People Leave Imprints on Our Lives

As the years go by there are things you begin to realize about life. As you grow up and grow older, as you mature and evolve, as you grow and enrich your life experiences, as you open your mind, your heart, and broaden your perspectives you start to acknowledge that the world is not always the beautiful wonderland you wish it to be, nor is it as idyllic, or as welcoming as you once thought it was. In fact, you come to find out that everything you thought about life is a bit more complicated than you want to believe.

Human relationships are the most complicated of all relationships. We fight wars with each other. We love each other, we hate each other, we tolerate each other. Sometimes we connect, and sometimes we conflict. Certain personality types have a way of clashing with different personality types. There are also those personality types that just get you, and you end up drawn to those types of people. I have found that as I've grown older – in both years and knowledge – that I've become more selective in who I share my time with. I'm selective about the people I keep around me. I'm selective as to how much I share with individuals. I know who I can trust with private information, who is worth my time and effort, and who isn't. There are moments when I grow tired of pretending to be nice all the time, because I am not nice every moment of every day. I have my moods and it's not all sunshine and rainbows with me. There are days when I want some time to unravel myself, without the fear of people judging, misunderstanding, or criticizing me.

As your time on this beautiful, chaotic, crazy planet expands, you will bear witness to how peculiar human beings can be. How we can so easily speak a thousand words and make grand plans for ourselves that just as easily evaporate and disappear in a matter of moments. You start to wonder how you can meet a complete stranger and become instant friends with that person at the snap of a finger, but just as quickly you can become mere shadows of acquaintances to those who were, at one point, of the utmost importance to you. Friendships develop and disintegrate in far too much abundance over the course of a person’s lifetime. When that happens, you gain an understanding as to who it is you truly want in your life. It is those people you seek out when you’re having a good time so that you can share in those happy moments with them, and they are also the same friends you search for when you want someone's company, the friends you confide in at your lowest moments. Those people are the ones who understand you without you speaking a single word. With a simple look in your eyes, a nod, and a hug, they just know what it is you need at that moment. Sometimes that is all you really need. Someone to show you unconditional love and support. To remind you that it's okay to be who you are.

The Voice of Beauty Speaks Softly; it Creeps Only into the Most Fully Awakened Souls

Your voice is powerful. Whether your voice is heard through sound or through the written word, your voice holds power. It has the power to persuade. It has the power to wound and intimidate. It has the power to calm and bring peace. Our voice allows us to speak of the things we know. To share our knowledge. To share our passions. To communicate ourselves to other people.

You can use your voice in positive ways. You can use it to help build up a person's character. You can help boost a person's confidence. You can use it to save a life. You can use it to spread inspiring messages of joy and love. Or you can use it in a negative way. You can use it to destroy someone's reputation. You can lie, spread rumors, divulge gossip.  You can be hateful, say cruel and mean things, and damage a person's self-esteem. The way you use your voice is insight into your character. It gives others an idea of the personality type they are dealing with. This just shows how complex and unique a voice can be.

The way we speak often gives a naked or incredibly candid idea of what a person is feeling.  There are visual clues. There is body language: the use of hands, stance, the glare of the eyes, a genuine smile that gives away what a person is feeling. There are physical clues such as when the voice quivers with fear or wavers with sadness. When it pitches with enthusiasm or goes monotone with depression. People can sometimes detect our moods through the tone of our voice after hearing nothing but a simple hello over the phone.  

Our moods can often be picked up in our writing as well, but it's easier to hide how we're feeling when we are using written words. We can think about the words we type out, and we can adjust them to suit what we wish to convey, and give a sense of what we are feeling.

I know that there are those people out there who reject the notion that their voice holds any sort of importance, that they are just one in a sea of many, that regardless of how much they speak up it will never have the power to make a difference. Everyone's voice matters, and everyone has the right to be heard.

The way you use your voice can have a profound effect on someone’s life, so I advise you to use your words and voice wisely while conversing with others.

A Star Falls From the Sky and Into Your Hands

We are all aware of how unpredictable life truly is. There are always going to be high points and low points. Everyone will experience some form of heartbreak. We will all have our failures that weigh us down, but we will also have our victories, and a whole lot of in between moments. Though there are those days that can be a real struggle, where we find it challenging to accomplish anything, it's still incredibly important to do something every single day that motivates you, and moves you closer to your goals. Here are some of the ways I beat back negativity.

My morning ritual starts with a run. Exercise has been shown to boost mood, and that's great when you can't shake away the bad. Exercise clears thoughts by focusing your energy to the task that's laid out in front of you. When you are focused on proper form, or the music playing in your ears, it erases from your brain the other stuff taking up residence in your mind.

Once I make it home, and after eating a wholesome breakfast, I turn on the computer and check my social media feeds for positive quotes and affirmations as well as job boards. As a writer, those job boards show me the companies, magazines, and individuals who are looking to hire writers. That in itself is positive motivation.

Start off with the hard stuff. My day is about writing, programing, and marketing. While putting images up across social media requires very little effort, programming and window shopping requires immense attention to detail. I spend a few hours, daily, searching out new products to promote, but because I am picky about the images I post, an entire day can be wasted just on window shopping. Window shopping forces me to be more aware of how I am managing my time. Window shopping doesn't pay me, but it is a required part of the task that does pay me. It may sound glamorous to shop all day, but I can assure you it actually is quite tedious. Programming an advertisers tag for that product in exchange for money makes it more palatable. Getting that image up for others to see is essential for getting paid.

By beginning my day doing the things I am most anxious about, I end up feeling more accomplished and empowered as the day goes on. When it comes to the articles I am paid to write, the research can bog down my brain. Information overload, and not every bit of information I read is positive. Writing it down in article form helps me clear my mind of the useless junk and clarifies my thoughts.

When I just can't shake negative thoughts, I meditate. It's easy to get lost in a busy routine where there is no time to actually catch my breath. This is not healthy for my body or my mind, and honestly it takes the joy out of everything I am doing. When I feel I am too wound up, I stop, pause for a minute, and take ten deep cleansing breaths. I allow my mind to clean itself of the clutter.

I give thanks for the good things I have in my life right now. I try hard to focus my attention on the now, and force myself not to think too far into the future. 

The Decision is Mine, and I Choose?

There is no such thing as quick money. People who buy into the claims are going to find themselves in for a rude awakening. Get rich quick schemes are designed to benefit the scammer not the person being scammed.

Most people understand free money is not really free.

There are ways to make money outside of traditional work, but they do require the same investment of time as you would expect working in corporate America, if not more, at least initially. On-line work has benefits. It also has drawbacks. You are your own boss, but you have to motivate yourself to work. You are your own success or you are your own failure.

There are plenty of scams on-line, that is absolutely true, but there are also legitimate opportunities out there as well. You just need to learn how to look for them. Any program that offers to tell you the secrets of success if you pay x amount of dollars is not necessarily a scam, but I'm not sure it's absolutely necessary to pay any amount of money to find out on-line success secrets when there are plenty of other resources on-line that will give you this information for free.

Earning an income on-line is not easy, maybe it was during the initial stages of the Internet when content wasn't readily available, but now you have fierce competition with those who are also looking to score bigger incomes in hopes of leaving their nine to five jobs behind. Content is everywhere.

What it takes is drive and motivation. You have to be constant in your work habits. You have to deliver new, daily content. You have to provide value with that content. You have to be persistent. Those who are successful are those who work every day towards their goals.

Curl Up With Your Rawness

Who can resist the wonderful rhythm of a well played guitar? Personally, I surrender to the music. It brings forth peace.

Its message is subtle and evokes powerful feelings. The music doesn’t bother my ears , regardless of how loud I've turned up the volume. There have been days I have tried to drown out the sound of noise, but even at maximum volume the sound doesn't hurt me.

Why is this song so significant? What is it trying to tell me? The opening is not extraordinary, but the words take shape, and flow into an intense message. Maybe it’s the steady increase in the beat that comes the further you get into the song, with powerful high notes and complementing instrumentation.

It could possibly be the way the music changes . It could be one of those songs where no two seconds are the same. The tempo rises, and then it falls, distinguishable, yet subtle in its transitions.

The mood of the lyrics encourages me to delve deep within my being, to find that hidden space down inside me and feel the meaning my heart has attached to them. The lyrics reach out to me just to remind me that they exist.

I can't even count how many times I've replayed a song, the melody scratching the surface of my deepest emotions. I am left feeling emotions I need to be feeling, without looking disturbed myself. The music doesn't leave me feeling negative. On the contrary, I end up feeling insanely centered. Like the world makes sense. Like I'm in a peaceful state of sleep while the world is in crisis. Or like standing in the eye of a violent storm watching the wall of chaos whirl around me, but never getting close enough to harm me.

Stillness engulfs me just as the song is ending, and as the final notes die out, I return to the world, it glares at me again, with its sharpened teeth barred.


Escapism? Isn't that what all art is? How often do we seek out forms of art to distract ourselves? To take us away from the burdens of our existence, just for moments, so that we can enjoy a speck of calm?


Music is a freedom unlike any other. Music cuts the leashes that restrain my mind.



 

Love is a Dangerous Angel

This a personal project I am currently working on. It's still in rough stages, and it probably won't be complete for some time. It's a complex story and a work in progress...

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He let out a low growl, jumping from his seat on the couch. He stared angrily at the man on the screen. His hand tightened around the glass he was holding. His muscles strained as he continued to put more force onto the glass, rage coursing heavy throughout his entire body.

“I am going to kill him.” Logan yelled, shattering the glass he was holding with his bare hand.

Everyone stopped at the angry outburst that had erupted from the young man’s mouth. Now one by one they were turning to face the enraged man before them. He stood glaring menacingly at the man’s image on the screen. Blood streamed down his hand, rivers of blood escaping through his fingers, dripping into pools on the pristine white carpet that he stood upon. Sharp shards of glass were now protruding from the open wounds that had just been inflicted into his hand. If he was in pain he didn’t show it. No, the only emotion he displayed was blind rage.

“Logan...” Shelia started quietly. She wasn’t sure what had triggered his outburst, but now she looked at her son and all she could see was the blood and glass. She wanted to help him. She wanted to run to him and bandage his hand like a mother should. She wanted to take him to a doctor and have them fix him, but when she looked at her son’s face she didn’t dare. Logan was known for his temper, and when his temper flared, she knew it was time to back off.

“He took everything from me,” Logan growled. His hand clenching tighter, allowing the glass to cut deeper into his skin. “He took my life from me. He took her from me. How did this happen?” He demanded. “What did she do to deserve this?”

“Logan, what are you talking about?” Samuel questioned gently. He could see the fury in his son’s eyes, he could hear the hatred in the words he spoke. Samuel was afraid, because for one brief moment he truly believed his son had every intention of killing the man on the screen.

“Him,” Logan hissed, his blood boiling. He could see the many ways he was going to kill Alex. The evil bastard deserved no sympathy as far as he was concerned, and Logan was going to make sure he received none. He was going to hurt Alex, the same way Alex had hurt him and the women he loved.