Archive for ‘Uncategorized’

May 8th, 2013

Keep Hope In Your Pocket

{Etsy print by JCSpock}

{Etsy print by JCSpock}

I admit I spend too much time worrying about the things that don’t end up even happening in my life. I worry about wasting time, but much of it is spent obsessing over the illnesses I have and the opportunities I don’t have.

Last night, however, I dreamed about possibility, hope and miracles. In it, I was told that everything we think we know about life is just the surface of what’s true. We grieve and bemoan our situation, for example, because we think it’s permanent. We allow logic to override miracle. We’ve grown too accustomed to computers and smartphones that tell us what is true instead of figuring it out for ourselves. And the weather? Trust your forecaster or Siri instead of just popping your head out the window.

As a result, intuition falls to the wayside. Hope no longer exists unless we have evidence to prove it.

Because something seems impossible or improbable we give up. But the whole notion of faith and miracle is dreaming up the impossible. If so, what we believe can be true is delivered to us on a platter.

Sounds easy, but the real struggle is challenging our old and jaded minds. We have to fight the fear of being vulnerable, being wrong, being disappointed.

We knew this as children. Every thing we absorbed then was magical. Do you remember it? But we let the pain and suffering of growing up wound us. Some allow it to wound them permanently.

If we can strip away the negativity, the paranoia, the obsessive need to know in this moment, we might return to that place of innocence, hope and joy. Instead of searching intently for a way to rid of your current ailment, let’s spend a moment in prayer and acceptance for what is so that we may lay open a door to possibility that everything. is. okay.

You won’t get that from the internet, a friend, your spouse, a sibling, or even a doctor. When you sit quietly or stand in the middle of nature, however, you will know it.

Do what you can with what you have and then surrender it and let it be. Life will happen regardless of how much you try to control it. But within those seemingly confining boundaries, there is and always will be hope. Trust in it. Hope is the armor of courage best used in battle. It will carry you through sleepless nights of worry, distrust, and panic. It is the only thing besides love that will help you through the unknown. And when you’ve landed safely on the other side, remember it. Remember that there is always a ray of light upon you just as you look back toward the shadows. It matters not what you go through, but where you’re focusing.

March 22nd, 2013

It’s Not Them. It’s You!

{image via The Urban Slant}

{image via The Urban Slant}

The hardest thing to do, which is also the most life-changing, is to take responsibility for your life. This means that you look at everything going on right now, not as evidence of bad luck or misfortune, but as the decisions that led you up to this point.

It is not about self-blame or self-pity. You may indulge in both for awhile. You may need to. But to truly grow as a person and be happy, you need to empower yourself. That takes seeing your life as it is not colored by someone’s bad choices, your parents’ mistakes or hard luck.

When it comes down to it, it’s so much easier to blame someone else than to understand, have compassion for, and be aware of what you did to yourself.

It was a hard look at my own life that made me realize this. It took years for me to wake up. I saw that the company I chose to surround myself with, the situations I put myself in and the life that I used to lead were the results of bad choices stemming from a low self-worth. It’s also hearing a quote by Theodore Roosevelt spoken aloud by author, professor and public speaker Brené Brown on Super Soul Sunday that made things sync for me.

“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”

It’s not bad luck that led to moments of insecurity and self-doubt when it came to following my dreams. I realized that I chose people in my life who reinforced a long-held belief that I could not write, that I was not a good enough writer, and that I would never live the life of my dreams. I saw a trail of critics who validated what I was feeling internally. When I finally lifted myself out of the negativity, I saw that I was the one who was putting myself on the line, risking everything, and being vulnerable by following my dreams. The people I listened to were simply good at being on the sidelines, feeling courageous in their critiques.

I say this because you may be in the same boat as me. You might be struggling, working hard, dealing daily with people who don’t support your dreams. You will encounter this whenever you strive for a non-traditional life. Don’t make things harder on yourself by surrounding yourself with negative, non-supportive people.

Happiness and success come when your insides match your outsides. When you notice that the people you spend the most time with are loving, understanding and genuinely care about you, then you’ve done it! You’re on the road to the life you were meant to live.

December 31st, 2012

Happy 2013!

It’s my last post of the year. 2012 was a scary year with lots of unexpected surprises thrown in the mix. My husband and I finally made our move to Hawaii halfway through. I said goodbye to a lot of good friends. And I pushed myself full force into the writing world here. It hasn’t been easy. But something tells me 2013 will be worth all the effort.

Besides taking the leap, I’ve been fortunate enough to write for Hawai’i and Pacific Edge magazine while also sadly ending my stint as a columnist for The Writer. And I’ve kept my psychology blogging job with Psych Central. In the five, almost 6 years I’ve been doing this, I’ve been able to work as a copywriter for various retailers, a features writer for newspapers and magazines and do it all from the comforts of my home. I’m a lucky girl!

But of all the things I’ve done thus far, I get the most excited when I’m in one of my favorite magazines. Yes it’s just a non-paid little commentary in the front of the book section. But it’s for O magazine! And this time, they asked for a photo. Thank you to commenter Jan for emailing me to let me know she saw it! It made my day.

I know it’s a far cry from actually writing for O, but I have BIG dreams. And as long as I keep on writing, I know I have a chance to make it a reality. Thanks for all of you for reading!

Sincerely,

Brandi

“If you could have one superpower, what would it be?”

O Magazine

November 26th, 2012

Owl Always Love You

Owls are pretty trendy these days. I’ve been seeing their big owly eyes everywhere and have fallen for their cute faces and smarty ways. I even pinned this guy on Pinterest weeks ago.

Source: jossandmain.com via Brandi-Ann on Pinterest

 

Then, I forgot all about it. Until I saw this little guy in Sonoma about a week ago and had to have it. Funny how your subconscious works. It took updating my Pinterest page to see that I had already pinned something similar awhile ago. Wish boards do work!

Lucky this ceramic owl carried a light price tag at $6.95 and it was actually light too. Didn’t need to convince me to carry it on the plane.

{West Elm Ceramic Owl $14 posted on Real Simple.}

Then, I saw this owl on Real Simple’s website. It’s one of their 10 gifts that give back. For $14, you can give the gift that keeps on giving. $5 for each owl sold will go to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

How about you?

Fallen in love with an owl lately?

August 10th, 2012

This is Dedicated to Those Grieving the Loss of One Earring

{For anyone sad about their lonely leftover earring, you’ll appreciate this post.}

I had a pair of golden earrings that I loved. So much. And then one day, I noticed there was just one.

Sadly, I still don’t know what happened to that other earring. But I kept it just in case it would appear.

Months later it still hasn’t shown up. So I finally accepted it would never return and decided to do something about it.

I looked at the back of the earring and noticed it was loosely hooked on so I used my fingernail to open the jump ring (that circular ring that has a tiny opening) and released the earwire (the curvy wire that goes into your ear).

Voila! The earring was just a pendant now.

Then, I looked in my jewelry box for an gold chain. When I found one, I tried to thread it through the earring hook in the back. No dice!

That’s when I had to get ghetto and use my teeth. (You could use pliers, but I was too lazy to find one.) Thank goodness the gold was soft and the necklace’s jump ring easily smashed down into an oval shape. The perfect shape to fit through the earring/pendant.

It was a five minute job and here is the result:

Here’s another shot set against those DIY clipboards I made awhile back.

And butterfly art.

Gold necklace

I’m pretty happy with the result. Do you have any easy project you have done lately that you’re proud of? Share it please.

August 3rd, 2012

Crafty Friday: Sir Mix a Lot

Since we’re still in the process of packing and unpacking, I haven’t had much of a chance to craft. But I have moved things around for a little fun. Exhibit A: The coffee table

I nabbed the napkins at a local Kailua store Kai Boutique, the flowers were from my husband. Everything else I already had except the photo in the frame. It was an iPhone picture taken of my own homemade art ala oranges and printed on our printer. The framed looked was created courtesy of my iPhone cover. In other words, completely by accident.

Forgive me, if you find that amusing at most. I really need to get back to real crafting. In the meantime, here’s an old post I did when I had more time. It’s just me putting paintbrush to canvas scared out of my wits whether it’d turn out or not. It sort of turned out like tulips. What do you think?

Floral Acrylic Painting

It was painted after another week of beautiful blooms bought for me by my husband. It’s part of my weekly splurge, a little happy pick me up and something to inspire me for the week. This week I got hydrangeas. Not sure if I can tackle them yet. But we’ll see…

June 27th, 2012

The Surprising Thing That’s Causing You Suffering

{flickr photo}

What’s causing you the most suffering in life isn’t the things you don’t have or even not being grateful for the things you do. The reason why most of us endure so much unnecessary pain is that we believe in the picture painted by another artist’s brush. To put it simply, understanding why you’re in grief right now, could be due to these two reasons:

1) You believe that you’re not living the life that you’re supposed to have.

2) You know this because you compare yourself to other people your age and just don’t measure up.

“People suffer when they pursue a life or chase a dream that doesn’t belong to them.” – Carolyn Myss, Anatomy of the Spirit

A lot of times we get caught up in somebody else’s light and in doing so get lost in our own shadows. I think people who read blogs, listen to webinars or read biographies (me included) get swept up in the success of others. We’re drawn to it like a moth is drawn to a flame. At first, we’re attracted because we want so much to be that successful. And hope that by spending as much time with these people, we will catch some of their star power and be like them.

The truth is…

{Read more on my Beliefnet Health blog Happy Haven.}