Peace vs. Calm.

"our name is our virtue"

I have been pondering on that quote for a while. Names, check yours out because it probably has a meaning. My name means peace. I have kind of known that for a while because my name is Olivia like "olive branch" which is a sign of peace. So I started thinking about peace, and at first thought you probably couldnt think of a word that less describes me. I am high-energy all the time, and while I do desire world peace, I am not what one would think of as peaceful to be around. However thinking on what the word peace means to me, I find it has nothing to do with a persons energy level, and everything to do with how you feel about yourself. You have to feel at home with yourself, you have to be at peace with yourself, you have to love yourself. So with my new found virtue I walk onward, seeking inner peace with myself, then allowing it to radiate into other people. We all deserve to love ourselves, everying no matter what, you will never spend more time with someone than you spend with yourself. So become at peace with yourself, your faults, your strengths your ever changing self. Accept everything you feel, are and want to be. I am a firm believer that you cannot love anyone until you love yourself. So excercise your self love by stopping negative self talk. Your amazing, I'm amazing and until we all realize this fact about every human being an that planet including ourselves, peace is not possible. I wish you peace and love.

We were made to feel the rain.

We were made to feel the rain
We were made to drink the sea
We were made to live together
In peace and harmony

We weren't made to put factories up
And put smoke in the sky
We were made to feel the earth
With fresh air drifting by

We were made to dance and made to sing
But in the grand design
There certainly were no phones to ring
Or ways to catch the "time"

We were made to feel the dirt
To gaze up at the stars
To one day realize
That all the world is ours

And though we buy and sell it
It still would seem to me
Quite uncomprehensible
How one could "own" a tree

We were made to share this gift
The earth that where we all live
So why would we want to recieve
More that we want to give

We were made to love
To put it simpily
To know the universe is intertwined
To taste infinity

life is good.

How many times have your heard this sentence: life is good. Its on t-shirts, coffee mugs, bumper stickers, facebook statuses, hats and several other assorted items. So we surround ourselves with this wonderous idea and then we don't act like it. Instead of using this as a healthy reminder and do not actually live it out. Life is good. Such as short sentence, but one of the absolute truest. I can't stress enough how good it feels to absolutely believe it. Now I'm not saying I walk and never forget how beautiful life is, but goodness I would like to. I get tastes of it though. When I really think how wonderful everything is. How we can CHOOSE this outlook, just like you can choose to be in a bad mood. It's that easy, choose to be happy. Even if time rough, you can still CHOOSE to look at them happily. Do what makes you happy. Have faith in yourself and your intuition, and be accepting of yourself and the fact that experience molds you and that you will never be the exact same person you were yesterday. Rejoice in your everchanging self! Every second is a fresh start, so never feel like your failing, because you have never done anything as the exact person you are at that second. Its better to just enjoy the ride. Because it is a good ride, not like one of those that makes you feel sick, its one of those rides you would wait in life forever for, and here is the catch, there is no line, your already on the awesome ride that is life, existence, connecting to everything and hopefully finding love in everything. Our fellow travelers in humanity whom we should love with all our hearts. Take it all in. Look around, open your eyes and heart and realize we are only made to love. EVERYTHING AND EVERYBODY. Think of the universe as on your side and that its all going to be okay, because it is. Things that seem like the world, will eventually become a funny memory. Look around and radiate the light you have.

an attitude of gratitude

I am so overwhelmingly blessed. I have gratitude flowing from my being right now and I need to get it down on paper, or in this case on screen. I am truely blessed with everything that has happened in my life. I am crazy grateful for my life, my family, my friends, my enemys and everyone and everything that has ever influenced me in the smallest of ways. "they shaped my life, they make me love who I am today".

stop judging, yes I'm talking to everyone, and myself

Lately I have been trying to not judge people, the reason, its not our place as humans to judge eachother. I think the reason we judge is because we judge what we dont do. We judge other people for doing something that we ourselves would not, because we didnt have the experiece that led us there. So how can we judge? If there is something I have learned about people its that we all have baggage, and I'm not talking a small hand purse, I'm talking like five suitcases no matter who you are. We then cannot judge others, because we will never know what we would have done in their place, or how we would act toward people. I recently read about an excercise that you should do when you start judging someone. Try to find out what you dont like about the person, the character trait not the act, and then find it in yourself. Usually the traits we dislike about others we can find some what in ourselves. It makes it alot easier to dislike someone when we can relate them to ourselves. I'm not by any means saying I dont judge people, because I would be lying. For some reason its a natural thing for humans to do, but it is also a road bump to happiness, and I'm not sure about ya'll but whenever I talk about someone or think negatively about somebody, I feel awful when I really think about it. Another thing that helps me is to think of the persons family. They have a family that loves them. I cannot stand the thought of anyone even thinking negatively about a member of my family, so thats usually what does it for me. It's something to work at, because if we can get over all the little things and just spread the love, we'll all enjoy life much more.

just because I'm wondering, doesn't mean I'm lost

I don't want an idea or thought or anything to define me. We are constantly changing. Experience molds us every moment, to make us a different person than who we were before. Therefore it only makes sense to take in everything and use it to make up what you think. It is wrong to close your mind because of the past, because you are not who you are. I have also realized judging is wrong, but its something we all do. And whether its out loud or in our heads we all do it. I'm trying to cut down on that, just because I don't think its our place as humans to judge eachother. Back to the open mind thing though, dont close your mind because of what you believed in the past, because your not the same person. Open yourself to yourself, let yourself be what it wants to be. Don't push away change, rather welcome it with open arms. Love yourself every second, and never forget you have the right to change.

"I won't worry my life away."



I needed to be told this right now. It is way to easy to get caught up in life and forget to live. There is so much stress that is put on us by the world, why do we choose to only make it worse. I know in my case at least that once I discover a problem, I cannot stop thinking about it until it is solved. I try and  try and I tell myself, well you can't do anything about it at 2 in the morning, but no matter what I cannot stop thinking about it. I am putting it on myself. Worrying does no good, and honestly that is one of the biggest lesssons I have been trying to teach myself for a very long time. I worry, alot. I have trouble sometimes remembering that something is not everything. When I am under stress I focus only on the stress, and then come to realize later that it really wasnt that big of a deal at all. I think this is somewhat common. The inability to see past what is right in front of you, and view everything as a whole. Even if that one thing is a huge thing, worrying will not do anything. Its only natural to worry, I know that, but it is a total pain when you cannot stop thinking about it, or being upset about it. We run ourselves into these little routines, that we think we have to do. The entire world no a days never stops. Instant message, e-mail, facebook, it never stops. You cant catch a break. You move from one thing to the next. In the old days letters took days to deliver and respond to, now its a click away. School, work, drama are all stresses that drive us deeper and deeper in to this constant battle against time. Here stands the question, when do you get to just enjoy life. Well the modern world doesnt do a good job of telling you its okay t just slow down for a second. Coping with the stress is the hardest for me by far. I am not great under stress, simply because I cannot look past it and see all the good things in life. We have to stop stressing about nothing, or what will be nothing a week from now. Stop worrying and enjoying now. Do what you can, then just leave it. Regret wont help, worrying wont help, just keep moving along, enjoying and living. Now this is far far easier said than done, but if it is achieved, I believe it is the ultimate answer to stress. Just remembering that it is not everything. Because "does it make sense not to live for fun?" No it does not. Think about that and  "dont worry your life away". When you look at your life, your not going to think about the paper you didnt turn in in college, or the spelling test you failed in third grade, and though they were everything at the time, in the grand scheme of things its not important.

The only thing that is important is enjoying your life. Because even if you are a perfect student or worker because you let stress take over, and work all day, are you really happy? Does being perfect at everything but living life to the fullest matter. Fulfillment comes in happiness and to be happy we must make the choice to be happy. When we look at being happy as our goal, everything else is not the most important thing anymore.This is not to say we should all neglect our responsibilities, just dont let them become your life! Do what makes you happy, because it is honestly all that really matters.

"Don't worry, be happy."

Limitless

Lets talk about you right now. You are limitless. I realized this while sitting on the beach. Looking at the ocean and up at the sky seeing how it seemed to go on for ever, with no end. We are resemble nature in this way. We are limitless, we have an unlimited ability to love, change, laugh, cry, learn, have joy, whatever, there is never to much for humans because God didn't put a limit on any of that stuff. I cannot even think about how big the universe is, nor can I think about how large the mind is. Now what can we do with this, and if we have this unlimited amount of love to give and recieve, why is there so much pain in the world, it is because we limit ourselves. We make up our mind not to love someone, or tell ourselves we and others cannot change. When in reality, there is always room. We have to leave room for change in ourselves and other people, and not limit ourselves to what we use to do, or what others use to be like. Keep an open mind, because its limitless, and there is always room for change. Don't be afraid to contradict or be wrong, there is room for that, and room for the knowlege we learn from mistakes. There is room to love everyone, from family, to a guy sitting next to you in traffic. Remember this space that you have, this space that cannot be filled, and can be constantly taking in and pouring out love. Do not put limits on yourself or other people. Be open, and be limitless because there is always plenty of room. I for one find this empowering. I have the ability to do anything, and when you take away boundaries you put on yourself, it sets you free. The only one holding you back is you. Remember the grand scheme. When your all wrapped up and upset about something, stop and think about how small this problem may be. Your the one saying "be upset" "be stressed" "let one thing take over your life". Well I am telling you, these boundaries are taking away from your full and limitless potential as a human being. So I challenge you to be limitless in this way. Remembering that there is nothing you cannot do, no one you can not love, no mountain you cannot climb, and no situation you cannot overcome. I am such a fan of this little idea I came up with I decided to change the name of the blog, because change is good. I am not limited to one blog name, nor is there a limit on creativity. I think its a good way to be. People say live like this is your last breath, I think we should live like it is not only our last, but our first. Don't forget to be in awe of the world, and accept each moment as new and be grateful.

Yeah I'm aware that that was kind of an unorganized little paragraph, but I think I got my point across.

Look at it this way

Well, it's certainly been a while. I need to keep up on blogging better, because it really does help me reflect on my day, and an all around happier human being. Pardon the scattered nature of this post, I honesly have no idea what I am about to write about.
I'm tired lately. From lack of sleep, from too many emotions, and from the multiple stressors that life has tossed at me latey. Although, I am good at forgetting that when I'm having a good time. I think everybody is like that though, the only thing that can make people feel better is other people, but the only one that can make you better is yourself. Mind over matter my friend. The problem is with everything going on, its hard to see past it.

"No path is wholly rough, look for the places that are smooth and clear."

This quote is what I (everybody) needs to do, and eventually the moments of bliss will turn to days to weeks months, and ultimately a lifetime. Optimism isn't a characterisic or a personality, but rather a practice. Even people who are optimistic have their bad day (or months but whose counting) the trick is to not get caught in it. It doesnt happen over night, but rather a continual practice of gratitude and peace of mind. We cannot change what life deals us, we can only change our reaction. We will not always react correctly, but luckiy second chances are plentiful. Today a friend said to me, even if life is rough, I just think about how awesome my friends are and everything is great. Wise words from a wise human being, you know who you are if your reading this.

Long days mean more time

Bad times mean you had good and will have better

Tears mean you have smiled, and will again

Look at it that way.

I'm running to catch up again

Today was a bad day. No getting around it. Now I know that a positive attitude can help a bad day, but today there were too many things thrown at me to remember this, and thats what I blame my bad day on. I blame it on me thinking it was a bad day. It surely is not the days fault.

Anyway, whenever I have one of these days (and I consider myself fortunate because it's not that often, I somehow manage to avoid more than a few really awful days a year.) I seem to have a song traveling through the day with me. Today the song was Running. Probably because this morning (in anticipation for the day I was faced with) I decided I needed some calm acoustic tunes to get me to school. Anyway this song was in my head all day. The quote from this song that pretty much explained my day is "I'm running to catch up again." For me, as well as many others I'm sure, bad days usually come hand and hand with stress. And stress was just dancing around me today.

Days like today I feel like I don't even actually live. Just rushing by, not noticing anything or anyone. Thats my least favorite part of these days. Tomorrow is a fresh start though, thats what I love about days, we get new ones all the time. Since we typically label days good and bad, this is extra helpful, because we dont have to have a bad day for too long, we get the chance every twenty- four hours to try for a good one.

Well that was my little rant about bad days. At least they remind us to be grateful for the good ones.

Taking Guesses

"Taking guesses at the actual date and time"

One of my all time favorite quotes. As humans we are under the notion that we know everything. I myself have that fault, and during a psychology class I am taking I have realized it's only natural. In the end we always think we're right, no matter what logic tells us, we choose whatever opinion we have decided is true, we hold on to information that supports us rather than what tells us we are wrong. We're only human. We are imperfect, but we all want the same thing, happiness.

I have come to a concluesion.

Every decision a person makes, is an attempt at happiness.

Think about it and you'll find its true. The root of all choices we make is the belief that it will bring us happiness. The probem is we are looking in all the wrong places. We look to money, and power, rather than to people and nature. Every thing we do is a "guess" at what will make us happy, and when we do it by buying something or hurting another we find it doee not work out in the end. The catch is to remember what happiness is, or to have your own definition of happiness. (I actually did not mean for this to happen, but it occured to me while I was writing we just wrote definitions of happiness in a class I am in. Ironic.) Mine went something like "To love and be loved, be grateful for everything, having a good relationship with God, and being an individual." except it was probably worded better than that, but thats the basic definition of what I think it means to be happy.

Optimism goes miles. Gratitude fills us with awe, and keeps us wondering. You must love yourself before you can truely love anyone else, and you can only love yourself if you be yourself. Faith is what keeps you strong. And that is how you achieve happiness if you ask me.

Well this post kind of went in a few directions, but thats okay, I think I said what I intended to say.

"and this life is a beautiful one, and thought I've seen it come undone, I know most definately, it always works out the way it's meant to be."

Thanks for reading.