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Good Days & Grateful Tears

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Today I was eating lunch with my boyfriend in our dining room as we listened to Mac Miller’s Tiny Desk Concert on vinyl, and out of nowhere I started to cry. I could feel the tears coming and I didn’t even try to keep them away, because what I felt wasn’t sadness… it was happiness. I felt so present in that moment and I was just taking note of how wonderful my life is, and it made me emotional.

I thought back to when my boyfriend and I first moved into our apartment over eight years ago, and just how mentally unwell I was. I remember thinking to myself that I had everything I wanted, and I was still so empty. It felt like even though I had achieved my goals and lived a life I wanted, it wasn’t enough. I was confused and angry with myself, and I just kept thinking “what is wrong with me?” I blamed myself. I hated myself. I didn’t feel worthy of the life I had, and in reality, I was anxious and depressed.

Every day felt like a battle. I was constantly arguing with myself between “rational me” and “irrational me,” which really now I look at as my inner child vs. my present (or not so present back then) self. I hated that I had such a short fuse and I was always racing the clock; I never could sit still or enjoy anything in my life, because to me, my worth came from what tasks I was completing. I didn’t feel worthy of relaxation when I had assignments to do or house chores. I didn’t feel I was worthy of fun or any sort of meaningful time to myself, and looking back, all I can say is I am so happy to be where I am today.

I feel so blessed when I can just sit and feel the joys around me, and actually feel full inside. I notice the blessings and actively practice gratitude and that honestly has made a huge difference in my journey. I have found it easier to let go of what is beyond my control, and I also find it easier to flip my perspective to a better one when I find myself in moments of stress.

Eight years ago I never would have imagined that I’d be living this way; having self-compassion, actively seeing a therapist and seeking self help through podcasts and books, and truly feeling joy in my every day life. Life is a journey and I know I will have more challenges to come and curveballs to be thrown my way, but now I know I can trust myself to navigate any situation thrown my way- and for that I am so thankful and proud.

Thank you for this wonderful life. Thank you for the blessings around me. Thank you for the love I have surrounding me. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Grateful Blurb (from Friday- I thought I posted)

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The sunrise looks so beautiful this morning; the light blue skies with the bright pink clouds.

It’s Friday and I have therapy today which is always a great way to start the weekend.

The person in front of me paid for my first starbucks holiday drink of the season, so I paid it forward and did the same for the person behind me.

I have a heating pad to help me through this rough cycle, as well as a comfortable bed to relax in.

I have a helpful partner who cares about me and loves me.

Taking the Leap.

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Last night was a Full Moon with partial lunar eclipse. Eclipses are a powerful time, and they tend to stir up some chaos within us, and we can choose to go about this in two ways: let it consume you, or embrace it and let it heal you. I have been looking inward at some of the issues that have been coming back up to surface, as I am ready to release them and focus on what is meant for me.

I spent a lot of my life in an anxious state; I would worry about my loved ones dying suddenly, or I’d worry that I’d get a horrible car accident- really I was always on edge waiting for something horrible to happen to me or someone I loved. I struggle to have many memories as I was constantly worrying about the future that I wasn’t there to enjoy the present. I get sad when I think about all of the memories I have that I will never be able to access because I never truly soaked them in.

I have been working hard on being more present in my life, and I am proud of the progress I have made. As much as therapy and certain books have helped me along the way, I feel like stepping into my spiritual journey has also helped me to make great progress. Being able to recognize how little control I actually have over situations in my life and being able to surrender those to the universe has lifted a weight off my shoulders.

Sitting and worrying about death or health issues or natural disasters does absolutely nothing except for stress out my brain and body, and take away the ability for me to be present. Reading quotes like “if it’s out of your hands, it deserves to be free from your mind” is definitely easier said than done, but with faith in a higher power it makes it feel easier.

I feel like I turned away from God pretty young, likely because I was raised going to church and Sunday school only until I was about 8 or 9, and then it seemed like we never went or talked about God again. I don’t even know what I thought about that when I was a kid, but as I dealt with more death in life it seemed like I believed less and less in a heavenly Father. I still can’t tell you that I believe in God, but I do believe there is something bigger than us.

I can feel it in the synchronicities that I see in my every day life. I can feel it in the love that I have with my life partner. I can feel it in the connections I have with good friends. I can feel it in the gratitude I have for the wonderful people and things in my life. I can feel it in the silence when I actually sit down to mediate. I can feel it when I write.

I used to shy away from this as I always felt the need for logic and science to explain what is happening, and honestly most synchronicities can be explained by neuroscience (neuroplasticity- brain rewriting), but I can feel it in my gut that there is a higher power. The more that I think about it, I believe that power is actually love. As a collective, when we all come together for peace and love, the energy changes.

My mom often talks about after the tragedy of 9/11 how people seemed to care more about one another and actually speak to each other, rather than how we all turn away and argue today. When we are divided, we are easily manipulated and can lose control and a sense of love for one another. It’s easy to see things as black and white or red and blue, but really it’s all grey and purple. Instead of judging and assuming someone else is wrong, we should be looking for productive conversation and try to learn from one another.

Every person I’ve met has trauma, and we are all a lot more the same than we are different. I also recently heard this on a podcast and although it is obvious, it still opened my eyes: the villain and the hero both have traumatic pasts, but the choices they made after their trauma is what determined their future. I remember after seeing the Joker movie how I sympathized with his character and saw how only just some help and love could have him to create a different life- and we can all do that.

We can show compassion to one another.

We can empathize with one another.

We can listen and learn from one another.

We can help one another.

In reality, we’re all mirrors. We’re all reflections of each other, and we aren’t as different from each other as we may think we are. Stepping out of the Ego mindset and into the Soul allows for love and acceptance to flourish. When there is love, there is peace, and we all deserve both. I leaned into spirituality and will continue to do so as it has helped me to release so much fear and anxiety and has allowed me to be present to the beauty around me, and I have no shame in that.

My Mind is Blown and I am Exhausted.

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Today has been interesting to say the least, and even though I was struck with a feeling of complete exhaustion, I was able to muscle through it. I allowed myself to just stretch and watch a tv show and just let my body relax, and then I got back up to finish up a project for a friend.

Honestly I am super proud of myself. I went to the grocery store today and I made a huge salad for the week and even made egg salad for the first time (which is FIRE by the way). I got the fruit all washed up and put into jars, as I had coworker tell me how she stores them in jars and they last longer and I’ve been doing it ever since. I even made breakfast for myself and my love!

I will say, during the time that I was making the food I was literally blown away and felt like I was completely losing my mind, yet finding it all at the same time. As I have talked about before, I am on a spiritual journey and I have slowly started to embrace it more. I am someone who has always believed in karma and in “signs,” but I never really noticed the signs as much as I do now. Lately I’ve been seeing all of the angel numbers (111, 1111, 444, etc.) and I’ve been trying to focus on the positives in life.

Before I started to wash and prep my food for the week, I wanted to make sure I had some music or a podcast to listen to. I originally was going to listen to some Lana Del Rey that I hadn’t listened to before, but after listening to one song I quickly realized I wanted to switch to a podcast instead. I knew right away that I wanted to listen to House of Herby, which is singer/songwriter Qveen Herby’s podcast, and I started with their “Transformation” episode from 2022, and listened to that as well as the episode after that titled: “How to Manifest.”

Now, I’ll be honest, I cannot remember whether this was mentioned in that first episode or second one, but at one point Amy (Qveen) brings up the book Complex PTSD by Pete Walker. Now this is exact book that my therapist is currently working through and keeps citing during our sessions, and I kept putting off buying it; that was until I heard this episode.

So naturally I go on Amazon to see how much the book is and I add it to the cart. I need to note that I am definitely more of a bargain hunter and I save money where I can, so with that being said I do not pay for Amazon Prime. Amazon gives you free shipping if you spend a certain amount of money even if you don’t have Prime, so I just always make sure to hit that minimum so I don’t have to pay for shipping. I decided that I’d buy a couple other books that I’ve had on my list.

One of these was “The Universe has your back” By Gabrielle Bernstein, and the other is “Letting Go” By David Hawkins which I heard about on an earlier episode of the House of Herby. I get my free shipping and then I go to choose a payment method and BAM! I have enough cashback on my Discover to cover the ENTIRE ORDER! Like helllooooo!! Thank you, Universe!

Now that the order is placed it’s back to working on my egg salad. It came time for the mayonnaise to get added in… and tell me why Amy and Nick literally start talking about mayonnaise out of nowhere! It was at the exact moment I was spooning out some mayo from the jar and they start talking about “scraping mayo off of manifestation.” So of course I start freaking out and I pause the episode and start telling my boyfriend about how we’re all clearly in a simulation, and when I return back to the podcast Amy is saying how she doesn’t even know how they got to mayonnaise in this episode. Like girl, tell me about it!

So if that wasn’t weird enough, later on in the episode they are talking about law of attraction and synchronicity and she literally says: “the universe has your back! just as Gabrielle Bernstein says.” ……. LOL excuse me? I just ordered that book??? What?? Mind you, I have other books of Gabby’s and I love her work, but I just happened to purchase that exact book of hers less than an hour ago?!? WHAT IS HAPPENING?!

So I try to calm myself down while simultaneously recognizing that big daddy Google must be so far up my ass that I have figured out my own life’s algorithm, and I continue meal prepping and listening to the episode. My boyfriend is in the kitchen at this point and emptying the dishwasher and I start telling him like “I just bought that book! After buying the book that she talked about that my therapist also has!” And we chat and keep listening and then Nick brings up “Letting Go” by David Hawkins. I literally was shooketh. I exclaimed: “THAT WAS THE OTHER BOOK I BOUGHT.” Literally I felt like I was definitely co-creating with the universe at this point.

In that moment I was so overjoyed at all of the synchronicities happening and I was feeling so in tune with myself and the universe. I felt like I was right where I should be, and I just know I am exactly where I am supposed to be. Life is a lot easier when you focus on the things you do have control over, rather than worrying about the “what ifs” and missing out the present moment.

Overall today was a great Sunday, and I am so glad I’ve learned to love Sundays, and that I was present for all of todays beauty. 7:27 on the clock now- I’ve been seeing that a lot lately- with that I will sign off. Time for more relaxing! So grateful for this life.

Who am I?

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Who am I? A mere mortal; a body of flesh and bones that moves amongst earth until it’s buried beneath it? Am I more than the blood in my veins or the organs within my vessel?

Who am I? A glistening sphere of light; a soul that brings joy and peace to others lives? Am I more than my empathy or the love within my heart?

Who am I? A deck of cards; the many faces that bring luck and abundance to some, but fateful defeat to others? Am I more than the value that others put on me?

Who am I? The Earth’s moon; the phases of darkness and illumination that pierce the cracks of my shadow? Am I more than the waves and chaos that I create?

Who am I? What is my purpose? To accept the fact that everything is temporary and attachments are unnecessary? To bring a sense of comfort and calmness to my inner and outer world? To show others that they all have a bright light within them, even if it may have been dimmed or distorted along the journey?

Who am I to judge anyone, including myself, when I am just a human being like you? Who am I to shame anyone, including myself, when we’re all guessing and learning along the way? Who am I to know what’s best for anyone, when the only shoes I’ve walked in are my own?

Who am I?

I am me. I am a person full of anger and sadness that weighs heavy on my body. I am a human full of flaws and imperfections that make me unique. I am a woman full of strength and kindness that pours from within. I am a soul full of empathy and compassion that overflows from the depths of my heart.

I am light, even with the shadow.

I am love, even with the heaviness.

I am peace, even with the chaos.

Solar Eclipse / Self Check-In

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This morning we will experience a solar eclipse. Although I only dabble in astrology and I don’t believe everything I see or read, I definitely believe that our energy is affected by the planets, sun and moon. Especially for me, being highly-sensitive/empathic definitely allows me to feel the shifts.

I’ve been having some interesting dreams this week: I had one where I met Taylor Swift, which was a super fun and relaxed dream, but I also had a dream that I needed to take in a 12-year old child to take care of and that I needed to convince my boyfriend to adopt him. I really don’t spend a lot of time analyzing my dreams, although I always say that I want to and then don’t, but I feel like maybe my dreams are trying to remind me to see the good in myself.

Throughout this year I’ve been battling with myself about the idea of me being a fraud. I kept feeling like because I have some negative thoughts or judgments about other people’s actions that made my niceness and empathy fake. However, I know that during the human experience we are going to experience dualities in our lives, and some like to break it down between the Ego and the Soul.

As I’ve been more aware and I’ve been open in my therapy sessions, I’ve recognized that I am not a fraud at all- I am simply a human being. If someone else does something that does not align with my values, it is normal to feel put off by that. Me trying to empathize with them and still being nice and supportive about other parts of them or their life doesn’t make me fake, because I truly do try to see other people’s perspectives and I care about others.

I think where I struggle is that sometimes I wonder if I should be bringing up to that person how I am seeing their actions and behaviors from my lens. I know I am not God and I do not know what is best for anyone at all, but I feel dishonest sometimes if I am not being fully transparent about how I feel about something. At the same time though, it isn’t my job to tell people about themselves or change anyone. This is where my battle lies, but it’s easy for me to just say “If this doesn’t impact my life directly, then I am not going to bring anything up.” Which isn’t really wrong, but something in me still feels inauthentic.

It is not my job to fully understand anyone or everyone, it is my job to understand myself. It is not my job to tell people about how I see them, it is my job to treat them with respect, while simultaneously setting my own boundaries with them. Distancing from people is nothing to feel guilty about, especially when you know that a conversation has no chance of going anywhere (i.e. narcissistic people, people with victim mentality).

All I can do is listen to my gut and spend time with those who fill my cup, rather than just use me to fill theirs. I am sensitive, which allows me to be nurturing. I am grateful, which allows me to be happy and to spread my joy. I am resilient, which allows me to give hope. I am emotional, which allows me to be empathetic to others. I deserve to be around people who make me feel light and recharged, not drained and confused.

I will continue to heal myself and listen to my intuition, and I am grateful for this next chapter. This solar eclipse represents transformation, illumination, and abundance and I am ready for it all.

Hope in the Darkness

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The world seems dark right now, and it’s hard to navigate or know what to say. It feels like nothing can take away the pain and horror of what is happening in the middle east, and maybe that is true at this exact moment, but throughout hard times in history, humans have been resilient. Humans can remain hopeful and have faith that better days are on the horizon, but I can’t help but feel that is too hard to do right now.

I am thousands of miles away from the horror that is happening, but as part of the human collective, I can’t help but feel anxiety and stress. I want to remain grateful and as positive as possible, since I am blessed to have this life I do today, but something about that makes me feel guilty. I know that people need to spread love, light, and hope… but in a way it almost feels inappropriate.

Everyone deserves love, everyone deserves peace, why is that so hard for us to achieve? Why is there such hatred and lack of empathy in this world? How could someone so easily take another human’s life away? Why are humans still targeting other humans just because they have different views or religion or skin? We all bleed the same blood, we all are made of skin and bones… how can we be so cruel to our own species?

I guess for now all I can do is pray. Pray for those who are missing and taken hostage to be released safely and reunited with their loved ones. I pray that those in fear are protected by a higher power, and that their guardian angels can help them through this horrific tragedy. I pray that our world can heal and realize that together we can achieve so much more, and that peace and love have always been the answer that we’ve desperately needed. I pray for all of the families who are suffering loss and fear, and hope that they can find strength and peace within them.

This world so desperately needs peace, and although it may seem impossible, that is something I will never stop praying for.

Current Thoughts / Downloads

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Take what’s for you, leave what isn’t.

I don’t need what doesn’t need me.

What goes around always comes back around.

Intentions matter.

Finding comfort in the chaos will help you go far; change is the only thing promised in life.

Let it go, let it flow, and you will glow.

No need to worry about things that you literally have zero control over. Worrying only takes away from the peace of the moment, and you deserve peace.

Protected. Guided. Aligned.

Love is always the answer. We don’t have all of the answers, but if we have love, that’s all that matters.

What triggers you is what inspires you. Anger comes from passion- what are you passionate about? What brings that anger out of you? Feeling unheard? Unseen? Feeling as if someone is being selfish? Closed-mindedness? Dishonesty? You are passionate about expression, about selflessness, openness, and authenticity!

Grey days are great days for resting, recharging, releasing. Nothing is black and white, it’s all grey. (LOL I just realized I’m also wearing all grey)

Connected, not attached- nothing is permanent, therefore nothing is worth losing your peace over.