Tips: How to be your own best company

A few tips on how to be your own best company and best friend... 

* take yourself to dine alone at a fancy restaurant as a special treat (best to take order to-go during covid-19 situation we find ourselves in and dine at home if possible, also an option to order from the restaurant on a third party app like Uber Eats)

 * buy flowers or a plant you like for yourself (or as a gift for someone else) 

 * learn a new language or brush up on one (especially second generation individual (like me (:+)/ ) /if you are traveling to a new foreign country soon) 

 * Take sometime outside the house in the morning, sit down, stand, or walk around a bit - to breathe in the fresh morning air and just think - 

 * Take a walk in the daytime, morning, afternoon, around the neighborhood or at a park (breathe in deeply, take in the surrounding nature, and helps to think more clearly about other issues you are facing in day-to-day life and/or decisions) 

 * Brush up on skin care, hair care, self-care routine 

 * Pray, reflect in journal writing and/or blog writing 

 * Write down plans and goals that you've had and hadn't really gotten around to, and brainstorm on ways to materialize and incorporate those goals in your life 

 * Discover talents or interests you may not have known you had - learn something new or brush up new skills of what you already know, listen to new music, visit somewhere new that interests you 

 * Take a warm bubble bath break for about an hour with candles, epsom salt, relaxing music and just forget the world for a moment 

 * Write a list of things you have accomplished and another list of everything you are grateful for until you get tired of writing/typing, look over everything and smile, also a pat on the back (optional) 

* Write down and think about something you have learned today or recently 

 * Do a random act of kindness, even if you need to force yourself and get out of your comfort zone

Beliefs

As I was doing research on how to properly form a mission statement, I came across this question: 

What beliefs do I hold to be true?

Many, I will list as many as I can here:

• my personal success and decisions are solely dependent on myself

• live a life free of blame

• suffering should be avoided at all costs if not necessary

• I should be the first to make a positive change and not wait for others

• make the most of blessings and resources that we have

• judge by facts & evidence - not assumptions

• should be grateful for what we have

• only we can love & understand  ourself in a way nobody else can

• don't judge yourself for things out of your control

• we were all given certain talents for a reason

• can't expect new results doing same old things

• there exists a creator, and all creation has an important role &  purpose

• nothing is by coincidence

• I never regretted doing something truly good for myself, others, or creating something that I wanted to create out of inspiration.

• there is no such thing as one soulmate, relationships are ultimately a rational decision

• what goes around comes around

• there is no shame in doing your best

• don't judge a person until you've walked in their shoes

• self-respect is not selfish

• let faith & wisdom lead life - not fear

• live life like everyday is your last - because one day you'll be right

• it is not just a belief when you know it is true

• can't complain about the results until you've tried all your possible options

• little things add up to be big things

• nothing comes without a price; choose wisely

• money is like water

• growth is not meant to be comfortable

• Talk The talk, Walk The Walk

• some things are easier said than done

• better coward alive than a hero dead

• we are more influential than we can imagine

• emotions lie/facts don't

• the soul should be in control of the body and not vice-versa

• History has a tendency to repeat itself

• The best way to reconstruct the future, is by reconstructing the present and learning from the past

• Quantity does not equal Quality (Quantity ≠ Quality)

• The Creator has one truth that exists for all people, religion is selectively man-made by specific groups of people.

• There is one truth, but many ways of perceiving that one truth.

• Se há vida, há esperança 

(If there is life, there is hope)

and many more I may or may not list on here later..... 

Gift from the heart

Whenever I gave what I knew would be good to give, a smile, a tip, paying the rest of someone's bill, an unexpected honest compliment, a pat on the shoulder, 

a release of someone else's burden.... 

Doing good for the pure sake of doing good, expecting absolutely nothing in return. 

- Gd has always recompensed me in the most simplest to the most sweetly unexpected of ways. Always. 

Practicing self - control, 

waiting my turn, 

being patient, being self-less, thinking of other's needs and not just my own,  

opening my hand when necessary, accepting correction even when I thought I was 100% correct.

Accepting the reality, especially when things seem to not be going exactly as I expected it to be. 

Forgiving myself and others when my first instinct would have been to hold a grudge or self - criticize.

Gd always gives equal for equal, and for love & good - even more than we could initially expect.

Gd loves us and wants us to grow in the way that Gd knows we need to.

We are here, every heart beat, every breath in and out, because we have a purpose.

Never underestimate your affect on the world, the universe, on everything.

Innocent whole heartedness

I remember 

when I was just a little girl who could barely reach the sink, and would write in colored crayons all over the house walls (then have to clean it up!), 

chalk on the sidewalk, 

flowers in my hair, 

ride my bicycle while not holding onto the handlebars, 

chew on icecubes from the freezer, 

walk endlessly with my sister & friends through the forest trail, 

28 goldfish in the house all at once, 

count how long I could hold my breath while hanging upside down on the monkey bars at school, 

under the community swimming pool or blowing a balloon as much as possible without popping them, 

sneaking out of the house at daybreak 5am breathing all the fresh air, fresh dew on the grass, sweet morning sun kissing my face, 

running after ladybugs & snails, contemplating my future husband and lifetime companion constantly in my mind, heart, and soul.... so free, so alive

But then adulthood kicks in, like a bullet in the back, like an uninvited guest, when you are not ready yet. 

Now suddenly patience doesn't exist, everything seems to now be necessary to fill a prerequisite, an expectation, an obligation to fulfill the status quo. To have what the colleagues have, what the neighbors have, what everyone seems to should have. 

To be married, to have children, to work, to have a car, the latest phone and technological gadgets, etcetera.... to survive

No stopping, no breathing, no blinking, no sleeping, no dreaming, no feeling, just going going going going....

sort of like visiting a new & beautiful  place but just passing through and leaving without taking any pictures, without gazing at the stars, without stopping to say hello to strangers, without smiling along the way, without savouring the food, without seeking the deeper meaning in the simple truth, the experience of reality in the current moment.

We stay so trapped thinking of the future and lamenting the past, we forget to cherish the moment and realize what we have here, and make the most of with the most innocent heartedness, with no regrets and only leaving true heartfelt love behind.

From some NDE's (Near Death Experiences) I studied, many recounted how our titles and worldly accomplishments do not matter, but that what valued most in Heaven and eternal life was how much we loved our fellow man... how much we loved with the Creator's love in this worldly existence. 

Not how much we succeeded, our what we succeeded in looking like a certain something, but how much effort we made to do our best in loving, in caring for our fellow, for our fellow creation, the world nature, animals, plants, oceans. 

Did we care to do right to the best of our knowledge? 

Did we make a point to love? 

To preserve life other than only looking after our own life?

How much effort did we make?

... It is these questions that are asked of us in heaven, the rest are unimportant details.

The simple faith we carried as children, 

we need to carry on this faith as adults, 

to love with all our heart, soul, and might.

with innocent observation and sincere heart, 

constantly learning and 

not judging ourselves so harshly in the process.