Words to Live by
Image
Reply
Tag Archives: inspiration
9 Things: Keeping My Spirits Up
Sometimes those non happy days are just inevitable, be it a bad news in the mailbox, dark clouds on the horizon, eternal winter darkness, or simply too much stress combined with PMS. What to do… what to do?
I don’t like to be a self pitying whiny writer. Yes, I know I rant from time to time, and cried out of frustration, but I know it’s bad for my well being. I’m believer in if you put your energy into something, you’ll make it stronger. So it’s definitely better to put the energy into good things and keep my spirits up.
I need this list myself as a reminder of things I could do to pick myself up when I’m feeling down. Not in a particular order since each point has its own magic moments.
1. Exercise
Aerobic exercises increased production of Serotonin, resulting in a better mood. I tried to do some sort of aerobic activity at least twice a week, and then yoga or pilates on the other days. I need yoga and pilates to maintain my back and posture (which suffers from all these years I spent working on computers).
2. Motivational books or blogs
Sometimes all I need is someone else telling me that I’m not the only one who has problems and I can most definitely deal with with it. People had overcame it, so I can too!
3. Solitary walks
A nice walk calms me down. It’s the combination of physical activity, fresh air, and having a sense of the world around me. I love how I could just let go and take a random turn. It’s always wonderful when I end up somewhere I’ve never been before. A park, or a part of town I’ve never been to, shoe/clothing stores, art galleries, or make up counters 
. Yes, I admit I’m a shopaholic. Also I’m lucky I live in Berlin, which is relatively a safe city to walk around alone.
4. Sit in a cafe or a bench where I can see people passing by
This one is the contrary of a walk. I sit and see everything else in motion. It helps to know that the worlds still turns, people are still laughing, smiling, and things seemed to be… normal out there. No need to put whatever things I have blowing out of proportion.
5. Listen to uplifting music
It could be a song that has cheerful tune, contemplative feel, remind me of a wonderful event, a wonderful feeling (New Shoes- Paulo Nutini) Some songs on my list: Life is Wonderful (Jason Mraz), Un Nuovo Giorno (Andrea Bocelli), Acquarello (Toquinho), Fireworks (Katy Perry)
6. Count my blessings, and feel the gratitude of being who I am.
Be thankful of what I have. Because I sometimes forgot that I actually have a lot. Believe me, even if you’re in the lowest of low, you’ll still have something you’re grateful of. At the very least, being able to breathe and we’re still alive to make something out of ourselves, we still have the second (or third) chance.
7. Sleep
This one is actually my husband’s secret ingredients. Somehow it always worked for him. Perhaps it’s the fatigue that made the body thinks it’s weaker than it’s actually is? But yes, sleep. A nap, a good night sleep would produce the right strength to fight again on the next day 
.
8. Eat
No, I don’t mean binge eating. I meant having a good healthy proper meal. A three course meal, or something that reminded you of a good time in your life. A meal that also would provide nutritions for the body.
9. Funny cat pictures
Yes, icanhascheezburger. If all else fails, laugh your heart out 
That’s my 9 things. Do you like to do the things I do? Do you have something else in mind? Please do share it in the comments section
And I’m leaving you with one of my favorite childhood tunes!
9 Things: Times You Took A Chance
I got this idea over from Karen at Make Up And Beauty Blog. When I first saw it, I thought it’s going to be quite simple, since somehow I managed to think of myself as a chance taker. I don’t know how much truth in there, since as I wrote down my list, boy oh boy, it wasn’t that many. I’ll let you be the judge.
If you’d like to make this a meme, you’re most welcome to do so. I’d love to hear what you thought about it. And please do link back when you post it!
Quoting Karen:
You know how it is. You’re faced with a choice — you can either play it safe and take the simply “okay” outcome, or you can go the riskier route and shoot for the potentially awesome ending
Just for me, the change would also involved something I might have believed in or scared of for a very long time. So here it is, in no particular order.
1. Standing up and get noticed
I was quite a shy person in school. More of a nerd, not really the popular girl. Then I decided for myself that I want to be that person that everyone would remember when they are out of school, and I started to be more active with my social life, kick out my shyness, volunteered for elections. Did I succeed? I don’t really know. Perhaps ask my old friends if they still remember me. LOL.
2. Starting our own company
It was a strange idea at that time. Everyone expected me to go join a company and work my career up from there. The truth was I feel sick to my stomach when I thought of being cooped up in a cubicle in a tall office building, wearing suits, and having the same office hour every day . Please, no offense to any of you who did this, it would be the most sensible idea for most people. It’s just not for me. Back to the topic, I was thinking of another way for creating an income. So me and my bf (now hubs) created a mobile game company. I love this experience, and even if creating softwares weren’t my passion anymore, I would do this all over again. Except this time, we will make smarter choices.
3. Studying in Germany
I was very excited for this chance. No fear at all. I can’t wait to go. Even if that means living in a different culture, far away from home. Living on our own, just me and hubs. It is one of the pivotal points in my life, and the experience that comes with it, is truly priceless for me.
4. Becoming a Writer, full time
Most likely some of my friends still think I’m crazy because of this. Because I went for something unrelated with my academic degree (Informatics and Digital Media). Well I had fun studying it, and it would provide a good side job, but I AM following my heart here. I went full dive to writing because I believe that when I feel that a dream is worth dreaming, it is also worth pursuing with all my might. Since lovely hubs is very supportive as well, why not?
5. Moving to Berlin
I separated this from the studying in Germany because our moving here was completely filled with uncertainty. I don’t want to go into details, but back then, all we had was the faith and the believe that this is what we both want. We were right, it turn out very well in the end. I’m so happy we took this chance, as I really came to love Berlin, and this city had been very inspirational for me.
Musing Around
I haven’t really thought of my muse. Why? Maybe I was too practical before? Although admittedly I babble with myself every time I got some ideas in my head… hopefully that didn’t put me in the cuckoo category…
Anyway, the first time I seriously consider having my own muse is when Rebecca mentioned it in her post about Where Does Creativity Come From? It was interesting to me, knowing that I could actually blame the blockage on my creativity to my external genius. My muse. And then I never thought about it anymore, until Cat shares her muse.
So, I think I’ll create one right now. I want my muse to be a he. I mean, why muses usually female anyways? He’s a cool, calm, collected, fashionable looking gay guy who always knows what to say and when to say it. He has a million interesting ideas in his head that he sometimes –only sometimes– shares with me. Then I have to write it down into something legible and he will be standing in the corner, pouting, until I finished. Actually, I can see him pouting right now.
For now, I call him Apollo.
Come to think of it, he probably already existed since long ago… and I just couldn’t admit it.
How about you?
Getting My Positive Thoughts Back
I was feeling a little under the weather this morning. No biggies, just some mood swings, but I kind of feel like I need something to get me back to my million dollar day feeling.
Then I somehow thought of googling “Banishing negative energy” because that’s the first thing I thought I should be doing. There are some articles coming up first on the search result, but this one really got my attention
“5 Simple Methods for Banishing Negative People from Your Life” by Aaron Potts
No. I’m not trying to banish anyone from my life. If anything, I feel the closest people around me is the most wonderful and supportive people ever. It’s just interesting because after I read the article, I realized that I’ve been doing some things categorized as being a magnet for negative people. Gaaaah!!
So I’m reemploying my being positive thoughts again in my life. I’m taking what the post said but I’m rephrasing it to positive sentences. It’s because I believe in the “don’t think of an elephant” phrase.
So here goes my interpretation from the article:
- If I need to talk about other people, only talk about them in a positive manner. Find something nice to say about them, or shut up. Or think about other things to say: inspirations, projects, food, just make sure it’s nice things.
- When something goes wrong in my life, think of a solution on how to get it better. I always have a choice of smiling over frowning. No matter what.
- Give people positive spin on their situation, regardless what they are trying to say.
- Stay in my positive zone -> actually this sounds creepily zen like to me.
- I’m not holier than anyone. We are all human. I made mistakes. Lots of them. This is my path, and I have chosen it. Everyone has their own path.
I hope your day will be filled with positive energy and positive people .