it is what it is

There was a time this year that I stopped blogging for reasons I will not disclose here.  I took the blog down and tucked it away and allowed myself to be computer free. I lived life outside of this virtual world.

Then my son was looking for something and asked why the blog had disappeared. He wanted to show a friend my blog.

So here are the facts:

I blog for my children, my family, and my very special friends who are my chosen family. This blog will be my legacy to them. Long after I am gone, they will be able to hear my voice and remember just how much I loved them during this journey called life. They will always be able to search for their pictures and their stories here. If they are dealing with some difficulty, they can always come here for a virtual hug from me.This blog is for them.

I write for the people in my life that I care about and no one else. If someone happens to find my blog, then so be it. I hope you find some inspiration here! If you are reading this and are my friend, welcome. If you are my family, born or chosen, I love you. Always know that this blog is a loving letter to *you* all ~ to those I cherish with all my heart and all my mind and all my soul.

No more. No less.
This blog is for nothing nor no one else.

To my children:
I have loved you since before you were born.  I have wanted you since I was as young as five and played house with my friends and pretended to be the mom. My hopes and dreams were fulfilled when you were given to me as a gift of life. I will be forever grateful for the opportunity to have raised you and loved you. Always know that you are special and never allow anyone else to tell you who you are or what you should want. You are perfect just the way you are and deserve all of the happiness this world offers.
I love you,
Mom

To my family:
Ditto ~ except for the part "before you were born" because some of you are older than me. HA!  ;)

Love you all!!!

to my children

To my children ~ today I dedicate my post to you: The most courageous young adults I know. You are kind and considerate, caring and loving. You see the world around you and try your best to never hurt anything or anyone in it. You are intelligent and funny. You love life and living. You are the beats of my heart.

I want you both to know that it takes a lot of courage to grow up and become who you really are... and you both have done just that. Never allow the world to tell you anything about yourself. Don't allow the world to decide who you should be or what you should do in your life. Always trust your core. Life is full of twists and turns. Ride the twisties full throttle!

Remember, the ups and downs of life's rollercoaster ride may have you screaming in fear sometimes. It is just part of living and breathing every day.  Ride it anyway.

I want you to know that you are beautiful human beings for who you are on the inside and out... just as you are in this very moment. Don't ever allow the world to convince you that you have to change in any way. Never compromise your core for anyone or anything.

I am so very proud to be your mother. My world is rich because of you. Please, always be *you*. Always choose what is best for *you*. Never pretend to be something you are not. It takes courage to live your life out loud. Live it anyway. It takes courage to not care about what other think of you. Don't care anyway. It takes courage to be true to your hopes and dreams. Be true to them anyway.

It takes courage to stand up for what you believe. Stand up anyway because anything else will suffocate you.  Remember this one rule in life: If you feel you can't breathe, leave.

Live your life flying, not dying.  Love your life every waking moment you are fortunate enough to experience it. This life is the only one you'll ever have and you deserve all the good things that this world has to offer.

Love yourself most of all. It is when we love ourselves that we can then look outward, and love the rest of the world with open hearts. When your heart is overflowing with love, you will see the world and the people in it differently. You can feel their pain and heartache and understand why they act the way they do. You won't have to react to them. You will simply be able to love them. Understanding brings about great love for others, no matter how they treat you.  Always, always, always ~ love them anyway.

That is when you are truly free... when you can love unconditionally.
Be *you*.  Love *you*. Have the courage to choose *you* first.
I love you more than the love my heart can hold... always and forever,
Mom

“Be who you are and say what you feel 

because those who mind don't matter and 

those who matter don't mind.”

~Dr. Seuss

you have the power ~ the choice to use it is all yours

Think you've got it bad?

♥ you don't have to be a rich man ♥

When you find something that matters
In that moment you will see
Far beyond our selfish wonders
Love is simple, love is free ♥

all a pet ever wants or needs...

... is to sit at your feet and love you...

Oh... and playtime!  lol  ;)

I LOVE MY GIRLS!!!

are you living the life you want to live?

Written by:  Les Kertay, 
The Moments Project


Today, I want to ask you a question: are you living the life you want to live?  I believe that it’s not only possible for you to live that life; I think it’s your responsibility.  So I’m going to ask you again: are you living the life you want to live?


Hold that question for a bit, and let’s come back to it.  To get back to it, there are three things I want to talk about.  The first is that the world is insane, the second is that it’s possible to live a more sane life, and the third is that there is a way to get to that saner life.

But in the end, we’ll come back to the question, are you living the life you want to live?

Our Conception of Perception is a Deception

‎"When we see somebody clearly, there is an absence of judgment and an absence of emotional reaction. We stop perceiving the person as being right or wrong, or good or bad. We just see them in totality. We can see their fears. We can see their emotional needs. We can understand what is motivating them in that moment to act the way they do without any additional meaning.

The power the non-judgmental observer gains is that others actions or words do not affect them. Even if somebody is responding negatively or in a way that would normally irritate you, seeing somebody clearly allows you to observe the other person without getting emotionally involved.

So how do we actually “take off the glasses” as we interact with others? First you need to acknowledge that you have them on. This requires letting go of your ego and the need to be right. This is an exercise of being willing to let go of your judgment of others."

passion is what makes life worth living!

Never settle for a life without it...

serendipity

     

♥ always live honestly ♥

I believe we are born knowing who we are at our core...
Then life happens.

Our childhoods are spent living the expectations of others.  Our school years we try to conform to fit in. There are norms in society that we try to adopt just so the world we live in will accept us with open arms. Easy. We try to take the easy path in life so that we don't disappoint others; those we love and those who love us. We get to a point that we would do almost anything for the most important people in our lives. We try to live up to their images of who we are and what they think we should be.

And in the process, we get lost. Our core begins to put up doors to secure who we are so that we can protect those we love. We begin to compromise. We go through life thinking it will be ok in the long run because we've been told that life is just that - compromise. Slowly, we give up a piece of ourselves here and then there to make others happy, to make their life what they want it to be. We don't want to hurt anyone. We want to make everyone comfortable. Safe. Secure. We want to give others their peace.

The problem with this is that eventually our core will cry out for it's own freedom. We will begin to crack under the constant pressure of having to pretend to be something we're not. Maybe we have gained economic freedom, but we have given up our emotional freedom. We have compromised to the point that we can't breathe. This is not living, it's existing.

Then we make the difficult choice to choose ourselves over everyone else in our lives and our worst fears begin to come true. We lose our best friends, our loved ones, and our families. We lose the carefully crafted identity we built in the falseness of compromise. We begin to live honestly and in the process the rest of the world is shocked and disappointed and hurt. We have hurt others simply trying to be who we were meant to be from our beginning. It is exactly what we tried to prevent our entire lives as we lived falsely within everyone else's perception of a perfect reality.

We cannot give someone else happiness. Happiness comes from the inside. Once we discard the fake person everyone else expected us to be and start living who we really are, as we need to be ~ there are a few absolutes that will happen:

You will lose some friends.
Remember, that simply means they were never your friends to begin with.

You may lose some family.
Remember, that simply means that family cares more about their own happiness than yours. It is their problem, their loss... not yours.

You may lose some comfort.
Remember that in times of growth, there is always pain that comes along with the new buds of living life from your inside out. Feel the pain and embrace it because it means you are on your way to a life filled with what your core needs.

You may find yourself on uneven ground emotionally.
Remember to breathe. When you feel down or up or anything in the middle, recognize these are all wonderful feelings to be experienced and loved and lived through. Without the horrible depths of despair, you will never know the wonderful heights of extreme joy.

You may think your life is now unstable. You have given up your stability.
Remember that stability is one of life's falsehoods. There is no such thing as a sure thing. We can't predict what will happen tomorrow. We can't predict today. All of the stable things you work for might be gone in an instant and then you will be starting over again from nothing. It is a cycle in this life we live on earth.  We live, we lose, we rebuild.  That is life.

You will feel a huge sense of relief to be able to live from your core without the restrictions of others. Embrace all of who you are and run with it! Feel that giddy sense of not having to hide. Feel that wonderful freedom that comes with being able to be who you are and not having to care if anyone wants you, likes you, needs you, or loves you.  "Anyone" doesn't matter when you want to be who you are; when you like who you are; when you don't need anyone but yourself to be happy; and when you love yourself enough to let go of anything or anyone who doesn't love you for who you are at the depths of your soul.

And for those who do love you but don't want the *you* that you are, or they want that person to stay hidden because it doesn't fit into their world or reality ~~~ just know that it isn't a loss to walk away and live in your own world.  Embrace your own reality. It is freedom. It is relief.  It is peace.  It is time for you to come out of your cocoon that protected you for so long.  It is time to spread your wings and fly.

You can love others without having to live in their world.
You can love yourself enough to walk away from theirs.
You should love everyone enough to never lie to anyone about what you need.

Always always always ~ choose *you*...  love *you*...  be *you*....
In living your life honestly, you will give yourself the gift of peace.
In loving others without giving up who you are in the process ~
You will live honestly, with integrity...
It will never be a lie for you when you live from your core.

The courage that takes, to live honestly, is the hardest thing to do in life.
Do it anyway.

Be who you were born to be... and love every minute of it.
Love will expand and find you, when you love yourself enough to allow your core to breathe... trust me.

Live without regrets, no matter what the rest of the world thinks.
I am so very proud of you... always have been, always will be.
Be excited for the future that is open to you.  It is full of all limitless possibilities.

Remember that life is dynamic, not static.  The ONLY constant is change.
Roll with it.

And, finally, remember this last thought:

You deserve to be loved
NOT in spite
of who you are ~


BUT


because
of who you are.
Just as you are...

Never settle for someone who thinks that you are imperfect; those that say they love you in spite of your imperfections.  Fuck that shit. People who think that way don't deserve you.

*You* are perfect, just the way you are.

You always have been.

The person who deserves you, who deserves to be loved by you, will see all of you and love all of you AND want all of you... every perfect part of your core.  You will never have to hide or be anything but *you* when you are with this person.  It will be as easy as breathing.  Natural.  And you will love them the same way... every part of them.

Never be with someone who wants you to change who you are and never be with someone you think needs to change who they are, in ANY way.  Never. It is a constant struggle and a losing battle that is unnecessary in life. 

Love does not have to be work. 
Love does not have to be hard. 
Love does not have to be full of heart ache and sacrifice. 
Love does not mean giving up who you are for any other person.

Love does not mean you have to be with the person you love...  you can love them always anyway.  Sometimes love isn't enough.  Just because... 

You can continue to love who they are, who they were with you when you were together, what they gave you, and how you both grew during that time.  You can love all of someone until you take your last breath simply because that love you have inside will never die.  It is theirs for forever. Your love doesn't have to end where someone else's does... it can exist without receiving love back. Cherish it... embrace it... love forever.

Remember, it is always worth the risk to love... or else you haven't lived.  Live and love and laugh!  Enjoy the moment and don't think about what's next.

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails." ~Never

Love without expectations. Love unconditionally.
Forget the rest... just give and receive love.

Not everything I write will be pertinent to what you are going through today.
Tuck it away in the recesses of your mind for another day and let it go.
Life is funny that way.  We are all on the same path but at different points in the journey.

I love you... just the way you are.... always have and always will.
Forever and ever.
More than you can fanthom.
Until the end of time... ♥

try it... you may like it

come to the edge

“Come to the edge, he said. 

They said: We are afraid. 

Come to the edge, he said. 

They came. 

He pushed them and they flew.”

~Guillaume Apollinaire

don't stop dreaming

stop... just stop

the shovelhead whisperer

Thank you James!!! For everything... :)