Saturday, May 28, 2011

Lesson #3 The Reality.

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Lesson #2 The Power of Love.

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Between graduation, family reunions and first time meetings, new jobs and losing a passport 6 days before a European adventure; love and it's power were ever so relevant this month.

By seifracing
This first became apparent to me when my sister and friends continuously help keep in tact what little was left of my sanity as the whirlwind of graduation ensued. The patience and concern they showed me as I consistently stressed and lost control, completely blindsided me. I knew they loved me (as I do them), but the degree in which they all spent time and effort into making my week a more survivable one, made me stop and realize how amazing my life is because of these people.

LOVE IS SO AMAZING. It can turn a day from stormy to sunshine. And the people I love do that everyday.

I mailed my passport in a moving box to New Jersey without thinking, 6 days before my flight to Barcelona. FEAR NOT; Malea rushed over as soon as I called her sobbing and offered to drive me 3 hours away to Houston to expedite a new one. No questions asked. Morgan's mom had already ran to the post office to assess the situation.

Where would I be without these people?

After waking at 4am to go to Houston, spending the day running around the city, I finally got home to realize I had forgotten my computer charger across town right before my 11pm "online" shift. I dragged myself onto a bus for two hours instead of taking a nap and was obviously worn out. I must have been making the most pathetic face because as we paused on Congress at a stop, the Jamba Juice man came outside and began motioning at me to SMILE.

HOW AMAZING IS THAT? What a simple yet wonderful act of kindness that absolutely brightened my entire night! It was chaotic and beautiful few weeks.

FIND THE BEAUTY IN EVERYTHING.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Lesson #1 Always try to give people a moment of your time.

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Even if you're late for graduation. You could end up on TV.



Austin Local News ) AWESOME!

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Lessons Learned.

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© _MissAgentCooper



I've been reading a lot about the best way to organize blogs, much of the advice states that you should pick a theme and stick to it. I thought that would be too hard because I wanted this to be more of a learning experience for myself, but last night my little sister and I figured out what to do.

I'm going to start posting as "Guidelines to Life" Words of wisdom, more or less. We'll see.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Class of 2011

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By Jose Ole





Not only is my whole family here from New Jersey, but the family I have here in Austin and the rest of Texas woke up at the crack of dawn to fill up an entire row at graduation. If I don't stress enough how truly lucky I am to be surrounded by such amazing people, I'm taking this opportunity to say it now. My family, meaning both those by blood bond, and my new family, that I've been so lucky to meet along the way; I love you so very much. I measure my life by the relationships I acquire and the depths of my bonds. I can't believe I have the family I do. From here to New Jersey, to Ireland, to California. I LOVE YOU SO VERY MUCH.
I told Ava, half drunk, as we sat at brunch, "I could not be any happier." And it's absolutely true. I am so lucky.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

A truth separate from the Human experience.

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All rights reserved by Kris Trappeniers

It is quite clear to me that the religious paradise of youth, which was thus lost, was a first attempt to free myself from the chains of the "merely personal," from an existence dominated by wishes, hopes, and primitive feelings. Out yonder there was this huge world, which exists independently of us human beings and which stands before us like a great, eternal riddle, at least partially accessible to our inspection and thinking. The contemplation of this world beckoned as a liberation, and I soon noticed that many a man whom I had learned to esteem and to admire had found inner freedom and security in its pursuit. The mental grasp of this extra-personal world within the frame of our capabilities presented itself to my mind, half consciously, half unconsciously, as a supreme goal. Similarly motivated men of the present and of the past, as well as the insights they had achieved, were the friends who could not be lost. The road to this paradise was not as comfortable and alluring as the road to the religious paradise; but it has shown itself reliable, and I have never regretted having chosen it.

- ALBERT EINSTEIN 

Sunday, May 15, 2011

I'm 22!

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Saturday, May 14, 2011

Walt Whitman

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Image Credit Flickr User midlander1321

This is what you shall do: love the earth and sun, and animals, despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence towards the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown, or to any man or number of men; go freely with the powerful uneducated persons, and with the young, and mothers, of families; read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life: re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any books, and dismiss whatever insults your soul.

Friday, May 13, 2011

Other half.

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Assuming,

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Graduation Dress. Ready for the next phase?
That life is more fulfilling when you can spend it with a person who makes you...better. That seems to exist. I thought I knew what I was looking for (or not actively looking for), but "it" never ends up being what you're looking for at all, does it?

I have a new friend, I really like him. We have conversations that help me clarify my own thoughts and we bring each other up to different levels of thinking and understanding and it's really just lovely.


We we're talking about love, (and just about everything else) pain and relationships for awhile. And then it struck me; I knew exactly what I wanted. And it doesn't fit the equation I came up in my head at all. I want what you make me feel. I want the person you make me. I want you and I.

I have this thing; rule maybe. "If you love me, we'll figure it out. If you don't, we don't have a problem."

He said, "When you love someone, your future isn't an obstacle; it's a new adventure that includes that person."


It occurred to me, how many people I truly love, and leave. All the time. I don't love them any less fully, but this is different. I don't want to spend my time growing without you, I want to grow with you.

I want to make a new adventure together. I think this love may be unrequited.

I guess this is heartbreak.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Mount Bonnell.

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Is there a more beautiful place in Austin? Climbing up a mountain of stairs until you finally reach the end and see THIS. Sometimes I just sit there and try to imagine it without the construction, towers and houses scattering the hills and try to see what it would have looked like before humanity got ahold of it.

Once you get around the fences, you can climb down the cliff and sit on the ledges and watch the people below playing in the water and watch the day pass. It's the most lovely way to spend an afternoon.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Mom.

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‎"Everything in moderation. Never harm anyone." Thanks Mom.


They say your life ends when you become a parent. It's no longer about you, but about this little life you just brought into the world. I never really understood what that meant until I saw the constant sacrifice my mom made when I went to college. Not only did she give up her life and pick up every part-time job she could on top of her full-time teaching position to help me through school, but she became a constant source of support that never let me think I wouldn't be able to do every single thing I put my mind to.
It seems like the bigger and more out-landish my dreams become, the more enthusiasm and strength I get from my mom. I know if I didn't have that one person who truly believed I could do anything I set my mind to, I would never have had the courage to try. I owe everything to my mother.

Happy Mother's Day. Where would we be without you?

Friday, May 6, 2011

I know.

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You make me better.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Conclusion of the Beautiful.

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Following the thesis, the conclusion:

Despite the differences between these great conveyors of the human condition and the hundreds of years that separate them, the message always floats on the same plane of thought. Understanding of the Divine and the revealing of Truth is accessible through beauty. Whether it be falling in love with a beautiful person, identifying qualities of the Divine in objects of beauty, or sitting on a rock and beholding nature in all her glory, the secrets of the Universe are made available. The idea that these different and brilliant minds came to similar conclusions of the benefit of beauty is something of remarkable note. It does not seem to matter what one conceives as the absolute, as long as the idea of One and creation are at the highest points of revelation. The window beauty gives to man is a gift from the Heavens and the impact it has on him and his mental evolution is unparalleled.

BENEFITS OF BEAUTY 

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Benefits of Beauty.

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I'm writing one of my last college essays...ever. Strange. This is my opening paragraph and thesis. One of the biggest mindtrips I've yet to encounter in college. I love this class. Here's the question:

What is the greatest benefit of beauty to mankind?


The greatest benefit of beauty is the ability for it to attract men to a notion of Truth. The higher idea of objective Truth and the beginning movement of existence is concentrated and made apparent through beauty. The interconnectedness of everything that encompasses our material existence and reality is broken down by our senses and perceptions as we move further from our birth. Birth, like a physical break from the unity of beings and matter, is a false perception of separation. The subjectivity that humans acquire as they absorb experience and opinion further strays them from the point of Truth or for the religious, Divinity. Beauty in the material world, and love for it, demands the attention of those who behold it and forces contemplation of the original movement from One. One is the Creator, God, origin of nature, the ultimate good, or some variant of the beginning point of existence. The beautiful can be more easily understood as a ray from the metaphorical “Sun,” being Truth, origin, or God, that reflects upon objects which then present themselves as beautiful in the light to our human senses.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Guns, Germs and Steel.

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Diamond provides a simple argument that the distribution of wealth and power throughout the world is rooted on basic and vital resources that allowed for specialization and time for more in depth thought to occur. He believes that farming, despite the fact that it developed separately in different parts of the world, was most wildly successful for those who could grow the most productive crops that could be stored and mass produced and also provided the best nutrition. Simple enough. He goes on to assert that regions with animals that were 1) friendly to humans 2) of a certain strength 3) lived socially and 4) fed on vegetation became the cornerstone for modern agriculture and allowed much of society to free themselves from food production and concentrate on other things. This eventually led to more sophisticated tools, weapons and thinking which propelled some societies into wealth and power while leaving other struggling to simply feed themselves. 
 

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