HOW I STARTED APPRECIATING THE SIMPLE THINGS IN LIFE by Grease & Glamour

Rebloged from GREASE & GLAMOUR

I was talking to my younger brother the other day, and he made a comment about how much I had changed – that he still remembered the girl I was only a few years ago, obsessed with designer labels and completely addicted to shopping retail. And he was right. I was constantly running in the world’s hamster wheel, and it forced me to always want more. More shoes. More money. More clothes. More bags. More labels. I realized at one point that this need for excess was fueled by my desire to be happy, but the funny thing is, none of it was actually making me happy. It’s crazy to think about how much, fast forward a few months, I’ve transformed by being on the road.

I ran across Contiki Legends, featuring the life-changing stories of fellow travelers. I’m scrolling through these stories, one of my favorites being the Canadian girl’s first time seeing an ocean in person, and they got me thinking about my own life-changing moment. What was the exact moment that I realized that I was on my way to being truly happy? When did I know in my heart that my life had changed?

For me, it was when I started to appreciate the simpler things in life.

Oh, how cliche.

Yeah, cliche, but true. After traveling through Iceland, London, France and Italy, I booked a last minute flight to Dubrovnik, Croatia. My trip started off with crazy adventures, running around, hopping on and off trains, being photographed in front of major tourist attractions with a lifesize cutout of my father, and it ended in one of the most beautiful destinations I had ever seen.

And this was the exact moment I realized that something in me had changed – this sunrise in Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Well, what’s the big deal?

When I was younger, my father used to try for years to drag me out of the bed to watch the sunrise with him in my hometown of Virginia Beach, VA. I never woke up. It was always too early, and I’d pull the sheets over my head and ask him to shut the door and let me sleep. Why watch the sunrise? What was the point?

Yet here I was, in a foreign country off the coast of the Adriatic Sea, watching the skies change colors, in complete bliss. The waves crashing against the rocks on the cliff, the fence filled with love locks inspired by the iconic bridge in Paris, the local man walking across the bridge becoming the perfect silhouette for my photograph – I can’t explain the stillness that surrounded me and how it soothed my soul. I watched the sun rise from the sea into the sky, the world coming to life, and I was the happiest that I had been in years.

I was so grateful to be there in that exact moment, witnessing something so simple yet so magnificently beautiful. No matter where you are, watching the sunrise forces you to be in the present moment – your mind isn’t bothered by thoughts of the past or the future. The world speaks to your soul through your eyes, and it costs you absolutely nothing. And you know what they say – the best things in life are free.

Conversations

Another one from Navin E. I just can't seem to pull myself away from Words Written In Silence.

I often ask myself questions
Talking to myself in my head
I can feel my mouth opening partially
Speaking to faceless men

The same men who hide
In the shadows of daylight
More fearful than the darkness of night
And yet I speak to myself

I imagine the conversations
I had hoped to have; day or night
Faces; behind the words in my ears
Yet, even masks are a luxury

I often ask myself questions
Talking to myself in my head
I can feel my mouth opening partially
Speaking to faceless men

To The Beautiful People by Navin E.

Everyone needs to be told that they are loved, by someone, at some point. You can question their meaning of their words or who says them to you, but you need to hear it. So do I and so did she. 

She was beautiful. She is. Not in the way, I learnt to acknowledge beauty. Somehow, somewhere it became about the most revealing clothes, a slim physique and yet voluptuous in the right areas, flowing locks as if they were taken straight from a shampoo advertisement and most importantly, an unblemished visage. 

There was never any mention of character or behavior. No one taught us that and we never learnt. Not until, we began to accept the disappointments life threw our way. The "beautiful people" didn't look at us, not the way we wanted them to. Natural selection perhaps? They went for those high performing individuals, with the perfect physique and the symmetrical smiles. That was never me. 

Rejection teaches you to change your approach. And you always told not to "lower your standards", but that's what you've been taught to believe. Perfection was beauty. Anything else was you "settling". Again you learn through disappointments, which are blessings in disguise. Not that we know it at the time or something that any of us would admit. 

Now, to the woman I love. I want to tell you how beautiful you are, but it is something I haven't known. I am learning this slowly. I am learning to accept that your beauty lies in the way your eyes scan my frame and the smile that follows, telling me you "accept me". I now know the stories you tell me in silence. Your beauty lies not in what you choose to show me, but you simply being yourself; without any compromises.

I know today, I love you. Perhaps you will ask for reasons or simply be content to be loved. I do not know. I pull you closer, when I speak of a future because I want to share it with you and no one else. I am understanding beauty as I understand love.

I want you to know, I haven't "settled", but understood how to love the scars where your beauty lies. It is the absence of perfection, which makes you beautiful.

For more beautiful words visit Words Written In Silence

A Note On Apologies

There's one sad truth in life I've found 
While journeying east and west - 
The only folks we really wound 
Are those we love the best. 
We flatter those we scarcely know, 
We please the fleeting guest, 
And deal full many a thoughtless blow 
To those who love us best. 
~Ella Wheeler Wilcox~  

 We often break promises, lie, hurt others intentionally and unintentionally. We are after all only human, but we forgive each other. Although, lies hurt and break hearts that sometimes time just can't fix, but life goes on, we learn from mistakes and broken hearts. We try not to hurt each other, but it doesn't always work. 

Apologising and moving on. 

 We all become a little stubborn and are unable or unwilling to acknowledge our wrongdoings. But apologise we must. Those three words are so hard to offer, genuinely. I Am Sorry. It takes wisdom to acknowledge your mistakes, courage to admit your faults. Saying you're sorry is a brave thing to do. I appreciate apologies because I know how hard they are to give. To me, the plain "I'm sorry about everything" just doesn't do it. That's easy. "I'm sorry about..." Yes, no that's how you offer a meaningful apology. An acknowledged apology is one that works the best. Another no-no is the "I'm sorry, but...". There are no excuses for hurting others. 

How to apologise: 
1. Put yourself in the other persons shoes and acknowledge your own fault. 
2. Swallow your pride. 
3. Say you sorry and what you sorry about, and actually mean it. 
4. Never repeat the mistake again.

A Day For Superheroes

A Poem For Mum 

By Champagne S. Baker 

You are the sunlight in my day, 

You are the moon I see far away. 

You are the tree I lean upon,  

You are the one that makes troubles be gone. 

You are the one who taught me life, 

 How not to fight, and what is right. 

You are the words inside my song, 

You are my love, my life, my mom. 

You are the one who cares for me, 

You are the eyes that help me see. 

You are the one who knows me best, 

When it's time to have fun and time to rest. 

You are the one who has helped me to dream, 

You hear my heart and you hear my screams. 

Afraid of life but looking for love, I'm blessed for God sent you from above. 

You are my friend, my heart, and my soul 

You are the greatest friend I know. 

You are the words inside my song,  

You are my love, my life, my Mom.

Turning Points

From stage to stage we go, on this journey called life. Experiencing many different emotions, meeting many different people.
On a rare occasion you meet someone and they are able to change your perspective about everything. You think you all done. And then someone comes out of the mists, completely unexpectedly and opens your eyes. Wether intentionally or not. They make you see things that you have never before allowed yourself to see. Sometimes through someone else you get a better look at your own life. Wether that be positive or negative aspects. You live the same life you have always led, but suddenly it feels so different. It is as though without realising it, everything changes. It's like opening a familiar window and seeing a new view. Things that have never bothered you before, suddenly become major problems. Or you begin to see how extremely blessed you are and have been. You begin to see the beauty around. 

But new realisations and new knowledge often bring an unexpected and very unwelcome twinge of pain too. After the rare encounter with this magnetic force, it is incredible as you watch your life unravel. The scenery that this life changing being shows you is unforgetable and changes your life forever. No matter how hard you try for things to be as they were, they never will be again. 

Have you crossed paths with your life changer, eye opener? Or is it yet to come?

Botswana By Zack Seckler

Take a look at beautiful Botswana. From an aerial view.

Photo series by Zack Seckler.