There are moments when perfection stands in time and s.p.a.ce, when the beauty of the moment does not need to be explained, just because no words are strong enough. Those are the most beautiful moments in life. When the sunset meets the sea, when the raindrops meet a thirsty land, when the waves hug the sh.o.r.e, when the storm ends and the rainbow begins, when a baby smiles or holds your hand. When beauty meets modesty, when humbleness meets sincerity, when sadness meets empathy, when happiness meets genuineness. Those moments cannot be recreated. They cannot be equated with a price. Neither can happiness.

Sincerely, My Heart

Just because someone doesn't acknowledge what you do, it does not mean that they don't see it. People are selective in making obvious what they see about you. They may acknowledge it in their hearts but avoid allowing you to see that. They may avoid that simply because they think it's expected of you and not anything that you need praise for. Others will not acknowledge your work because you don't acknowledge theirs. Others won't because they think that you've got enough ego or confidence to the point that you don't need any praise. Some won't simply because they think that even if they did acknowledge your work, you would not notice them. Similarly, some people will acknowledge what you do because they think that you did something that you didn't have to, or because you acknowledge what they do, or because they think that you need praise to realize your potential, or because they want to be noticed by you. Don't evaluate yourself through people's words or through their praise. Let the sincerity in your heart for what you do break through that need within you to want to hear that you've done something right. Let the sincerity in your heart see the sincere acknowledgement in other people's hearts.

Thoughts Unexpressed

There are so many thoughts that would be much more beautiful if they were just kept as thoughts. Words sometimes don't do justice to our thoughts and feelings. They are better kept inside to last a while rather than said and forgotten. Every thought has the right time to be verbalized, and every feeling has the right time to be expressed. Meanwhile, enjoy the thought, enjoy the feeling, and give them the time they deserve to be as strong as you want them to be

Goodness Gone Wrong?

When someone you've done so many good things for makes you feel unappreciated, do you, even for a moment, wish that you could take it all back? Do you regret doing good things for the wrong people? Personally, I don't agree with that. At the end of the day, everything you do belongs to you. All of your actions belong to you, whether good or bad, for yourself or for others, intentional or unintentional. Instead of regretting doing something good for the wrong person, it is better to regret taking that time away from those who do good things for you. Don't ever regret a good deed. Ever. As much as it hurts to see that someone does not appreciate your work, your work is really not for them. Your work builds you and your personality. This is where you need to think of your purpose behind anything you do. If your purpose is to please others and look good in their eyes, then you are bound to be disappointed because your pleasure is in their hands, not yours. If your purpose is to truly and sincerely be a good person who spreads a positive and mature att.i.tude which rises above individual needs, then you will be disappointed less often and in a different way. You will be disappointed that someone, regardless of who this person is, could be so blind and ungrateful for something good. You will be disappointed for them, not in them. Think of your purposes and work on yourself. Once we realize that we need to change the way we view the world before we try to change others, our purposes will be geared in the right direction.

Be Sensitive

It irritates me when people actually believe that they are better than others. It irritates me that someone could give him or herself the right to talk down to others or accuse others of doing things without asking for their side of the story. It irritates me when people get pleasure in seeing others fall flat on their faces in pursuit of their dreams. It irritates me when people strive to please and live up to those with money, status, and power. It irritates me when people are more negative than positive and spread their negativity wherever they go. It irritates me when someone does not return a smile. It irritates me when people judge others based on their looks before they even get to know them. It irritates me when people wait for the hidden purpose behind every act of kindness, not realizing that sometimes it just does not exist. It irritates me when I see love given and not returned. Many things irritate me, and I have learned that the way to stop that irritation is not by becoming immune to these things. It's a valuable quality to be able to recognize bad things when you see them and to learn from them. If you have that sensitivity, never let it go. If these things irritate you, work on convincing yourself that you will do what you can and that you can only do so much. At the end of the day, we're all human, and sometimes we cannot extend our helping hands further than they can reach, especially if others are not willing to extend their hands back.

Let Go

We often attach letting go to negativity because we take it as giving up, and giving up is a sign of weakness. That's not always true. Sometimes letting go can be as positive as holding on, and sometimes holding on can be as negative as letting go. Letting go of what makes you miserable is the right decision to make because while one opportunity that you are holding on to makes you cry your heart out, another opportunity is patiently waiting for you. It is patiently waiting for you to let go of what you have and hold on to this new opportunity. When you let go of what you have, do it the right way. Don't let go feeling weak. Don't let go feeling like you've done anything but your absolute best. Don't let go feeling like you were not worth the opportunity. It was not meant to be worth your pain, although it may have been painful. Think deeply into the purpose that made you take that opportunity, and if you've achieved that purpose, then take pride in it. Give yourself credit and don't ever let anybody put you down. Let go feeling like the biggest winner and let loss go home with the opportunity that never appreciated you. Reflect. Learn. Move on. Hold on to the next exciting thing that the world opens up for you and put your best forward, for your best will never let the inner you down. Ever.

Decide

Sometimes life throws at us what we think is more than we can handle. We stress. We complain. We spend more time worrying than working our way through what must get done. We complain if we don't have something and we complain more if we have it. We forget that, for something to be in our lives in the first place, we must have accepted it and decided to let it into our lives. I understand that sometimes you don't have control over what comes into your life, but at that point, you have two choices. You either accept the challenge or deny that it exists. If you accept the challenge, you need to prioritize your list of tasks and see where that challenge ranks and how much time and energy it deserves. Give it that much, no more or less. If you choose to deny its existence, no one is stopping you, but take responsibility for the decision of ignoring it. No one has to deal with your problems. We all have problems of our own to deal with. Whether you take the challenge or leave it, it will exist, and because it was meant for you, no one else can deal with it but you. That's the reality of life. It is the att.i.tude with which we conquer life's challenges so that we live happily. Sometimes the feeling of achieving something is greater than the achievement itself. So, don't take a challenge too personally. Accept that you must deal with it and realize that you can because you've dealt with many challenges before. Remember that there is a reason for its existence, although that reason may be hidden in the seventh sky. So, will you choose to face your challenges with a positive att.i.tude? Or will you keep ignoring what you must deal with and pile it on top of everything else that you've been ignoring? Whatever you choose, take responsibility for it, not because you have to, but because you can and because you want to. Life never comes against you. The way you deal with it comes against you. Be at peace with yourself and see how many challenges you can take once you give yourself the credit that you deserve for being able to deal with life's most difficult times.

Inspire

If you aim for perfect, you will always be disappointed. Don't expect everyone to be up to your expectations unless you are willing to live up to someone else's. We have to accept that no one is perfect and learn to let go of the mentality that people can't change. People are not all born into the same environment, and they are not born with the same definition of what is right and what is wrong. What we see as someone making a mistake may only be our perception that something is wrong. Their perception may be that everything is completely fine. Sometimes all a person needs is to fall once or twice to learn on his or her own. Sometimes all a person needs is to come across those who will inspire him or her to change for themselves. Is it fair that we give up on people because of what they've done in the past? Is it fair that we define people by their pasts rather than their progress towards their future? Be the person to inspire others to change if you can, and if you can't, then don't destroy them by confining them to what they've done before. Don't set people up for failure by showing them that they're not good enough. When you make others feel that you believe in them and that you believe that they can change for themselves, you will see what a world of a difference you can make.

Transparent Heart

Sometimes people make obvious what's in their hearts, not necessarily through words but indirectly through their actions. Do we make what's in our hearts as obvious in return? Sometimes we try so hard to hide our thoughts and feelings because we are scared of the unknown. We are scared that, once our thoughts and feelings are exposed, they will not be taken care of by others the way we took care of them for so long. We are scared of letting go of what is in our control and putting it in someone else's hands. We take a step ahead, and because of that fear, we take ten steps backwards, not realizing that we are causing that same fear for others. We are scared of being misunderstood. And because of this, we linger in a state of uncertainty, not knowing what to do because all we know is what we see and not what we hear. Although feelings are much stronger than words, it somehow brings ease to our hearts and minds to hear what we would like to hear before we can let go of that fear. We forget that, sometimes, simply saying what needs to be said can make any trace of uncertainty in others turn into a confidence that cannot be defeated.

Intuition

Sometimes we just know what to do. We have a feeling that it's right, and so we do it without having an intended or obvious reason for it. But the reason does exist, and our feeling is valid, pointing in the right direction. For perfectionists like myself, it's hard to attempt anything that does not have a valid or clear reason and that comes in the way of us taking risks or following our gut feeling. That's because it feels like taking directions while being blindfolded, unable to see the end that we are walking towards. So, when we do allow our intuition to take over, we feel that we are taking a big risk and that we are trusting others to lead our way, and that's when every small step seems like a journey. Every small step requires so much effort and so much courage to take. We need to get a positive response after every small step because, without that, we feel discouraged and want to go back to the start, where we were in ownership of our path. We did not have to trust anyone but ourselves. We did not have to walk towards the unknown. We did not have to feel that we were wronging ourselves by giving into what we felt, instead of what we thought. It's our safe place. But the beauty in allowing our intuition to take over sometimes is in the possibility of it leading us to the right place at the end, where we realize the reason for what we did.

Mature Decisions

I don't like this att.i.tude of people who decide that being alone is better than being around others just because others hurt them. If you consider yourself a considerate person who has been wronged by others, then, trust me, there are people just like you. You just are not seeing them, and that makes you just like those who are hurting you. You have negative people in your life? People who praise those who make them feel like garbage and then make you feel like garbage? People who refuse to support you when you need it most? So tell me this, why are you keeping them in your life? There comes a point when you need to eliminate some people from your life, not because you don't believe in their goodness or because you don't think that there is a chance for them to change, but because they do not appreciate you to begin with, and they never did. You were always their sidekick, and once you started shining, they could not handle your success. How are you supposed to inspire them to change if you stay the weak follower that you are? Cleanse your life of cunning people who pretend to care for you when they really don't. If they can't be happy to see you happy, and if they refuse to see your inner beauty and give you credit for who you really are, then why are you giving them a second of your time? Walk away and see if they would ask you to turn back around. Let them realize what they lost.

Believe

Hope for the best and believe that it will happen, and it will happen. If it doesn't, then it wasn't the best for you. There's something better waiting. Before you lose hope, stay positive, see signs in the littlest of things, and move in the direction of what makes you happy. Your heart gravitates towards real happiness, whether it is your definition of happiness or not. Listen to it when you can't find a logical reason not to. Where it takes you is where the best awaits you.

What If

You know those moments when a beautiful what if crosses your mind and makes you smile from the core of your heart? The moments when you find yourself lost in a dream, with happiness overwhelming your heart? Those moments are mirrors into the life that you should be living in order to be truly happy. Sometimes we are so preoccupied with just getting by in life that we forget to truly live it, with every meaning of live possible. Those are the moments that will allow us to feel meaning in what we do. They allow us to enjoy our time while doing what we love. Those are the moments that make the happiness in our hearts shine into the hearts of others. Those moments are the extensions of one single event that springs hope into our hearts and spurs an imagination of our future right before our eyes. Whether we make that imagination true or not depends on whether we take a step towards it. It's in our hands. You may not be able to get there on your own because others need to put their hands in too, but do your part and live knowing that you tried. Do not spend your life wondering about what could have been after the light that was present to lead your way was dimmed by the life you thought you were living.

A Battle to Win

The faces that we wear in different environments can tell a lot about our personalities. Do you find yourself speaking differently when you're around different people? Do you care more about what you say and how you look in front of certain people and not others? Do you put more effort into thinking of the words that you say or the things that you do in front of certain people and not others? It's interesting to be aware of these differences within you that you may not be conscious of. The real challenge is when all of these faces or personalities come in confrontation with each other in order to determine which one is really representative of you. Which one do you feel most comfortable in? Which one do you put yourself in when you want to impress others? And when you meet new people who know nothing about you, do you create a whole new personality based on what you learned from your experiences in all the other ones? How much effort do you make to put yourself in each one? The bottom line is, if all of those personalities or faces that you have are not at peace with one another, and if they have any major differences, then you are still uncertain of your beliefs and of who you really are or who you want to be for the rest of your life. So, what are you waiting for? Don't wait until others pick up on your contradictions and confront you about them. Take a break and deal with your issues before you worry about dealing with the issues of others. This is the time to put yourself first and try to bring all of the contradictions within you to a halt. The sooner you have this confrontation with yourself, the sooner you can be comfortable with yourself. After you reach a consensus with yourself, your genuineness will shine upon every single person you meet without you trying. So go ahead, let that battle within you take place until you become at peace with yourself. After that, you will feel the true confidence in yourself that you've always longed for. Go ahead and start.

Contemplating Happiness

Survival is not the same as living. Smiling is not the same as laughing your heart out. Thinking is not the same as having a deep conversation. Listening is not the same as really caring. Words are nothing if they are not spoken, and feelings are doomed to be erased if they are not expressed at the right time. Sometimes we are afraid of taking that extra step that takes us from what is ordinary to what is extraordinary, that extra step towards really being happy, because happiness seems just too good to be true. It seems too far away to dream of. It seems too hard to get, too hopeless, too risky. But what's the point of realizing the extraordinary if you don't go for it? You're better off not realizing it and living a content life rather than realizing it and feeling hopeless about it. There is nothing wrong with what's ordinary, but if extraordinary chances come your way, let the happiness that your heart desires extend out and reach for them.

Listen to Your Heart

Once you realize that life is not perfect, you truly begin to live a beautiful life because beauty is in comparison with everything else that is less than it. If life were perfect, we would all live the same life, and we would not have unique experiences. We would not need better and best because everything would be good. If life were perfect, opposites would not exist because, upon their existence, perfection would fail to be the same in everyone's eyes. Differences would not exist. We would be objects, not the live souls we are now, souls who aspire to reach perfection while understanding the fact that perfection does not exist as one thing that everyone agrees upon, that it exists differently in the way that each one of us perceives the world, happiness, and contentment.

Disappointed

It is far less disappointing to realize that the characteristics you've come to dislike in people in the past are present in new people than it is to realize that those characteristics are present in yourself.