"Being happy doesn't mean everything is perfect. It means you've decided to see beyond the imperfections."

- Gerard Way

   If only perfect people were happy, this would be an extremely unhappy world. Happiness is a choice not a privilege. We can choose to take a situation that appears awful and make it wonderful. By simply taking every possible once of joy in a terrible situation, you allow yourself to be happy. It's really that simple. BE HAPPY. Don't just expect to have happy moments thrust upon you all day everyday. That's not how it works, you have the option to pout about anything.

   I know for me its so easy to find something to complain about in any situation if i choose to. It's just as easy to look for a positive. There will always be something that you can choose to be mad or sad about. The question I have for you now is are you going to be sad, mad, or glad? Are you going to sit around sulking, waiting for the perfect life to fall into lap? Only then will you allow yourself to be happy?

Kid President

"Don't be in a party, BE A PARTY!"

I love this kid! So much insight in such a little body. Look him up on YouTube. His videos are all about being the change, not being boring, and everyone being friends with one another. Kid President is my definition of inspiration.

"Sometimes the things we can't change end up changing us."

- Anonymous

   I feel at times that God is putting me in the most incredibly ridiculous, impossible situations. I often ask myself, why this god? Why not something else, something better? But the truth is, this is BETTER. God knows what he is doing in my life and in yours. It's defintitely easier said to belive than done. Just take each hurdle at a time with the proper amount of steps in between.
   Admit you are in a place you don't quite understand. Admit it to yourself. Don't make some big public announcement. You'll just end up making the situation something it's not. Once you yourself have come to terms with your discontent, seek guidance from the only one who can help.
   By turning to God you allow yourself to be humbled. There are ministeps within this step. Pray about it. Talk to someone you trust. Pray again and again and again. Pray with someone else. Talk with people. Talking to people is like hereing God's voice answering your prayer. In the midst of all this praying and talking, hopefully, you can accept the situation you're in.
  Now you can choose to grow from it or let it fester in your heart and control your thoughts and actions. the choice is yours. Just remember, "If you're not growing, you're dead", Anthony Robbins.



***If you're reading this and you're not the slightest bit religious, get on it! If you are going through a rough time and don't how to get out, the Church of Christ is the best, and only place to turn to. Prepareto be welcomed with opened arms, taken care of and mostimportantly be ready to be inspired by the word of God.***

Earl Nightingale

" Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it.

The time will pass anyway."

"If you don't like where you are, move. You're not a tree.

- Jim Rohn

   

I love the sass in this. He makes it sound so easy. Just get up and move. This is like a right hand to my previous post about Ghandi's quote, "Be the change you wish to see in the world." I say right hand because it does have its differences. Unlike Ghandi, Rohn approaches this scenario as unchangeable. I am a firm believer that sometimes it just comes to removing yourself from a situation. When in doubt, walk out.

   Why stay in a situation that is only destructive for you physically or characteristically? Sometimes the best, and in terrible cases, the only thing to is get yourself out!! Don't stay in a harmful situation. Let me paint you this picture:

 

A gang member, let's call him Chris. He joined the gang as a really young boy, around the age of 13. He is now 18, legal adult. He wants to get his life together. Chris has a problem though. These guys are like his family. Chris is a good soul, he wants to try and change all of their lives. Every so often he'd suggest that they enroll into classes at the community college or get a respectable job. But his family just wasn't feeling it. It got to a point that they were so sick of Chris' positivity; they became very violent towards Chris. Eventually every time he opened his mouth they'd hit him, sometimes before he even said anything. One day, when Chris finally surrendered to the fact that they weren't interested in changing for the better, he decided he wasn't going to stand by and let his own life fall apart. He got help getting out o the gang, moving cities, and starting a new, better life.

  Now, I may have just made that up, but it's that simple. In the story Chris was not happy with the lifestyles of the people around him. He tried to change it. When that was no longer an option, he took off. It comes down to this: when you've done all you can with no results, it’s time to MOVE on. You're not a tree.

Holding On: Verse 1

"All the signs of life
They’re all around me with every heartbeat":
      Life is happening. We can't do much about that, but we can chose we do in our life time. We can live to the full, or we can sulk around and wish that the bad things have happened to us in the past didn't. We can chose to live selfishly or give selflessly. Life is happening. There's a quote floating around in my head, the name escapes me at the moment. It's a pretty recognizable quote. "People change, things go wrong. Just remember, life goes on."


"I feel so alive,
I am joy and sadness,
Peace and madness":
      In my opinion, this sums up the majority of everyone's existence. The ups and downs that come with life can be describe quite simply as "joy and sadness, peace and madness." Far too often we get down on ourselves. We lose hope. We lose or peace of mind. We lose sight of what's important. But, of course we don't want the world to see our weaknesses. We don't want the rest of the world to know that we are miserable inside. So what is there to do except hide it. We put on a front and let everyone believe that we are perfection. Our face may be peaceful, but our mind is brimming with madness. What do we do?

"If only I can fight just a little longer
I know It’s gonna make me stronger":
      We fight. We fight like crazy. We hold on to what shred of faith we have left. Or at least we try to. I hold on to the lord. I know that if i just hold on, that if I don't give up on Him, He won't give up on me. I take all the faith I have left and I tie it around the waste of God and hold on. Because I know, without a doubt in my mind, it WILL make me stronger. He WILL make me stronger. I WILL be stronger.

          

"Holding On" by Jamie Grace

               I'm going to try something new. I'm going to semi-analyze a song that has really made an imprint on my schema and totally shifted my paradigm of life. I've picked a song by my favorite Christian artist, Jamie Grace, to start. Even her name lifts me up, Jamie Grace. I used to listen to this song a lot whenever felt like giving up. Whenever I failed to pursue my dreams and goals. Whenever I felt insignifcant or alone. It reminds me to hold on to God, on to hope; and to hold on to the will to be strong. Here are all the lyrics, I'll go more in depth in later posts. Hope these words can inspire you like they did me.

"Holding On"

[VERSE 1:]
All the signs of life
They’re all around me with every heartbeat
I feel so alive,
I am joy and sadness,
Peace and madness
If only I can fight just a little longer
I know It’s gonna make me stronger
[CHORUS:]I just keep holding on to what I believe
Oh, I believe in you
Give me the strength to fight
And the heart to believe
When it’s hard to believe in you
[VERSE 2:]
Oh and these are the times when doubt’s tryin’ to creep in
And I need a reason that’s larger than life when hope seems hard to find
If only I can fight just a little longer
I know it’s gonna make me stronger
[CHORUS:]
So I just keep holding on to what I believe
Oh, I believe in you
Give me the strength to fight
And a heart to believe
When it’s hard to believe
I’ll just keep holding on, holding on, holding on
Give me the strength to fight
And the heart to believe
When it’s hard to believe in you
Oh oh oh oh oh
When it’s hard to believe in you
Oh oh oh oh oh
Oh, I wanna believe

If only I can fight just a little longer
I know I’ll be stronger

[CHORUS:]So I’ll just keep holding on, holding on, holding on
I’ll just keep holding on, holding on
I’ll just keep holding on to what I believe
Oh, I believe in you
Give me the strength for the fight
And the heart to believe
Cause I’ve got to believe
I’ll just keep holding on, holding on, holding on
Give me strength for the fight
And the heart to believe
'Cause I’ve got to believe in you
Oh oh oh oh oh
Yeah I’ve got to believe in you
Oh oh oh oh oh
Oh, yeah I feel so alive.

Marilyn Monroe

"So keep your head high, keep your chin up, ad most importantly, keep smiling. Because life's a beautiful thing and there's so much to smile about."

"To love another person is to see the face of God."

- Herbert Kretzmer
( The cast of Les Miserables)



      I love love love this. I can't even fathom what God might possibly look like. This lyric is filled with so much power for me due to that fact. All it takes to see the face of God is to love another person. I initially thought that this was a pretty imple. But once i sat down and truly study out what it means to love I was proved wrong. I'm going to break down my train of thought.
   What is love?:
   Love is fearless. When is the last time you can say you loved someone fearlessly? I know I can count the number of people I have event attempted to love fearlessly on one hand. When you love something or someone, you go all in. No regrets, no second guesses.
   Love is patient. How easily do you lose your patience? How often a day do you lose your patience with someone you "love"? Along those lines, love is tolerant. You do not have to agree with someone to love them. You simply have to take the time, have patience, and understand their opinion. It's like that old saying, walk a mile in their shoes.
   Love is selfless. How long ago was it that you did something that was completely selfless? Or even remotely selfless? With selflessness comes humility.
   Love is humble. Pride overwhelms our thoughts as well as our actions. When you strive for humility, you take yourself off of that high horse you've been parading around on. You see everything in a new light. Bringing yourself down to the level of everyone else allows you to truly love them. Be completely humble.
   Love is truthful. What good comes from lying? No good, no good at all. Lying creates trust craters. I'm going to get biblical, but it's the foundation of my life. 1 Corinthians 13:6; Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
   Love protects. Even a child can understand that their father loves them, so he will protect them from the monsters under the bed.Or the boogie man in the closet. Or as a young lady, they know that when her heart gets broken someone's face is going to get broken. Or the knowledge that a best friend has got your back through thick and thin. That's love.
   Love trusts. Always. I heard a story about a man and woman who had been married for a lifetime. The woman had no secrets with the man except for a shoe box. She told him to never look inside it, and respectively he didn't. The woman became very ill in her old age, she told the man to go into the closet and bring the box to her. Even with the box in his hand, the man never opened the box. He trusted and loved her so much that he gave her that one little box that for decades he never knew the contents.
   Love is hopeful. Period. love is hopeful.
   Love perseveres. Don't give up on love. When you really love someone you don't quit at the first sign of trouble. You fight like crazy. You do whatever it takes to keep that love alive. No matter how hard it is to keep the flame, or how much you don't want to love them. Love is inevitable. You can't fight it. Once you accept that fact, you fight like crazy to get it back, to perfect it so to speak.
  Love never fails. It's never a bad thing to love people. In the end love is the only way. The only way to break barriers. The only way to move pass disagreements. When in doubt, love.
   Love is vulnerable. I know for me I shutter at the word. To love someone, you have to be vulnerable with them. I'm talking to myself on this one. It takes every fiber of my being to be even slightly vulnerable with anyone. It's that step, that leap of faith, that is love.
It's all of these minor things that add up to be love. It's all of these things that create the image of God's face. It's all of these things that are the puzzle pieces of life. Love is fearless, patient selfless, humble, truthful. Love protects and trusts. Love is hopeful. It perseveres and never fails. Love is vulnerable. Love is the face of God.

"Be the change you wish to see in the world."

 -Ghandi

There are no such things as mind readers. No one is just going to know what you want to be different. If you want the world to be a nicer place, be nice. If you want the world to happier, be happy. If you want world peace, be peaceful. If you don't want the world to be selfish, be selfless. The list goes on.

I watched this movie a while back called "Pay It Forward". A little boy, played by Haley Joel Osment, started it up as an English assignment for school. He was unhappy with how the world treated people. He went out and performed random acts of kindness, he then told the recipient to "pay it forward". It's like pay back, which is negative, turned positive. He knew the world wasn't just going to change flat out, so he took baby steps. He saw the need for change and did something about.

It should be the same for us. We all wish the world was different. That's exactly what complaints are. But now I am challenging you to, instead of complaining, turn that complaint into an action. Be the change. Live life the way you want it to be. Every charitable organization started with someone or a group of people who weren't satisfied with what life around them was like. They saw a need and they met it.

The founder of TOMS combined the American obsession with shoes to help the less fortunate kids in Africa that have the luxury of a new pair of shoes. He saw their need and he went after it. He, like so many do, could have simple looked past it, felt pity and moved on with his life. But he didn't. He took is disdain and turned it into a productive action.

Productive. Proactive. Integral. Efficient. Whatever you want to call it. Just do it! Be the change you wish to see! Don't wait around for someone to do it for you. Don't wait until someone grabs you by the hand and walk you down a better path. Clean up the path you're on!

John Lennon

      "When I was five years old my mother always told me that happiness was the to life. When i went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down "happy". They told me i didn't understand the assignment, and i told them they didn't understand life."

    Happiness. That's all anyone really wants. It's different for everyone. It's the same for everyone.

"People inspire you, or they drain you- pick them wisely."

- Hans F. Hansen          

        Profound. Far too often we get caught up with the people around us. We live a life according to how people see us and how we see other people. As a young girl my mother gave me some perspective on friends. She said, "We become the people we surround ourselves with." I try to live every minute of my life with this thought in my head. I use "try" strongly. Of course we've all made mistakes. But I have I've striven to surround myself with the people who inspire me, not the people who weigh me down. 

      Who would you rather call a friend, someone who encourages you daily or someone that you have to pull teeth just to get a small compliment of approval? Someone who loves you and others around you or someone that tolerates you when you're around them? Someone that goes after relationships or someone you constantly have to chase to keep their minimal attention. A friend is someone who will spur you onto greatness. It should not be a tiresome task. Or a "one way street". Don't hold on to someone who is draining you of your happiness, your freewill, your sense of judgment, and in some cases even yourself. 

       I'm not telling you to dump everyone in your life that doesn't love you enough. I'm simply encouraging you to relieve yourself of the unnecessary stress and turmoil of a bad relationship. Don't set yourself up for the pain and disappointment that comes with a one sided relationship.

     The first time I read this quote I immediately thought of all the good friendships in my life. The ones that have inspired and continue to inspire me to be a better me. I look back on the ones that drifted apart, like friendships often do with distance and time, and I realized that I have only fond memories. I remember all the birthday parties and the laughs. I remember the meals and the movie nights. I remember the frates and the girls' nights. And most of all I remember the love. It's the friendships with all of these memories that we should hold on to. A relationship shouldn't drain you. If it does, it's time for you to do some reevaluating.

Be Inspired

 

 

           

                 Let me start by telling you a little bit about myself.

I am just a girl with an abundance of opinions, thoughts an feelings that I love to express through my writing, paintings, and photographs. I love inspiration. I love to be inspired by something someone says or does, even if I only stay inspired for a short time. I love to inspire people, knowingly or unknowingly. My goal for this blog is to inspire people. I will pick a quote daily; being something I read or something profound that I heard that hit my heart, and I will write about it. Some days i'll just put the quote and let you meditate on it yourself. I hope that when you read my words you will be inspired.

                  

                                                                                 Happy reading, Em