Palm tree at Hostel Pangea in San Jose, Costa Rica
Right now I’m sitting here, staring at my computer, wanting to write something. I tried working on a post that I had started writing awhile back, but I wasn’t getting anywhere with that. So I thought, what the hell, I’m just going to babble on about some of my recent experiences that some might find interesting.
For those of you who haven’t read any of my prior posts, my name is Clint. I am big on personal development, but have a LONG way to go. I too go through my ups, downs, lefts, and rights. I have no idea where I’m going in life or what it is I really want to do. I just know that I want to be happy, healthy, love and be loved. I’m sure that there are many of you that will agree and many that will disagree.
I recently just got back from a wonderful trip to Costa Rica. It was AMAZING. I didn’t get sick, I didn’t get mugged, I didn’t end up on the next episode of locked up abroad, and I didn’t spend all of the little money I had before I got back. So with all that said, the trip was a success! I saw the most beautiful beaches, the most beautiful scenery, the most beautiful waterfalls, and I’m fairly certain I saw my future ex wife as well.. My friends and I drove all over the country and experienced more than I could have imagined in just a weeks time. The only thing I did lose down there was sleep, lots and lots of sleep, but it was well worth it!
Man sized brews, I’m on the left.
Nauyaca Waterfalls
I’m not rich, I work a full-time job, I don’t travel often, but I always leap at the opportunity to do so. Before I left I wasn’t unhappy, but I wasn’t living my life to the fullest I could either. Sometimes getting out of your little bubble of repetition, doing the same thing over and over again every single day, is all you need to get your life back into perspective. There is so much out there that we have no idea about because we’re stuck in our comfort zones. Sometimes we need to rattle the cage and shake it up a bit. Do things you want to do that you know you probably shouldn’t, be weird, be sporadic, takes chances, man up. Take control of your life, don’t let your life take control of you. Everyone thinks they’re going to live forever, they’re not. I know it sounds cliché, but life is short! Too short not to do the things you want to do, with the people you want to do them with.
Puntarenas, Costa Rica
Well that’s where going with the flow on the post took me so I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading and if you have anything to add-on or just say, have at it!
I hope all is well,
Clint
We all have times in life when we get stuck in a rut. When you’re in this rut mode it can last for a day or even months. Life is filled with its ups and downs so you’re always going to have a down eventually. Luckily there are ways to pull yourself back up!
1. Exercise your gratitude
Often times when you’re in a down you lose sight of what you have in this life and what you are thankful for. Instead, you may be and a mindset of having a “lack of” and focusing on what you don’t have. It’s always good to remind yourself of all the great things in your life so you feel complete and fulfilled. Here is a post I did on exercising your gratitude.
2. Be Present
The only thing that truly exists is the here and the now. Your past has already happened so the only place it exists is in your thoughts. The future hasn’t happened yet so 9 times out of 10 you won’t know how it’s going to turn out. Learn to accept the present moment as it is and deal with it the best you can. Once you accept everything the way it is, it will help you to become more at peace and will cause less turmoil in your life. Here is a post that goes further into living in the past, future, and present.
3. Breathe!
By simply breathing and focusing on your breath you will bring yourself into the present moment and away from your thoughts. Taking deep breaths activates you parasympathetic system. The parasympathetic nervous system is what regulates your glands and organs to bring you body into it’s relaxed state. So by taking deep breaths your calming and relaxing your entire system, which in turn relaxes your mind. Another great way to attain this is through meditation.
These are just three easy ways but there are so many others! There are all sorts of resources online, books you can read, and activities you can do. If you’re in a rut and you make a conscious effort to bring yourself out of it, you will find a way.
I got the inspiration for this post from Motivation of the Deep by Green Embers! Thanks for reading, I hope it helped!
“Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.” -Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
“Your life is a reflection of yourself. If you want to change your life you need to first change yourself. Imagine your life as a reflection in the mirror, you can’t get your reflection to smile without smiling first.” -Clint Dunham
Do you ever feel sorry for yourself? Do you ever feel like you want people to feel sorry for you? If you are feeling sorry for yourself, sometimes you want other people to feel sorry for you as well. The only time you want people to feel sorry for you is when you already feel sorry for yourself, and you are looking for validation through others. When things get tough you need to focus on not feeling sorry for yourself. Everyone has adversities that challenge them from time to time. Learn to deal with it and not let it take you to a point of self-pity. If you are feeling sorry for yourself there is a situation that arose and needs to be dealt with. It’s not someone else’s responsibility it’s yours.
More often than not it’s easier just to evade the truth or solution, but in the long run it’s just going to make things harder. If you know you really need to do it, whatever “it” may be, quit making up excuses and stopping yourself, just do it. A task begun is a task half done. Learning to take action and responsibility for your life is of the utmost importance. Like it or not, life isn’t just going to lie itself out the way you want it to if you’re lazy and don’t do anything about it. Just because you don’t want to do something doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t.
This article came to me on one of those nights where I lost all control of my mind, you know the nights when it feels like you have 20 television stations playing simultaneously in your brain? Well with that usually comes digging deeper and deeper into your thoughts, but not in a good way. As bad as it was at the time I did still benefit from it. I was thinking negative thoughts or thoughts that I found to be negative at that moment. I soon discovered that they weren’t negative thoughts per say, but thoughts that I added a negative twist to. The reason I found them to be negative was because they were truths or solutions that I molded into something different in order to evade them, thus creating a negative attachment to them. This in turn caused me inner turmoil. We human beings have a great system for shaping thoughts and feelings a certain way so that we are able to avoid them. Most of which mainly happens at a subconscious level, so we’re usually not even aware that we are doing it.
Just because the truth or solution isn’t what we want to hear, just because we may have to work hard to overcome it, doesn’t mean it’s not the right thing to do. Instead of fighting these thoughts, finding ways to dismiss them as being false or not real (which in some cases that might be true), try to understand them and figure out where they stem from. Learn to take a step back and view them in a detached way so that you can decide whether it’s a thought that is useless and only causes a negative response, or if it is in fact a thought with truth in it that has been molded in a way so that you can avoid it. Thoughts should flow easily through your mind, you are not your thoughts, therefore they should not control you. If you have a prominent reoccurring negative thought, by rooting to the bottom of it and discovering where it stems from, you’re not only alleviating yourself from that thought, but growing a deeper understanding of yourself in the process as well.
As I have been progressing in my personal development and I guess you could say my “life” development, I have discovered so much about myself and everything else that I couldn’t have even imagined before. Pandora’s box has officially been opened. The more I learn, the less I realize I know. It can be exhilarating, stressful, overwhelming, empowering, shocking, frustrating, and even awe-inspiring. At times it is really hard to see how far you have come or even if you’ve come any further at all. It can get a little discouraging. There are always battles with my thoughts, beliefs, and emotions. I attribute that to my transformation mentally and as a human being. But one thing I do know for sure, is that it is a constant battle of improvement and making myself a better person every day. No one said life was easy, but just because it’s not easy doesn’t make it bad. The obstacles that challenge us and are sometimes hard to overcome, are what make life so interesting. It’s how we grow and learn to become the best person we can.
When you think of fashion, what really comes to mind? Is it clothing, accessories, a runway, or maybe even different groups of people? When I think of fashion, I view it as a form of identity.
One way people are constantly expressing themselves is by the clothes they wear. (Unless of course you are a nudist, then I guess you would be expressing yourself by the clothes you aren't wearing.) It's a way of expressing individuality, or conforming to what people feel is popular at that time.
