productivity makes me smile

Found this on thxthxthx.com!

HILARIOUS

:) this video makes me smile.

Self-expression

A lesson:
I will leave a lasting impression
Send it out with honesty
Just make it a confession

Hey, you listening?
Do I have your attention?
Can you understand what I’m saying
Or are you filled with apprehension?

Have you tried it?
Have you tried?
Just let it flow through your veins
Let it rise with the heat
Let it fall with summer rains

Breathe, inhale deep
Exhale and release
Speak the truth
Tell me now
Speak

No,
Pause
Take a breath
Why speak so damn fast?
I told you, let it flow
Let this moment last

Last for eternity
An infinity
Ya feelin’ me?
Like you’re writing your own history
A memoir – you’re a visionary
Teach me all that you know and see
Like you’ve discovered your own epiphany

To your ears, it’s a symphony
To your heart, it’s a remedy
To your soul, yes it’s healing, see?
Your stronger, no longer unseen

So, allow it to write itself
Just ink to a blank page
Carve into the slate:
Your harmony
Your joy
Your anger
Your rage

Let it spill out
Let it go
Let the inhibitions float away
Unchain the cage and contemplate

A message you know you can relate
To the pain
The hurt
The scorn
The hate
Unfold the struggle you hid away
Undo the regret of yesterday

Untame the chaos
Unshame the regret
I will not judge you
Nor second guess
I trust your words
I embrace your mess

It’s my mess too
I know it too well
Like the back of my hand
Or my favorite song
I know what awaits
I know what you don’t want to show
Secrets that you want to hide
A feeling you don’t want remind
Yourself of what you felt, it was:
Pain
You do not want to confide

But didn’t I tell you?
You don’t have to relive it
Don’t bring it to life
Don’t miss it
Just remember it
Be patient

And you will be whole once more

This helps me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtpQmU6v6kQ

Call me Daffodil

You may see me grow
in shades of green along the pathways
of school, near your work, or at the park.

Day by day,
sunrise to sunset,
I sway with the breeze,
with such ease.

I wait all spring for this day,
to blossom, and say hello,
call me daffodil,
if you will.

It would be a thrill to meet you,
beneath the sun, between the rain,
you should know, flowers feel no pain.

I would smile to greet you,
with petals of white and gold.
Yet someday, I will grow old.

Then perhaps,
I'll meet you at another time,
another season,
as every good seed is gifted,
with another day,
or so I pray.

To Whom It May Concern,

Here's a nice little reminder from our friend Jessie J, instructing us not to worry about the "money, money, money..."

Price Tag

Structure your life around things which are luminary, not pecuniary.

One day...

I'll visit this place. Until then, I'll continue to make my dreams into realities.



Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, Alaska (National Geographic, Photo of the Day)

This made me smile so much yesterday.

I was feverishly typing a paper (due in 6 hours...eek!) at a desk on Swem 3rd when I looked away from the computer screen for a brief moment to close my eyes and to try not to cry. It's been a tough semester. Suddenly, I noticed in my line of vision tiny writing scratched on the edge of the small shelf set near the top of the back wall.

"DON'T WORRY.
YOU <3 ARE
LOVED"

How quickly we forget.

Thank you, kind stranger, for reminding me that life is so much more than an 8 page paper on a time crunch or a week of midterms or losing sleep when your roommate decides that she wants to be loud every morning at 7 AM.

You are loved too.

everything is everything

You're stressed out, aren't you? Don't be. In the words of Miss Lauryn Hill:

"Now, everything is everything
What is meant to be, will be
After winter, must come spring
Change, it comes eventually

Sometimes it seems
We'll touch that dream
But things come slow or not at all
And the ones on top, won't make it stop
So convinced that they might fall
Let's love ourselves then we can't fail
To make a better situation
Tomorrow, our seeds will grow
All we need is dedication"

-For your listening pleasure: Everything is Everything.

It's from Mysterious Letters. Michael & Lenka are on a mission to write to every household in the world. I thought this one was cool. :)

The daffodils are starting to come up around campus.

Daffodils, that come before
the swallow dares, and take
the winds of March with beauty.
-- William Shakespeare

Be strong. Have hope.

W&M can be known for its torrential downpours, but every so often, our campus looks like this.

Thank you W&M for making me happy even when skies are gray. Or blue. Bright blue

a simple (haiku) confession

Can I just say that
I am alive and content?
My mind is at peace.

Open the window, sunlight.
I stopped and smelled the roses.
My heart flips around.

Didn't go searching
for joy, no sir it found me.
Held out his kind hand.

Pulled me up, away.
Out of the darkness, sunshine.
It warms my body up.

I am not cold now.
I am not in misery.
Today I am free.

No Rules

Just gotta add a lil bit of flavorin’
This dish got you savorin’

My life don’t need a recipe
I just mix everything in front of me
Cos organizing can get the best of me
And improvising can help set you free

My life ain’t got no melody
Not like we’re at a symphony
Always strugglin’ with anxiety
But I don’t need your sympathy

In my mind’s greatest reality
Distress in actuality
Joined with fear and insanity
I envision an opportunity

"a little at a time"

When you see someone crying, what do you do? Offer to help them? Carry on with your business? What if it’s someone you don’t know? I often wonder what emotion we really mean to convey when we’re in a public setting. Do we want attention? Probably. This week has been one of the rougher ones, and I can’t seem but wonder why I let everything get to me. I find myself tense, muscles tight. I wake up in pain. I sit with my shoulders aching. My stomach gets upset when I eat. My body is very angry with me for some reason.

I know everyone has those days. Where you feel like its all just crumbling before your eyes. And you can’t help but feel suffocated. Today I broke down in tears. Ten minutes ago would be my third time today. The second time I cried today, I had let my mind wander too much after a very deep conversation with a few of my role models. We were discussing mental health, and the impact that suicide and depression has had on our lives. We want change, as the community has been in much pain. The gloomy weather reflects the melancholy atmosphere. We are grieving.

Yet sometimes I believe I am selfish. I don’t want to be. I don’t want to burden others with my problems. With my thoughts. With my struggles. My mind is far too complex for someone, anyone, to analyze. I cannot be fixed. I broke down in tears and out of the corner of my eye, I saw a person walk by the building. A few minutes later, he came inside and knocked on the door. He asked if I was okay. I told him I was fine, but he insisted. He asked if I had a lot of work to do. I said I was fine. He asked if I wanted to share. I didn’t want to burden him. I told him I was fine and that I appreciated that he came in to check. As he was leaving he said, “a little at a time.”

I was reminded why I love WM. Even if you think no one is looking out for you, someone always wants to help. Even if you don't know their name.

Life always hits in waves.

Life always hits in waves.
Don't let it crash down & engulf you.
Choose to ride the wave instead, and it will pass.

You Want Answers.

You Want Answers.

Why?

Why don't you smile?
Why don't you raise your head a bit?
There's so much beauty out there,
Waiting, just waiting for you to take it.
Take it all in, don't let it pass.
It's time.

Really?

To think it takes a tragedy to bring community together.
Violent reactions don't mix.
My heart will resist.

What?

I can't tell you what I've learned
More like what I need to learn
Learn to get up and get going
Learn to keep my courage
Learn to hold my faith in the highest regard

When?

When will you realize?
When will you understand?
When will you see that you've got to let go?
Let the world consume you in joy.
Let the world take you down a journey.
A journey where you find:

Peace.

this past Saturday

This past Saturday I went to meet some friends at the terrace at 12:30. I went on a walk with a friend of mine, got a sandwich at Wawa, visited another friend in her room at Jamestown and then went to a meeting. The meeting went terribly. My time was wasted and the committee I was meeting with was horribly disorganized. After the meeting, in hope for relief I reached into my bag for my iPod, but it wasn't there. My mood had gone from bad to worse. Music was something I had always depended on to provide me with an escape when things were getting stressful. I had been listening to an awesome EP by a band called Givers from Louisiana and all I wanted was to hear their take on dancy, afro-pop music.

I immediately tried retracing my steps. Where did I go? I texted my friend in Jamestown but she said that it wasn't there. I checked with the SC info desk, in case I had left it there and someone had turned it on. No luck. By now it was 4:15 and I had to lead sessions at the William and Mary Leadership Conference. I did my best to push my loss out of my head, but I could tell that I wasn't totally interested in what I was doing.

By now it was 6pm, I was walking to the Grind to meet with some friends for dinner, still trying not to think about the fact I had lost my iPod. Then while walking through the terrace, on one of the tables was my iPod, in its rubber case and with its earbuds wrapped neatly around it. I couldn't believe it, but then I remember only at William and Mary would my iPod remain untouched for the entirety of a Saturday afternoon. Thank you, William and Mary, for being so trustworthy.