Thoughtful Thanksgiving

Thoughtful Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving bloggers! I hope each and every one of your thanksgivings were wonderful, and that these breaks gave you time to reflect and spend quality time with friends and family. I wanted to start this week’s blog post by reintroducing the idea of thanksgiving and understanding its value and importance.

Thanksgiving can be defined as a holiday for people to be thankful for what they have. Other definitions state that thanksgiving is a prayer that expresses thanks to God. I would define thanksgiving as a time of focus and reflection on what means the most to a person and what they are thankful for and appreciate, but I think the real meaning of thanksgiving goes even deeper than that. Thanksgiving inspires people.

Thanksgiving inspires people to take action. This is where we find thoughtfulness. Thoughtfulness can be defined as consideration for someone else’s needs, it is going out of one’s own convenience to attend to the wants and needs of another. Thoughtfulness is when you take that time of reflection for who and what you are thankful for, and you put those thoughts into action to show those people how much you mean to them.

I am thankful for so many things in my life. I have been blessed with a wonderful family, an amazing support system from previous teachers and member of my church, many wonderful friends from home, and many friends from college who, in such a short amount of time, have become some of the most important people in my life.

With so many people in my life to be thankful for, I cannot stand by without caring for them and showing them just how much I appreciate them. I can do this by demonstrating thoughtfulness in my daily routine in extravagant ways and in the little things. Regardless of how you go about being thoughtful towards those you are thankful for, the appreciation and value you hold for them will be evident.

Before I introduce this week’s poem I’d like to shoutout a friend of mine, Devin Huisenga. She also has a blog and her most recent post explains some of her close friendships and the experiences and relationships she has with the people closest with her. These are the type of relationships that require investment, appreciation, thankfulness, and thoughtfulness.

This weeks poem is entitled “Arbitrary”.

love is fickle

believe these words

one loves another

till they lose their worth

love is blind

but this vision is clear

unreciprocated love

is a lovers biggest fear

love is careful

it is ever questioning

unless a lover wanders

affection will keep from lessening

love is fickle

I could never deny

love is blind

but not from my eyes

love is careful

when taught to restrain

love is something I can never claim

Focus and Fearlessness

Focus and Fearlessness 

This has been a pretty crazy week full of lots of school work and good times with the people closest to me. As the week has ended and we are starting a new one, it is interesting to think about what the next seven days will include. What twist and turns might happen? What conversations will we have? And who will we spend our time with?

I’d like to focus this week’s post on the immediate future and the thoughts that stem from that. It is very easy to get overwhelmed with our day to day tasks or to fall into a normal routine. So, the question is how do we deal with what life consistently throws at us and demands from us and how do we make every day different from the last.

When dealing with the ups and downs and twists and turns in our lives it is important to understand the place that we are at in our life and prepare for what is to come. Life can get pretty crazy with drama, schoolwork, stress, sports, relationships, etc., but by focusing on the positives we can tackle every one of these. I firmly believe that nothing happens in your life that you can’t handle. By having this mindset, no matter what happens or what is thrown at me in my day, I know I will be okay and can move forward knowing that I am able to handle even the most unexpected problems.

The other issue is falling into a boring diagnosed routine and how we can add new experiences to our daily lives. This is a fairly easy problem to fix. The key is getting out of your comfort zone, which can be difficult for many people, but it can create many different situations that lead to newfound friendships, experiences, and memories. By branching out, initiating conversations, asking new friends to hang out, and pushing yourself out of your comfort zone you can avoid falling into a routine and can anticipate new experiences and memories moving forward.

This week’s poem I have included is entitled “Introspect”.  

Worry your soul

with the belief of beginnings

Trouble your heart

with the anticipation of love

Battle your foes

with the concept of adoration

Shelter your mind

with the hope for tomorrow.

Loving, Living, Loneliness

Loving, Living, Loneliness

The atmosphere is changing, the leaves are falling, the temperature is dropping and everyone is spending more time inside. As it gets colder and the seasons change I find myself spending more time in my room relaxing under Christmas lights and drinking a warm beverage. This is the time of year that I find most peaceful, but it can also be the start of a lonely season in someone’s life.

I am going to link a playlist here that you can listen to while reading this post or when you are enjoying some alone time, I have found it very relaxing and cozy for me while spending time by myself and I hope you will enjoy it.

I want to focus some attention in this week’s blog post on getting to know the people who mean the most to you and getting to know yourself. In the time where we transition from fall into the chillier months I find people tend to get lonely or seek comfort in another person.

Last week we discussed the importance of close friendships during every season instead of seeking a relationship as your top priority. This week I want to discuss the importance of being comfortable and at peace with just being by yourself.

The beauty in alone time is getting to think and be free to express yourself. Who do you want to be? What do you want to become? What is most important to you? How do you want people to see you as? These are some of the questions I think we all find ourselves asking when we are alone with our thoughts. It is comforting, knowing that our lives are meant for much more than our own happiness, that they are meant to support and impact the lives of others.

Loneliness doesn’t have to define a season of your life. We often look at being lonely as not having a significant other, having troubles with your best friend, or being far from home. These instances are wrong in the fact that they are making these relationships about ourselves, when in reality our relationships are meant to be about someone else and other people. I think loneliness is something we fall into when we lose focus on what relationships are all about, and when we view being with someone as what that person does for us.

The key to not being lonely is to recognize the need for other people so that you can support and be there for them, not focusing on what someone else can do for you. People will always fall short because no one is perfect. Because of this our goal in relationships and avoiding loneliness should not be based on what we can gain and receive from a relationship with a friend, significant other, etc., but on what we can give and invest into another person.

This week’s poem is entitled “Unmasked”.

Place your heart in my hand,

it will not fall or dent.

Breathe life in each of your breaths,

they will not be shaky.

Rest and allow comfort,

to invade your uncertainty.

Trust the things that escape my lips,

believe their candor and love.

See the person shared with you,

a fruitful lie could never grow tall.

Promise a life you will live in full,

those words cannot be forgotten.

Anonymity couldn’t save my soul,

find peace in who I give to you.  

The Reason for a Season

The Reason for a Season

Lately I have been thinking about many of the things people my age struggle with on a regular basis. Something we all encounter is love. Love is a beautiful thing. It stirs up many emotions that can confuse, liberate, or excite us.

I want to express that when going through life a relationship is not necessary for happiness. Love is amazing, but a relationship is not the most important thing for your life. I often find myself looking at the media and seeing the publicized concept that a relationship is a need and not a want.

This is not true, and your happiness has to come from yourself.

Being there for someone and creating long lasting relationships with friends is extremely important in your college years. Often, the people you are close with in college become lifelong friends. These friends will see you through the years where you experience the most growth and truly find who you are and want to be.

My advice in this post is to nurture and invest in friendships and relationships that are most important to you and not worry about finding “the perfect someone”, because you’ll eventually find that person, but the friends in your life are the people who will see you through that relationship.

The poem I have chosen for this week entitled “Seasoned Friendship”, is about how relationships, struggles, joy, and other times in life are temporary and often only last for a season, but good, nurtured, and cherished friendships can last for years and years.

Walk with me

through these paths ahead

the leaves change color

the foliage is dead

new life is born

it blooms and grows

the sun comes out

your happiness shows

there is joy and love

found in each of these times

but I hope you and I

will have the other till we die.

Growth and Goodness

Growth and Goodness

Something that has been on my mind a lot lately has been ‘being a better person’. At this point in my life, and in the lives of most people in their college years, I am trying to find myself and figure out who I am and who I want to be. Many people are afraid of change, but I have always been one to welcome it with open arms. Change from within can be hard and it takes a lot of commitment, but without change you cannot grow.

I’ve done some research and thought about this for a long time and I’ve developed a list of things I can incorporate into my daily life to be a better person and a good friend to the people in my life.

Be a Better Person:

1.   Be Thoughtful

2.   Be Helpful

3.   Compliment Often

4.   Smile Often

5.   Be Honest

6.   Be Direct

7.   Listen Without Thinking of What You are Going to Say Next

8.   Surprise People

9.   Put Others First (their happiness, time, problems, wants, needs)

10. Appreciate People You Love (show it through actions, words, and thoughtfulness)

11.  Don’t Expect to Be Treated the Same Way You Treat Others

12. Encourage People

13. Remember the Little Details (about someone, in a story, in their schedule)

14. Don’t Talk About Yourself or Make Things About You

15. Worry About and Protect Others

16. Be Considerate and Polite

17. Go Out of Your Way to Be Good and Do Good

18. Offer, Without Expecting Compensation

19. Love Wholeheartedly

20. Be Passionate

Treat those around you with all the love and goodness you can muster up, because you have no idea the impact you can have on a person. I hope to live a life full of goodness, because a legacy means nothing if there is no one to carry on who you were and the love you shared.

Being there for the people in your life and being good to everyone you meet, are the greatest things you can do with your life. Love passionately and appreciate the people in your life. Show compassion and forgiveness towards them. Be the shoulder they can cry on, but also be the one that doesn’t let them stay there and instead lifts them back on their feet and pushes them forward. Listen to them, accept them, be loyal to them, and be trustworthy.

The poem I’ll leave you with this week is entitled “Lockbox”. I wrote this when a good friend of mine was at an incredibly difficult and emotional point in his life and was frequently ‘opening up’ and coming to me when he needed someone to be there for him. I showed him love through it all and listened to all he had to say. I hope to be that for many people and through the steps I have listed above, grow into the person I am meant to become.

Sing to me

sweet songs of love,

compelling tunes

full of mystery and secrets.

Whisper the words

you want no one to hear,

mistakes of the past,

captured by regretful thoughts.

-^-

I will listen,

to the pain you hold.

I will absorb,

all and everything that you are.

Faith for the Future

Faith for the Future

When I think about Wishful Thinking, I think of the hope I have for tomorrow and for the future. The future is often something that generates excitement and a hopeful attitude. This excitement for the future is taken from an optimistic perspective. However, I find that often the future can make me anxious, nervous, and even afraid. The thought that we have no idea what could happen tomorrow, next week, or in the next five years, can be utterly terrifying. If you feel this way, I can guarantee that you are not alone.

Nature's Power To Soothe by Mindfulness & Clinical Psychology Solutions

Look at this picture. What do you see? You may just see a pretty image of the woods, with the sunlight peeking through. You may see yourself as the person taking the photo, and imagine being lost in the forest. You may even find yourself unable to tear your eyes from trying to see where the path in the woods is going.

If you see any of these, you are on the right track. I added this photo not to ask you a million questions about what you see, but to have you ponder where your mind goes when you see a photo like this.

This photo is a picture of the woods, but it can mean much more. This photo can represent the future. Sometimes we get so comfortable in our beautiful surroundings that we don’t think to look forward to what is ahead. We find ourselves lost in the woods of the unknown, and fearful of what is on the path we are heading down. We can never know for sure of what is down that path, we can only move forward one step at a time and choose to focus on the light that peaks through even the darkest corners.

It is normal to be fearful of the future, it is full of unknowns, what ifs, and shocking twists and turns, but that fear cannot stop us from moving forward. If we let our fear keep us from moving forward, we will stay exactly where we are and never change or grow. Life without change is not only boring, but it does not leave any room for growth as a person to prosper in life and experience new things.

As we look towards the future, while it may scare us at first, it is important to look forward with hope and faith in ourselves and our capability to accept future challenges, so that we can grow into who we are meant to be.

This week’s poem is entitled “Embargo”. I wrote this poem when I was afraid of what the future had for me. The thought that I had almost nothing figured out and so much change ahead of me left me full of fear, worry, and anxiety. I saw the mistakes others had made before me and I was scared to follow in the same footsteps. By changing my perspective to an optimistic point of view and focusing on the light instead of the shadows, I was able to find hope and joy for what was ahead of me.

Forbidden roads

lost in shadows

The search of light

on a path untraveled

Dew on grass

aside shaken ground

A single path

none dare follow

For fear

such that

no man should walk

No man should see

what the shaken ground of that path withholds. 

Peace and Pastimes

Peace and Pastimes

Pastimes are defined as an activity that someone does regularly for enjoyment. When I am at the end of a day of work and sitting in my thoughts, I am at peace. Peace to me is being completely calm and accepting whatever is going on around me. I find peace when I am enjoying my favorite pastimes: writing, listening to my favorite music, and daydreaming.

Here is a link to one of my favorite songs, “Hand of God – Outro”, off the album "The Human Condition", by Jon Bellion. This specific song describes the peace you can find in knowing that your life is not in your hands. The song explains that sometimes we mess up, get lost, or break, but we can trust in the future and have faith. These themes expressed bring me peace whenever I am stressed or overwhelmed. It is music like this that can change your perspective and bring you peace. This album is especially stimulating due to its catchy rhythms, different sound, and meaningful lyrics.

Peace is a hard thing to come by and we often take it for granted. Peace is something I try to value, because when I am at peace I can truly enjoy the things I like to do. Some of my favorite pastimes are writing, listening to music, and letting my thoughts wander creatively. Something I often find myself doing is daydreaming. Daydreaming is incorporated in “letting my thoughts wander creatively”. 

Daydreams and wandering thoughts often inspire my poetry. Daydreaming is another peaceful pastime of mine because of the hopeful endings in each of the dreams. When you let your mind wander like this you can dream up anything and everything you choose to. I find I often daydream scenarios of love, excitement, and humor. Rarely do I find myself dreaming up something that is not positive.

This is another example of “The Hope in Wishful Thinking”. When I daydream, I don’t dream up things failing or ending, I dream up positive situations and circumstances that are full of hope.

This week’s poem is entitled “Renewal”. I wrote this poem when thinking of the hope you can find in what is to come. Much like a daydream, our goals for the future are full of hope for happy endings. Because of this, we can find peace when daydreaming and thinking about the future.

Such humility comes

when a love

so sought and dreamt

passes away

and somehow is replaced

with peace and contentment.