Some More on Happiness and Attitude

Alright so, I haven't written on hear in literally months. And I kinda wanna start doing this more. I've been in mood recently to write a lot. So to continue with that spree, how about I write more about happiness?

So after reading Emerson this year, I've really started taking an active effort to take moments to just live in the moment and take everything in, and just enjoy it. Taking moments like this often enough, really will increase your general happiness level. I promise. Even if you just take one moment each day to do so, it's still worth it. 

By doing this, you not only gain a bit of extra happiness, but, in my opinion, that's what living feels like. And when you can extend it to be for hours, and not just moments, but hours, where all you do is just let your inner self out, and just love, appreciate, and enjoy the world and everything it has to offer, that is, in my opinion when you truly live life. And it's the most amazing feeling ever. It has only truly happened to me once, about a week or so ago in fact. It was the best night of my life. And I lived. On that note, look up "I Lived" by OneRepublic! :D

Now one other quick thing. Always, always, always, remember that life is about perspective and attitude. If you have control over your attitude, you can make any situation better. If you allow yourself to step back from whatever the situation, and look at it in a different light, I promise, you can find something good in it. I've come to realize, that every situation has SOME amount of good in it, no matter how small. Even in bad situations, you're learning and gaining mental and emotional strength. So just remember that. Don't let yourself fall into a bad attitude of a bad situation. I'm not saying repress your emotions. You should allow yourself to feel whatever emotions the situation causes. But once you feel them, and let them into your heart, you have to be able to ask them nicely to leave. You can't allow them to take over your heart, because all that does is make you worse. What I'm getting at is, sadness and depression is a downward spiral. It just gets worse and worse the longer you dwell on it.

So be positive! Don't dwell on the sad things! Dwell on your happiness. Don't fall for the trap of a bad attitude. Always keep perspective. And live in the moment as often as you can. 

With that, I say you should also look up Oceans by Coasts. It's awesome. :)

I'm off to movie night!

Until next time!

~Chris

Updates and More Happiness

Okay time to right something! Initiating writing music....Lumineers Pandora radio, GO! Alright.

So life's been pretty great! I've met some new wonderful people, my foot is out of the boot, and I'm starting swing dancing tomorrow! It's basically what I've been looking forward to since I started dance at the beginning of this semester. I'm so excited, I literally can't contain myself!

On another note, pit orchestra for the musical this year at my school has been interesting to say the least. It's tiring, and sometimes I wish I wasn't doing it so I could just sit back and enjoy the show when it's done. But there have been so many great memories so far (YOLO NUN! xD Props if you get that reference! I don't expect most of you too!) that it's totally made it worth it! I've had a lot of laughs. And the work has really been worth it. The show starts next week, and I'm actually legitimately looking forward to it! I wasn't initially, but...it's grown on me. :)

Recently, all sort of ideas have been reinforced to me as being true. Especially that hanging around positive people makes you a positive person. It's SO true, I can't even begin to put it into words! I became happier, and it seems like a lot of other people around me have become happy as a result! Which makes me extremely glad to know that I've done something for those people. 

I don't think I really have any more updates. OHHH! I got shoes. I needed new running shoes for P.E. and the ones I found are EPIC! They're Asics, and they're literally rainbow. Just google "rainbow asics shoes," and you'll get the gist of what they look like! :D

On another entirely different note, I've come to realize that happiness is almost undefinable. It feels like with each passing day, I learn something new about it: how to achieve it, or something about it's nature. The definition of it has just grown so immense, that I don't think, without writing pages upon pages of a work of philosophy, that it is actually definable. And I think I'm okay with that. I know what makes me happy, and I learn new ones everyday. Happiness really is dependent on the person. This adds to its undefinableness, (is that even a word?!) because what makes each individual happy will be different from every other person. It's unique to you. It's unique to me. I'm definitely okay with this realization.

I hope my random thoughts have entertained you in some way, shape or form! :D Thanks again for reading! Talk to you later!

P.S. look up Home by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes if you haven't ever heard it! It's WONDERFUL. :)

~Chris

Really Good Mood

I'm in a writing mood right now. So I'm just gonna talk about the past couple weeks or so, how I'm feeling, etc.

So first off, I've had this pain in ankle for about 3 weeks, and finally after x-rays and an MRI, I learned I fractured it. So I get a boot for the next 3 weeks. What fun. :P I'm managing though!

In other news, over the past week or so, I've started getting closer to people I only barely knew. And it's really nice to get even more understanding from new people! Some different perspectives on life is always a glorious and wonderful thing! Also, you know who you are if you're reading this. :) At least you should. Moving on...

Apparently I have an eye appointment tomorrow...it's a little bothersome because I was supposed to have a musical practice tomorrow. Oh right, my school's doing the Sound of Music! :D anyway, we were finally going to just run through from the beginning as much as we could in about an hour just to see how it would go. Of course my eye appointment is at 3:40. The practice ends at 4:30. Ah well, such is life. 

I want to make a shout-out to my friend, anonymously of course. I know you've been having rough times, just in general: with family, with friends. I know you're having a pretty miserable time. But...I really do care about you! And I want you to feel better! Because you're a wonderful and beautiful person, and you DESERVE to be happy. My advice: don't let other people's opinions get to you. Only the opinions of those YOU care about matter. Hope you feel better. :)

Now that I've made some shout-outs, how I'm feeling. I'm doing quite fantastically actually! As you may have read before, I've changed my attitude on life. I look for good in everything that happens. I've started to become a more understanding and loving person. I'm working on becoming less judgy. I'm becoming more content and fulfilled with myself and life in general. Everything is just splendid! :D

That's all for now. Thank you for reading! 

~Chris

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