Happy New Year

I'm not going to start an exercise program with unrealistic goals to lose weight.  A program I will not continue with.  I'm being honest.  I don't need a new year to start that.  I do something every day to be healthy.  To incorporate good habits daily.  Those goals, those baby steps will form habits.

I'm not going to enroll in school to better myself.  I'm already in school.  I'm not going to start a new hobby because if I want to learn something, do something, travel somewhere, explore...........I do it.   It is life. It keeps moving and so should  you.

You don't need a holiday or any special day to start something.  You just start.  Everyday I try and surround myself with encouraging, thought provoking and inspiring things.  I don't care that Steve Harvey made a mistake announcing the Miss Universe winner.  It disgusts me on how we tear people apart in this society.  How we are so enthralled with how many selfies the Kardashians take.  You rarely see encouragement to reach out to others, to help people in your own community.  Has humanity taken a back seat?  

Everyone is worthy of forgiveness.  Everyone is worthy of second chances.  People make mistakes, horrible ones at times, but for some people, who they were then are not who they are now!

The news has become tabloid news and gossip.  More often then not it is always negative, never positive.  There are people who are in and out of the system/jails like it is a country club and we never do anything to try and rehabilitate them or put the fear in them so they never want to return. They just keep working the system.  They should have harsher sentences.  Maybe people will feel safer in their neighborhoods.   There are people who commit a crime one time and they are thrown away for life.  If they have mental issues we should treat it accordingly.  If someone shows remorse, if someone has grown and changed we should probably give them a second chance.

 I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down

Livin' in the hopeless, hungry side of town

I wear it for the prisoner who is long paid for his crime

But is there because he's a victim of the times
~Johnny Cash

There are a few things I came across over the past year that I am glad I saw.  Actually many things, but here are a few:

I Will Fear No Evil~ Less Brown

https://soundcloud.com/musiclover33-2/i-will-fear-no-evil-les-brown


Patty Smith.  I read her book Just Kids and it was great.  Not a big fan of her music, but I love how she tells a story.  I am getting ready to read her next book, M Train.  Here is an interview I came across.  Here is a speech she did "Advice To The Young"  Anyone can use it really.  Just go after what you want:

https://vimeo.com/57857893

Asher Moss and Melodi Meadows are artist.  I would love to hang out with them and just absorb their energy.  Check out their video below:

Kids on The Run on Vimeo

https://vimeo.com/125259757

I hope all who reads this has a great New Year's.  I hope all who reads this has peace and that something on this page.....one of the links a word... anything inspires you.  Always learn.  Always grow.  Always explore.

Food For Thought

Inspiration that I've collected from the Internet:


Class. Respect. Honest. Emotion. Defense. Loyalty_The traits of a real man.  Don't get confused.

Your successes and your failures are the result of your own mind.  You choose which way the road takes you.  No one else.

Characterize people by their actions.  Don't let their words fool you.

Your desire to succeed needs to be stronger than your fear of failure.

Local minded people will never understand global minded goals.

Promote what you love instead of bashing what you hate

Shake Your Life Up A Bit

You get to a certain age or point in life when you take a look at who is around you.  You have to say to yourself, are these people giving me the best, positive energies to  make me a better person?  You should always want to be better than who you are now.  You always want to continue to learn, express and grow.  When your in your comfort zone, you are not at your best.

Stay away from people who complain.  Be around people who like to make a difference.  Ones who do something or write something or change something to make a difference, no matter how small. We are conditioned to believe that you have to have a 9-5, live in a cookie cutter neighborhood type of life.  If you step out of that mindset, be bold or daring you are looked at like a freak.

 

There are a lot of things discover in this life.  There are a lot of things you can do or be.  Reinvent yourself.  Reinvent a room in your house.  There are so many things that you can learn and do that will change you. Choose a different hair style, outfit.  Stepping out of the same old can renew you like you cannot believe.

You don't have to have a pile of money. Travel.  Even if it is walking or biking to explore your neighborhood.  Drive.  Take a weekend away or a few hours away off the beaten path.  Read, something out of the ordinary. Write, to someone, yourself or an opinion on topic on the Internet.

"Some people die at 25 and aren't buried until they're 75"-Benjamin Franklin

Art Journal

I LOVE art journaling.  Once a month friends and I get together with food and wine and create amazing pages and share ideas and talents.  

One of the things we like to do is make our own books.  Sometimes we will do a fat book challenge and anyone who wants to can make a page to add to it.  We usually pick a theme.  Once we have a count of how many are going to participate, say 10 people, we each make 10 pages then get together and bind them.  Here is an example of one that was done:

I love having a book with pages from my artist friends.  So inspiring.  These can be done on cardboard or water color paper.  You can apply a gel medium over painted pages to give a leather feel.  If you don't have binding equipment you can always put pages together by folding them in half, like a book, and securing them with ribbons or yarn by poking holes in the crease.  I usually do two holes in the center spaced about an inch apart.

I came across this picture on the web.  I printed it out and I pasted inside one of my art journals.  I randomly color the flowers with bright colors.  

I never really liked keeping a traditional journal.  I hated spewing negative thoughts on pages.  It is good to get it out, it really is, but I was always worried that it would get found.  The reason I am crazy over art journaling is because I can add images or paint abstract on my pages and write messages.  

I have several of Sabrina Ward Harrison's books.  She is one of hundreds of people who inspire me.  I do similar things with my pages. Here are some pages from her books.  

Happy Journaling!  

Bug Love

Better Yourself

I feel that as a person you should try and better yourself.  Try new things.  Be kinder.  Surround yourself with people who are more achieved than you so that you will strive for better things. So you don't sit stagnant in life.  Learn.  Grow.  Move.

As we get older we tend to get into the same old circle...........go to work, come home, sit on the couch.  Watch horrible reality shows that tear people's lives apart.  This is what some of our parents did, the majority anyway.  We tend to complain about people, things, gossip.  Really this is a wasted energy, a cycle that needs to be broken.

I see this at family/friends events such as cookouts, gatherings.  People stand around complain, talk about this, that.  No one talks about ideas, how to change things and if they do it stays right there.........that "talk about" stage.  Get people together and play volley ball or flag football with the kids.  Do people do that anymore?

Go make something happen.  Go make someone's day brighter.  Reach out to someone who needs it. Travel.  There is so much to see. Find your passion, no matter how big or small.   Forgive.  Find a club or a meet-up with people who like the same thing you do.  A cooking class, wine group, arts, movies.  Can't find one?  Create one.  Learn something new; a language, how to play an instrument, how to change oil or buy stock.

You will be surprised how much you will grow by doing something you normally wouldn't do!

Inspiration

Inspiration comes from many places; books, movies, songs, people.

I watched a movie on Netflix sometime ago, Into The Wild.  This is based on a true story.  It was one of those movies that stayed with me, not only because it was  a true story and the main character died, but because of the inspiration that came from it.  If you haven't seen it check it out, or Google his name.......Chris McCandles.  It is also a book.

Of course, without going to the extreme of what he did, I believe that you should not remain stagnate in this life.  There is so much to do, learn, see.  You can explore in your own neighborhood and find something new or learn something new.  You don't have to have money to do this.  The library is a vast resource of information.  

You cannot grow if you don't expand your mind and fear, it will paralyze you.   When learning something makes you uncomfortable, do it.  Push.  Because in the end, once you do what you think you can't do, it is an amazing feeling to experience in itself.

 

Very True

Focus your energies on positive things.