The Best Things about Life are sometimes things that Money could never ever buy. The Power of Imagination is something everybody possesses - but lately I haven't been using it quite as much.
SpongeBob Knows about the Awesomeness of Imagination!
Imagination is the thing that makes reading a new book or story, so exciting to me - the transformation of words on a page into a Real-mind-experiences ( sort of. ) has always fascinated me.
As I turned 19 yesterday - a sudden fear began to grip me and I realized that I did not want to grow up. I never want to leave childhood behind , but it seems that I already have. But since a moment of Clarity-I realize that no matter what age I ever become the core of who I am will remain the same. I'll always be me. Thank Heavens!
Imagination is one of best gifts that everybody has and can use. But sometimes, it seems that our pride gets in the way - we brush it off of as something childish and unnecessary..as something outdated and something we ought to be ashamed of in front of our "more adult like friends". Hey, everybody's just people - no matter how grand they come across as. And we have the right to exercise our imaginations. I believe that the world is far more beautiful and wonderful than we usually give it credit for. I believe that the Universe is way more than we can even begin to imagine.
'These are the plates,' she said. 'They are golden plates. These are the richly embroidered napkins. Nuns worked them in convents in Spain.'
'Did they, miss?' breathed Becky, her very soul uplifted by the information.
'You must pretend it,' said Sara. 'If you pretend it enough, you will see them.'
'Yes, miss,' said Becky, and as Sara returned to the trunk she devoted herself to the effort of accomplishing an end so much to be desired.
Sara turned suddenly to find her standing by the table , looking very queer indeed. She had shut her eyes, and was twisting her face in strange, convulsive contortions, her hands hanging stiffly clenched at her sides. She looked as if she was trying to lift some enormous weight
'What is the matter, Becky?' Sara cried. 'What are you doing?'
Becky opened her eyes with a start.
'I was a-"pretendin' ", miss,' she answered a little sheepishly. 'I was tryin' to see it like you do. I almost did,' with a hopeful grin. 'But it takes a lot o' stren'th'
'Perhaps it does if you are not used to it,' said Sara, with friendly sympathy, 'but you don't know how easy it is when you've done it often. I wouldn't try so hard just at first. It will come to you after a while. I'll just tell you what things are. Look at these,' .....
Lately, I've been struggling - a little bit like Becky from the above excerpt from
'A LITTLE PRINCESS' by Frances Hodgson Burnett - which is a beautiful book that you could read right now.
But, imagination is really not that hard - in fact it's one of the easiest things that we could do. I remember as a child a bed sheet over two chairs became a tent-inside of which I could prop up a torch light, some snacks, a couple of pillows, a notebook and a pen and my evening was made! Without it I don't think I could've survived to this day. Lately, I've been focused onto impressing others, as if that would make me feel more important and worthy. It's been coming in the way of my imagination and amazing part of my life - all the things I've been missing out on.
This beautiful soft song aptly captures what I'd been feeling right now:
This is to encourage myself to stop trying so hard to LIVE and just live.
Do You Like reading the End of Things before the beginning (like me?)
Here's the ending of a new Guest Blog Post I wrote For Ms Snuffles Jay over at her Blog:
"I’d have to say, it feels like I’ve been here before: this confusing place of not knowing. But it’s once again time for me to remind myself, that it’s okay to not know all the answers. We were never meant to operate that way.
Love,
Jeffy
P.S. I believe I saw Mr. Frog hopping away underneath a cupboard yesterday.
Oh well. ;) Be free Mr. Frog, Be Free."
Boo.
This is the first time I'm doing a Guest Post and it's been strangely exciting and fun :)
So check me out at her blog. This is the link to the blog post : HERE
So read it and tell me - have you been embracing your interruptions lately?? 'Cause I'm struggling-but I'm getting there. Love Jeffy :D
Hey there! How you been?? If you're wondering what exactly you're reading, please check out the prequel to this here : My Life Story.A. This is the second part, of a four part story. Thank you :)
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I went back to school, and it took some time to adjust to "not having a mother," because it was new. Sometimes people said things like "You're lucky you don't have anybody to nag you and keep you at home when you want to go out" and it felt like such Cruel Comedy.
It made no sense. Why would they think that? But, it's taken me QUITE A LONG TIME and I understand finally that people sometimes say things because they don't know any better. I nodded and smiled back then, becauseI didn't know any better.
All I wanted,was to fit in and be like every one else.
I'd sometimes stare at mothers with their kids and want that so badly.
It made no sense.
However, because most people sort of looked at me with pity and expected me to mess up in life- I wanted to do the exact opposite.
I wanted to be successful. I wanted to be good at maths and school in general. And so, I did well in school, but inside I was a mess.
Like I said before, I hated myself and cared about what others' thought of me. People said I was strong, but I knew who I truly was. Thank God, for this teacher whom we'll call "Mrs. S" and a few other people who stood by me. I had a few amazing friends at this point- who hugged for no reason and enjoyed little things.
There was also a"reach out" group that "Mrs. S" had organized with some staff and students. I volunteered to go with them for a visit to an "old-age-home"- but for some reason didn't go, 'cause I changed my mind in the last minute. And then I regretted it so much, and then decided to go along for the very next "trip" that was organized.
The next trip came along - and we had to interact with a few girls , who had been picked off the streets. Like, literally off the streets, because nobody had wanted them. And so they were now in this Home, where they get to stay, be loved, get educated etc.
Clearly, my life was so much better than theirs.
Clearly, I had much more to give, than they did. Suddenly my perspective changed. So during this "visit", I noticed a girl standing in the side-lines, whereas the other girls from the Home were already talking with us, students, and had also begun dancing to the music that was being played. This girl, reminded me of me. And I just instinctively did what I thought I'd want somebody else to do for me in that situation.
Which was talk to her.
She smiled and seemed to like being talked to. This sparked something, both inside of her and inside of me. It changed me, because soon we were both dancing - in the middle too. It was a weird and short dance, I admit. But I didn't stop smiling - the whole time.
There were several of these "trips" and "visits" that were organized and I tried to go on as many as possible.
I was love starved, and I learnt that -Life's not all about me, and it's rarely ever easy.
People loved being loved, and it turned out I still had a lot to give out even though I had thought that I was running on an empty tank.
I graduated from school, and didn't get the college course I'd wanted to - bitterness, disappointment and regret struck again.
Before college started, an adventure camp was organized for our school girls by "J (for Jesus) Team" - which was something a really close friend of mine whom we'll call "Sa" is a part of - and I'd gotten close to "Sa" in the 9th, and she mentioned "summer camps" every year , and showed me pictures .
Going to 'Camp' was a childhood wish of mine and I was finally going to live it. The camp site was in a gorgeous Forest.
The adventure was brilliant, and despite of any fears I might have had - I had a spectacular time.
" I'd better relish this, because I might never come back!" that's what went through my head as a camper. However, on the bus drive back to the train station "Sa" and her father (who had sort of founded J Team) asked me and 2 other friends Lydia & Catherine to join the J Team.
At first I thought "um, me?" I had barely made it through as a camper, how on earth was I supposed to "lead" other people?
I didn't say anything. And they didn't push the matter further.
The day college started - I made sure I didn't dress up that well and wore my glasses even though I had contacts. And I prayed to God for good friends but also told Him, it's okay if I didn't get any because I'd always have Him-because I knew what it had been like to not friends in the past, and God had always come through for me.
I resolved to do my best at college- and be prepared to do well. I met some really cool people, and I had to be amazed - because God had answered those prayers pretty quickly.
College elections came around, and somebody asked me why I wasn't standing for any post.
I replied saying that I didn't even want to go to that college in the first place - so it wouldn't be right to stand for a post.
And then the girl, called Alice told me "We might have a lot of plans for ourselves, but God's plan is the best one for us." That shut me up.
I realized if I supposedly believed in God, I wouldn't be complaining about where He put me, and so I began seeing the brighter side of things.
This turned out to be NOT THAT HARD AT ALL- because there was PLENTY of good things that came with the college, the course, the study timings.
A 'Volunteers Training Camp' was being organized by J team around this time of settling into college, and some of the other kids from the Out-reach group from school were going. I didn't want to go.
This was mainly because - at the exact same time that the camp was being organized-a "Food Fair" was going to be organized in College - and I didn't want to miss out on it.
So, I decided not to go.
However there was a Voice inside my head , unlike any other , which said " Take a Leap of Faith and go "
That meant I had to miss out on the Food fair, but I decided to listen to the Voice instead and told my teachers in advance that I wouldn't show up for the Food Fair. They asked me why, but didn't seem to care if I'd be there or not. And so I went.
You've successfully reached the end of the Second part out of Four! The next will once again be posted sometime Next Month.. Tell me what you think, there's a "contact me" message sender on the sidebar.
Standing up for what I believe in. I have been struggling with this for the past few years now. As a kid, I remember what it was like – when I believed in something-I protected it (even if it seemed insignificant to somebody else.)
But lately I’ve been struggling. What is it with people like me anyway? One minute I’m on fire for God. One minute I have my eyes fixed on the cross and I remember what His Love does for me and want everybody else to know it too. And the next minute I’m too shy to talk about God, and want to take my life in a slightly different route from His perfect plan.
After that I’m falling quickly and my world is crumbling. But thankfully God constantly loves me no matter what- and out of His Grace, He catches me despite of my sins. And I am reminded of His amazing Love again. God is Love. I forget easily and get distracted oh so simply. But there’s hope for people like me and I’m never too far.
John 15: 4,5 Remain united to me, and I will remain united to you. A branch cannot bear fruit by itself; it can do so only if it remains in the vine. In the same way you cannot bear fruit unless you remain in me. “I am the vine and you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him, will bear much fruit; for you can do nothing without me..”
I’m about to let you in on something crazy. I don’t have a Facebook account anymore.
Original Unedited Image from Google.
Okay it's not that crazy. But for me , it was.
I believe I got to create the Facebook account in 2007, and I maintained it until march this year.
Life after Facebook, has been quite GOOD so far, actually. I don't have an urge to check my account everyday (mostly because I don't have one - haha) I've been able to blog more, which I somehow never had the "time" to do before - mostly because I'd rather have spent it on Facebook. I've been discovering myself , getting all quiet and realized that I need to look inside of me, first, before I can go out and make the world a better place and all of that. (haha) Getting real up, close and personal with God has actually been (and will always continue to be) my top priority. “Facebook is not for me, that’s all.” Is what I told the people who questioned me about my decision with their wide eyes. “Was somebody troubling you?” someone asked one day. (haha)
I had a lot of reasons for quitting Facebook, so it was a little difficult to pin-point the exact reason why.The main reason I quit Facebook-was because I didn’t need it anymore. It wasn’t helping me make a positive change in my life.
I’m definitely not ANTI-FACEBOOK either. I just think that personally, at this point of time in my life, quitting was the right thing to do.
I actually think it’s a great place to share your self and be a part of a big network of people. It’s an amazing platform for companies, free lancers, self-made entrepreneurs, little organizations (the list is pretty much endless.) And a huge part of me went into denial shortly afterwards – I missed going on it nearly every day. I missed the creative outlet it offered. I missed the people, the updates, the notificatons, the memes and the little groups I had been a part of. It was like getting over a bad relationship really (and some really sad humour similar to this – kept me up and going with my life as usual)
From the dramatic way in which I’ve been putting this across, I think it’s pretty obvious that I was pretty hooked on to Facebook –and that it meant a lot to me. I was addicted to all of it. I thought life without it, would be surreal – like a return to the stone ages, (or something similar).
However, here I am, livin’ it up at the stone ages - Back to how it was before Facebook happened (in this one aspect only).
And here I am, about to get all corny : Life is way more than one person or website. There’s so much left for me to find out and discover.There’s just so much more than what meets our eyes. So this is proving that to myself.
I was at an Christian Adventure Camp recently-where I got to trek, walk upstream rivers, down the side of a rocky hill(abseiling), kayaking etc.
The whole experience brought to light a new side of me and inside of me ,of God, the people around me and the world around me!
The View on reaching the top of an Uphill Trek
Sometimes I wish I could go to this particular camp (which happens several times a year at ‘Avalanche’, a place near Ooty, Tamil Nadu, India) with some of the people I think I know well – because-at this particular setting I want to see if they’re the same people or are different.
This is because at the camp site there’re no mirrors (but I suppose you could carry one-but cameras are allowed), electronic crutches (phones rarely get a signal)or electricity available to us even.
It’s also quite cold, and the activities sometimes push you to the edge of your comfort zones- Generally a new side of a person- one I'm not used to-surfaces.
Does that make sense?
People are forced into a situation unlike any other, so they’re usually different. Sometimes it’s a good different – for example somebody I once thought was a quiet and thoughtful person in the city– turned out to be the kind of person who grabbed my wrist as I slipped off the edge of a large slippery rock and became a sort of life saviour to me in the forest.
Sometimes it’s an ugly different – because some people hate it..I’m not quite sure why. I can't put a finger on what exactly happens here.
But do you get the drift?
Getting to the point of this blog post, there’s something I have to share- It's called " The fiver finger contract"
It's something the camp guides made us "sign" (by raising our right hands and bringing our fingers together- sort of like blinking for the hand)
(Ok, Honestly, I don’t remember if they called it the five finger contract, or something else – and I didn’t write it down when the Camp Instructors said it- so I’m relying on memory for this, so here goes.)
The CONTRACT:
1.Respect yourself enough to never say “I can’t do it” without even trying.
2.Respect others enough to never say “You can’t do it” without even encouraging them to try first. Let not a discouraging / negative comment escape your lips.
3.Respect the environment. Take care of it.
4.Respect the Instructor.
5.Respect the equipment/ tools you use.
The impact this contract has (when followed to the T) is inexplicably cool.
One girl at camp suggested that we ought to apply it onto our lives as well, not just for camp.
I know the word ‘Respect’ (repeated several times in the contract)sometimes makes us cringe – but I think it’s beautiful what it could result in- under certain circumstances.
