Those who love you are not fooled 

by mistakes you have made 

or dark images you hold about yourself. 

They remember your beauty 

when you feel ugly; 

your wholeness when you are broken; 

your innocence when you feel guilty; 

and your purpose when you are confused. 

~Alan Cohen 

- WILLINGNESS TO BE OPEN-MINDED AND WRONG -

mind is like a parachute;

it doesn’t work when it’s closed.

It’s okay to disagree with the thoughts 

or opinions expressed by others. 

But that doesn’t give you the right 

to immediately reject any sense they might make.

Nor does it give you a right to accuse someone 

of poorly expressing their beliefs just because 

you don’t like what they are thinking and saying. 

Learn to recognize the beauty 

of different ideas and perspectives, 

even if it means overcoming your pride 

and opening your mind beyond what is comfortable.

Healthy relationships and human interactions 

are not a power struggle. 

Be willing to be wrong, 

while simultaneously exploring your truth. 

By Marc and Angel Hack Life

Practical Tips for Productive Living 

Most of us have been through a tough break-up at some point in our lives. 

The feelings of despair, hopelessness, sadness and loneliness we experience 

are often overwhelming, and often seem endless. Usually though, with the help of friends, family, and our undeniable human spirit - we eventually get over our heartbreak. We slowly pick up the pieces, put ourselves back together, and move on, hopefully stronger and wiser in the end. Sometimes however, we can’t seem to “get over it”. We can’t seem to understand how the other person could have left us. We had so much invested in them emotionally, that we can’t even imagine life without them.

People often think closure is something we get from an external source: “If only I could talk to him/her again so I could understand…” Closure however, is about the feelings of peace and completion within ourselves. It’s not always possible to get the answers from someone else, at least not the answers that will make us feel better about the situation. Relationship closure is an important part of emotional and mental health. Without it, we are unable to fully move on, commit to, and trust, someone new.

Every experience we go through is meant to teach us something, but it’s up to us to figure out what that is. We often create a fantasy world around our relationships, and when the relationship ends, the pain tends to be more about the dissolution of the dream than the actual loss of the person. When things are real, honest, and truthful between two people, there are less surprises involved, and our needs our met. It’s extremely important that we learn to clean up our own backyard before venturing into someone else’s, and being honest with ourselves first is that all-important first step.

~ Journey To Balance

“Like a gift, 

beautifully wrapped at the foot of your bed each morning, 

today asks that you open it 

and enjoy everything inside. 

Exhaust yourself with all it has to offer!” 

~Steve Maraboli

- The shame of past failures -

You will fail sometimes, 

and that’s okay. 

The faster you accept this, 

the faster you can get on with being brilliant. 

Your past does not equal your future. 

Just because you failed yesterday; 

or all day today; 

or a moment ago; 

or for the last six months; 

or for the last sixteen years, 

doesn’t have any impact 

on the current moment. 

All that matters 

is what you do right now. 

Like a gift, 

beautifully wrapped 

at the foot of your bed each morning, 

today asks that you open it 

and enjoy everything inside. 

Exhaust yourself 

with all it has to offer.

Dance. 

Smile. 

Giggle. 

Marvel. 

TRUST. 

HOPE. 

LOVE. 

WISH. 

BELIEVE. 

Most of all, 

enjoy every moment of the journey, 

and appreciate where you are 

at this moment 

instead of always focusing 

on how far you have to go. 

- Mandy Hale 

Sometimes love is a surprise, 

an instant of recognition, 

a sudden gift at a sudden moment 

that makes everything different from then on. 

Some people will say that’s not love, 

that you can’t really love someone you don’t know. 

But, I’m not so sure. 

Love doesn’t seem to follow a plan; 

it’s not a series of steps. 

It can hit with the force of nature.. 

an earthquake, 

a tidal wave, 

a storm of wild relentless energy 

that is beyond your simple attempts at control. 

~Deb Caletti

“There is a relationship between the eye contacts we make 

and the perceptions that we create in our heads, 

a relationship between the sound of another's voice 

and the emotions that we feel in our hearts, 

a relationship between our movements in space all around us 

and the magnetic pulls we can create between others and ourselves. 

All of these things (and more) make up the magic of every ordinary day 

and if we are able to live in this magic, 

to feel and to dwell in it, 

we will find ourselves living with magic every day.

These are the white spaces in life, 

the spaces in between the written lines, 

the cracks in which the sunlight filters into. 

Some of us swim in the overflowing of the wine glass of life, 

we stand and blink our eyes in the sunlight reaching unseen places, 

we know where to find the white spaces, 

we live in magic.” 

~C. JoyBell C.

✻ღϠ₡ღ✻(¯`✻´¯) `*.¸.*✻ღϠ₡ღ¸.✻´´¯`✻.¸¸.Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ..

The porch swing hangs fixed

 in a morning sun that bleaches its gray slats, 

its flowered cushion

whose flowers have faded, 

like those of summer,

and a small brown spider has hung out her web

on a line between porch post and chain

so that no one may swing without breaking it.

She is saying it’s time 

that the swinging were done with,

time that the creaking and pinging and popping

that sang through the ceiling were past,

time now for the soft vibrations of moths,

the wasp tapping each board for an entrance,

the cool dewdrops to brush from her work

every morning, 

one world at a time.

✻ღϠ₡ღ¸.✻´´¯`✻.¸¸.Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ..

♥♥♥

"This is not primarily the place we have to be,

it is the place where we are. 

It is not our prison, but our home. 

It is the road we must walk, 

and the walking of it is called life.

Because we walk it only once, 

then how important is it that we should walk it 

with some purpose 

that we can call our own" 

~ Unknown ~

♥♥♥

Think of each affirmation that you find in my garden 

as a tiny seed in your mind. 

The thought is the seed, 

and your mind is the soil. 

Like I did, 

you will have to tend your garden... 

You have to to weed it of bad thoughts, 

water it with nurturing care, 

and give it plenty of sunshine and positive thoughts.

Surround it with loving people. 

And, most of all, 

share your garden with others..

We are much too hard on ourselves. 

Really we are. 

We beat ourselves up, 

we ‘should on ‘ourselves, 

we compare ours

elves to others, 

we postpone self-love until we reach a stage 

of perfection that is impossibly unrealistic. 

We are so hard on ourselves, 

but how are we to know better? 

It’s not like there is a book that lays it all down. 

It’s not like we downloaded perfection. 

We are still writing that book, 

writing it with the blood of lessons learned, 

writing it with ink that is forged in 

the fires of transformation. 

We are learning as we g(r)o(w). 

So let’s give ourselves a break. 

Often. Kindly. Gently. Really. 

It’s a huge thing to grow beyond 

the parameters of our familiar ways of being. 

Berating ourselves won't get us anywhere. 

A little self-love goes a long way…

~ Jeff Brown

Sunshine is delicious, 

rain is refreshing, 

wind braces us up, 

snow is exhilarating; 

there is really no such thing as bad weather, 

only different kinds of good weather. 

~ John Ruskin

"For what it’s worth, 

it’s never too late. 

We can make the best or the worst of things. 

I hope you make the best of it. 

I hope you feel things that you never felt before. 

I hope you meet people with a different point of view. 

I hope you live a life that you’re proud of 

and if you find that you’re not, 

I hope you have the strength 

to start all over again." 

~ Benjamin Button

Sometimes the hardest thing to do is simply trust...
Maybe because we feel so helpless, but that is what trust is all about isn't it? 
When we put our trust in someone we relinquish our power over the situation. We believe they will look out for our best interest. Sometimes we are disappointed...
There are times when we are not sure of the road we're on...where it is leading us, where it will end up.. So, we just sit and worry.
There is a friend who will never disappoint.
There is a friend who will never let us down.
There is a friend ~
who loves us beyond what all others are capable of.

When
uncertainties
arise
and we are not sure what to do...

The
sure
thing
is ~

Put your trust in an all knowing God.

and
then
rest
in faith...

let Him lead the way.

~Neva 

Less is more. 

Simple is splendid. 
Love is real. 
Kindness rules. 
Give-and-take is necessary. 
Regrets are futile. 
Hurt will happen. 
Forgiveness snips the chord. 
Bend like a willow. 
Stand strong as an oak. 
Set limits to Deception. 
Silence the Bullies. 
Welcome healing. 
Walk away from Negativity. 
Ask questions and always learn… 
Seek those who accept you as you are. 
Invite Peace and gently let go of Insecurity and Shame. 
Follow the Passion of knowing truth — 
it lives in your heart.

~Carolyn Riker

“We’re all seeking that special person 

who is right for us. 

But if you’ve been through enough relationships, 

you begin to suspect there’s no right person, 

just different flavors of wrong. 

Why is this? 

Because you yourself are wrong in some way, 

and you seek out partners 

who are wrong in some complementary way. 

But it takes a lot of living to grow fully 

into your own wrongness. 

And it isn’t until you finally run up 

against your deepest demons, 

your unsolvable problems—

the ones that make you truly who you are ~ 

that we’re ready to find a lifelong mate. 

Only then do you finally know what you’re looking for. 

You’re looking for the wrong person. 

But not just any wrong person: 

the right wrong person ~ 

someone you lovingly gaze upon and think, 

“This is the problem I want to have.”

I will find that special person 

who is wrong for me in just the right way.

Let our scars fall in love.” 

~Galway Kinnell