KIMBERLY'S KREATIONS...: March 2016

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

TO KNOW OR NOT TO KNOW…THAT IS THE QUESTION…

(Photo courtesy of Pinterest)

To know or not to know…we are curious creatures, both in the sense that we are interesting and unpredictable, as well as curious about everything. I remember an episode of the Dick Van Dyke Show entitled, “The Curious Thing About Women,” in which Laura could not contain herself when it came to unopened mail and packages that were addressed to her husband. She eventually labeled herself a, “pathological snoopy nose,” which I thought was a great term.

Curiosity, although it “killed the cat,” is in all of us. We all want to know what is in the box we are not allowed to open for one reason or another (hence “peeking” at Christmas time). We all want to know what is going on in our neighbors’ or friends’ lives or yards. We all want to know who is on the other end of the phone when someone we are with is talking on the phone, or texting.

In general no harm usually arises from the small curiosities we have…but it can arise when becomes so great we aren’t able to contain our curiosity and therefore respect one another’s privacy. It is the core of gossip, jealousy, paranoia, speculation, anxiety and just plain nosiness.

As I have mentioned in many a post that I love the phrase, “It’s none of my business,” because it helps me keep that curiosity at bay. We need to try to live just in the moment and, although this is really hard for some of us, like everything else, practice makes perfect. We are so curious about what the future will bring and what will happen tomorrow or next week or next month or year. It’s good to plan in some areas of your life, but anything beyond that becomes worry or “outlining” and is an issue of control.

Try to catch yourself when your thoughts and/or actions venture into someone else’s business without their permission to keep from creating “drama” in your life and practice living in the moment when you catch your thoughts roaming into future moments. Keep them in the here and the now and bring them into your conscious mind so you can change the way your subconscious automatically processes them. Once you master this technique in just these two areas, you will realize how much calmer and centered you feel and how your life has little to no drama on a daily basis.

Thank you so much for visiting my blog and please, if you like what you've read, leave a comment by clicking on the word "comments" below. If you have a blog or website of your own I would love to visit it. After your comment, make sure to post your link and I will stop by and leave a comment as well. Please respect the copyright/trademark rights of the artist's work. Copying and using any work posted here is forbidden without express permission. Happy blogging.

Friday, March 25, 2016

MAY I QUOTE YOU...

Anyone who knows me knows that I love quotes. I love searching for them, quoting them, comprising them, etc. What are quotes anyway but a few beautiful words of wisdom? I love to take the quotes that really speak to me and use them in my art. I recently constructed a large “Dream Board” in which I utilized several of my favorite quotes as they are generally things I strive for in my own life.

As I was surfing the net today I happened to discover some more wonderful gems at www.Lifehack.org, entitled “10 Funny Life Quotes, That are Surprisingly Profound,” by Vincent Nguyen.These are awesome…and so true:

1. “Tell a man there are 300 billion stars in the universe and he’ll believe you. Tell him a bench has wet paint on it and he’ll have to touch it to be sure.” –Murphy’s Law

2. “Anything you lose automatically doubles in value.” -Mignon McLaughlin

3. “Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.” -Brian Gerald O’Driscoll

4. “The odds of going to the store for a loaf of bread and coming out with only a loaf of bread are three billion to one.” -Erma Bombeck

5. “When I die, I want to die like my grandfather, who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.” -Will Rogers

6. “Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you’re wrong.” -Unknown

7. “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing — that’s why we recommend it daily.” -Zig Ziglar

8. “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.” -Abraham Lincoln

9. “Patience is something you admire in the driver behind you, but not in one ahead.” -Bill McGlashen

10. “Children: You spend the first 2 years of their life teaching them to walk and talk. Then you spend the next 16 telling them to sit down and shut-up.” –Unknown.

I also found another article at Lifehack.org entitled, “30 of The Best Quotes Ever,” by Krissy Bradywith the following dos and don’ts:

“Do your own thing on your own terms and get what you came here for.”
-Oliver James

“Flatter yourself critically.”
-Willis Goth Regier

“Do what you feel in your heart to be right, for you’ll be criticized anyway.”
-Eleanor Roosevelt

“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”
-Mark Twain

“I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.”
-Mahatma Gandhi

“Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.”
-Cyril Connolly

“We must not allow other people’s limited perceptions to define us.”
-Virginia Satir

“Don’t look for society to give you permission to be yourself.”
-Steve Maraboli

“If things go wrong, don’t go with them.”
-Roger Babson

“Wanting to be someone else is a waste of who you are.”
-Kurt Cobain

“Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are.”
-Chinese Proverb

“Where’s your will to be weird?”
-Jim Morrison

“Some people say you are going the wrong way, when it’s simply a way of your own.”
-Angelina Jolie

“Remember to always be yourself. Unless you suck.”
-Joss Whedon

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
-Theodore Roosevelt

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”
-Oscar Wilde

“I took a deep breath and listened to the old bray of my heart. I am. I am. I am.”
-Sylvia Plath

“There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”
-Anaïs Nin

“To find yourself, think for yourself.”
-Socrates

“If you seek authenticity for authenticity’s sake you are no longer authentic.”
-Jean Paul Sartre

“If you cannot be a poet, be the poem.”
-David Carradine

“When one is pretending the entire body revolts.”
-Anaïs Nin

“Be there for others, but never leave yourself behind.”
-Dodinsky

“Do what you must,
And your friends will adjust.”
-Robert Brault

“Just let awareness have its way with you completely.”
-Scott Morrison

“We must be our own before we can be another’s.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

“This above all: to thine own self be true.”
-William Shakespeare

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.”
-Dr. Seuss

“Imitation is suicide.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

I hope that any or all of these will inspire you. What are your favorite quotes?

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

I JUST CAN'T DO IT...

(I took this picture of the bridge in Bridge, Oregon, on our way back from the retreat this past weekend. Isn't it beautiful...)

Whenever my grandma asked me to do something and my response was, "I can't, " she would always come back with, "Can't never could. ..but do it anyway. " I loved my grandma. ..she was such a force to be reckoned with.

There are so many ways to use the word "can't," most of them negative. I say most of them because there are times it actually applies to a situation. I have brought two of the ways up for discussion in the following paragraphs, but if you think of more that would apply, please leave them in the comments section as I would love to compile a list of them.

I find it interesting that more often than not, when we don't want to do something as per someone else's request or suggestion, our response is usually, "I can't," instead of honestly responding with, "I don't want to." There are times when we have a prior commitment and honestly can't do something in the particular time slot in question and sure, sometimes, in order to spare someone's feelings, we find it necessary to bend the truth, but when we do this we are not only being disingenuous to others, but to ourselves as well. ..that's not good. When you develop full and total integrity in your life, you make a promise to be honest with yourself and with those people in your life who matter. For example, if someone asked me to go and do something after work and I didn't really want to for whatever reason, I would thank them for the offer of inclusion but would gracefully decline on the basis that it wasn't something I wanted to do. Believe me. ..your real friends will always understand.

Whenever you use negative phrases, you bring negative results into your life and this particular phrase limits you from believing in yourself. Every time you say you can't do something you put it out into the universe that you can't and then guess what happens. ..you can't. .. The really sad part here is that you do have it in you to do the thing you said you couldn't do, but now you have convinced yourself that you can't and it stops you in your tracks...every. ..single. ..time. This brings to mind a situation in which I hear this all the time. I work in a craft store on the weekends and I always hear these talented women say, "I can't do that, I'm not good at that," or "I can't, I don't know how to do that," or "I can't learn that," (which is the worst one of all because you literally CAN learn anything you want to learn and DO anything you want to do and achieve everything you set your mind to). This is where being honest with yourself will bring about positive changes.

The best thing you can do for yourself is to eliminate the automatic "can't" from your vocabulary and really think about how you answer yourself and others. If you don't want to do something, say you don't want to do it and don't use the word "can't" as an excuse. It isn't a crutch, but most people use it that way. Always answer yourself with total honesty and eliminate the fear of coming to terms with who you really and truly are, inside and out.

Positive self-talk will have you doing things you never thought possible...just remember to always say, "I can, " and you will be able to. ..every.. .single.. .time.. .in every.. .situation.

Monday, March 21, 2016

ORIGAMI OWL...

I must apologize for the lapse in posts...I have been gone since last Thursday to a retreat with the featured artist and a dear friend until last night. I had SO much fun and in the meantime became a distributor for Origami Owl. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this company and I hope you will check out my new website for the distributorship at:

kimberlyskarmicbling.origamiowl.com

I promise by the weekend to have more posts us and running and thank you so much for following me...you are all so awesome!!!

Thank you so much for visiting my blog and please, if you like what you've read, leave a comment by clicking on the word "comments" below. If you have a blog or website of your own I would love to visit it. After your comment, make sure to post your link and I will stop by and leave a comment as well. Please respect the copyright/trademark rights of the artist's work. Copying and using any work posted here is forbidden without express permission. Happy blogging.

Monday, March 14, 2016

DO YOU KNOW THAT YOU CAN DO MAGIC??? 3 STEPS TO TEACH YOURSELF TO MANIFEST...

Having been fortunate enough to have grown up in the 60's and 70's, I got to watch first-run shows of series like Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie. Those of you who grew up watching these shows a well (or have watched them since in syndication) know the deep desire to have been able to perform magic as easily as Jeannie or Samantha. One day, not so long ago, it hit me...we can and we do...often.

The power of manifestation is just that...a power...a magic, if you will. When you use positive thoughts and phrases in your everyday life, right down to your subconscious mind, you create your reality...literally. People often mistakenly think that life just happens as you go along but what most people don't realize is that life is a product of what you do, what you say, what you think and how you view things. An example of this would be the person who complains regularly about how hard his/her day is...every day...the same complaint after work, first thing in the morning and all throughout the day be it verbally or by thought. This person is going to have a hard day every day because, through this constant thought, he/she manifests the hard part of it. The person who goes through life always thinking and saying to others that he/she/life isn't fair, will always feel like they are being treated unfairly. By the same token, the person who goes through each day thinking that life is awesome, answering the question, "How are you?" with positive answers like, "Great," "Awesome," "Wonderful," etc., is the person who is always going to be great, awesome, wonderful, etc...the one who takes things in stride...never seems to get sick and always has a sunny disposition.

How is this magic you might ask? Think about a t.v. show or movie in which a person is learning to use his or her powers. A couple of very important factors in learning these skills are deep focus and concentration, not to mention intent. For instance, I am trying to learn positive thought in such a way that it eventually comes naturally to all aspects of my life. In training myself to do so however, I have to have conscious thought, concentration and focus and train myself to slow down, evaluate each thought I have before I react. This may sound like a tough thing to do, not to mention tedious, but in the beginning, when you are learning a new behavior, it is necessary to bring it on slowly and bring it constantly into your conscious mind so that it takes and then embeds itself into your subconscious mind. Once that happens you won't have to think about it so much, if at all, because like all habits it will become natural behavior.

When you want to learn this magic and manifest good and positive changes in your life, remember to practice these three, important steps:

1. Identify the changes you want to make;

2. Focus and concentrate on bringing the thoughts and patterns you wish to change to your conscious mind;

3. React slowly and methodically each time a situation presents itself in the area you wish to change.

Once you get the hang of this, it's the truest form of magic you will ever know.

Sunday, March 13, 2016

7 WAYS TO BUILD TOLERANCE...

Tolerance is one of those necessary skills to have in your arsenal of coping skills because, let's face it, we can't always pick the people we spend time with (i.e., work, public settings, etc.), and we can never pick who we are related to. Tolerance, as defined by Oxford Dictionaries, is, "The ability or willingness to tolerate something, in particular the existence of opinions or behavior that one does not necessarily agree with."

The important thing about learning tolerance is this...without it we end up feeling frustrated, unsettled and often angry at people and situations that are beyond our understanding and control. As humans, we are wired to need people in order to feel alive and whole, (which is why solitary confinement at prisons, etc., is a punishment, not a reward) and we generally choose who we want to spend quality time with and who we want in our personal lives (outside of family of course). Do we always get along with the people in our lives who we work with, ride the bus with, stand in line with, etc? No. Often times we become frustrated by others' habits and opinions because they just don't mesh with our views or the way we do things. We get frustrated by the person at work who always has to prove he/she knows everything and has to be right all the time, or the person in one of our circles who has to control everything, or the martyr who thinks life never treats them fairly and has to complain all the time, or the person who judges everyone and everything around them quite vocally, to name but a few.

Life is not a competition and one person is not better than another...we are all good at different things and the trick is to value a person for who he/she is and to cherish those traits that make us different from one another, especially in those who frustrate us the most. We need to find the good and positive aspects and remember that we all have these things in common...we are here, we share the same planet, we have the same basic goals, and we will die...counting the similarities, the things we have in common, is the best place to begin to learn tolerance. Below are some other suggestions to help you build tolerance skills:

1. It's none of your business. Memorize the phrase, "It's none of my business," as your go-to phrase. This will keep you free from becoming involved in other peoples' situations that don't have anything to do with you and thereby shield you from outside stress. In this way you will build tolerance for people and situations that would otherwise annoy you.

2. Come from a place of love. When confronted with situations and people that create stress and/or drama, remember that we are all here on the same planet, struggling through as best we can to make life wonderful and find the meaning of it all. We have so much in common and if you approach these situations and people from a place of love and empathy, you will create harmony...it can't be helped.

3. Don't sweat the small stuff. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in our day-to-day grind that we lose sight of the truly important things in life. Remember to put things in perspective when you feel a lack of tolerance and don't sweat the small stuff. Life is so much more than work and money. It's about love and helping one another through it all.

4. Remind yourself of who you are. When confronted with a person for whom you feel little tolerance, remind yourself that you have a back story...and so do they. Everyone was raised differently and approaches life in different ways, usually based on their circumstances. We have to keep these things in mind when dealing with others and it makes it easier to tolerate.

5. Don't judge. You have the right to your opinions, which are best if they are based on facts, not presupposition, rumor and gossip, but by judging others you are in some way telling yourself that you are "better" than they are which makes it harder to tolerate people. Remember that you and this other person/people may have many differences, but one is no better than the other and when you judge others, you basically just point a finger at yourself that says, "look at me, I judge people and I'm better than they are." This never makes a good impression, nor does it ever bring good and positive karma back to you.

6. Remember there is no such thing as "fair." If you think life and everyone and everything in it should treat you fairly, you will be frustrated and angry all the time, not to mention let down. Things are what they are, they are what they will be and they are that way for a reason. Learn to let go and accept the changes that come your way and learn to view them in a positive way. Turn the negatives into positives and let everything else fall away.

7. Treat others the way you want them to treat you. It is a fact that the way you treat others is the way you will be treated in life. If you give love, you will receive love; if you treat people with disrespect, you will not be respected; if you judge people and talk about them behind their backs, they will do the same to you; if you help others, you will receive help; if you lash out at people, they will lash out at you...and so on and so on. You can't go wrong treating people with kindness, love, respect and consideration because believe me, it will come back to you tenfold.

I hope you will find this list helpful and if not, that you will find what works for you and practice tolerance and love with those around you...for your sake. You deserve love...make sure it's all you receive.

Thank you so much for visiting my blog and please, if you like what you've read, leave a comment by clicking on the word "comments" below. If you have a blog or website of your own I would love to visit it. After your comment, make sure to post your link and I will stop by and leave a comment as well. Please respect the copyright/trademark rights of the artist's work. Copying and using any work posted here is forbidden without express permission. Happy blogging.

Sunday, March 6, 2016

A HOUSE IS NOT A HOME...IT'S A HOUSE...

Throughout time people have referenced the phrase, "a house is not a home," and I have to admit that for the longest time I had no idea what that meant...until recently that is.

The other day I was feeling a bit lost, for lack of a better word...sort of unsettled if you will, as though I didn't have a place to live. I found that to be quite an odd feeling at the time because I live in a very nice house (see picture above) and I live there with people I love. The more I tried to come to terms with this feeling and bring it to the surface and into my conscious mind, the more I was able to define its root...it was my mom. Now, I wasn't feeling sad or lonely per se, it was more that I was feeling displaced and no matter how hard I tried that day, I could not get comfortable...not really. I thought maybe if I took a day trip I would feel better, but that didn't help. I thought maybe I'm homesick for the place I grew up, which I am, but that wasn't it either. I pondered further and it finally hit me...the answer was this...home is not a house...it's a person, or several people...it's a connection with one or more people that makes your soul feel as though it's home. Without those people in our lives, we feel unsettled and homeless because our souls no longer have the person or people we had such a strong and deep connection with, especially in the conscious realm. During the times I'm longing for my mother I feel so uprooted and "homeless" and I finally realized that since she died, I have never felt fully settled, no matter where I am. I feel like I'm always looking for something or someone and I can't seem to find it no matter how tirelessly I search.

Death is not the only thing that has derailed the home I've had with souls I've connected with most closely...timing can be at fault here as well. There are people who, due to timing and circumstances, even though we realize our souls are meant to be one and that together we are home and share a bond like no other, we cannot be one in this lifetime. It's sad and difficult to understand, but it is what it is nonetheless. That has happened to me twice and the hardest part about that is feeling displaced and homeless when it doesn't happen because my soul is yearning for this person who hasn't died and with whom I feel so much at home, but who I also cannot have.

I cannot profess to understand what it is to lose a child, nor do I ever hope to find out, but to those of you who have had to endure this hardship (and my heart bleeds for you), I know you know this feeling of displacement because a child is a part of your soul and when they are gone it must seem as though a piece of you is missing and that you will always strive to find a way to fill that void...but most likely never will. They were your home, quite literally.

Through the years I have tried to fill these voids with material things, but they do not satisfy my soul. I realize now that nothing in this realm ever will...unless it is with the person who makes me feel at home...the other half of my whole...the twin flame from which I was split apart, and that I will search until that day arrives.

My point here is this...houses house material things (and keep us safe from the elements and crime, etc.) but they are not our homes...we are only ever at home with those we are meant to be with...eternally...in our hearts and in our souls. It is never healthy to get too attached to material objects (like houses) in the hopes that they will fill a void. Find the person or people who make you feel like you're home and cherish them always, for only with them will you ever be at home.

Thank you so much for visiting my blog and please, if you like what you've read, leave a comment by clicking on the word "comments" below. If you have a blog or website of your own I would love to visit it. After your comment, make sure to post your link and I will stop by and leave a comment as well. Please respect the copyright/trademark rights of the artist's work. Copying and using any work posted here is forbidden without express permission. Happy blogging.

Friday, March 4, 2016

THE KEY TO THE REWARD IS THE WORK INVOLVED...

One thing I notice quite often during my coaching sessions with clients is that there are so many people who want to change for the positive but, despite the help that is offered them, they just aren't willing to do the work. The key to change is that you must do the work. You can read and research and study all you like, but until you make a conscious effort to get your head in the game and really apply what you've read, researched and studied every waking moment, your chance for change will be slow if not non-existent.

I work with people every day who want so badly to develop a positive outlook on life and to bury their old, negative habits but, despite all of the help they receive, they continually revert back to their old habits and then come up with excuses as to why these changes aren't working out. Excuse my language here but I have to say this, and we all know this to be true, excuses are bullshit! We all have a million reasons as to WHY we can't make changes in our lives, but it really boils down to one thing, people don't do the work due to a fear of change. Change will ultimately take us out of our comfort zone, but if we are honest with ourselves we know that there is really nothing comfortable about this zone as it brings nothing but negative and often harsh results.

Change can be tough, especially after years of developing unhealthy habits which bring nothing but negative results. Those bad habits took years to develop and to expect them to change quickly is not realistic. We all change at different paces, some get it right off the bat and are on it, doing the work, making the changes they need to effectuate their desired results, while others work in baby steps and over a period of time can achieve the same results. Then, there are those who really, really want to change, but refuse to do the work or just live vicariously through other peoples' lives. I understand how hard it is, but the beginning of any worthwhile journey requires that your take that ever-difficult first step. A good example here would be if you decided to lose weight and make the switch to a healthy lifestyle...the first step would be to map out a healthy eating plan...follow that up with a list of healthy recipe...then follow that up with a shopping list for ingredients, and so on. You WILL succeed.

If you want to be happy, if you want freedom, if you want to eliminate fear from your life so you can really live, if you want joy and laughter more often than not, if you want ease, if you want excellent health and balance, if you want abundance, then know that you CAN have all of these things and more, if you do the work. If you can do it on your own, then I commend you for your hard work, your stamina and for taking that first step. If you need help and you take that first step to get it, then I commend you just as much for taking that first step.

My hope for you is this...I hope that when you ask the universe, your higher power, or a life-coach for help to change your life for the better, that you mean it and that you do the work you need to do to get to where you want to be...you are worth it.

Thank you so much for visiting my blog and please, if you like what you've read, leave a comment by clicking on the word "comments" below. If you have a blog or website of your own I would love to visit it. After your comment, make sure to post your link and I will stop by and leave a comment as well. Please respect the copyright/trademark rights of the artist's work. Copying and using any work posted here is forbidden without express permission. Happy blogging.