Relationships
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Set The Table
Set the table. Use the fancy plates. Make a drink. Celebrate. Cheers. Invite others. What are we waiting for?
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Film Pictures
I think I’ve spent the last four years trying to figure out who I would be without the influence of my family, the people around me, the media, society… Like if I grew up on a beach alone, who would I be? When in reality, that will never be the case It never is the…
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Touches
To feel is to touch something, right? Something outside of our own skin? When we reach out our hands to rub a soft blanket or grasp a hot cup of tea, we feel it with our skin. Well, if so, then maybe our own feel-ings should be considered in the same way. Maybe feelings don’t…
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A Story About A Maid
I watched Maid yesterday. It was about a young, southern woman who, after continuous emotional abuse by her boyfriend, finally has the courage to leave and take on a year’s worth of a struggle to find independence for herself and her daughter. I saw her as a common representation of many young girls today, chronically…
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Fall Into
Your dreams have to be your own. You can hope they align with someone else’s, try to change them, be scared to death by what may happen, but your dreams will never give up on you.Dreams will always push back, like a song that’s stuck in your head.You can try to put them on hold,but…
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The Right To Choose
I thought I could be happy anywhere with anyone after finally feeling the deepest contentment in my soul that I completely forgot to ask myself who keeps me happy, what places keep me happy. We are choosing our lives all the time even if we have learned to accept life as it comes. I was…
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Imperfection Makes The Most Beautiful Sunsets
There is no perfect life sitting out there like pieces to a puzzle waiting to be collected. We are all individual, imperfect pieces that will never perfectly fit with anyone else or anything else or anywhere else. We shouldn’t be searching for exact matches. We should just be searching for similar edges. Similar colors on…
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Wise Selfishness
When we enjoy, others enjoy. When we enjoy a conversation, those we are talking to do as well. When we are enjoying sex, the other person gets more aroused. Not only does more enjoyment bring us more joy but it brings others more joy, too. We must serve ourself to serve others. Enjoyment isn’t selfish,…
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Weakness
Sometimes we want community so badly and we become so worried about making others like us that we don’t relax into our humanness. But tomorrow I want to be weak. Squishy, like the soul. Soft, loving, unshielded, unprotected, warm, unphased if people are cruel to me or not. Weak. I wish to recognize that I…
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How Can We Know What’s Warm or Cold?
Sometimes my inner child screams because it wants to know that is something is bad for me it has a way out. And yes, of course I will know when to leave if something is bad for me. But what if it’s not bad but just not warm? What do we do then? One of…
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We’re Meant to Slip Away
Nothing is sustainable, even joy, or even the best things in life. Nothing was meant to be sustainable. Our bodies cannot have the same exact foods everyday; they need diversity. Our muscles cannot use 100% of their strength all the time; they need rest and recovery to grow. Does this mean that our relationships are…
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Messy Kitchens
Has individualism made is anti-relationships? Has the idea that we don’t need anyone but ourselves implanted some idea that we are all better off alone? When in fact we are missing the whole point of life? We all are supposed to have other people. We are supposed to lean on others. We need others. True,…
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What Is Our True State?
Who are you when you are giving and loving to others? What state are you in when your relationships are thriving? Do you feel full, complete, and at peace at the same time? Whoever you are during these times is when you are your true self. We are our true selves when we are the…
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Pushing & Pulling
Life is a balance of both pushing and pulling, pushing for your goals and pulling back to slow down. Pushing to fight for what you deserve but pulling back to remember to smell the flowers and breathe. And knowing when to push and when to pull is the hardest part. However, I think we can…
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Lovers
I can’t help but think that when lovers meet for the first time the universe is watching down excitedly, waiting for them to connect, hoping that everything will go as planned, knowing the future they will have together, and smiling while the lovers are just meeting another person for the first time, unaware of those…
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Friends
friends are so warm; they make you feel as if you’re drinking a hot, cozy drink on a cold day; they make you feel like you feel understood by another soul without them ever being able to hear what’s inside your head; they make you feel like you were meant to be together, meant to…
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A Love To Live For
the corners of my mouth can’t help but curl up at the sound of your sweet, joyous laugh that sounds like heaven your eyes that curve downwards at the ends that stare into my heart and melt all that is cold in my body the feeling of your lips and of your arms around my…
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Sticky, Heavy, Dense, & Slow
Maybe our friends don’t want us to be chaotically happy all the time, or bubbly, jittery, chatty, untethered. Maybe they want reality; calmness, loyalty, compassion, support, love. Those qualities are slow, heavy, wet, dense. We all always want to feel like we do in the mornings, like we do with a cup of coffee, watching…
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Younger Siblings
Think of a younger loved one. Think of your younger sister, or your younger brother, your cousin, your friend, your child. They don’t want you to be perfect. If you did everything right, then that means they would have to, too. You are who they are looking up to, and when they inevitably fail or…
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One in Seven Billion
Accepting that we’re not the kindest person makes us a better friend. Accepting that we’re not the smartest person makes us more wise. Accepting that we don’t have the fittest body makes ourselves seem more beautiful. Accepting that our lives are simply ordinary makes them seem so miraculously extraordinary.
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There Will Always Be A Bed
When I was walking to Camino de Santiago, one of the lessons I learned right away was to not rush through the walk for fear of not getting a bed at the end of each day. On my first day walking, I pretty much ran the whole way. I worried all morning that the beds…
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Happy People!
Everyone wants to live a happy life. And for a long time, I believed that finding a happy life meant saying yes to everything. I thought that the only way to have any fun was to be spontaneous. Go! Do! Let go of all your boundaries! Go out to the bars with strangers you just…
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Ancestors
My face is a face of all of my ancestors. My face is a face of every brave woman who had to protect herself and her family. Of every young child who learned how to communicate for the first time. Of every hunter who courageously wandered through an unpredictable forest. Of every gatherer who patiently…
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Noble Steeds
Deer protect their loved ones with their life. Even though man has given them many reasons to leave their home, they have not, and will not ever. The power of community and belonging trumps the fear of their life ending one day sooner. And even though deer may not have heroic deaths, like taking a…
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What Do Trees Think About?
I’m writing this under a tree. I needed space. The world likes to take from you. And I admit, I take from the world sometimes, too, when I know I’m not at my state of joy or connectedness. But when I’m not connected to myself, I’ve learned what I need. Silence. Solitude. Nature. Nature never…
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Little Warriors
To feel the love of your child means also to feel the heartbreak when a child eventually moves away from their parent. To feel the love of a pet means also to feel the pain of them dying when they grow older. To feel the love of a partner means also to feel the risk…
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Homes
Home. I get it now. I get why people love their homes so much. As young kids, we don’t often get to choose our homes. We don’t get to chose a lot of things in life, really. My childhood self was just living, and going, and doing whatever seemed “best” for me. I never asked…
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The Only Virus We Can Kill
I’ve been choosing to find joy and delights each morning. I’ve been practicing talking to myself about what I’m grateful for and granting myself permission to enjoy every moment throughout each day. But I couldn’t sleep the other night. During the day before, someone made me feel stressed and anxious. They tried to make me…
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Glass Skin & Inner Fire
Each person’s inner light should shine through them like their skin is a bright window made of glass. Like they’re radiating their light out into the world. But many times, relfection gets mistaken for shine. Sometimes we replace our glass skin with mirrors that only reflects the light coming from others. And the challenge with…
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Candid Pictures
Pictures are existential. Pictures are essential. When we pose for pictures, or edit them, or filter them, we are telling ourselves that we don’t want to see our actual selves, our natural selves. But our candid pictures are us just without masks. Candid pictures, ones where we don’t pose or curate what the photo will…
Ali Walks Around 