Forest of Rain

Understand that, the prisons you've built are of your own design.

Understand that, you should be the person you wanted to be when you woke up this morning.

Understand that, the world desperately wants to love you, if you'll let it.

Understand that, you deserve that love, even if you don't feel like it.

Understand that, love can hit a planet like a comet.

Understand that, the rain can unrain, if you want it to.

[reblog from: I Wrote This For You]

Light and Beauty

Remembering today that the key to being caught up in awe at the world around me is to never get too accustomed to it. I'm remembering to take nothing for granted, to see everything as if for the first time, to experience everything as if I knew it would be the last time.

Approaching the world that way brings all of the colour and light and beauty back. You can be surrounded by the same thing day in and day out, and forget the magic of it... or, you can look at it with fresh eyes every time...appreciate that you have eyes capable of seeing the world around you, ears capable of hearing the roar of thunder or of cars on the road and the soft chatter of birds on the other side of the windowpane, skin capable of feeling the soft bed beneath you or the wind rushing past you or the smoothness of your lover's skin.

People rush too much, and forget to experience the beauty around them.

Photo by LunaDawnImages

That's my challenge to everyone this week. Go outside; look around, really sense the world around you. 

Simplify

“The only dream worth having is to dream that you will live while you are alive, and die only when you are dead. To love, to be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and vulgar disparity of the life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never to forget.”

-  Arundhati Roy

Globetrotter

I'm going to go ahead and promote a blog being written by one of my best friends. He is completing a Masters program in International Studies at the moment, and is spending the summer abroad conducting research (and having fun, obviously!)
He almost always posts great thought-provoking material on his blog, so anyone who comes through here should definitely check it out.
You can find his posts at:

Sleeping Between The Prayers

DOB

I just had my first birthday away from "home." It was an adjustment, but not really in a bad way. I felt homesick for my family and friends back in Virginia, but I was able to have a wonderful and relaxing day out here. I Skyped with my family over the weekend as well, and was able to see my parents and pets back in VA.

A new camera is in the mail being shipped as a gift from my boyfriend. A Nikon D3000. Also, we went to see Rammstein in Anaheim on Thursday night--for free.

Image courtesy LunaDawnImages
Because really, who WOULDN'T want to see this?

So on my actual birthday, since I had already celebrated in advance and had a gift on the way, I chose to simply relax. I announced to everyone that starting at midnight I intended to do absolutely nothing I didn't have to for 24 hours. And I did. I played the Sims 3, read part of a book, surfed the web, watched The Fellowship of the Ring and WAY too many episodes of Beavis and Butthead, had a wonderful birthday dinner cooked by my boyfriend, and just generally had a laid-back day.

When The Time Has Come

I Have Loved You Wrong by The Swell Season

Meet me in our secret place

when the time has come... 

What They Never Told You: Sports

There are so many things that those older than us do not say when we are children. One of those, something I plan on emphasizing greatly to my children (if I have children), is this:

The overemphasis of sports in middle and high schools is a joke. It's made to be the most important thing, leaving everything else behind to suffer. I went to a very small private school, which still offered numerous sports...resulting in most people in each grade playing at least 2 of the 3 sport seasons per school year. It wasn't suggested; it was expected. The ones who had played before and wanted a break were pressured to come back. The people--like me--who very determinedly said again and again that they weren't playing, were approached with guilt trips "but we need more people to have a full team."

The result, of course, was that the arts and academics both took a back burner for almost everyone in the school. This isn't about the arts, although that is an extremely long post waiting for another day--I'm an avid supporter of expanding opportunities for interested children to pursue the arts in school. This is about academics.

What they forgot to tell everyone in middle and high school, is that sports do not matter. Yes, they're fun to watch, or they're good exercise, or they teach team work, or whatever excuse you're using to push them that day... but of all the children that focus exclusively on sports to the decline of their academic studies, very few of them ever actually find a way to support themselves in any way with their game of choice.

On the other hand, focusing on becoming well-rounded academically (without necessarily being a nerd), is going to benefit you much more later in life. I've never met someone who spent time on bettering their mind and said that it was a waste. I've heard that plenty from people who focused on sports throughout their school years, only to have some part of their body give out in college.

So yes, focus on whatever interests you--pursue it. But at the end of the day, having cultivated intelligence is never going to let you down.