm as our own.

We savour words as if each succulent morsel was crafted from the finest sugar-spun delicacy, melting on our lips and our minds. Their sweetness lingering and dripping from our souls like drizzled honey.

We caress old books, their spines weak and frayed. We touch them like old lovers, who’s every curve we know like our own. Yet each time we trace our fingers along their worn edges, it feels like the first time, tense with excitement and eager to unfold the promises within.

We swim amongst sentences like drowning men, off long lost ships, swirling and sinking within the rough seas of our minds. We cast nets for feelings and scramble for their meaning , ripping open maps containing long lost lands. And when we can no longer find our way, we rely on the quiet wisdom within and let it guide us, shaking pen in hand, to steer us home.

We find heaven on earth as we sit and breathe life onto blank pages; Our art is our words, our instruments our pens and the medium our hearts.

Choose Love, Not Fear.

The world seems so full of fear.. Our country's leaders are fearful of each other, Religions are fearful of each other, Races are fearful of each other, people are fearful of each other. The media promotes fear..of terrorism, of extremism, of the drunk, the insane, the poor, the rich, the incapacitated, the skinny, the fat, the powerful, the weak. We are driven by fear. We are taught fear... and we are encouraged to act based on fear.

We must fear each other, we must fear ourselves.

Fear has become an epidemic which has spread across the planet and holds it in a vice like grip.

But it doesn't have to be like this. There are only two states in which we can exist: Fear and Love. Fear keeps us small and keeps us hostile to one another. But Love opens our eyes and unites people, forging bonds, giving power to people who feel powerless, offering hope to those who feel hopeless. There IS a reason to keep going, to believe in the beauty of the world. LOVE on a grand scale is what the world needs.

Ignore the media trying to make us hate each other, Ignore the leaders of the world trying to fight each other, ignore the whispers at work or school or on the street telling you to hate someone because they are this colour or this gender or this way or that way.

We can choose to rise above the fear and the anger and the hatred, and we can choose to come from a place of love and acceptance and compassion.

There is nothing more powerful than the unified power of people with passion and purpose coming from a place of love.

Act now. Make Love your revolution. Spread it like wildfire, shout it from rooftops, ignore the fear and focus on love. For yourself, for each other, for the world and for everyone in it, regardless of our 'differences'. We're all human, we're all struggling, we're all capable of love. We need love to have a voice on a grand scale, not fear. Help be that voice. The world needs it, the world needs you.

The Power of Words

Language is so powerful. The words we use hold so much weight and are loaded with energy which can either be directed positively or negatively, depending on our choice. 

Words carry a life force, a vibration which resonates with us at a deep, soul-felt level. The right words, used with the right intentions can transform you and change you, lift your mood and raise you up. However language which holds derogative or negative connotations, used in an offensive manner can bring you, and others around you, down and create wounds, cutting like swords. 

People who flippantly use negative or derogative terminology often, will subconsciously carry the weight of those words and their energy will be lowered. 
Those who speak positively, offering compliments and using uplifting language will, on a vibrational level, invite good energy in their lives. Much like the frequency of our thoughts, our language can alter our perspective on the world and therefore our experiences..

Next time you go to complain or bitch or moan.. stop yourself and instead find something positive to say. You might find this one small change can create a huge difference in your life as the less and less negatives you notice and point out, the less they seem to exist. 

If you're looking for the good, you'll find it. Your world just might transform. 
As the old saying goes...'If you haven't got anything nice to say, don't say anything at all' - The world needs more hope, inspiration and more compliments, not more complaining, insulting and hurting.

Words are powerful. Choose them wisely. They have the power to save lives... or to ruin them. The choice is yours. <3

"I am, by calling, a dealer in words; and words are, of course, the most powerful drug known to mankind" Rudyard Kipling

Write Your Own Path to Happy

You are the sum of your experiences.

So they say.

We are told that we are a part-nurtured, part-natured walking product of everything we’ve been through and everything we believe to be true within and without of ourselves. We are a collection of memories, subconscious influences and belief systems which gradually mold us into the folks we are today.

We are warned that we carry the burden of all the unkind words and unfair judgments that we have ever received, that we harbor all our previous moments of personal anguish, and that we embody all the false hopes and misguided truths which we have learned and which we must un-learn in order to find true happiness.

However…

… are we not, therefore, the product of all of our positive experiences too? Are we not carrying around the satisfaction of every heartfelt compliment and word of encouragement?

Are we not resonating with every kind smile, every yet-to-be-realized dream and every moment of pure joy which linger inside of us, waiting to be recalled and re-lived to remind us of how amazing we really are?

I believe that for every breakdown, there is a breakthrough. For every put-down, there is a great big hoist-up, and for every thunderstorm, there is a rainbow that follows.

In essence, we are strong, we are determined and we are hopeful. At our core, we believe that there is always something to aim for, be that true love, contentment… success… or heaven. We are unified in our common pursuit for more, for better, for what we feel we deserve.

For every insult you endured, I can bet you have received a compliment. For every rejection you survived, you have achieved some form of success, and for every time you forgot how to believe in yourself, you were shocked by the realization that you had more faith than you ever gave yourself credit for. For every time you have been lost… you have also been found.

You always picked yourself up and carried on. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t be here now.

We dwell on the times we fell, we lost and we were hurt. We hold on to our wounds like battered reminders of our failings — anti-trophies of our battles and defeats. But what of all the many times we smiled, we won and we saved ourselves, over and over again?

Where are our proud medals of personal success and gold-starred acknowledgements of our sweet victories and triumphs?

We are resilient and strong, and it’s about time we remembered this. We should be laying wreaths at the altars of the beautiful days we have lived.

I choose to let myself be the person I am, and the person I am proud of becoming. I choose to remember the sheer number of times my breath has been stolen by sunsets and sunrises, the oceans and mountains.

I choose to be influenced by the kindness of strangers who have continuously shined out to me like a beacon of hope in the chaos of humanity.

I choose not to be broken by the words which went against me, but instead choose to be strengthened by thepower of those which lifted me up and filled my heart with hope and my soul with joy.

I have decided to be carried by the river of love which runs through me, not by the fickle breeze of judgment and contempt which, at some stage, blows amongst us all.

Our whole lives are based on choice, it is what set us apart from other animals. We all have souls that need to survive but the difference is, we have a choice; we don’t have to just survive, we can live, we can thrive and we can be inspired.

We can choose what to leave behind and what no longer serves us. We have a privilege and, therefore, a right to be able to carry with us only that which benefits us — be it memories, friends, lovers or experiences.

“How we feel about ourselves, the joy we get from living, ultimately depends directly on how the mind filters and interprets everyday experiences. Whether we are happy depends on inner harmony, not on the controls we are able to exert over the great forces of the universe.”

~ Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Why should we carry the responsibility of the burden of our pasts when we can choose to leave it behind?

Let’s try to take only with us the softness, the warmth and the kindness that each of us has and will continue to experience, and be  more selective with the past we choose to carry; therefore, the life we choose to live.

If I am the sum of my experiences, then I choose to be built out of the multitudes of dreams that reside inside my heart and the many sunny days that I have woken up to.

I choose to be a product of all the magical times that my soul has connected with another’s, and the plethora of smiles I have received from strangers. I choose to be a grand medley of the times I have loved others and been loved myself.

I choose to embody the sum of the parts of me constructed from perseverance, determination and hope, rather than an amalgamation of my memories of fear and shame.

My self-confidence is more reliant on how I choose to see myself, than how others choose to see me.

My self-belief is dependent on the importance I place on my own dreams, not the willingness of others to support them.

The love I have for myself is home-grown and self-appointed and is based  on the gradual collection of experiences in which I have taken growth and strength as an outcome, not self-pity.

{Photo via pinterest.com}

We have two options in this short and sweet life of ours: We can blame others for who or where we are today, or we can take responsibility for our own happiness. We are the lead character in the story of our lives… Select the plot you want, drop what you don’t. The rest is fantasy.

It’s true that we are the sum of our experiences… but only those we choose to cherish. Remember the good and forget the rest.

Life’s too short not to.

Poem: Leaving the city behind...

Gentle sun kissed mornings

That pull you from your sleep

Bright-eyed and moon-hugged.

The wet grass glistens

As if it were an ocean of diamonds

And the sky, heavy with mist, 

Holds the promise of a brand new day

Moments of stillness and peace

Broken only by birdsong,

The gentle rumble of farm trucks

And the soft whisper

Of the breeze through trees

Leaving the city buzz

And the electricity of life

To discover the quiet joys

Of empty fields and still hills.

To experience the quiet wisdom

Of sun-drenched mountains,

Is to find peace 

And another world

Within the one we know. 

Beautiful when naked: revealing our inner selves

We wear masks. 

We are afraid of who we really are and what people will think of us. We often walk around with painted faces and disguised truths so that we may be accepted. So that the world might think we are normal, just like everyone else. So that we fit in

We have become so adept at cunning deceptions, that we are living in a fantasy land of characters, all dressed up and script written. People see what we let them see. We show people the sides of us we think they will like, the personality traits we think will make us accepted.

We are afraid of reality, vulnerability and ‘weakness’. But real strength comes from knowing yourself truly, in all your perfect imperfection; your flawed glory, and being OK with that.  

I can’t play make believe with a society who deems it unacceptable to stand out from the crowd, and by this, I don’t mean wearing bright clothes, or being eccentric. By this I mean from feeling and showing emotions and questioning things, expressing myself fully and openly.

To love yourself in all your aspects is to accept yourself for everything you really are; your shadows and your light, your strengths and your weaknesses. Awareness of who you are is the most beautiful aspect of human life.

Awareness and vulnerability is the real strength of character and says more about a person than the symmetry of their face or the clothes they wear.

Reality is sexy and truth is an aphrodisiac; Taking off your clothes is one thing, but to take off your mask and show your true self is the most erotic strip tease; the soul shines and is more desirable than the flesh that is exposed.

Let’s take off our masks and reveal our naked truth, in all its gorgeous glory.