30Oct 2014 by CJ

Holidays are a time for missing someone you love

Love & Relationships
It’s hard to believe, but Thanksgiving and Christmas will be here before you know it. Stores are already stocked with Thanksgiving tableware and traditional recipe ingredients, while simultaneously brightly lit Christmas trees and an endless stream of holiday décor fill aisle after aisle. These are my two favorite holidays of the year, and I suspect many others would agree. I love the warm colors and the decorations; the holiday music and movies; the smell of freshly baked cookies and a turkey with all the trimmings permeating the house. It’s a magical time of year that always brings about memories filled with joy and laughter, but it’s also a time for missing the people that are far away from your heart. The unfortunate reality of this time of year is that…
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26Oct 2014 by CJ

Don’t underestimate the magic of ordinary days

Life & Living, Love & Relationships
There are some titles, quotations and song lyrics I find so simple and inspiring that I often find myself carrying them around in the back of my mind to be retrieved at a later date. One such example comes in the form of a title, from author Ann Howard Creel’s novel, “The Magic of Ordinary Days.” The word “ordinary” gets a bad rap in society. Far too often anything that’s ordinary is deemed boring and mundane in a world so pathetically obsessed with popularity and excitement. But I can tell you with great certainty that when your normalcy all but vanishes, you’ll soon find yourself craving the undeniable magic of ordinary days. Moments of exhilarating excitement are just that – moments. They can never be recaptured or relived and for…
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17Oct 2014 by CJ

The trouble with the truth is we all think we know what that is

Life & Living, Love & Relationships
The trouble with the truth - an odd statement when you think about it. I mean how could there possibly be anything problematic with regards to a word that has come to mean “a statement or belief which corresponds to reality”. I mean after all, reality is in fact what we deal with from the time we wake up until the time we close our eyes at night. One would assume that the alternative might be more deserving of an entire editorial piece. But I can’t lie, the truth isn’t always the easier of the two to swallow. From employers to government officials. From family members to friends. From our children to our spouses. The trouble with the truth is no one has the courage to face it. We live…
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02Oct 2014 by CJ

Living in the present is the only thing that matters

Life & Living, Love & Relationships, Youth
“It's being here now that's important. There's no past and there's no future. Time is a very misleading thing. All there is ever, is the now. We can gain experience from the past, but we can't relive it; and we can hope for the future, but we don't know if there is one.” ― George Harrison Job interviews are often filled with a series of generic (and very predictable) questions all would-be-employers feel the need to ask in order to get a better understanding of who you are. I have little difficulty answering such questions – all but one that is. Whenever I’m asked, “Where do you see yourself in five years” I’m often left dumbfounded. While I understand the logic behind the question, as they try to measure your…
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18Sep 2014 by CJ

Living a simple life leads to the most happiness

Generosity & Kindness, Life & Living, Love & Relationships
“A simple life is not seeing how little we can get by with—that’s poverty—but how efficiently we can put first things first. . . . When you’re clear about your purpose and your priorities, you can painlessly discard whatever does not support these, whether it’s clutter in your cabinets or commitments on your calendar.” ― Victoria Moran, Lit From Within: Tending Your Soul For Lifelong Beauty It’s rare that we ever take the time to evaluate the material (and personal) clutter in our lives and ask ourselves, “how can I simplify my life – what could I truly live without and still be happy?” For me, a highly anal organizer, there’s no greater feeling than purging the unneeded “stuff” we seem to hoard. We’ve got closets, basements, garages, attics, sheds…
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