Now I will be the first to admit that many of the things I have learned still allude me on a regular basis. When I was 20 I heard something once that said "knowing makes no difference".But.. now I have realized how true that is.
I have, in the past week, been told that I should write a book from a handful of people... I was told tonight from a friend at school that she thinks that if people were in crisis I should be the person they talk to and that I can help... I was told last week by a random stranger that she thought everyone should know me.. I have always felt that I have something special about me... but i am only recently starting to really own it.... recognize it and believe in it. It really came to fruition 2 weeks ago when I just happened to call a woman I had met 6 months ago, randomly... to find out her daughter was killed in a car accident.... somehow I was available emotionally to help support her and her family the entire weekend while they dealt with the death, the wake, the funeral.... and in that process I finally found myself as calm and as integrated inside of me as I have ever been...
i was reading the last 2 posts I have made.. and of course I have fallen back into suffering and questioning myself over the past month.. hence the no writing... but i am recognizing that it really is the journey.. it takes practice, fortitude and a level of self compassion to allow yourself to falter on the road to self actualization. I am starting to realize that I am highly educated and through simply who I am i have found the TRUTH. My TRUTH is everyone's truth, whether they want to believe it or not.... and my soul desire in the world is have people truly love themselves.. that I have been on my own journey in order to be able to share the tools i have gained through life so that other people have them too, and that because of my age, because of just who I AM... I can share the information in a way that lands for people who would otherwise feel like they were different than the rest....
So I continue to share in the hopes that who I am represents something in you that you are scared to admit, scared to be.. and through my own journey I offer you the gift of HOPE.
So... my truth
My lessons.
1. Say thank-you every time someone pays you a compliment... this may be difficult at first... our tendency is to either brush it off or compliment the other person and remove the feeling from ourselves... by doing this you rob the other person of the gift of a compliment... you know how good it feels when you give someone a compliment? you know how good it feels when you make someone else smile and feel good about themselves? you know how you stop giving people compliments who don't listen to them? well that goes for you too... when you don't acknowledge the simple gift of the compliment you rob the other person. Take a moment.. breathe.. take the compliment in... and say thank you. acknowledge the kindness, the thoughtfulness, the energy it takes for someone to get out of themselves to care about you....
you don't even have to agree! that's the best part.... but little by little, the more you let yourself hear the compliments the more you start believing them.. the more you see their truth and the more you realize you are way more awesome than you think you are.
2. Start listening to the way you talk to yourself. You will quickly find yourself saying to yourself the MEANEST things in the world.. things you wouldn't DARE say to anyone...even your worst enemy.... and if you are one of those people that say mean things to people.. this is simply because you do it to yourself.... remember.. in your heart you are still just a child... looking for love, affection, attention and acceptance.... you have to learn how to treat YOURSELF with compassion and kindness, acceptance.... how can you possibly think someone else is going to treat you this way... a stranger.. if you, yourself don't even feel this way...
So start listening to yourself.. and every time you hear yourself say ANYTHING mean.... say something nice right away.... i started playing a game with myself where I started saying the opposite... just for fun... not that I believed it.. or agreed...
I learned once that your brain is structured in a way that whatever wires together fires together..... what that basically means is that if there is a thought you have that automatically brings about another thought... it will always be that way.. but our brains are plastic... they have plasticity which basically means they can change... so if you change the way you think... you actually change the way your brain fires.... so... if you break the thought process between event A and the thought that is negative, you can actually start changing the way you think about yourself.. thus changing the way you relate to yourself.. and ultimately can learn how to accept and love yourself.. DESPITE your faults....
SELF LOVE - that's the only thing that you should focus on.... everything comes from self love... and everything bad comes from self hatred.
the trickiest thing about this experience is that you will find simply because you talk to yourself like shit you completely ignore anything good about yourself..any compliments.. you only focus on the shitty parts of yourself....
now one thing I have seen in myself and others around me is there is a tendency to think that you can't love yourself because you feel that by loving yourself you accept who you are and become complacent... THIS IS NOT TRUE... by listening to yourself.... by changing the way you talk to yourself.. you are learning how to honour who you REALLY are.. and as you learn to love yourself.. you learn to honour yourself... and you start realizing that you have REALLY REALLY BIG DREAMS... and that by loving yourself you start honouring your dreams.. and start putting things in place to make those dreams a reality. your reality.
So.... listen to yourself... whenever you hear yourself say anything negative say the opposite.... say i love you, say I love myself.... say the sky is blue... say i love my cat... count.... you can do this in your head by the way :P lol.... but honestly.... if its too difficult to say things like I love myself.. or the opposite try anything positive... when you are saying "why are you always late? what's wrong with you?" to say "it's ok to be late, you are doing your best", or "why do you always choose partners that don't give a fuck about you? you are so stupid!" saying "you are so beautiful" or "you are soo lazy, why can't you just get your ass to the gym." ... "its all a journey you'll get there." Just keep trying to be nice to yourself.. that's the most important thing...
THE TRUTH - your parents fucked up.. they fucked up large... EVERYONE's parents fucked up... they fucked up because they didn't know any better... they fucked up because they only know what they know.. they learned from their parents... and them from theirs... how can you possibly expect that they knew ANYTHING? THE TRUTH - they didn't give you the love you needed.... because they don't love themselves.. and if you can't even love yourself.. HOW THE FUCK can you love your kids properly????
My greatest gift was my mother dying... for SOOO many reasons... but it offered me the opportunity to have an objective opinion on my mom... because i don't have to navigate the relationship any more.... I have no concerns about being angry, or upset or thinking something bad about her.. because I don't have to see her!!!! BUT.. you don't have to wait for your parents to die to realize that they are simply you, just 20/30/40 years older... they don't have a freaking clue! their dreams were shattered... and their hope when down the tubes... and you got to see it happen.... FORGIVE THEM.
recognizing that your parents fucked up.. that some of the things you thought were true ARE NOT true... doesn't mean that your parents are bad people... and it certainly doesn't mean you can't love them... your recognition of their behaviour, their beliefs as not being what you feel is right... has no bearing on your desire to love them.... we are all children.... your parents are children.. and typically we all get stuck at some fucked up point in our lives where the trauma in our lives was left up to us to navigate... without any guidance (cause no one else knew how to navigate it) you were left to cope... some people miraculously figure out how to deal with trauma.... but most of us just push the pain down.. hoping one day for someone to bring it to the surface and hold us and make the pain go away... we are all stuck at some random point in our lives.... if we don't let ourselves off the hook, if we don't let ourselves FEEL that trauma... and find ways of processing it.. it will always remain inside you... and everytime something else bad happens, it will bring up the pain... so you try to avoid ALL PAIN....
NEWS FLASH - you can't avoid all PAIN.. IT IS THERE... remember.. pain and suffering is like the waning of the moon.. its not bad ... its just life....
SO... your parents fucked you up.... so now it is YOUR responsibility to learn better.. and start treating yourself the way you KNOW your parents SHOULD HAVE..... BE YOUR OWN PARENT
I honestly had to learn how to brush my teeth everyday, how to do my dishes regularly, how to make my bed... how to go to sleep at a reasonable hour... I'm still trying to teach myself basic ways of caring for myself... and some of that isn't my mother, or my step father's doing.. some of it is simply I just haven't cared to take care of myself....
You have to remember you are the creator, you are the designer of YOU... you are the canvas and your spirit is the ARTIST.... YOU GET TO DECIDE... so start small.... I honestly started with brushing my teeth.... and go from there.. congratulating yourself at every new goal you set for yourself that miraculously you achieve.. and EVERYTIME you succeed celebrate... AND everytime you FAIL tell yourself how proud of yourself you are for trying and recognizing the failure... and try again... this simple act will change your relatedness with yourself.
you got the shitty end of the stick.. your life isn't the way you think it should be... you aren't the person you wanted to be.. or thought you'd be... circumstances have got you to where you are... its a far stretch.. but I promise there will be a point where you realize that it all happened just as it should have. You didn't know any more than you did.... you made mistakes, other people made mistakes.... random events happened in your life... but everything is there to teach you something.. and once you learn it it will serve you for the REST OF YOUR LIFE...
you will continue to experience the same things in your life until you learn the lesson...
so learn the lesson!!!
I heard once.. suffering is only useful until it isn't. THIS IS TRUE. I KNOW.
Remember... this is the first time in HISTORY that we have had so much time, resources and support to deal with our shit... to look at our inner conversation... to look and analyze our own emotions... when you are trying to figure out how to survive tigers, wolves, swords, arrows, bullets, the elements, trying to find food, water, trying to feed your kids.... find shelter, warmth, or coolness, when you are trying to SURVIVE.. you don't have time to figure out how you think and how that impacts you... and your life. SO GIVE HISTORY a BREAK!!!!
We are evolving as a species... we all had to go through EVERYthing we have... the good and bad have all lead us to here... so embrace the history, accept it as what HAD to happen..because GUESS WHAT - it happened... so there really is no other answer.
NOW... I think that one of the most difficult things to accept in order to accept what I know and what I have to say is spirituality... as someone of science I know how difficult it is to jump the expanse of spirituality and science.... but I assure you, from all the things I know.... spirituality is science... and i believe that everything I believe will eventually be proven by science.... I just choose to be able to discern the truth from fiction and be at the front of the pack instead of the back.
MIRROR MIRROR
EVERYTHING you don't like about other people is something that you don't like about yourself... THAT IS THE TRUTH... I know.. its difficult to palate... but its difficult to palate only because we think its bad... but it isn't bad.. it just IS. YOU ARE HUMAN! I know... SURPRISE! lol... but you are... that means... by our very nature we have the capacity to experience every emotion, react in any way... we have the ability to kill.... the biggest realization I am currently coming into is the realization that what is good and bad behaviour only comes from the INTENTION behind the act.... if you were to kill someone trying to kill your children that would be morally good.... because it came from LOVE - that is the only compass you need. Did your actions come from love? yes? then be done with the self criticisms and move on. and if not... well then now you know better.. MOVE ON.
People come into your life to teach you about you... how you react to them is how you react to yourself.... if you watch how you react to other people... you will see the conversation you have with yourself.. because how could you possibly react differently? its a reaction....
if you don't care for other people properly... you don't care for yourself properly... if you make other people cry... you typically are that mean to yourself too... if you think people are stupid.. you think you are stupid... if you think other people are weird... you think you are weird....
if you judge others.. you judge yourself... and there's no point in hating on yourself.. if you hate on yourself you will stay small ... you will never think you are worthy of greatness... and then you rob the world of the gift you were born to contribute to the planet.. the entire planet will be at a loss without you.... you have to learn to FORGIVE yourself.. and choose the behaviour you want yourself to contain...
self awareness is difficult.. it takes countless moments of being present .. of looking for your own truth.. of criticizing, learning and wanting to change.... trying and failing.. its the only way... learning to love yourself is not an overnight thing... and it doesn't mean that you stop changing, evolving and growing.. it simply means you refuse to beat yourself up along the way of growth.
Many people believe that self love is selfish.... SELF LOVE IS THE OPPOSITE OF SELFISHNESS
There is a feeling inside us all that we are trying to fill.. its a void... it is usually felt at our hearts.... in the center of our chest.... its where you feel hurt.... its the space that you feel filled up when you feel loved.. its the space that you are trying to fill with love... sometimes we try and numb ourselves to this void through sex, drugs, food, exercise, talking, cleaning, driving, alcohol, work.. its amazing the ways we try and fill this void.... its also amazing to me that it is possible to do healthy things like exercise to fill this void.... but I ASSURE you.. if your behaviour does not coexist with self love... then it will not fill the void.
Something really interesting i have found about myself is my relatedness to sex. So we all know that I have had sex with many men.... you can judge it as good or bad.... but it just is.... when looking back on it.... and to be honest I still sleep with men who I am not in a relationship with... but when I look back on the reasoning behind the sex.. I see that i have had one night stands for a plethora of reasons.... because i was lonely, because I was hurt and wanted to numb the hurt, because I wanted just to be touched, because I wanted to feel close to someone, because I was horny, because I wanted an orgasm, because I wanted to feel beautiful, because I wanted validation, because I wanted to feel alive, because it was a game, because I wanted love.... the interesting thing is to see that the act was the same it was the motivation behind the act that changes whether the act is healthy or unhealthy.. not the act itself.
realizing that it is the motivation behind the action that determines its health is a profound realization......
and now I have sex to have fun. period.
and guess what.. SEX IS SO MUCH FUN! I have learned so much from having sex with so many different people... its when you get people at their most vulnerable place... and its fascinating to look back at all the different men i have met, their behaviour, their lives, their rooms.... the consistencies and their unique attributes.... what determines a man from a boy.... but at the end of the day.... it is fun... IT SHOULD BE FUN - and your desire to engage in any behaviour should be based on your love and honouring of yourself.
The space we are all trying to fill in our "hearts" is actually us... we are desperately looking for ourselves.... the child inside of us NEEDS the adult we have become to take care of ourselves....
YOU WILL NEVER BE HAPPY IF YOU ARE LOOKING TO FILL THIS VOID IN ANY OTHER WAY THAN THROUGH SELF LOVE.
I read a book recently called "The art of loving", it said something SOOOO interesting.... that we think of self love as selfishness.... however selfishness is the incapacity to allow ourselves the gift of contributing to others.. its NOT self love... and selflessness is also NOT self love... selflessness teaches our children that they should not care for themselves....
If there was a spectrum, selfishness is at one end, selflessness is at the opposite and self love is right in the middle..... as soon as you love yourself you finally are no longer looking outside for things to fill the void... you have filled the void and all of a sudden it makes you available to the people around you.... you give... and you take care of yourself... its a beautiful thing... i have only recently experienced that feeling briefly.... I assure you this advice only comes from another human being.. I struggle with self love too.... but it takes practice.. and it starts with accepting compliments.
The scariest thing I have had to start accepting is that the majority of people do not think like me.. the majority of people are so caught up in their own heads that they can't even begin to see what I know... because they think the voice in their heads is them... they think they are a certain way and have no bearing on who they are... but we do.... we are the only ones that can control ourselves.... and it starts with the way we think.... changing the way we think is the only way to change our lives.
HOW DO YOU FIND YOUR HEART? the best way to find your heart is through suffering... OSHO says that suffering is there as a bullseye to your heart.... an arrow directly into who you are.. because when you feel hurt... you see where you are.. you feel where you are... and if you can remember that feeling, remember where that feeling emanated from in your body... then when smaller, less significant things happen.. you know what part of your body to listen to.
TRUST - How can you possibly trust other people, when you don't trust yourself? when THEY don't trust THEMSELVES? we are all like the blind leading the fucking blind! HERE'S THE TRUTH - when you learn to love yourself.. you honour that voice inside you that knows what it needs... knows what it wants.. you realize that the voice is connected to something far greater than yourself.. you do things... that you may think are stupid.... or irrational... or irresponsible.... but for some reason they excite you, they ignite something in you and you know that not doing them will result in an internal question of "what if I had done that....?" so you muster your courage and go for it... and when you do them, the world opens up because you honour yourself.. you honour the life inside you... you honour the UNIVERSE - the universe created you and it wants you to THRIVE.. serendipitous things happen to you when you honour the voice that is your true self. IT JUST IS....
I'll give you 2 examples.
1. After I was finished my contract in Korea i debated to go home or travel... i decided to travel I had planned a trip to south east asia since i was a kid.. and it was my dream trip.... when i was packing up I got a thought that I should have health insurance.... I talked to a bunch of people who told me that health care was so cheap that I shouldn't bother.. but still that inner voice told me I needed to get it.... I had travelled to 5 countries that year and not once did I think about health insurance.. it was just never a thought.... i had remembered that when I had visited Thailand at the start of the year that I had decided to buy health insurance for the entire year instead of the weekend I was in thailand because it had only been 100$ more... so i went and checked to see if I still had it.... I wrote down the policy number and the phone number to call in an emergency and put it in a little book i had in my pack that I took with me everywhere.... the night before I left I got a pain in my back..... it was like an aching.... but I left as planned and the whole flight over I didn't feel any pain... I even got bumped to first class and given champagne on the take off... Upon my arrival I started feeling pain again.... when I got to the hostel my friend went and got me pain killers and I took them.... they didn't help much and the pain got worse.... we had lunch... and then went for a walk... all of a sudden I was in so much pain I couldn't see straight.... I had to go to the walk in clinic... miraculously the walk in clinic was in front of our hostel... when we got there they did a quick check on me and thought that it wasn't muscular... so suggested I go to the hospital just to get it checked out..... I HATE HOSPITALS... and I HATE GETTING HELP... BUT we had a train booked for the next morning for LAOS and so my friend suggested that I just go and get it checked because the health care system in LAOS was non existent essentially and BANGKOK apparently had a really good medical system.... so i reluctantly went...I thought it was a kidney infection and i would get antibiotics... within 6 hours of getting there I was rushed into emergency surgery.. they had found a cyst on my ovary that had contorted and was on the verge of rupturing.... they removed the cyst.... and 80% of the ovary (of which I found out 2 days later).... so let me put this into perspective...
1. Had I come home I would NOT have gone to the hospital because I wouldn't have thought it was an emergency.. I only went because we were going to LAOS the next day
2. Had I come home I wouldn't have had medical insurance because I was out of the country for over a year
3. I had miraculously written down the insurance information and had it on me.. and that is the only way I was even able to go into surgery because I had no idea what hostel we were in... I had no idea what room we were in.. I had no way of contacting my friend... and so I couldn't have gotten the information any other way
4. If it had happened 1 day later I would have been on a train or in LAOS - the cyst would have ruptured and I would have bled out.
5. If everything hadn't happened in exactly the way it did.. I WOULD BE DEAD. so.... you tell me?
2. Letting J. go. letting him drive away because he didn't respect me and I refused to hold on to someone who didn't respect me.. i told the universe that I believed.. and that it better show up.. it had to show up... i had 10$ in my bank account, no car, no way to pay rent, i was in nursing school and just got a job.... within 3 days I had a car... I mentioned that I needed a car to my uncle... he went out and found one... he called my aunt to ask if she would lend me the money and she agreed.... i picked the car up by the friday..... I gave my 2 months notice and then just kept telling myself that it would work out.... I wanted desperately to stay here... to stay in the country...with three weeks left to the summer, not knowing how i was going to pay to move, where I was going to go.... or how I was going to stay, my landlords offered to drop the rent by 200$/month and the son of a friend of my mother's who also died offered to lend me 300$/month for the duration of my schooling in order to help me out.... so I had to come up with 500$/month which is completely reasonable. The universe made sure i would be ok... because I BElievEd.
I honoured myself in letting J. go... now don't get me wrong.. it was EXCRUCIATING... watching him drive away and not begging him to stay.. having him come back a couple of times to get things and not asking him to stay.. it killed me... i was desperately in love with him.. I wanted him to love me back... but I couldn't subject myself to any more of the self torture I was putting myself through in order to prove my love. .. i honoured myself... and therefore I honoured the life I was given... and the universe took care of me.
Be GRATEFUL for the lessons in your life.. for your own unique experience.. and stop judging yourself.... oh well you made a mistake... oh well you like things everyone else thinks is crazy.... ah well....
bE HoNEsT with yourself.... BE TRUE to your TRUTH
MY TRUTH
I talk a lot... I mean A LOT - I always have something to say - I want to teach people as much as I can and I try and use every single moment I have with people... whether for my own benefit, or theirs.. hopefully both.
I am highly educated - i have a B.A. in international development and am currently at university getting a BScN in nursing with an 85% average
I have taken courses in philosophy, biology, organic chemistry, microeconomics, macroeconomics, environmental economics, feminism, anthropology, sociology, psychology, anatomy, physiology, nursing, physics, environmental sustainability, history, geography, chemistry, statistics, research methods, medical ethics, human rights, political theory, development,
My mother was Buddhist so I learned about Christianity and Buddhism from a very young age.. she was a registered massage therapist, colonic therapist and aromatherapist before i was born... so she knew alot about things most people knew nothing about in the late 1970s.... she was an artist and taught me the importance of movement .. she was an artist, an art therapist...
My step father was a geography teacher, an artist, a farmer, a geologist, a historian - I learned about geography, about trees, about mt Everest, about the clouds and the weather about alluvial fans and the Canadian shield, I learned about crystals and the mathmatics behind nature
I know about astronomy, astrology, alternative medicine, traditional medicine,
My parents first date was to a pow wow on Manitoulin island - I went with them.. it was the first time I was ever in a tent - i learned about granola and Colman lamps
I have experienced so many life lessons
I have been cheated on by 3 different men who i loved
I have had sex with over 80 men
I have smoked pot and hashish, eaten mushrooms, snorted cocaine
I sometimes throw temper tantrums when my frustration gets too much for me to handle
I can judge people... and notice that when I judge people its because I forget their humanity, that they have insecurities too
I can get angry
I am LOUD
I talk a lot
I can be selfish
I can be selfless
I have been incredibly overweight - my highest was 237 lbs - this has taught me how easy it is to be in denial about something so blatantly obvious - it has offered me a deep sense of compassion
I have a cat
I smoke
I drink alcohol
I see the humanity in every person... i get we all have shit
I've played the flute, the clarinet and the ukelele i want to learn how to play the guitar, the piano and the fiddle
i sleep a lot
I am late A LOT
i procrastinate
I think A lot
I believe in reincarnation - i don't think i could know as much as I do with only one life... I think you can't learn everything in one life and life is there to teach us lessons... you have to keep coming back til you learn how to truly LOVE YOURSELF
I love architecture
I love art
I love dance - I am a dancer in my heart
I love photography
I love bubbles, fireworks, fireflies, scavenger hunts, and anything that glows in the dark, I love butterflies and watching barn swallows catch mosquitos
I love talking
I love listening
I love helping people
I love swimming, cycling
I have climbed to the top of Mt. Fuji in Japan
I have gone scuba diving and swam with sharks
I have lived in Toronto and gone to school just south of Jane and Finch
i have lived on a 100 acre farm
I have milked cows and goats and put pigs on a truck for the butcher
i have seen a calf being born
I have visited the cemetery that is at the start of saving private ryan - its devastating
I have signed the book at the Canadian cemetery in Normandy
I have walked across the quick sand next to Mont St. Michel in France
I have been up in the towers in Notre Dame cathedral
I have climbed the Eiffel tower
I have ridden on the top of an elephant
I have had sex in the ocean
I have had sex on the hood of my car under the stars - AMAZiNG.
i have played duck duck goose with 200 rural Zimbabwean children
I have seen giraffe, crocodiles, zebras, elephants, impala, dung beetle, monkeys, ostrich in their natural habitat
I have sailed down the coast of Thailand
I have learned Reiki
I have gone to the mud fest in Korea
I have lived in Banff
I speak French and Japanese
I know how to ride horses
I have been to the top of the CN tower
I have gone to the washroom in a bathroom in zimbabwe with huge spiders all over the walls
I have walked on the Athabasca glacier
I have watched the sunset on December 1999 over the ocean next to the aquarium in Osaka
I have watched the sunrise on january 1st 2000 at Osaka-Jo castle in Osaka Japan
I have been to the museum in Nanjing china that documents the rape of Nanjing(Nanking)
I have walked the crazy intersection in Tokyo Japan
I have seen the only building still standing from the bomb in hiroshima - I have also seen the museum in Hiroshima
I have been to an electronic music festival in Seoul
I have been on a 4 day camping trip through algonquin park
I have stepped foot in Lake superior, Erie and Ontario
I have gone under Niagara Falls on the maid of the mist
I have gone up the trolly in Pittsburgh
i have seen a steelers game in pittsburgh
I have walked up a mountain in Georgia
I have stepped foot on red soil in PEI
I swam with a sea turtle - the most amazing experience in the world
I have 6 tattoos
I have been head butted by a boyfriend
My mother died when I was 20
My step father didnt support me properly
My mother only left me records in her will
I have jumped off the gorge at Victoria falls on the Gorge swing
I have felt the mist off victoria falls
I have had a thai massage in thailand
I have experienced the most intense thunderstorm on an island in thailand
I have been up the gondola on Langkawi island in Malaysia
I have taken the train from the north of Malaysia to Kuala Lumpur
I have watched the fireworks at the towers in Kuala Lumpur on New Years eve
I have watched chuck wagon races at the Calgary Stampede while drinking a Caesar - proper Canadian style
I have Tye dyed
I have gone skinny dipping
I have collected chicken eggs
I have picked potato beetles off potato plants
I have been down hill skiing
I have not gotten off the chair lift and taken the chair all the way back to the bottom
I have been snowshoeing and cross country skiing
I have swam in the Atlantic Ocean on both sides, the Indian Ocean, and the Pacific ocean
I have been to Tokyo Disney land
I have gone fishing
i have drank a Singapore sling in Singapore, a Mai Thai in Thailand
I have walked in the gay pride parade in Toronto
I have taken boxing, karate and kung fu lessons
I have been on a scooter in phuket Thailand and gone to the buddha on the hill there
I have been to castles in korea, Japan, France
I have taken mushrooms and sat in a field in Japan with a temple on the hill in front of me and tame wild deer roaming the city
I have been to versailles
I have celebrated the winter solstice with a bon fire
I have lay under the stars and watched Haley's comet with my friends
I have been to Motopos, Zimbabwe - full circle from the power of one
I have learned how to silk screen
I have built a table and have used a planer, a jig saw, a lathe, a router, a band saw, a scroll saw, a screw driver, a hammer
I'm really good at math
i do yoga
I do tarot card readings for my friends
I have made eye contact and given thanks to the Dalai Lama
I have learned to make thai curry in Thailand
I have been to a night market in taiwan and thailand
i have been on a scooter up the TOROKO gorge in Taiwan
I have lived in the beaches, in downtown Toronto and in north york of Toronto
I have moved over 30 times
I have owned/ slept in 30 beds not including hotels or friend's
I have learned tea ceremony in japan
I learned kendo in japan and own a Kendo sword
I have been to the mask festival in korea
i love things that sparkle
i can discern at least 10 constellations in the sky and can easily find the north star
I know the names of trees by their appearance and their leaves
i know countless species of birds
I know how to make clay pottery
I know how to sew
I know how to knit
I know how to make things out of wood
I Danced for 12 years and have performed at the Royal Ontario museum an an orff conference in Toronto
I tried out for the national ballet of canada when I was 8
I have lived in an apartment building, in a basement apartment under a rub and tug and in a farm house
my first car had a hole in the gas tank and the gas guage was broken - try that one on.. and the exhaust pipe had fallen off the car - my mother told me to tell the police that it had just fallen off despite the fact that it was under clothes and a plastic bag and was cold.
I have had 32 paying jobs (babysitting counts as 1)
1. i worked at a petting zoo scooping poo
2. I babysat
3. on a goat farm, milking goats
4. as one of the people who scares people in a haunted house
5. a camp counselor
6. wendy's making sandwiches/wendy's front of house
7. grocery store cashier
8. selling clocks that I made when I was 13 at the farmer's market
9. selling popsicles for dickie dee
10. teaching English in Korea
11. front desk clerk at a hotel
12. foodprep at a cafe
13. 14. 15. serving at East Side Marios in three differing location
16. serving at the Baton Rouge
17. selling unique lawn chairs at a music festival
18. helping out a woman with gardening, painitng, cleaning, taking care of the dog
19.20. bartender at 2 different pubs
21. 22. 23. 24. server at 4 other smallrestaurants
25. 26. salesperson/cashier at a store in Banff and bow Lake lodge
27. making french fries at a french fry kiosk at a fair
28. cutting red peppers for my friend's mom's business
29. knocking on doors for world vision
30. serving at the rainforest cafe
31. serving at kelsey's - worst boss of my life
what I have learned is there is something to learn in every job.. in every opportunity to do and learn something new
I have lived in 5 different countries and travelled to 11 - this has taught me we are all the same.. I have physically lived and participated in the lives of 10 different familes this includes living with only my mother for 12 years, living with my mother and step father for 6 years, living with host familes in france (1), Japan (4) and Zimbabwe(1), on my friend's couch for 6 months and by myself
i have had 20 different room mates (including 2 boyfriends)
I love painting my face
i have spent the vast majority of my life obsessed over the opposite sex
i have been selfish
i have been overweight
i have told myself that i am stupid
i have told myself that there is something wrong with me
I have told myself that I am crazy
I have told people to go fuck themselves
I have lied
I have thought that I am not good enough to love
I have told myself that no man would ever love me
I have blamed men, my mother's death, being cheated on, having no money given to me from my mother's insurance policy, my sister and her husband, my step father, fucked up situations, my weight, money, and lack of support ... for not being happy....... funny thing... none of that has changed.... but I am happy.
I have realized that men just are the way they are... that i cannot control them.. they have their shit.... I attract men based on how I am feeling about myself - they treat me exactly the same way I treat myself
I have realized that my mother's death has played an integral role in my ability to see the world for what it really is... not having gone through that experience completely on my own... at 20 would mean that i wouldn't know what i know now... and i would never want to be older to have to figure this out...that her death has taught me more than anything else in my life
1. That when you lose sight of your dreams you get sick
2. If your only dream is to get married and have a kid... when you get both there really isn't any point in living is there?
3. What it is like to be as depressed as I think a human being can get before committing suicide
4. That I am stronger than I ever thought
5. That she loved me but wanted a man to take care of her and that lead her to lose sight of her dreams... ultimately I CAN NOT make the same mistake
6. Her insecurities, her desire to be liked outweighed her love for herself... so she put up with shit she shouldn't have EVER - also a lesson I am trying to teach myself
7. That death is dramatic
8. That someone can die in peace with no morphine, from cancer
9. That the most painful things in life are the things that make us be able to handle the rest of our life with grace.
10. That not getting over issues in your life will manifest as illness and eventually kill you
11. That people do not know how to handle death
12. That you have to feel all the feelings in order to let something painful go... you have to accept it as part of you in order to come to peace with it
13. That I am never going to give up on my goals
14. That the most important thing in life is to figure yourself out... and make sure you figure out how not to sell out on yourself
15. That you can still feel someone if you remember the exact experience - you can only do this when it no longer makes you sad to think of them... so you have to come to terms with the positives in their dying.... so you have to see the positives... so you have to deal with your shit.
16. that most people are totally screwed up in the head.
17. That life is a piece of art.... and that your life is part of the tapestry.... there is a reason for everything... its all beautiful... even the dark patches
18. That love is full acceptance - my mother loved me and accepted me just as I am... and not having her has been so painful because i felt different than everyone else... except my mother.... so I had to learn to be ok as a complete individual while honouring the amount of love and support she had for me and my dreams... ultimately I always asked myself whether my mother would support my decision - she loved me properly. and so I can see what happens when you are loved properly as opposed to everyone who wasn't.. and how they don't get half the shit i get.
19. That everything happens just as it should
20. That you have to get through the pain of losing them to be able to honour and remember who they were.
what I learned from my mother
1. That sexuality is natural
2. That music, art, dance are essential for the soul
3. that your feelings must be let go.. she taught me how to look at how I am feeling in the moment... figure it out and know how I am feeling and to always express my feelings
4. she taught me about birds
5. that its ok to be myself - even though I lost that for a while
6. that its imperative that you listen to your heart and go with whatever your heart really wants - she let me cut my hair all off at 6 because I wanted to... she let me change my name in grade 1 because I wanted to... she let me go to France at 14 and japan at 16 because i wanted to...
7. That you have to give advice freely and not be attached to whether someone takes it or not - she was really bad at this
8. That other people's decisions in life are none of your business and judging them only makes matters worse - she was bad at this
9. That there's nothing wrong with being naked
those are the things i can think of right now....
Ok.... so where I am at at this point in my life... right now.
something shifted in me around T. this week - basically I couldn't let go... I felt somehow like i was giving up on him.... I had fallen so hard for him and totally saw my life headed in a direction with him that I couldn't stop wanting to be his friend... wanting to show him how great he is... I had been saying the same thing over and over that I needed to let him go... but still my heart pulled me back... i texted and we ended up hanging out 2 more times... one time was a drunken.. hottest make out of my life.... to waking up in the morning to him telling me it was a mistake.... and then 3 days later me telling him that he was ridiculous and that we shouldn't be friends.... to me texting him when I needed him the most and him not responding.... my friends were telling me I deserve better and couldn't understand what was wrong with me... why I was so obsessed over this guy.... but still my heart pulled me towards him.... and then this weekend I randomly came across a conversation I had had with this random guy in 2006. We met on myspace and talked for a couple months... re reading our messages to each other I realized (and simultaneously remembered) how cool I thought this guy was and how much random shit we had in common.... and it made me realize there are so many men out there..... and I get obsessed over the guy in front of me.... thinking I am never met a guy like him before... and yet... I have...... 6 years ago..... no we never met, and I never experienced what I did with T.... but who is to say I wouldn't.... I have no idea.
Two weeks ago I ended up taking care of a woman who I had met once and had talked to for 5 hours about life and love while she did my hair (she is a hairdresser out of her house) and her family after randomly calling her up on an unsuspecting thursday afternoon to find out that her 20 year old daughter had been killed in a car accident the night before.... I became someone I had never been and the weekend taught me how to silence the voice in my head completely and just be present, follow my heart and be calm... I have never been calmer in my life...
So.... I realized that its all a big joke... first off... the biggest thing that bothered T. about me was that I was too eager... I was impatient... I was not calm... and yet I couldn't be as calm as I am right now.... UNLESS I had gone through what I did 2 weeks ago..... SO.... there is NO WAY I could have been what T. wanted me to be... because this drastic, life altering event had to happen, in order for the calmness to happen....
So calmness coupled with letting go of my desire to be with him allowed me to let in all life's possibilities again.... and within 24 hours a guy I had met a week before I had met T. ended up coming over.. I knew he was cool shit... but we had only hung out once.... he came over and we had a great time...I felt I could be myself completely.. that both of us could be ourselves completely and in the end we ended up having sex.... and it was awesome... and he slept over.... we cuddled all night... and then had sex again in the morning.... i drove him to work... and all i have heard from him since is when I asked how he was feeling last night he wrote back "ugh".... i haven't texted him since then and I feel great! I feel like it would be nice to have someone in my life that when they are there they are there.. and when they are not.... oh well...
I have no idea what will happen.. and I don't care...
all i can hear in myself these days is be receptive.... stop trying to control.. just flow with whatever life brings you.. and accept it as it comes.... stop resisting... so i am the painter.... but only in that I have to listen to my heart.. and create the life I am born to create....
Soooo... that's where I am at.
In terms of schooling I have found over the past 2 months I have been really diligent at times and then fallen off the wagon.. I realize that I have all these huge ideas, but I don't know how to focus them .. so i get anxiety feeling like it is too big.. and then i do a half ass job at it when it HAS to get done... so I am trying to change that... speaking of which I have a quiz I have to take tonight because I start my new job tomorrow and its due on Friday so I have to go and do that.....
its feeling good to come back to writing.. giving myself 5 hours just to write in here instead of rushing it at the end of the day... maybe that's something else I need to start doing... setting aside an hour a day to just writing on here.
namaste
A.
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