New Location, Same Me!

I've made the decision to switch from Blogger to Wordpress! My new web address is meetthequote.wordpress.com

If you are looking for new post be sure to direct your attention there! 

100 Days to Happiness: A Lifestyle

     Although my posts seemed to have disappeared, have no fear! My life didn't become less joyful, it's been quite the opposite. I learned more about true happiness, friendship, distance, and living altogether. This past month has really allowed me to, dare I say, grow up. Through trials of the heart and challenges of the flesh I was still able to find happiness, because the reality of it is that happiness is a choice, happiness is a lifestyle. 

       

"Happiness is not in our
circumstance, but in ourselves. It is not something we see, like a rainbow, or
feel like the heat of a fire. Happiness is something we are."



- John B. Sheerin









    At the beginning of
the month I had the pleasure of traveling to Missouri with friends for four days. I was
already expecting the experience to be encouraging but I hadn't yet made the
conscious decision to enjoy myself. Before our 15 hour long journey had even
begun my heart ,which started out as an excited flame was already cooling to just
embers. Nothing was going the way that I'd hoped. Every part of me wanted to
pout and be a grouch. (My natural response since I can remember.) The plan I
had in my head wasn't happening so obviously our lives were completely over.
Not even slightly the case. Once our few hiccups subsided I realized just how
much energy it takes to be unhappy when there are so many things to be happy
about.






“Someone just tell me

That it’s ok now

What are you worrying about



Got my dreams, got my life, got my love

Got my friends, got the sunshine above

Why am I making this hard on myself

When there’s so many beautiful reasons I have to be happy”





    

   
I am such a huge fan of this song by Natasha Bedingfield. She hits it
right on the head! Throughout the song she lists all the everyday complications
of an everyday life. Rent and crazy landlords. Minimum wage and getting laid
off. However real those struggles may be, and no matter how justifiable they may make
anger seem, the number of reasons to remain happy are so much greater! 



 
 In our lesson Sunday morning, we
heard about anger and its crippling properties on the soul. We have plenty of
reasons to become angry, but what good is that? Anger destroys. Specifically, anger destroys happiness.






 "Then the Lord said to Cain,
'Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast?'... 'sin is crouching at your
door, it desires to have you but must rule over it."

- Genesis 4:6-7









  When things go awry or tragedy
strikes, sin is knocking at your door. Anger lets that sin in and it takes over
in the form of rage. Like opening any door, the choice is yours. If you are the
person who is easily angered, shut the door. As it has been said, you are what
you take in. 








"Any day I'll go bad thinking bad





Everyone is against me and the world wants to fight me





Preparing to battle an enemy unseen





During my stressing I’m blinded to the lessons 





That could be a blessing if Id be confessing that the enemy



I’m trying to beat is hiding inside of me"






  Though our circumstances weren't
all sunshine and lollipops, the three of us were happy on our trip. We
allowed our minds to become happiness. Through that we met a lot of great
people and were able to just enjoy each others company. 


































I'm also doing this on my Instagram. (I've actually been able to keep up with that) Here is proof that I'm having a happy summer! Also feel free to follow me @emary_alicea to keep up with all the awesomeness that is my life!












 

100 Days to Happy: Harder Than It Looks

   So I haven't posted all week... It's a lot harder than it looks. Not because I haven't been having bad days but rather my days have been filled with with much good. From the time I wake up to the time I go to sleep I'm surrounded by amazing people that I am able to learn from or just have fun with. To me that excuse enough for not writing everyday this week. However I will try and be more disciplined and keep up with each day. It will be much easier next week because I have so many amazing things planned!

   June is almost over and it is time to travel! When it comes to traveling my motto is "Just Go." I wouldn't say to go an never look back. Going to a new place doesn't have to be due to some fatal flaw of the place you are leaving. There are many other reasons to visit a new place.

1.) New Adventure 

2.) New Experiences 

3.) New Local Culture

 
   Picture this. 11 year old is at home, getting ready for her first middle school dance, staring two pairs of shoes down. One pair, a reliable flat that's been on her side for a solid year. The other, a slightly elevated heal, never been worn. The purpose of one is extremely practical and safe. The other is a tad bit risky and a little more fun with a side of possible danger. She goes with the more exciting pair. Through the night she pseudo trips twice and falls into a chair once. Nothing earth shattering. She took a chance because why not! She ventured into new depths, or rather new heights! She didn't shy away from something new. Six years later and she goes to senior prom. The question isn't flats or heels, it's which pair of heels looks better with my dress. Not a hint of doubt that bigger is always better.
 

   “The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt 

Take a chance, go for it. Pick a place and go for it.


 

100 Days to Happiness: Just Good

Have you ever had a day where nothing went terribly wrong and you were just happy? Yeah remember those days when you're having a not-so-awesome-day. 

100 Days to Happiness: A Plate Full of Thanks

   Steak. I love steak. I love food! So often I take for granted the overflowing abundance of food that I have to indulge in daily, much like many other first world delicacies.

   My older sister is going to Africa this summer to work in the slums with a group known as HOPE World Wide. The work that they will be doing will greatly impact many of the residents' lives, including many children whose circumstance is widely different from my own. They don't have the luxury of opening a fridge to see it's been heavily stocked. Yet when I open mine, I complain that there is "nothing to eat." 

   I came home from work  today with the fully cooked meal (seen in the picture above) waiting for me. After misusing the term "starving" I scarfed down the food without a second thought. The joy that it brought me made me wonder what it might be like to be in the shoes of the African children. 

"Gratitude turns 

what 

we have into enough."

   Even without a plate of food, they still find joy. They are able to look into a half empty fridge and see it as full. Not trying to get all corny on you but you can see where this is going. Life is that fridge. No matter how many opportunities are missed or how many challenges may arise, you're still alive and you still have purpose.

I know that even though I'm not fine dining on steak every night, I know that I am loved and taken care of.

   

100 Days of Happiness: 15 minutes of meditation

   Take some time to yourself. Time to just sit and be still. On this busy journey we call life, those 15 minutes can make all the difference in our moods. 

   Today I sat and thought about where I am and where I want to be. From there my thought train ran wild. I had to be sure that I didn't allow self doubt to creep in. Even in such a short period of time I let my busy life take control of my thoughts, the exact opposite reason for my brief moment of solitude. 

   It's only natural that we think about the future, it is an important thing to keep in mind. However it's not the not important. All we are promised is now so in my little experience on this Earth, don't waste now. Take advantage of "now". Not in the sense of using "now" to get ahead, at least not all of the time. Take advantage of "now" before "now" has passed by. 

100 Days To Happiness: One Good Book

   It has come to my attention that I really enjoy reading. It's like I was put on a default setting to involuntarily respond to any literary recommendation, "Oh, I don't read," and move on with my life. I didn't spend an abundance of time  reading, true, but I have always enjoyed books. I just didn't want to take the time to read them. Now that I have all this free time to anything, and a spirit of adventure, I've picked up my old habit of indulging in great literature. I think I have one man to thank for that. John. Green.
   When I got to middle school and teachers started assigning me books to read I lost interest in the magic of a great novel. Reading wasn't cool anymore and neither was writing papers. The whole meaning and purpose of books was forever lost, or so I thought. Have you ever just read a book and when you finished put it down and then picked it up to read it again? Have you read something that beautiful? If not, you're not reading the right books. Additionally, you will lose hope in the writers as a whole.
   Until you read a book that restores your faith in humanity, and literature. John Green. He is a literary genius. I've made it my summer mission to read every single book that he has written. First, The Fault In Our Stars. From the moment I opened it and read the first line of that very first page, I was hooked. He is able to say something so profound that is followed by a subtle, hilarious truth. The only way I have been able to describe that specific novel is as heartwarmingly heartbreaking.

    Second, Paper Towns. Although this novel is widely different from TFIOS, I am still amazed at how well this man writes. His characters are given so much life that I can't choose a face I have seen in real life, my brain is forced to create an entirely new, just as real image. As I read and enjoy the story, I am witnessing each characters life with a front row seat. Not only does John Green captivate you with his language. He is able to incorporate such beautifully profound truths that most people are thinking but can't find the words to say out loud. For example, it's easy to get caught up in being prudent and making sure your prudence has prudence. This is what John Green has to say about living for the future.

   "Did you know that for pretty much the entire history of the human species, the average life span was less than thirty years? You could count on ten years or so of real adulthood, right? There was no planning for retirement. There was no planning for a career. There was no planning. No time for planning. No time for a future. But then the life spans started getting longer, and people started having more and more future, and so they spent more time thinking about the future. Every moment of your life is lived for the future-you go to high school so you can go to college so you can get a good job so you can get a nice house so you can afford to send your kids to college so they can get a job so they can get nice house so they can afford to send their kids to college."

   What he is basically saying is that the future is already here although it hasn't happened. It is already controlling our actions. Not necessarily a bad or good thing, just a truth about what going on in the world. I sometimes forget that in the midst of the fiction there is a man, and that man probably believes at a percentage of what he is writing. That man actually thinks such profound thoughts and that man wrote them down for the world to see and that just warms my heart.
   Thank you, John Green, for writing good books and having deeply profound thoughts. But most of all thank you for restoring my love for reading, my faith in humanity, and for making me just all out happy! I know this won't be the last time I enjoy your books. Third, Looking For Alaska.