Les Miserables and More Attitude

It's been a little while since I posted anything on here, and I'm in a writing kind of mood right now. Soooo here we go. :)

First of all, attitude again. If you remember what I said about attitude last time, it was basically that it is a very large factor in being a happy person. And I have to say, it really does hold true. And I say that after having recently gone through quite a few frustrations and misfortunes. As bad and angry as they made me, I simply looked at my positives, found good in the situations, and now everything is pretty much fine. It's really quite amazing what a simple change in attitude can do for you. 

On a completely unrelated note: I just heard about this music festival in Tennessee called Bonnaroo that I want to say is in...like June or something? Anyway, I REALLY WISH I COULD GO! Within the main line-up are a lot of my favorite bands: Mumford and Sons, Of Monsters and Men, The Lumineers, etc. I probably even have enough money if I was so determined...but I'm not THAT desperate...oh well. If you can't already tell, I've never really been to a concert. xD One of my many dreams in life is to see a Coldplay concert! :D It'll happen. Eventually.

Okay so, last weekend, I went with a group of friends, and we saw Les Miserables. And let me just say, that that movie is a work of art in a movie. It was beautiful on so many levels. And I definitely am going to go see it again if I get the chance while it's still in theaters. Before going to see this movie, I was told by one of my friends who had already seen it that I'd be bawling my eyes out by the end of it. For me that would be a bit of an exaggeration...but I'll admit that while watching it I came close to crying at least 5 times if not more. So, I hope that means I'm not TOTALLY heartless... 

Anyway, the little girl version of the character Cosette was ADORABLE. Here's a picture: 

She is just SO CUTE! I'm sorry, I just can't help myself. The adorableness is quite overwhelming. Anyway! The point is, it was a really good movie, and if you haven't seen it you really should. It's one of the best movies I've seen of late. I'm warning you though, you will either cry, or come very close. You can't avoid it. 

I think that's enough said for now. I don't like to go on and on and on. 

Thanks again for reading! :D

Bye!

~Chris

Random Happiness Post

So...I'm just super happy. I can't really explain why, but I wanted to write about it, and attempt to put my thoughts and feelings into words. 

I guess, as I talked about in the Attitude post, part of it is changing my view of the world, and other people. It's certainly gotten a lot more optimistic. When I look at people now, I don't think about what horrible things they may have done, or might do in the future; I see the potential in them, what they might BECOME. Just by being more optimistic has helped. I'm still somewhat pessimistic. But I have a better general trust of people.

Another reason I think, has been hanging around and talking with happy people. I'm not sure if you've heard of this as a way to feel happier, but it honestly DOES work! My friends are pretty much happy all the time (granted they have lows just as everyone does). Basically that happiness rubs off on you, and in turn makes you happy. It's a bit of mimicry. But not entirely. I'm not sure what else it is. But the kind of people you associate yourself with has a great influence on you. If you hang out with goths, you're gonna become goth-esque. Likewise, happy people equals happiness in yourself.

Along with changing my world-view, it helps to not regret anything. I have definitely learned that you can't live now if you're living in the past so much! You have to get over it, move on, and get back into the present. Look for new opportunities NOW, that might lead to something in the future, instead of wishing you had done something in the past.

I guess what I've realized are a couple main things: learning to let things go, both big and small, and in general to not waste time. It's precious and valuable, and you only have so much of it.

Now I'm not advocating for YOLO here. In fact, I hate YOLO. Not because of what it says, but because of how everyone interprets it. In fact I like it's actual meaning, just not what everyone's made it. If you take it as "you only live once, so make the most of it by laughing, being happy, and not dwelling on sadness and negative emotions," instead of "YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE! LET'S GO GET DRUNK!", then you'll realize that it's actually really true. And that was my rant for the day right there. xD

Anyway, I'm just really happy, and needed to splurge some of it into words. :D

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

~Chris

Attitude

Today, my friend brought in her journal for me to read, because she had drawn this diagram about happiness. It was a large circle, and progressively smaller ones inside, encompassing all of the different aspects that can be found within happiness. But the main point of the diagram, was that the whole thing was colored in in pink. I found it rather curious at first, but then I looked beneath the diagram to find a note. Pastel pink blends in surprisingly well with the whiteness of paper, but I was able to read it: a little scribble of pink = Attitude.

I then read the further elaboration written on it, and it all made sense. All of these different circular layers of happiness are held together by Attitude, which acts as a sort of glue. Now, I promise you I'm not trying to take your idea friend, I just REALLY liked it. And I wanna write about it. This is the effect it had on me: 

I was initially reading this section of her journal during g government, which basically turned into a study hall. It was great! :D Anyway, as I was saying, it really had quite the effect on me. Now first of all, recently I've been down a lot, and only now am I getting better. But this diagram really hit home with me, because it made so much sense! The key to being happy is to know yourself, what you want, and have a good attitude about everything life throws at you. To take everything, good and bad, and find a reason for it to be beneficial to in some way. There's always a way.

For the longest time, I never thought like this. I guess it just never crossed my mind. But boy am I glad it did. Because I've decided to work on having a better attitude on everything. I'm honestly not sure if that's what's changed, and made me feel so much better recently, but regardless, today, I'm going to work on having a better attitude. I'm not saying I'll never have downs, because that'll always happen at some point or another. But I can remedy it by having the right attitude about it, knowing that all that that sadness is doing is making me stronger as a person and testing my capabilities. Stressing them to their greatest extents. It increases my ability to persevere! 

The point I'm making is, attitude really is what makes the difference, and I never could believe that. I never realized just how much of an effect your attitude has! It has a lot. I assure you. If you don't believe me...well I'm terribly sorry. But if you have been having problems recently, change your attitude; look at it from another perspective. Look at it head on to start, but then walk around that sadness or anger or frustration or whatever it is, and look at the other side of it. The happier side. The better side. There will always be a reason that it is good for you. 

Thank you again to this friends who showed me this diagram and greatly brightened my spirit of the day, and now, my life. You know who you are. :)

Thank you again for reading! :D

Bye for now!

~Chris

So this post is probably gonna be sort of short...I guess I haven't really written anything super long yet or anything...I'm gonna stop rambling now.

Something that I've noticed recently that really bothers me is on the issue of privacy. Namely, people who don't understand the concept; or if they do, they don't put this respect into practice.

This doesn't have to apply to any one thing in particular, but just in general people who don't respect my, or other's privacy just....bothers me. I mean, the whole point of privacy, is that it's MINE or THAT OTHER PERSON'S, not YOURS. It's none of your business! So get out of it! It shouldn't worry you in the first place! If it does, you're crazy. :P

Now I'll admit, there are a lot of people who aren't as private as others. And so I understand that they think others will be the same, and not be super quiet and private about things. But there are lots of people like that...trust me, I'm one of those people too. I'm a very reserved and private person, at least to people I'm not as comfortable around...

Anyway, enough about me. The point is, I really have a problem with people who butt into other's business be it some form of drama, a diary, or what have you. Please just stop it. Do it with your other non-private friends. That's okay, because they probably don't mind. 

All I'm saying really is, respect everyone's privacy.

I had a situation related to this happen today, and it just...well I may have wanted to smack someone a little bit...

Thanks for reading. :D

Talk to you all later!

~Chris

Understanding/Happiness

So a little while ago I wrote a note on Facebook called "Understanding Pt. 2." In the first part I talked about how great of a feeling it is to be understood. But in this second one, I talked about the other side of this: the feeling I get from understanding others.

I definitely feel that the feeling of understanding others is superior to just being understood. Not only do you feel good about yourself because you helped someone, but you also made that other person feel better (ideally of course.) 

Recently I've also been talking with friends about the nature of happiness: what it is, where it comes from, etc. Happiness as far as I can tell, is any feeling characterized by positive or pleasant emotions. This can come in the form of joy, contentment, fulfillment, or anything that makes you feel good. Of course I would say that happiness is subjective, because what makes me happy isn't necessarily going to make others happy. But also, not ENTIRELY subjective. There are common things that make almost everyone happy. Like donuts. I don't know if I've ever met someone who doesn't like donuts. Maybe a weird example, but the point is that there are certain things that give universal happiness to basically everyone. Other things are more specific to the individual. 

Now I would definitely say that my happiness is derived from many things, and not just one thing in particular. For instance, much of my happiness right now is from being content. As of this moment (it'll last a bit I'm sure), I'm very content with life, and it makes me happy. Now this won't last forever, so in a sense I have to renew my happiness every so often.

For me personally, this is quite easy, as my main source of happiness comes from other people. But very specifically from listening to their problems, and just...talking with them. Especially when someone is down or sad. I get happiness from listening to that person. It gives me a purpose, and...well it just makes me feel AWESOME! Knowing that I've helped someone feel better about him or herself, in turn makes me feel like such a good person. And it makes me happy. To know that I've actually done something to help another person who's suffering, gives me happiness. I'm not sure what specifically it fills; part of it is probably fulfillment, as in I feel fulfilled after helping them. But I really do just get joy out of doing it too...so I'm not sure what positive emotion I'd attribute it to...all I know is that it makes me happy unlike anything else. 

The great thing about getting my happiness from this, is that there's almost always something that someone needs to talk about. And even if they don't have a problem, I still get some happiness just from talking to other people. I'm not saying I CAN'T be happy when I'm alone; I'm perfectly capable of doing that too. But talking to people in general just...makes me feel wonderful inside. Helping them through talking is about 100 times better though....at least for me. :)

I think that's pretty much all I have to say now. I just wanted to elaborate on what understanding to me is like. It feels like the ultimate mental hug that's either being given or received, and I really just can't explain how amazing and great it is. 

Once again, thanks a bunch for reading this! I really appreciate it! :D

Also, I have to be honest, if any of you need to talk about ANYTHING, feel free to ask. Even if I can't help you directly, I'll still listen and try to help you feel better if at all possible!

Bye for now! :)

~Chris

So I've finally decided to start blogging, mainly because a bunch of friends said I should...so here I am! :D 

I want to talk about contentment and what it means to me. To me, contentment is a state of satisfaction. This can really be applied to anything, but usually makes the most sense when talking about one's life.

From my life experience, (16 years isn't much but...whatever :P) I haven't really found a time where I was solidly content with my life. Then again I only really started considering this recently...

Anyway, the point is, all that I've had so far is momentary contentment. This doesn't have to mean a moment in the sense of a few seconds; in fact for me this has extended days at a time. But it's never continuous.

Maybe it's just me, but as far as I'm concerned, until I'm older, this state of continuous contentment cannot be achieved. I can accept that though, because it gives me something to look forward to. :)

Recently I've been listening to this one song, and it's pretty much what inspired me writing this post. It's called All Alright by Fun. As you might be able to tell from the title, the song to me is about contentment. And life being "all alright" regardless of what happens. I just really enjoy listening to this song (in fact I'm listening to it on repeat right now! :D). 

This song pretty much acts as a reminder to me: things may seem bad, but it's alright. Everything is all alright. And therefore, everything will be okay. And that gives me contentment, even if it only lasts a few minutes. It's still a wonderful fuzzy feeling that gets created inside of me, and I freakin' LOVE it! 

I hope anyone who listens to this song feels just as much of a sense of contentment from its lyrics as I do. And of course thank you for reading my first post! 

Bye!

~Chris