“Airports see more sincere kisses than wedding halls. The walls of hospitals have heard more prayers than the walls of churches.”
—(via grizzlytales)
June 2013
“1. push yourself to get up before the rest of the world - start with 7am, then 6am, then 5:30am. go to the nearest hill with a big coat and a scarf and watch the sun rise.
2. push yourself to fall asleep earlier - start with 11pm, then 10pm, then 9pm. wake up in the morning feeling re-energized and comfortable.
3. erase processed food from your diet. start with no lollies, chips, biscuits, then erase pasta, rice, cereal, then bread. use the rule that if a child couldn’t identify what was in it, you don’t eat it.
4. get into the habit of cooking yourself a beautiful breakfast. fry tomatoes and mushrooms in real butter and garlic, fry an egg, slice up a fresh avocado and squirt way too much lemon on it. sit and eat it and do nothing else.
5. stretch. start by reaching for the sky as hard as you can, then trying to touch your toes. roll your head. stretch your fingers. stretch everything.
6. buy a 1L water bottle. start with pushing yourself to drink the whole thing in a day, then try drinking it twice.
7. buy a beautiful diary and a beautiful black pen. write down everything you do, including dinner dates, appointments, assignments, coffees, what you need to do that day. no detail is too small.
8. strip your bed of your sheets and empty your underwear draw into the washing machine. put a massive scoop of scented fabric softener in there and wash. make your bed in full.
9. organise your room. fold all your clothes (and bag what you don’t want), clean your mirror, your laptop, vacuum the floor. light a beautiful candle.
10. have a luxurious shower with your favourite music playing. wash your hair, scrub your body, brush your teeth. lather your whole body in moisturiser, get familiar with the part between your toes, your inner thighs, the back of your neck.
11. push yourself to go for a walk. take your headphones, go to the beach and walk. smile at strangers walking the other way and be surprised how many smile back. bring your dog and observe the dog’s behaviour. realise you can learn from your dog.
12. message old friends with personal jokes. reminisce. suggest a catch up soon, even if you don’t follow through. push yourself to follow through.
14. think long and hard about what interests you. crime? sex? boarding school? long-forgotten romance etiquette? find a book about it and read it. there is a book about literally everything.
15. become the person you would ideally fall in love with. let cars merge into your lane when driving. pay double for parking tickets and leave a second one in the machine. stick your tongue out at babies. compliment people on their cute clothes. challenge yourself to not ridicule anyone for a whole day. then two. then a week. walk with a straight posture. look people in the eye. ask people about their story. talk to acquaintances so they become friends.
16. lie in the sunshine. daydream about the life you would lead if failure wasn’t a thing. open your eyes. take small steps to make it happen for you.” —Sixteen Small Steps to Happiness (via pigmenting)
2. push yourself to fall asleep earlier - start with 11pm, then 10pm, then 9pm. wake up in the morning feeling re-energized and comfortable.
3. erase processed food from your diet. start with no lollies, chips, biscuits, then erase pasta, rice, cereal, then bread. use the rule that if a child couldn’t identify what was in it, you don’t eat it.
4. get into the habit of cooking yourself a beautiful breakfast. fry tomatoes and mushrooms in real butter and garlic, fry an egg, slice up a fresh avocado and squirt way too much lemon on it. sit and eat it and do nothing else.
5. stretch. start by reaching for the sky as hard as you can, then trying to touch your toes. roll your head. stretch your fingers. stretch everything.
6. buy a 1L water bottle. start with pushing yourself to drink the whole thing in a day, then try drinking it twice.
7. buy a beautiful diary and a beautiful black pen. write down everything you do, including dinner dates, appointments, assignments, coffees, what you need to do that day. no detail is too small.
8. strip your bed of your sheets and empty your underwear draw into the washing machine. put a massive scoop of scented fabric softener in there and wash. make your bed in full.
9. organise your room. fold all your clothes (and bag what you don’t want), clean your mirror, your laptop, vacuum the floor. light a beautiful candle.
10. have a luxurious shower with your favourite music playing. wash your hair, scrub your body, brush your teeth. lather your whole body in moisturiser, get familiar with the part between your toes, your inner thighs, the back of your neck.
11. push yourself to go for a walk. take your headphones, go to the beach and walk. smile at strangers walking the other way and be surprised how many smile back. bring your dog and observe the dog’s behaviour. realise you can learn from your dog.
12. message old friends with personal jokes. reminisce. suggest a catch up soon, even if you don’t follow through. push yourself to follow through.
14. think long and hard about what interests you. crime? sex? boarding school? long-forgotten romance etiquette? find a book about it and read it. there is a book about literally everything.
15. become the person you would ideally fall in love with. let cars merge into your lane when driving. pay double for parking tickets and leave a second one in the machine. stick your tongue out at babies. compliment people on their cute clothes. challenge yourself to not ridicule anyone for a whole day. then two. then a week. walk with a straight posture. look people in the eye. ask people about their story. talk to acquaintances so they become friends.
16. lie in the sunshine. daydream about the life you would lead if failure wasn’t a thing. open your eyes. take small steps to make it happen for you.” —Sixteen Small Steps to Happiness (via pigmenting)
I like to wander aimlessly through crowded streets in foreign cities, searching for that one face in the sea of people.
I like to sleep just when the sun is peeking over the horizon, when I’m the first to greet the day before I fall into my endless slumber.
I want to feel the touch of a newborn’s fingers against my cheek, tightly holding on to my pinky, and the joy of witnessing new life.
I’ve often thought how simple life would be if we were all kindergartners once again, running around the playground without a care in the world.
My best friend said to live by faith and not by sight, to know that in the midst of chaos, God has a plan, and sometimes all we can do is let go and let God.
My dreams are of underprivileged children and young women, oppressed, without a voice, yearning for the chance to escape.
My favorite sound is the pitter-patter of rain as it falls on the rooftops, the splat of each drop as it strikes the sidewalk, and my little brother’s giggle as it hits his face.
A memorable smell is the waft of cologne as he walks by – the boy whom I so deeply cared about, the man who taught me so much – a waft which can take me back four years ago to that fated day.
I’ve never been to the land of fairy tales Prince Charmings, and damsels in distress, that world of make-believe, a bubble others choose to hide within.
I sometimes feel completely amazed at how perfect everything has become, how every piece of the puzzle is finally in its place, and how life does work out in the long run.
The worst thing is settling for less than you deserve, choosing the easy road because you fear failure when your standards should be limitless and your potential overflowing.
Dramatic is my little sister and I when we’re imitating the beautiful people of Lord of the Ring and their glorious mane.
My mother’s voice holds memories that words cannot describe, the good, the bad, the laughter, and the tears of these past 18 years, only one person has been there through it all.
I cry when I saw how beautiful she is, how happy and carefree you are when you’re with her, and when I finally accept that we can never be.
Time is a thing of the past, a mirage of the future, but mine for the taking now, in the present, in this very moment. The question now becomes – what will I do?
I long for a soul who can understand mine on a level beyond spoken or written words, with an intimacy that forces me to be vulnerable, by a mere chance of fate.
I never will become a mere stop along the way for I am the destination.
I know I really shouldn’t but for some odd reason I feel drawn to you.
“The fact that I’m silent doesn’t mean I have nothing to say.”
—Jonathan Carroll (via anditslove)
“You will find that it is necessary to let things go; simply for the reason that they are heavy. So let them go, let go of them. I tie no weights to my ankles.”
—C. Joybell C. (via anditslove)
May 2013
“What do you say when the feelings don’t fit into words?”
—Tammara Webber (via onlinecounsellingcollege)
“I just thought it was so romantic—the idea that you don’t need to be loved in return in order to love something or someone. Love can come from you. It doesn’t have to be reciprocal. People love their cars. People love all kinds of things, and they really love them. And we don’t really value that kind of love because it’s not a real, reciprocal kind of love, but it’s real love to them…”
—Ryan Gosling (via imfantasyparade)
“I had this bad ass professor in med school. She seemed invincible. And then, one day, she needed her gallbladder out. And the surgery killed her. Her platelets stopped clotting. She bled out on the table. Everything that could have gone wrong – did go wrong. The surgeons have a name for it. We call it a perfect storm. Funny, I never thought it would happen to me.”
—(via greysanatomy)
“There’s an end to every storm. Once all the trees have been uprooted, once all the houses have been ripped apart, the wind will hush. The clouds will part. The rain will stop. The sky will clear in an instant. And only then, in those quiet moments after the storm, do we learn who was strong enough to survive it.”
—Grey’s Anatomy (via anditslove)
“I don’t know the secret to success, but the secret to failure is trying to please everyone.”
—Bill Cosby (via quote-book)
“They hit you out of nowhere. When bad things come, they come suddenly, without warning. We rarely get to see the catastrophe coming, no matter how well we try to prepare for it.”
—(via greysanatomy)
“We do our very best, but sometimes it’s just not good enough.We buckle our seat belts, we wear a helmet, and we stick to the lighted paths. We try to be safe, we try so hard to protect ourselves but it doesn’t make a damn bit of difference, ‘cos when the bad things come, they come out of nowhere. The bad things come suddenly with no warning. But we forget that sometimes, that’s how the good things come too.”
—(via greysanatomy)
“They hit you out of nowhere. When bad things come, they come suddenly, without warning. We rarely get to see the catastrophe coming, no matter how well we try to prepare for it.”
—Grey’s Anatomy (via anditslove)
“Look at the sky: that is for you. Look at each person’s face as you pass on the street: those faces are for you. And the street itself, and the ground under the street, and the ball of fire underneath the ground: all these things are for you. They are as much for you as they are for other people. Remember this when you wake up in the morning and think you have nothing.”
—Miranda July, No One Belongs Here More Than You (via paradoxicalsentiments)
“You tried to change, didn’t you? Closed your mouth more, tried to be softer, prettier, less volatile, less awake…You can’t make homes out of human beings. Someone should have already told you that.”
—For Women Who Are Difficult to Love, Warsan Shire (via whatyoushare)
“
Why Society Still Needs Feminism
Because to men, a key is a device to open something. For women, it’s a weapon we hold between our fingers when we’re walking alone at night.
Because the biggest insult for a guy is to be called a “pussy,” a “little bitch” or a “girl.” From here on out, being called a “pussy” is an effing badge of honor.
Because last month, my politics professor asked the class if women should have equal representation in the Supreme Court, and only three out of 42 people raised their hands.
Because rape jokes are still a thing.
Because despite being equally broke college kids, guys are still expected to pay for dates, drinks and flowers.
Because as a legit student group, Campus Fellowship does not allow women to lead anything involving men. Look, I know Eve was dumb about the whole apple and snake thing, but I think we can agree having a vagina does not directly impact your ability to lead a
college organization.
Because it’s assumed that if you are nice to a girl, she owes you sex — therefore, if she turns you down, she’s a bitch who’s put you in the “friend zone.” Sorry, bro, women are not machines you put kindness coins into until sex falls out.
Because only 29 percent of American women identify as feminist, and in the words of author Caitlin Moran, “What part of ‘liberation for women’ is not for you? Is it freedom to vote? The right not to be owned by the man you marry? The campaign for equal pay? Did all that good shit get on your nerves? Or were you just drunk at the time
of the survey?”
Because when people hear the term feminist, they honestly think of women burning bras. Dude, have you ever bought a bra? No one would burn them because they’re freaking
expensive.
Because Rush Limbaugh.
Because we now have a record number of women in the Senate … which is a measly 20 out of 100. Congrats, USA, we’ve gone up to 78th place for women’s political representation, still below China, Rwanda and Iraq.
Because recently I had a discussion with a couple of well-meaning Drake University guys, and they literally could not fathom how catcalling a woman walking down University Avenue is creepy and sexist.
Could. Not. Fathom.
Because on average, the tenured male professors at Drake make more than the tenured female professors.
Because more people on campus complain about chalked statistics regarding sexual assault than complain about the existence of sexual assault. Priorities? Have them.
Because 138 House Republicans voted against the Violence Against Women Act. All 138 felt it shouldn’t provide support for Native women, LGBT people or immigrant women. I’m kind of confused by this, because I thought LGBT people and women of color were also human beings.
Weird, right?
Because a girl was roofied last semester at a local campus bar, and I heard someone say they think she should have been more careful. Being drugged is her fault, not the fault of the person who put drugs in her drink?
Because Chris Brown beat Rihanna so badly she was hospitalized, yet he still has fans and bestselling songs and a tattoo of an abused woman on his neck.
Because out of 7 billion people on the planet, more than 1 billion women will be raped or beaten in their lifetimes. Women and girls have their clitorises cut out, acid thrown on them and broken bottles shoved up them as an act of war. Every second of every day. Every corner of the Earth.
Because the other day, another friend of mine told me she was raped, and I can no longer count on both my hands the number of friends who have told me they’ve been sexually assaulted. Words can’t express how scared I am that I’m getting used to this.
Because a brief survey of reality will tell you that we do not live in a world that values all people equally and that sucks in real, very scary ways. Because you know we live in a sexist world when an awesome thing with the name “feminism” has a weird connotation. Because if I have kids someday, I want my son to be able to have emotions and play dress up, and I want my daughter to climb trees and care more about what’s in her head than what’s on it. Because I don’t want her to carry keys between her fingers at night to
protect herself.
Because feminism is for everybody, and this is your official invitation.
” —Caitlin O’Donnell, Drake University. (via on-another-note)
“There’s no such thing as magic, as far as we know. And while as surgeons we study the secrets behind the human body’s intricate network of cells, tissues and organs, when things go wrong, horribly wrong – there are only so many tricks we have up our sleeves to put a body back together. But there is a kind of power, more of a spell really. And when we get it right, it can be pretty damn magical.”
—(via greysanatomy)
This week needs to end.
