"i just want you to know that you're very sepcial and the only reason i'm telling you is that i don't know if anyone else has"

“So, I guess we are who we are for alot of reasons. And maybe we'll never know most of them. But even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them.”

I recently finished the book, The Perks of Being a Wallflower and LOVED it. I especially loved this quote because it explained that everyone is who they are right now because of their past. This can be discouraging at times. If past events have been tragic or difficult, it can seem impossible to move past them. However, as the quote says, the future is at our fingerprints. WE have the power to interpret future events the way we want to and to do things WE want to do that we haven't done yet.

Every situation we come across is neutral.. It becomes good or bad when we analyze and evaluate it. Since I've realized this, it has been my priority to interpret every situation positively. Obviously there will be some obstacles that I get hurt by and wish didn't happen, but I hope that I will at least afterwards realize that it happened to teach me a certain lesson and that I've become a stronger person for it. Simply acknowledging that you overcame an obstacle and have learned something means that you are taking future events and using them to make you a better person. 

No two people see a situation the same; everyone has their own reality. It's our job not to conform to others' reality, but to delve into each situation subjectively, striving to see the love and the growth that is in each one. If we head to the future with this in mind, life will seem less daunting, and you'll realize that you CAN get through anything.

sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.

I just finished Marilyn Monroe's autobiography and absolutely loved it. I gained so much insight into her life and her inner thoughts, which never failed to fascinate me. I admire her view of beauty and how she wasn't concerned with the size of her clothes, but with her inner beauty and her fight to overcome the constant obstacles that were thrown her way. Commence the youtube marathon of her interviews...

My favorite lines:

"I daydreamed chiefly about beauty. I dreamed of myself becoming so beautiful that people would turn to look at me when I passed."

"I didn't mind being thought dumb. I knew I wasn't."

"A strong man doesn't have to be dominate towards a woman. He doesn't match his strength against a woman weak with love for him. He matches it against the world."

"Most men judge your importance in their lives by how much you can hurt them, not by how happy you can make them."

"The real lover is the man who can thrill you by just touching your hand or smiling into your eyes- or by just staring into space."

"I've thought about women. Their jealousy had little do with me. It comes out of their realizing their own shortcomings. Men have told me a lot about women- how lame their love-making often is, how they mistake hysteria for passion and nagging for devotion. Looking at me, women think I'm different than they are in such matters, and this makes them angry."

the days are long, but the years are short.

I just finished the book, The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin.  It's all about Gretchen's journey to find more happiness in her daily life.  She sets resolutions each month for a year, determined to figure out what exactly she can work on and change in her attitude/habits to make her life more fulfilling and memorable.  Even though I wouldn't have the same goals as her if I made my own "happiness project", I found the book very inspiring and motivational.  Here are some key points I found in her book that especially struck me:

• "My life wasn't going to change unless I made it change."

• "Look for happiness under your own roof."

• Gretchen's Twelve Commandments: Be Gretchen, Let it go, Act the way I want to feel, Do it now, Be polite and be fair, Enjoy the process, Spend out, Identify the problem, Lighten up, Do what ought to be done, No Calculation, There is only love

• "I wanted to change my life without changing my life, by finding more happiness in my own kitchen."

• "Happy people are more altruistic, more productive, more helpful, more likable, more creative, more resilient, more interested in others, friendlier, and healthier."

• "... my mother made me feel that nothing was insurmountable if I did what I knew ought to be done, little by little."

• "We often feel because of the way we act."

• "I couldn't change anyone else... I could only work on myself."

• "What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while."

• "By being happy myself, I was better able to try to make other people happier."

• "Hugging relieves stress, boosts feelings of closeness, and even squelches pain."

• "it isn't goal attainment but the process of striving after goals- that is, growth- that brings happiness."

• "There is no love, only proofs of love."

• "If something is worth doing, it's worth doing badly."

• "If I can enjoy the present, I don't need to count on the happiness that is (or isn't) waiting for me in the future."

• "To eke out the happiness from an experience, we must anticipate it, savor it as it unfolds, express happiness, and recall a happy memory."

• "I needed to acknowledge to myself what I enjoyed, not what I wished I enjoyed."

• "I think by knowing who we are as people and by being ourselves, we can start making the world better."

• "There are no 'do overs' and some things aren't going to happen. It does make me a little sad sometimes. I just have to embrace what it is. :)"

• ".. look at those things that do have the beauty to you now and look at them more and more. Everything has its own beauty. Some appeal to us more than others."

• "It's all about living in the moment and appreciating the smallest things. Surrounding yourself with things that inspire you and letting go of the obsessions that want to take over your mind."

• "When the waves swell up and get rough, you have the memories of the times you were happy."

• "Studies show that if you have five or more friends with whom to discuss an important matter, you are far more likely to describe yourself as 'very happy'."

• "Do good, feel good."

• "One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy."

• "Don't expect it to last forever. Everything ends and that's okay."

• "Imagine the eulogy: how do I want to be remembered."

• "Life's too short to save your good china or your good lingerie or your good ANYTHING for later because truly, later may never come."

• "This is my one and only life."

• "There are times in the lives of most of us when we would have given all the world to be as we were but yesterday, though that yesterday had passed over us appreciated and unenjoyed."- William Edward Hartpole Lecky

• "Gratitude brings freedom from envy, because when you're grateful for what you have, you're not consumed with wanting something different or something more."

• "Love proves itself by deeds, so how am I to show my love? Great deeds are forbidden to me. The only way I can prove my love is by... every little sacrifice, every glance and word, and the doing of the least actions of love."

• "It's more selfless to act happy. It takes energy, generosity, and disciplined to be unfailingly lighthearted, yet everyone takes the happy person for granted."

• "Life is way too short NOT to follow your passion."

• "The things that go wrong often make the best memories."

• "Always say hello."

• "A small child typically laughs more than four hundred times each day, and an adult- seventeen times."

This is definitely a book worth buying and reading ASAP.. If you don't think you have the time for that, at least soak in the points that stuck out to me- such obvious, but important lessons to remember through life.

when bad things happen to good people.

While I was on the retreat, one of the books that I read was When Bad Things Happen to Good People by Harold Kushner. 

To me, When Bad Things Happen to Good People is simply saying that God cannot control what happens to us, but if we let Him, He can control how we deal with it.  Everything doesn't happen or a reason, but we can find meaning personally in everything so we can create opportunites to grow through it. By giving suffering meaning and reason, we are able to serve God and teach others to be better people. 

- entry from my journal




Impactful quotes from the book:

Ask yourself "if this happened to me, what do I do now, and who is there to help me do it?"

We pray to you, O God, for strength, determination, and willpower, to do instead of just to pray, to become instead of merely to wish.

God does not send us the problem; He gives us the strength to cope with it.

Love is not the admiration of perfection, but the acceptance of an imperfect person with all his imperfections, because loving and accepting makes us better and stronger.

the abc's of genuine happiness.

Accept your reality.

Be present. Be bold.

Create something exciting.

Drink plenty of water. Dance.

Exercise daily. Eat fresh foods.

Feel your emotions. Face fear.

 Go outside and observe nature. Give.

Hug often. Help others.

Ignite your passions.

Jump through your comfort zone.

Kiss passionately. Keep looking forward.

Laugh. Love. Learn to let go.

Meditate daily. Make goals.

Never give up on what you want.

Own a pet. Observe beauty.

Pray. Paint. Play an instrument.

Quit a bad habit. Quiet your mind.

Read. Relax. Reinvent yourself.

Smile. Sleep. Simplify.

Take power naps. Talk wisely.

Unleash your strengths.

Vent. Visualize your dreams.

Walk. Write. Watch the sun set.

Xerox your smiling face.

Yell less. Yield to your thoughts.

Zap negativity.

“the more that you read, the more things you will know. the more that you learn, the more places you'll go.”

When I was little, I LOVED reading. I was constantly reading a book, even at school when I was supposed to be doing other assignments. I ran into my fourth grade teacher the other day and she asked me if I still loved reading as much as I used to. It made me realize that I never read like I used to anymore. My goal from now on is to start reading again for fun and not just for school. And to actually make time for it. Because in life, it's what you don't do that you regret, not what you do. And who wants to go through life just going through the motions and skipping out on what they really enjoy?

If anyone has any good books to recommend, definitely comment on this!