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Showing posts from 2016

Review

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Truth - Looking back is critical to helping us look forward. 2016. What a year. Let's let that statement marinate just a little bit. Who would have thought a year that brought us a flurry of amazing musical achievements in album form would pretty much be garbage in every other way possible. I kid, I kid. Perspective really is everything, and hyperbolizing about an abstract concept doesn't do anything to change it. It's when we stop, take a look around, and learn from our surroundings, with a little bit of review, that we know what to do next or at the very least what not to do.   "Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek." Barack Obama Can we please have a small discussion about the ways in which this year, namely 2016 aka the year the of our Lord's departure from this Earthly purgatory, has taken on its own persona and been anthropomorphized

Broken

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Truth - Each and ever person experiences life differently. No two people's lives are the same. What we want out of life also varies and yet - it doesn't. We all define happiness in different ways but the commonality what we strive for can be broken down. Life is about passions, talents, gifts, love, laughter, hope, and growth. We want to live a life that has meaning. We want to change the world and to be remembered for it. We want to matter to others. Life is an existential crisis of epic proportions. Somehow we figure it out, and then again ... we really don't. We're whole and fractured. We're surviving and dying. We progress and we're lost. We are broken but not shattered. "Today I choose life. Every morning when I wake up I can choose joy, happiness, negativity, pain... To feel the freedom that comes from being able to continue to make mistakes and choices - today I choose to feel life, not to deny my humanity but embrace it." Kevyn Aucoin  

Forgiven

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Truth - Sometimes we have to forgive ourselves to set ourselves free. It takes absolving ourselves of some of the things we carry with us and those things we do not have control us that happen to us to exonerate us. We can create our imprisonment and subsequently can be the only ones to free ourselves from our self-induced bondage. We can be so critical and unrelenting of ourselves but may be causing our own demise. Cut yourself some slack, express your emotions, and be forgiven. "We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. They who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies." MLK Jr. What we mean when we say we have to forgive ourselves? For me personally, that is a notion I came to understand in college. Some of the past trauma I had never let go and carried with became too heavy to continue on with. I

Narrative

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Truth - Each day we write our life stories. I want my story to always be one of those truly breathtaking epics of old. I want to live a life of navigation, adventure, and exploration always. I want to be challenged, pushed, and moved out of my comfort zone constantly. I want life to be exhilarating, terrifying, and shocking. I want amusement, gut-busting laughter, and surprise. I want randomness, inquiry, and mystery. I want passion, fervor, and zeal. I want it all. I want to be fulfilled and to know that I lived my life to the best of my ability. I wan to be pleased with who I am, what I did, and what I did for others. I want to be a whole person who embraces the plot twists of life. This is my story. This is my truth. This is my narrative. "Narrative identity takes part in the story's movement, in the dialectic between order and disorder." Paul Ricoeur Words cannot describe how amazed I am that this blog, this written representation of who I am as a person in my

Single

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Truth - The world we live in is different than it has ever been at any other point in history. The people who live now are existing in a unique time and space. Our beliefs, practices, and cultural rituals have changed over time as well. Things that used to be the norm have now fallen by the wayside. Even the ways that we talk about some phenomena has changed. In this day and age what does it mean to be single, and what does that status say about you? "My alone feels so good, I’ll only have you if you’re sweeter than my solitude" Warsan Shire There's nothing like succumbing to a trend and getting on board with what seems to be a majority of your peers. Dating apps and the medium of social media as matchmakers - what a world to live in. What are you looking for? It seems like such a simple question, complete with pre-made responses for you to select but maybe it's not that easy. Am I on this romanticized twenties/thirties long journey to find my soul-mate, my p

Home

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Truth - Life is a series of adjustments. We go through life taking things as they come and learning how to deal with them. Situations are fleeting, our surroundings change, and people come and go. The older we get, the bigger those changes can seem at times. We come to these realizations and have to take the time to process the information we're given and act as we see fit. Some things hit us harder than others and occasionally our epiphanies are delayed. Growing up is hard, and it never ends. Ready to go home? "Never make your home in a place. Make a home for yourself inside your own head. You'll find what you need to furnish it - memory, friends you can trust, love of learning, and other such things. That way it will go with you wherever you journey." Tad Williams I don't know about you but when I left home to head off to college I don't think I properly said goodbye - to my bedroom, my house, and most prominently my childhood. I didn't realize t

Divided

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Truth - Sometimes have to break apart to come together, and other times things may not come together at all. Divided - a word that has been used time and time again to describe the United States as a society. Is it an accurate adjective ... perhaps, at times, but then again the appropriateness of it depends on your perspective. What does it mean to be American? Who gets to claim the moniker? Are we a nation divided or has nothing actual changed? The saying goes divided we fall, united we stand but what if division just might be the thing that saves us from ourselves? "Until the great mass of the people shall be filled with the sense of responsibility for each other's welfare, social justice can never be attained." Helen Keller Division is objective ly not a bad thing. It in and of itself have no value attached to it. It's our viewpoints and our emotions that assign those values to it. Division let us separate out our issues and also gives space for us to make

Dys(U)topia

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Truth - Reality is relative. The ways that we experience the world vary greatly. It is a testament to people being given the same knowledge or facts, and coming up with different conclusions. Absolute truth may not be quite so absolute. In the wake of a truly dramatic campaign season, the different realities we exist in has once again diverged. The divide from person to person seems to grow. Some are relishing in this brave new world, and others are struck with mortal fear. What thing that holds to be true is that no matter what or who we are, our lived experiences are valid. This is our Dys(U)topia.   "Perhaps the greatest utopia would be if we could all realize that no utopia is possible; no place to run, no place to hide, just take care of business here and now." Jack Carroll Hope and peril . Dreams and nightmares. Awe and terror. This is the tale of two Americas and the multiplicity of realities in between. The day after an election is nothing but an almagation of a

Politics

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Truth - Everything is political. Everything from what we do and what we say, to even our existences are political. The notion that people can be into or out of politics is moot. All that we are is based on beliefs, normalizations, and values that are inherently contestable. Whether we like it or not, we are consumed by politics - in fact, we are the embodiment of politics. The extent to which we show up in political ways can surge and wane but the bottom line is that to exist is to be political. How we navigate those personal politics makes all the difference. "Voters don't decide issues, they decide who will decide issues." George Will Being part of the American general public is an experience. That experience is greatly influenced by our identities and the ways in which we move through this world in addition to our actions, words, and ambitions. What we know to be true, and what has always been true is that each and every person is different. We experience the w