Create Kindness / Principles

Create kindness.

Be a flame in a world that is too cold

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Bible principles:

"As far as it goes with you, be peaceable with all men"

"Incite to love and fine works"

"Love your enemy"

"Love God with your whole heart, mind, and soul, and love your neighbour as yourself. Against such things there is no law."

"There are flowers in the fire"

"There are flowers in the fire."

That sounds so emo.

"Grandma put flowers in the fire."

Very.

I wanted to take a picture but my camera sucks.

"There is not enough light to see the flowers in the fire."

"There is too much darkness to see the flowers in the fire."

Yes our whole family is like this.

Gently picking flowers

"I love the way you kiss, like picking flowers with your lips..."

Love is not blind

Nobody likes the idea of blind faith; it's so obviously a bad idea, but why are so many people okay with accepting that "love is blind"?

No, love is not blind, infatuation is blind. Hormones are blind; they don't have eyes or minds or have any consciousness of what they're doing or why.

Love illuminates, making us more able to see the good in people, but true love also sees the not-so-pretty parts too.

This was an awesome video about Infatuation vs Real Love published by Jehovah's Witnesses (url: https://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/teenagers/whiteboard-animations/real-love-vs-infatuation/). The points are summed up well: attraction is based on what you see, infatuation is based on what you feel, but real love is based on what you know.

With the best of friends / How is it that I can be so fully myself with you even on days I don't feel whole?

How is it that I can be so fully myself with you even on days I don't feel whole?
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Edit/addition: I don't feel like an empty shell around you. That could be found in a perfect environment but still feel nothing. With you I feel I can be so completely myself even on days I didn't feel whole to start with.

Windwards and wind wise 🌀

When An Animal Lashes Out

I really like animals, such as dogs. My experiences with them include beung bit and scratched and otherwise hurt by them several times, but one thing I have learned is that when a dog lashes out it's usually because they're afraid of something. 

I like people. I have been hurt by them many times before, but one thing I have learned is that when someone lashes out it's usually because they're afraid of something.

The long story short:

When an animal lashes out it's usually because they're afraid of something; humans included.

I remember when my friend's dad said "You're not your usual vibrant self."

He used to tease me a lot as a kid saying completely ridiculous things like he's going to cook my pet that he was onin retrospect obviously not serious about but would freak me out anyway, but eventually he said something serious, and that did mean a lot to me.

To the girl who called me "Little tank"

To the girl with the cool Boston accent who used to call me "little tank" on the high school cross country team:

Thank you. My thanks used to be bashful and awk shucks, but I hope to someday be able to tell you how much it still means to me these years later.

Of all the athletes on the team I aspired to be like you not merely for athletic ability in putting one foot in front of the others but for your wonderful, positive attitude, for how encouraging you were as a team player, and for being the best person to cheer for all the runners beside.

People who make me feel like writing hold a special kind of special place in my heart.

Today in the heat of the moment I told a mannequin at work that I hated him, even though it isn't his fault he was made to such unrealistic body standards for actually putting clothes on.

"Fits like a glove" is only an appropriate expression for its meaning if you can find gloves that fit well. 

Once I went to a poetry reading and mine was the only one that rhymed and I felt really uncomfortable to be honest.

The other poets there were all actually really nice. but at the same time in my imagination people were saying "poems aren't supposed to rhyme in our modern times, get with the program you doorham."

"It kills me to say this, but I don't think you love me as much as you think you do."

Most people can't guess I'm part Filipino, but I look Filipino enough for a lady in the grocery store to approach me to ask if I know where the Skyflakes are.

Learning in Different Orders

"We all learn things in different orders. I was just learning how to handle this while you were learning how to handle something else."

A Little Bit About My Grandma

My Grandma never fit in with her time, and she still doesn't with ours. She just does her own thing, always has.

She loves God, loves people, and likes keeping life simple. She is the mildest person I know, but can take more pepper than them too. She tends a beautiful vegetable garden and is the reason why my childhood plants lasted longer than a month. She is a skilled seamstress and keen in her fashion sense but as unpretentious a person you'll ever meet.

She puts kitchenware in odd places and is kinder to people than they deserve.

Her tomato sauce and cooked greens are out of this world, and she likes hugging her family.

In so many ways I want to be like grandma.

Rotary to Smart Phones

"We saw the change between rotary phones and little kiddos having smartphones."

Run on A Sentence

My whole day can run on a sentence,

And each night a one-word answer

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I'll think in circles and then spin the same

And just call myself a lonely dancer

It was in the night that she would bloom, but she still loved the morning with its timeless glory.

Change when wrong, stand firm when right

Be ready to change when you are wrong, and to stand your ground when you are right.

Eloquence is being able to express right the first time. I want to be eloquent not only in the words I use but in the way I live my life; I can't always be, but I must always try.

"Always Happy" - A Message From a Happy Person

If you think someone is happy all the time, think again. They may have a positive attitude or learned to be a happy person in general, but nobody feels happy 100% of the time; it just means they've gotten good at hiding when they're not.

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Everyone is fighting a hard battle. Make sure you never mistakenly tell someone like that you wish your life was "easy" like theirs. Chances are it was many difficult things that gave them the practice.

Instead, celebrate being strong with such people. You could tell them you would like to have positive attitude like theirs. I'll bet it would make them happy to help you build one.

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A Message From a Happy Person

I am a happy person.

I smile a lot, I try to say things to encourage people

And I try really hard to keep a positive attitude,

But don't be fooled into thinking I'm happy all the time.

Nobody is happy 100% of the time

Some people are just good at hiding when they're not

Or looking past the sadness with brighter eyes that carry a better world inside.

"You have a nice smile" can taste sweet or bittersweet

Thank you for when you say you appreiate a positive attitude

That kind of kindness makes me feel stronger in return.

But if you insist I am always happy think again

If you wish your life was "easy" like mine please wish again;

I am a happy person

Because I've learned to be happy even when I'm sad,

Learned to be happy despite challenges

And it is not easy otherwise everybody would be happy like me

Because everyone is fighting something really hard.

So do not wish my life was yours, I do not wish yours was mine

Because I've learned to fight my own monsters

As you continue to fight yours right now.

So let's not wish for something else,

Let's celebrate being strong together.

I'd be happy to stand with you.

Empathy and Sympathy

It is a beautiful thing when a person empathizes with another, makes a way to understand. We want to be understood. Yet sympathy leaves another beautiful and supportive, but also different feeling.

There is first-hand understanding, and hope built into their existence when the sympathizer's life attests to survival with positivity and function despite it

They both are supportive and intuitive, but just with a different structure; it is amazing to feel cared for either way.

Depth and Happiness

It's unfortunate how often "depth" becomes equated only with sadness.

It goes to show how much this work lacks true happiness, and how many are missing out on this profound feeling.

I see i-c-e