A Dash of Inspiring Words for the Weekend

“Don’t be afraid to be a fool. Remember, you cannot be both young and wise. Young people who pretend to be wise to the ways of the world are mostly just cynics. Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it. Because cynics don’t learn anything. Because cynicism is a self-imposed blindness, a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt us or disappoint us. Cynics always say no. But saying yes begins things. Saying yes is how things grow. Saying yes leads to knowledge. “Yes” is for young people. So for as long as you have the strength to, say yes.”

— Stephen Colbert

I've learnt that...

• you cannot make someone love you. All you can do is be someone who can be loved. The rest is up to them.
• no matter how much I care, some people just don't care back.
• it takes years to build up trust, and only seconds to destroy it.
• it's not what you have in your life, but who you have in your life that counts.
• you can do something in an instant that will give you a heartache for life.
• no matter how thin you slice it, there are always two sides.
• you should always leave loved ones with loving words. It may be the last time you see them.
• we are responsible for what we do, no matter how we feel.
• there are people who love you dearly, but just don't know how to show it.
• true friendship continues to grow, even over the longest distance. Same goes for true love.
• just because someone doesnt love you the way you want them to, doesn't mean they don't love you with all they have.
• maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you've had and what you've learned from them and less to do with how many birthdays you've celebrated.
• no matter how good a friend someone is, they're going to hurt you every once in a while and you must forgive them for that.
• no matter how bad your heart is broken the world doesn't stop for your grief.
• just because two people argue, it doesn't mean they don't love each other.And just because they don't argue, it doesn't mean they do.
• we don't have to change friends if we understand that friends change.
• you shouldn't be so eager to find out a secret. It could change your life forever.
• there are many ways of falling and staying in love.
• no matter how many friends you have, if you are their pillar, you will feel lonely and lost at the times you need them most.
• the people you care most about in life are taken from you to soon.
• although the word "love" can have many different meanings, it loses value when overly used.
• love is not for me to keep, but to pass on to the next person I see.
• there are people who love you dearly but just don't know how to show it.
• even when I have pains, I don't have to be one.
• every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love that human touch-holding hands, a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back.
• I still have a lot to learn......

- Anonymous

Questions That Will Free Your Mind

These questions have no right or wrong answers.
Because sometimes asking the right questions is the answer.

1. How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?
2. Which is worse, failing or never trying?
3. If life is so short, why do we do so many things we don’t like and like so many things we don’t do?
4. When it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done?
5. What is the one thing you’d most like to change about the world?
6. If happiness was the national currency, what kind of work would make you rich?
7. Are you doing what you believe in, or are you settling for what you are doing?
8. If the average human life span was 40 years, how would you live your life differently?
9. To what degree have you actually controlled the course your life has taken?
10. Are you more worried about doing things right, or doing the right things?
11. You’re having lunch with three people you respect and admire.  They all start criticizing a close friend of yours, not knowing she is your friend.  The criticism is distasteful and unjustified.  What do you do?
12. If you could offer a newborn child only one piece of advice, what would it be?
13. Would you break the law to save a loved one?
14. Have you ever seen insanity where you later saw creativity?
15. What’s something you know you do differently than most people?
16. How come the things that make you happy don’t make everyone happy?
17. What one thing have you not done that you really want to do?  What’s holding you back?
18. Are you holding onto something you need to let go of?
19. If you had to move to a state or country besides the one you currently live in, where would you move and why?
20. Do you push the elevator button more than once?  Do you really believe it makes the elevator faster?
21. Would you rather be a worried genius or a joyful simpleton?
22. Why are you, you?
23. Have you been the kind of friend you want as a friend?
24. Which is worse, when a good friend moves away, or losing touch with a good friend who lives right near you?
25. What are you most grateful for?
26. Would you rather lose all of your old memories, or never be able to make new ones?
27. Is is possible to know the truth without challenging it first?
28. Has your greatest fear ever come true?
29. Do you remember that time 5 years ago when you were extremely upset?  Does it really matter now?
30. What is your happiest childhood memory?  What makes it so special?
31. At what time in your recent past have you felt most passionate and alive?
32. If not now, then when?
33. If you haven’t achieved it yet, what do you have to lose?
34. Have you ever been with someone, said nothing, and walked away feeling like you just had the best conversation ever?
35. Why do religions that support love cause so many wars?
36. Is it possible to know, without a doubt, what is good and what is evil?
37. If you just won a million dollars, would you quit your job?
38. Would you rather have less work to do, or more work you actually enjoy doing?
39. Do you feel like you’ve lived this day a hundred times before?
40. When was the last time you marched into the dark with only the soft glow of an idea you strongly believed in?
41. If you knew that everyone you know was going to die tomorrow, who would you visit today?
42. Would you be willing to reduce your life expectancy by 10 years to become extremely attractive or famous?
43. What is the difference between being alive and truly living?
44. When is it time to stop calculating risk and rewards, and just go ahead and do what you know is right?
45. If we learn from our mistakes, why are we always so afraid to make a mistake?
46. What would you do differently if you knew nobody would judge you?
47. When was the last time you noticed the sound of your own breathing?
48. What do you love?  Have any of your recent actions openly expressed this love?
49. In 5 years from now, will you remember what you did yesterday?  What about the day before that?  Or the day before that?
50. Decisions are being made right now.  The question is:  Are you making them for yourself, or are you letting others make them for you?

Everything will be okay.

YOU.

You. Yes, you. I am writing this for you.

I know you are reading this. And I want you to know I am writing this for you. No one else will understand. No one else knows. They think that this is for them. But it’s not. I am writing this for you.

I want you to know, life…it’s hard. Every day can be a challenge. It can be a challenge to get up in the morning. To get yourself out of bed. To put on that smile. But I want you to know, that smile is what keeps me going some days. You need to remember, even through the tough times, you are amazing. You really are.
You should be happy. You are gorgeous.

I know that the weather might not be perfect. You might have to turn your back to the wind or feel the cold nipping at your nose. But you know what, at least you are there to feel it. At least you can enjoy the sun’s warm rays on your face. Or that cold February wind biting at your cheeks. You know what that means?

You are alive.

Everything will be okay.

How to: GET A GRIP

I LOVE this website. They are straight up with us. As they claim, their is "No bullshit self-help. Get a grip on yourself. Take responsibility. Do it." Its refreshing to here someone tell you like it is, isn't it?

http://www.howtogetagrip.com/

Ten Things You Should Already Know By Now

1. What’s important today won’t matter tomorrow

Yeah, so you got a problem. Sleep on it, sunshine. Put it off. Most problems can be safely ignored. You’ll be amazed how often they sort themselves out.
And the gravity of any given problem is inversely proportional to the hour of the day. At three in the morning,  you’ve got an insurmountable issue. After four whisky and cokes at nine in the evening, you haven’t even got an inkling of a problem.

2. Everybody else is furiously improvising, so you can too

Show me an expert and I’ll show you a charlatan. FAKE IT ‘TIL YOU MAKE IT, amigo.
21 year old lifestyle design guru? Hell yeah! Fat, unemployed life-coach? Why not? Homeopathy professional? Whatever, bring it on!
Choose your path.

3. Nobody thinks about you as much as you think about you

Really. They don’t. For example, I’m not thinking about you now. But I bet you are.

4. It’s OK to piss people off

But if you’re pissing everybody off, all the time, it’s time to stop being a dick.

5. Aspiration is for suckers

(arf)

6. Nobody tells all the truth, all the time

So lower your expectations of people. When put in a spot, people fib.
We men lie about our alcohol consumption all the time.
When we’re young and say we had six beers, we probably only had three. Nowadays, if we say we only had three beers, you can be sure it was closer to six.
It doesn’t mean we don’t love you

7. Life doesn’t get better – only your perception of life improves

There was a little man with a lame left leg. He lived on the outskirts of town in a tumble-down house. He had a hole in his roof, and water would come in day and night. His lame left leg meant he couldn’t go out to work, so he survived on the charity of others, who would give him scraps of food. Sometimes he would go for two days and nights with nothing to eat.  One day, the town council decided to fix his roof. The little man with the lame left leg became the happiest person you have ever seen. He was so grateful to be dry that he would smile and sing for the passersby all day long.
***
There was a healthy, beautiful woman who lived in a huge house with six servants and manicured lawns. But alas, she was permanently angry, because Jeannine, that bitch, had told her that her handbag was so last season.

8. Your family comes first, but not to the detriment of everything else

You want to go out with the girls? Tell your husband to make his own dinner. And gents, you don’t need permission for that once-a-year trip to Vegas, you just need to communicate it properly.

9. You’re wrong as often as you’re right

So don’t dwell on either.

10. Men should never wear wigs

A New Perspective on Love

In college we overthink love. That one complex concept is complicated, stressful, and merely ovethought. We get worked up over the silliest things in love- especially worrying we'll never find it. So let's rewind to the days where love was easy and the concept not so hard to understand. Here, children remind us what true love is- simple.

“When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love.” Rebecca- age 8


“When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.” Billy – age 4


“Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.” Karl – age 5


“Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.” Chrissy – age 6


“Love is what makes you smile when you’re tired.” Terri – age 4


“Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.” Danny – age 7


“Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss” Emily – age 8


“Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.” Bobby – age 7 (Wow!)



“If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate,” Nikka – age 6 (we need a few million more Nikka’s on this planet)



“Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.” Noelle – age 7


“Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.” Tommy – age 6


“During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn’t scared anymore.” Cindy – age 8


“My mommy loves me more than anybody You don’t see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.” Clare – age 6


“Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.” Elaine-age 5


“Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford.” Chris – age 7


“Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.” Mary Ann – age 4


“I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.” Lauren – age 6


“When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.” (what an image)
Karen – age 7


“Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn’t think it’s gross.” Mark – age 6


“You really shouldn’t say ‘I love you’ unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.” Jessica – age 8

Wise Words on Romance from Stumbleupon

Stuff No One Told Me by Alex Noriega

Stuff No One Told Me by Alex Noriega

Alex Noriega is the creator of these awesome illustrations.

The Pursuit of Happiness: 15 Lessons to Keep in Mind

The Pursuit of Happiness: 15 Lessons to Keep in Mind

1. The only person that can ever truly make you happy is yourself. Stop depending on everyone else.

2. People lie, stuff happens. Don’t take it too personally.

3. Want people to think you’re amazing? Start believing you are, and then they will too.

4. Smiling is the ultimate anti-depressant. Smile and laugh out loud, it doesn’t look stupid, I promise.

5. The world is never just black and white, right or wrong, one way or another. Try and see things from as many points of view as possible.

6. Try your best, and realize that is all you can do. No one is perfect. Yep, not even you.

7. Have empathy.

8. Gossip, problems of the past, events you cannot control, negative thoughts and negative people; time spent on these is time poorly wasted.

9. When you're jealous or find yourself filled with hate for someone/something, stop. The only person its hurting is you.

10. Although the newest, most expensive material things may make you feel as if you’re a better person, they won’t hold you at night or listen to you when you need it. Make sure your priorities make sense.

11. Step outside your comfort zone- it’s when you’ll really feel alive.

12. Don’t be afraid to be yourself, the people who really matter, don’t mind

13. Let your emotions out sometimes, humans have them for a reason.

14. Celebrate the things you have. Think only positively of the things you don’t (but would like to have) and they too will come.

15. Love unconditionally ♥.

Topics!

So today I brainstormed the different topics an all-in-one guide should cover for us girlies. This is what my creative juices came up with:

1. Food:  My mother is an amazing cook- growing up with those mouth watering scents lingering every afternoon STILL make my stomach grumble. Now that I'm in college, I need to start cooking for myself.And lets be honest, our generation needs some help in the kitchen area- who really wants to live off pb&j and mac and cheese? NOT ME. I want to spoil myself, and impress my friends with my iron chef skills- and on a budget. So I'm going to guide you through my cooking journeys! 
2. Friends: College is a time for friendships to grow and blossom, and a time for friendships to end. I've experienced these journies, and still have more to discover. So why not explore the complexities of finding those true friends who will be there through thick and thin.
3. Relationships: Oh yikes. The R WORD... RELATIONSHIPS. Now I am a free soul, and do not mean that girls always define themselves by a guy. NOT TRUE. But it does seem that many college girls are posed with the difficulties of relationships daily. We find oursleves asking one of the these questions: "do I want a relationship?", "why can't I find a guy?", "are we meant to be together?", or "how should I break up with him?". Guys are unique creatures, and its going to be my mission to help all you lovely darlings out there to decipher them. 
4. Quotes: So. I have an addiction... a quote addiction. Now, I know it sounds cheesy, but I believe a quote a day is important. It helps us analyze and ponder things we never do, and so I am giving you quotes. A little "chicken noodle soup for the college girls' soul" style if you will.
5. Health: Now ladies. Our bodies are our temples. Mentally, physically, and emotionally we need to be taking care of ourselves. College is stressful, and we need to fight those slumps we fall so easily into. And I want to help you get out of those slumps!
6. Academics: Tests tomrrow? Paper due next week? Confusing calculus problem keeps frustrating you? College is one big stress-fest when it comes to the courseload. It can become overwhelming, and I want to help us ladies de-stress for success!
7. Fashion:  Saved the BEST for last, right? I know at some collegeS, sweats are acceptable. In my opinion, NO! Unless if your running a marathon or sick with the flu, they are unacceptable. Now get creative, feel good about yourself, and look at fashion as an opportunity to showcase your beauty! I know in college we have a tight budget, so I am here to give inspiration and tips on how to dress the part of the FABULOUS women we are.

Cannot wait to start ladies!

<3 Ashley