How To: Feel Better With Music

You know how some songs can magically make you feel instantly happy and optimistic about the world? Well, that's what I love about music.

Yesterday I saw this quote on tumblr (yes, so original) and it got me thinking about the power of music. For example, if I'm in a crummy mood and then listen to a super sad song, like "Breathe Me" by Sia, then I will 100 percent become even more sad and most likely cry for ten minutes. (Note: sometimes I find releasing my emotions this way to be beneficial) On the other hand, listening to happier music never ceases to put me in a good mood. So yes, music really is a powerful thing and personally, I think we should take advantage of its magic.

Top "Feel-Good" Songs You Should Listen To When You Are In A Bad Mood, Feel Like There Is No Hope For the Future or Just Need A Little Pick-Me-Up:

Wavin' Flag- K'NAAN

Back Home-Andy Grammer

Dog Days Are Over- Florence + the Machine

I Make My Own Sunshine-Alyssa Bonagura

Smile-Uncle Kracker

This Will Be- Natalie Cole

Ain't No Mountain High Enough-Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell

That's all for now.

-M

The Rain

PLEASE GO TO THIS WEBSITE (http://www.rainymood.com) BEFORE READING. :)

In honor of the rainy weather today, here are my thoughts on the rain...

There's something about the rain that's so peaceful. Is it just me, or does anyone else smile whenever they wake up in the morning and hear the sounds of rain thumping against the roof?

To me, the rain brings adventure. It brings mystery. It brings happiness. 

The rain gives me strength and comfort. 

It clears the sky and the air. 

Everything is fresh and clean and green.

Rain gives us puddles and thick, squeaky, yellow boots.

It makes us explore.

Or find warmth under layers upon layers of blankets.

So take a moment to...

because...

That's all for now.

-M

How To: Finding Your Passion

Passion. This is something that drives us. That helps us wake up in the morning. That gives us a sense of meaning. That makes us happy. We all are passionate about something. Although some may have a more difficult time finding what they are passionate about, we still all have passions. For me, I always felt like this was a very scary task (to find my "passion"). Personally, I have gone through a seemingly endless amount of activities, sports and hobbies trying to find something that I could call my passion. I tried soccer (it was fun, but I was too scared of the ball), tennis (trying to serve the ball made me so frustrated), track and field (a love/hate relationship, but not my passion), guitar (making my hands do two different things at the same time was impossible)...well, you get the picture. Reflecting on my crazy adventures while trying to find my passion made me realize that a person's passion does not have to be so concrete. It can be anything really. For such a long time I was so mad at myself for not being especially good at one thing and for not having an answer to the question: what are you passionate about? How could I have an answer when it seemed as if I couldn't do or didn't especially love something? The following quote finally answered my prayers.

This quote perfectly sums up how I feel about this concept. No, I don't think I have any special talent. I'm not a star athlete or a genius student or a brilliant artist. But that doesn't mean that I don't have passions. I know that I am passionate about trying new things. I'm passionate about experiencing new places. I'm passionate about my family and friends. And, in the words of Einstein, I am "passionately curious." I don't think a person has to limit themselves to one thing or confine themselves in a box. People can be passionate about anything and everything. No matter what it is, as long as they are passionate people and put their energy, drive and emotions into everything they do, their lives have a purpose and a positive impact on the world.

That's all for now.

-M

ps. Sorry if this post is confusing (was written at a point of extreme exhaustion) ;)

How To: Confidence

Hey guys! This is the first installment of my "How To" series. Today's post is all about confidence. Although I know I touched on this subject before (in my post "Breaking Out of Your Shell"), I needed to talk a little more about this subject today. Yesterday, as I was sitting in one of my classes in the afternoon, I was zoning out a bit and thinking about how much has changed for me in the past five years or so. I couldn't put my finger on just what had caused this change (me being overall a much more confident person). However, I almost gasped (not to be dramatic) when I realized the answer. So, here we go.

How to be confident? The answer: self-worth. I'm going to be honest, I don't know if this is as mind-shattering to others as it is to me. For me, I had never recognized that realizing your self-worth was the key to confidence. So, let's go into my passionate, uplifting talk.

We ALL have value. And as much as some people seem to believe, no one is worth more as a person than anyone else. We are ALL equal. True confidence does NOT come from the validation of other people or make-up or clothes or friends. Yes, these things can BOOST our confidence. But, real confidence comes from inside ourselves. It comes from knowing that we are worthy and our opinions, thoughts and ideas are just as valuable as the opinions, thoughts and ideas of others. Knowing and truly believing this will allow you to be confident.

This may seem obvious or simple to some people. Maybe you have heard this a million times before. But I don't think that a lot of us actually believe it. If you do, that is amazing. But if you don't, know that you have value and please recognize your self-worth. :)

That's all for now.

-M

Regrets

Whenever I hear the word "regret," I think of a missed opportunity. A mistake that will haunt me for the rest of my life. (Okay, that's a little dramatic.) But, I think you all know what I mean. It seems like we have always been told that when we die, we want to be able to say that we lived without any regrets. However, this has always seemed like a daunting task to me. I felt like if I had to make a decision and later I regretted it, my life would be changed forever and for the worse. This is why making decisions has always been difficult for me because I was scared of making the "wrong" one. Recently, I have had to make a decision that, in my eyes right now, is important and will impact my current life. I was terrified that if I made the decision and later regretted it, I would have messed up my entire life and missed out on great things. However, after a lot of thinking and a little inspiration from the following quote...

...I've learned that whatever decision I make, there will be "pros and cons" that come along with each and that if I feel uneasy about my decision after making it, I will have to just deal with it. That's where the quote comes in. If I do wish I had made a different decision, I will have to find a way to make it work and get the best out of it. Therefore, there are no real regrets in life, just lessons learned that help us become better people. 

ps. :)

That's all for now.

-M

Capturing Memories

Hey there. I have always been the type of person who would rather enjoy something in the moment than snap a photo. I always thought that I would remember things better seeing them through my own eyes than by taking a photo to look back on later. Sorry, does that make any sense? However, I have compromised with family, who is very into photo albums and such, to take a few pictures but overall enjoy the moment. I find this to be the best way to keep memories, because for me it is really fun to find old pictures and trying to remember the story behind them. Because, it's true, "a picture is worth a thousand words." Today, I chose seven old and more recent random pictures to try and remember the moment I took them and the story behind it. So, here we go!

Okay, this is a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge. I remember my dad and little sister were feeling a little adventurous that day and took this guy's cheap deal to go on a catamaran across the bay and under the bridge. It was a slightly foggy day, but in my opinion, San Francisco is always magical, no matter the weather. So, we got on the small boat and sailed underneath the bridge. In fact, I remember my sister and I layer down on our backs and looked up at the bridge as we sailed under it. That was a very magical moment.

This is a picture of my front yard. I'm not quite sure when I took it, but I am going to guess that it is a few years old. All I remember from this day is that it was SUCH a nice day. The sky was the bluest I have ever seen it and the white puffy clouds seemed to be floating in just the right spots. The whole scene was very peaceful, so I snapped a photo either for the precious memory of my home or for a new Facebook cover photo. ;)

This is a picture of my family and I crossing a bridge from Oregon into Washington. For all of our family road trips, I am the designated photographer and videographer. Every time we go on road trips or pass into new states, I try to take pictures of the state line signs or something along those lines. I remember we were all piled up in the minivan and my dad yelled out to me that the sign was coming up and we were just about to pass it. I whipped out my camera, turned it on, threw myself over my little sister, who was in the seat next to me and blocking the window, and I snapped the picture in hopes of it turning out decent. And, this was the result. :)

This was a follow up photo to the previous one. I took this on my family's trip to Seattle, a city that I desperately want to visit again. This picture is of Pike Place Market, an iconic Seattle site. My family and I were walking past the sign, in hopes of finding the first Starbucks (per my request), and I made my family stop in the crowd of people so I could take a picture. I remember being a little frustrated that a huge white truck was blocking part of the sign, but now I think it adds to the "candidness" of the whole scene.

I believe this photo is two years old, taken sometime in the summer. If you couldn't tell already, it is of one of the rides at Disney California Adventure Park, next to Disneyland. As we were waiting to go on the ride, I loved how the roller coaster and iconic ferris wheel looked in the background, so I quickly took a photo. Disneyland is such a fun, magical place, even when you are older, so this picture holds a lot of fun memories.

 This photo was taken this past summer and is of a belgian waffle with chocolate sauce and vanilla ice-cream. What a healthy meal. :) I took this photo while my aunt, grandma and I were in Bruges, Belgium, our final destination on our trip. This was taken in a small restaurant in Bruges and all I can remember is that it was SO GOOD.

Last photo! This is of yet another family trip. I remember my family was trudging up the Arlington National Cemetery, which is beautiful and sad at the same time, and finally reached the top. I thought this was a pretty good view of some Washington D.C. iconic sites, like the Washington memorial to the right and the Lincoln memorial (99 % sure). Since I love history, this trip for me was so fun. I had been to D.C. twice before, but I think I definitely explored the city and appreciated the history behind it so much more. 

That's all for now.

-M

ps. If you have any requests for posts, please feel free to comment below. :)

Limitless

Hit play, then read.

Hey there. I don't know if anyone will ever even read this, but if you happen to have come across this post today, here's a little inspiration.

LIFE has no limits. Sure, maybe we can't fly like birds. But we've come pretty close. Imagine how the Wright Brothers felt as they soared through the air on the first successful airplane created on Earth. 

They were the first people to fly, almost like birds. If humans did that, imagine what else we can do. 

YOU have unlimited potential. You can make your life whatever you want it to be. Maybe it doesn't seem like we have this power, but we do.

 You can travel the world.

 Make friends with people you would never expect to be friends with.

 Learn something new every day. 

Listen to your favorite song 30 times on repeat, get sick of it and find a new one. 

Explore nature and hug some trees. 

Go on rain walks, jump in puddles, throw your head back and stick out your tongue to catch raindrops.

Get sick...then cuddle up in some blankets and watch your favorite movie.

 You can move to a big city.

Or go to the countryside.

 You can write a novel.

Or poetry.

You can go to the beach and take in the warm sun.

 Or go to the mountains and throw snowballs at your best friend. 

You can do anything you want and be anyone you want to be.

YOU are smart, even if you may not think you are.

YOU are beautiful, even if no one has ever told you that before.

YOU are talented, in your own special way.

YOU are limitless. 

That's all for now.

-M