OneWord365: Confidence

I'm still planning on keeping "resolutions/goals" for the new year, but I definitely see the appeal of this kind of tribe building within the One Word 365  tribe challenge. I'm going to try it for 2015 and see what happens with this. It's possible it could be neat!

There were a lot of words I could have chosen, but I've decided CONFIDENCE is going to be my 2015 word.

I want this year to be about personal power and feeling confident on whatever paths I take.

Common House Residents Journal #13: 2014-12-24

Entry: 13
Journal Type: mixed
Date: 2014-12-24
Replies: yes
Author: Kevin
Trigger Warnings: sickness, kid talk/pregnancy

Well the body's sick. Which sucks because I wanted to do a holiday songs video so I just did a brief introductory video on our system account instead (which has really crappy sound and video quality but whatever). If anyone got added by dreamersunited1339 that's our plurality account.

Cecil and I are now on speaking terms. We had a long talk the other day about everything and Carlos and Cecil both said I'm allowed to announce both of these news items here for them: 1, Cecil's pregnant and that's what he was flailing about in his last entry, and 2, Carlos proposed last night. Cecil says they're waiting until after the baby to have a formal ceremony but yeah. Lots of exciting stuff going on in world. I'm about to go toss towels into the wash and then head us out to church service even though this cough is killing us. Then back home, vacuuming and decorating our baby tree.

(x-posted from Plurality Resource Forum)

Oracle Readings Received: December One Card Draw (Dec 22 2014)

from ariestess's December 2014 One Card Draw. SHe used the Gypsy Fortunetelling Deck.

Your card :: 3 of Hearts
How are you with gut instincts? Do you trust your intuition or do you ignore those little niggles that you get? If you already trust your intuition, good for you! If not, this is an excellent time to begin learning how to do it.

Pimp It! card :: 17 - Kavvi [Kettle]
You are in a period of settling in. Regardless of how long you've lived in your current residence or been at your current job, you're going to feel like it's new all over again. This is a good thing, a second chance of sorts. Don't waste this opportunity to embrace contentment and the comforts of home and family.

NaBloPoMo Day 12: Funny Texts

Friday, Dec 12th 2014: Tell us about the funniest text you've ever sent or received. (NaBloPoMo)

Honestly, we don't get any funny texts. :( I think the closest thing we've ever gotten to a "funny text" besides really dull spam was that one time little sister sent us the message intended for one of her other friends who shares our legal first name.

NaBloPoMo Day 11: Happiest Person

Thursday, December 11th 2014: Who is the happiest person you know? What is their secret? (NaBloPoMo)

... That's another good really good question.

Off the top of my head, one of the interns in the Heartbeat Connection class that just ended. For the purposes of this being a public blog I'm going to call her H. She was just... always smiling even if she had a crappy afternoon.

I'm guessing her secret is just... kind of going with the flow and not worrying too much. She was just kind of very... present.

NaBloPoMo Day 10: Balancing Happiness

Wednesday, December 10th 2014: Do you think you maintain a good balance of making yourself happy while making other people happy? (NaBloPoMo)

I think it still needs work. We tend to be better at making other people happy more often. But we're getting to the point where we can also be pretty selfish with our own happiness. It's a work in progress. There's definitely more balance than there used to be.

NaBloPoMo Day 9: Breakup Movie

Tuesday December 9th 2014: Your best friend just broke up with her partner. What movie do you bring over to get her through that first night? (NaBloPoMo)

... This would highly depend on the friend in question (we don't really have anyone we'd call our "best friend" in the typical sense of the word "best friend"), but it's probably highly likely that something from the View Askewniverse will probably be involved.

NaBloPoMo Day 8: Recipe

Monday, December 8th, 2014: What recipe are you known for amongst your friends and family? (NaBloPoMo)

To be honest, we aren't known for any recipes. We don't really cook much on our own. HOWEVER, fiance and I almost always bring a comfort-food spicy bean dip to parties.

NaBloPoMo Dec 2014 Day 7/100 Things We Have Or Want To Add To Our Self-Care Toolbox: 004. Reiki

Sunday, Dec 7th, 2014: Free Write: 100 Things - Self-Care Toolbox: Reiki

For the past 4 years we've been involved with reiki. Reiki (pronounced ray-key) is a healing approach from Japan that promotes the relaxation response and brings the mind and body into its natural balance. Hand placements correspond to the body's energy centers or chakras which parallel the endocrine system.

For us, Reiki is a spiritual practice, a healing practice, and a life practice.

The Reiki precepts are an important part of our spiritual practice:

Just for today, I will be free of worry.
Just for today I will be free of anger.
Just for today I will live the attitude of gratitude.
Just for today I will do my work honestly.
Just for today I will treat all beings with kindness.

The healing practice of reiki has brought so much to me. I am more comfortable talking to people. I'm more grounded in the body (we weren't hurt as kids really, but we grew up with a story that implied our body was breakable because it was born 7 weeks premature). I'm more open to touch in general.

Common House Residents Journal #12: 2014-12-07

Entry #: 12
Journal Type: mixed
Date: 2014-12-07
Replies: yes
Author: Kevin
Trigger Warnings: i don't think there are any

Front doesn't seem to like me much. But that's probably the fact that my reputation apparently precedes me and no one wants to front with me, but because I'm new I'm not allowed to be alone.

Emmy's making me also leave notes inworld and out for Cecil to show that I'm learning now. So far, I've learned that Desert Bluffs definitions don't match up with Outsider definitions inworld or outworld, magic exists inworld and that I can sort-of use it to help me with what Strex fixed though i'm at square one with a few of those things since magic doesn't work on all of them, and that outworld i am really bad at figuring out the body's limits, but i'm pretty good at getting things done.

Carlos seems to agree with Emmy that maybe next week IF Carlos and Aeslyn are present, maybe they'll let the front mechanism pair Cecil and I together as a stretch team, even though Cecil didn't seem happy about that. But that might be because he's been really sick the past two weeks. He fainted over breakfast the other day. Which was weird.

Outworld we got a new coat. It's pretty, but not a color I'd choose personally (it's blue) and I'm still not sold on if it's warm enough for this weather. And we have a whole box of trader joe's knock-off oreos gathered from the 3 different boxes that were available at the NaNoBoston TGIO party. Emmy says they're rewards for doing good work. [I ate some for dessert after dinner and then combined them into one box].

I've been doing lots of cleaning but there's still lots more to be done this week.

(x-posted from Plurality Resource Forum)

NaBloPoMo Dec 2014 Day 6/100 Things We Have Or Want To Add To Our Self-Care Toolbox: 003. Boston University Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation Recovery Education Program

Saturday, Dec 6th, 2014: Free Write: 100 Things - Self-Care Toolbox: Boston University Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation's Recovery Education Program

One of the things I'm pretty open about online (and off) is that I have mental health challenges. I think probably one of the most telling parts of my self-care toolbox is that I probably wouldn't have one in-use if it wasn't for the Boston University Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation's Recovery Education Program. I also wouldn't be nearly as hopeful as I am now.

Basically, it's a very little known (but very influential) adult education program for people with mental health challenges. The Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation was founded as the research base for the Psychiatric Rehabilitation Movement, which stemmed out of the ex-patient movement that got a lot of consumer-operated service groups out in to the open. Members with mental health challenges who apply and get accepted are able to enroll in classes to gain wellness tools and social opportunities.

I am always a bit regretful that I didn't know about this until 2011, since it was something I was looking for when I re-started therapy in college. They don't advertise it much to consumers, but word of mouth gets around from students and the few treatment teams that hear about it from their clients. 

It's a really wonderful place though. I have learned so many different tools to support my recovery here and how to keep them accessible. I sometimes liken my journey to this program as kind of like how Neville realized how much he could do in Dumbledore's Army when he was given the right teachers at the right time.

NaBloPoMo December 2014 Day 5: Happy Playlist

Friday, Dec 5th, 2014: What's on your happy playlist? (NaBloPoMo)

It's not all happy songs but this is my happy/hopeful/inspirational/dancing music playlist that I called "Hopeful Morning Feels Good" because we often play it when we're walking to places in the morning. It's 114 songs compiled from various CDs, mix tapes and fan vocalists. 


1. Adriana Figueroa - Courtroom Revolutionnaire (Fan Vocal)
2. Adriana Figueroa - Child of Magic (Fan Vocal)
3. Adriana Figueroa - The Great Truth Burglar (Fan Vocal)
4. Adriana Figueroa - Turnabout Sisters Ballad (Fan Vocal)
5. from Annie - Tomorrow
6. from Annie - You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile
7. Anna Nalick - Broken Doll
8. Anna Nalick - Walk Away
9. Anna Nalick - These Old Wings
10. Anna Nalick - Shine
11. Anna Nalick - All On My Own
12. Collin Raye - I'm Gonna Love You
13. Collin Raye - Blackbird
14. Collin Raye - Hearts are for When You Want to Love Someone
15. from Frozen - Let It Go
16. Demi Lovato - Let It Go (Cover)
17. Switchfoot - Meant to Live
18. Chumbawumba - Tubthumping
19. Kelly Clarkson - Whyyawannabringmedown
20. Barlow Girl - One More Round
21. Lenka - Bring Me Down
22. Sleater-Kinney - Rollercoaster
23. Mandy Moore - Pocket Philosopher
24. Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine
25. Sia - Don't Bring Me Down
26. The Dresden Dolls - Half Jack
27. Jack's Mannequin - Swim
28. Muse - Feeling Good
29. Sugababes - Stronger
30. Destiny's Child - Survivor
31. Christina Aguilera - Fighter
32. Spice Girls - Never Give Up on the Good Times
33. Natasha Bedingfield - If You're Gonna Jump
34. Ace of Base - It's a Beautiful Life
35. Britney Spears - Stronger
36. Jennifer Lopez - Feelin' So Good
37. MIA - Sunshowers
38. Kanye West - Stronger
39. Joss Stone - Free Me
40. Kris Allen - No Boundaries
41. from GLEE - Don't Rain On My Parade
42. from Wicked - Defying Gravity
43. Azure Ray - Nothing Like A Song
44. Azure Ray - These White Lights Will Bend to Make Blue
45. Azure Ray - Hold On Love
46. Azure Ray - New Resolution
47. from Honk! - Warts and All
48. Sting - Deep in the Meadows (Lullaby)
49. The Secret Sisters - Tomorrow Will Be Kinder
50. Taylor Swift ft. The Civil Wars - Safe and Sound
51. Punch Brothers - Dark Days
52. The Civil Wars - Kingdom Come
53. The Asteroids Galaxy Tour - Around the Bend
54. Fiona Apple - Better Version of Me
55. Tremolo - You Were Born for This
56. Collin Raye - All I Can Do Is Love You
57. Missy Higgins - Unbroken
58. Rascal Flatts - ~No ~Reins
59. Collin Raye - Let Your Love Flow (The Bellamy Brothers cover)
60. Jo Dee Messina - I Wish
61. Dar Williams - After All (Live)
62. Limahl - Neverending Story
63. Mary Chapin Carpenter - Sudden Gift of Fate
64. Loreena McKennitt - Beneath a Phrygian Sky
65. Brian McKnight - Remember the Magic
66. Jo Dee Messina - I'm Alright
67. Rascal Flatts - My Wish
68. Donna Summer - The Power of One
69. Plus One - With All Your Heart
70. Westlife - Flying Without Wings
71. Ray Greene - My Best Friends
72. Sheila Brody - Everything Changes
73. J.P. Hartmann - Together, Forever
74. John Loeffler - You Can Do It (If You Really Try)
75. N'Sync - Somewhere Someday
76. B*Witched - Get Happy
77. Emma Bunton (Baby Spice) - Hey You Free Up Your Mind
78. 98 Degrees - Fly With Me
79. Vitamin C - Vacation
80. Billie - Makin' My Way Any Way That I Can
81. Angela Via - Catch Me If You Can
82. Aaron Carter - Have Some Fun with the Funk
83. Blessid Union of Souls - Brother My Brother
84. from Rankin & Bass's Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer TV Special - There's Always Tomorrow
85. Marjorie Jacobs - Always Near
86. A7 - Bringing In The Noise (Rise Up)
87. Sister ChanKhong - I Smiles
88. Marjorie Jacobs - Start the Day
89. Glenn Campbell - Try a Little Kindness
90. James Taylor - Shower the People
91. Amae Ellen Allen - Thank-Full
92. Ravenna - May My Mind Turn to Others
93. Fo Guang Shan - Harmonize
94. Miriam Makeba - 'Cause We Live for Love
95. India Arie - A Beautiful Day
96. Hayley Westenra - Flower
97. Libby Roderick - Cradle of Dawn
98. Libby Roderick - How Could Anyone
99. Vixy and Tony - No Hurry (2012)
100. Rascal Flatts - Every Day
101. Copeland - You Have My Attention
102. Jon Robert - Hear You Call
103. Satellite - What You Need
104. Tremolo - Room 139
105. Satellite - Ring the Bells
106. Nickelback - If Everyone Cared
107. Anna Nalick - Paper Bag
108. Anna Nalick - In My Head
109. Laura Shigihara - Everything's Alright
110. Dale North - Everything's Alright (Short Steps Mix)
111. Danny Schmidt - This Too Shall Pass
112. Simone Felice - You and I Belong
113. Carrie Elkin & Danny Schmidt - Echo in the Hills
114. Sara Watkins - Take Up Your Spade (Folkadelphia Session/Full Version)

[NaBloPoMo Dec 2014] Day 4: Companionship

Thursday, December 4th, 2014: 

Who do you like being with when you're sad? (NaBloPoMo)

To be honest, we usually don't want to be with anyone when we're sad.

If we were forced to choose someone it would probably be a toss up between fiancé or little sister.

[NaBloPoMo Dec 2014] Day 3: Happy Foods

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2014:
What food always makes you happy when you're eating it? (NaBloPoMo)

Chocolate end of story.

I agree with our Reiki Master's justification: "Almost everything can be solved with either an Epsom Salt Bath or chocolate."

Though at this time of the year, I'd say peppermint bark is the happiest chocolate-related candy. :)

[NaBloPoMo Dec 2014] Day 2: Happy Surprise

Day 2: Talk about a surprise that made you happy. (NaBloPoMo), When did you work out you were plural, and what were some of the adjustments you had to make after finding it out? (Plures^K, December Blogging Meme)

This is one of those weird things where it's our discovery of our own neurodivergence that was a happy surprise.

I identify as plural, meaning that there's more than one person sharing this physical body. It's actually a kind of relief. I'm never alone and I never have to be the only one doing something -- there's always someone who's good at something that needs to be done!

I'm not sure when exactly we worked out we were plural. We started off in the soulbonding communities not long after we first came over to LJ back in 2004 (we made our first account in 2003, but didn't end up using it until 2004).

At some point in, I think, 2004 or 2005, we had a huge over-the-phone fight with a suicidal classmate/"friend" named Casey, and Ryou (Bakura Ryou, YuGiOh!; on our website and on plural sites, he usually goes by Nathan) kind-of projected himself as comfort. That story's here on Deviantart.

During high school we were a fairly small system (I think there were 6 of us at the largest point).

In college, we just kept picking up more and more headmates. Most of them with trauma experiences that didn't match the body's experience. Learning to manage triggers and related dissociation without any previous knowledge of how to do this was probably the biggest adjustment.

Nowadays the biggest adjustments are still similar: managing triggers, managing related dissociation, also finding low-cost workarounds for the headmates that need additional accommodations, and dealing with the fact that a few of us bypass the voice-filtering system, which can get annoying when our parents don't really understand plurality, particularly when younger parts/headmates [we have both] are fronting and sound childish.

[NaBloPoMo Dec 2014] Bringing A Little Bit of Joy

Monday, December 1, 2014
What do you do when you're down to bring yourself a little joy?

There are two.

One is to sing and dance to our "happy/inspirational/hopeful-ish" playlist, but that's another prompt for later in the month, so you'll have to wait to hear that one.

The second is to play Katniss's game from the Epilogue of Mockingjay: "I make a list of every single good deed I've seen."

Common House Residents Journal #11: 2014-11-30

Entry #: 11
Journal Type: inworld
Date: 2014-11-30
Replies: yes
Author: Cecil
Trigger Warnings: chronic health issues, some talk of death and doom

Carlos and I got some very... exciting and surprising news this weekend. I'm going to keep the details a secret for a bit longer, but I'm kind of having mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, it's neat and something I want. On the other hand, all my chronic pain issues are flaring up because of this and it's emphasizing the bad parts of the experience.

Carlos is... distracting himself with science, but i kind of expected him to do that. He's been very busy documenting a highly time-sensitive project an alchemist and a witch are working on to try and make a synthetic mirror of this potion some folks call "Water of Life" that only works at reviving some people in-system so that it works for everyone because some parts of our inner world are more dangerous than others and it's nice to have a working Plan B if things go wrong and also because one of the residents is very ill and they're trying to see if they can revive him IF the inevitable happens because he has a family.

(x-posted from Plurality Resource Forum)

Common House Residents Journal #10: 2014-11-04

Entry #: 10
Journal Type: mixed
Date: 2014-11-04
Replies: yes
Author: Carlos
Trigger Warnings: SI [mentioned, non-graphic], triggers, anxiety, mental health, some ribbing about coping techniques

Last month was weird in both good and bad ways.

One of the residents inworld kind of accidentally triggered me a few weeks ago with some blatant disregard about SI-stuff.... At least people have told me he doesn't always have control of those filters. They've been working on it. He did make it up to me though. We fashioned the usual Halloween remembrance circle into an all-guilds masquerade with a Days of the Dead theme since he kind of ruined inworld game night's LARP by giving me a panic attack that lead to a second one because people were crowding me. It was kind of embarrassing and I'm still getting a bit of bleedthrough on the anxiety coming outworld. I've been doing some research on science while we write our NaNo because I really want to try to make a Science Fiction Science bingo on that card in allbingo. Cecil keeps giggling about "science as comfort defense mechanism" since DreamWriter started calling it that on Sunday after the conference teacher said "if you're stuck on characterization, you should think about characters as people and people are essentially a set of unique defense mechanisms for how to cope with the world. what drives stories and makes authentic characters are the moments when those mechanisms crack". Even though I know it's true and Cecil and DreamWriter mean it in the nicest possible way, it kind of makes me feel underappreciated (just a little bit).

The body rarely stims (I've been told repeatedly that other fronters have attempted to get the body a HFA/AS diagnosis [our formal dx is "Learning Disorder NOS, nonverbal deficits" to us it's mostly semantics; nonverbal disability tends to have a lot of overlap with AS], but between clueless parents, our interest in people, and the fact that we've apparently been passing since grade school we apparently don't qualify enough or something) but since I've been fronting it's more pronounced and more frequent (though some of the stims the body has are different from what I would do personally... like the toewalking). At least I can pretend I'm shaking/massaging our hands because our wrist brace is missing and NaNo apparently makes us really prone to carpal tunnel and ulnar nerve entrapment.

(x-posted from Plurality Resource Forum)

Common House Residents Journal #09: 2014-09-14

Entry #: 09
Journal Type: outworld
Date: 2014-09-14
Replies: yes
Author: Carlos
Trigger Warnings: none

So I just did a science experiment with the body and peanut butter. It seems like one of the other people's theory is pretty sound: it's either the sugar, the molasses, or one of the vegetable oils in Skippy brand peanut butter that makes us dizzy. Natural peanut butter didn't do anything...

It's not going to change the fact that most people here still probably won't eat peanut butter sandwiches, but at least now we know that it's definitely something in the processing additives that makes us dizzy.

(x-posted from Plurality Resource Forum)

Common House Residents Journal #08: 2014-08-20

Entry #: 08
Journal Type: inworld
Date: 2014-08-20
Replies: yes
Author: Carlos
Trigger Warnings: none that I know of

It's been a while since anyone has posted over here. I'm new to the system and here with my boyfriend as well... And I am so glad I have my allergy medicine here. There are way too many cats and they use the lab space. Where am I supposed to work? I should probably ask that Angel (I'm pretty sure he identifies as an Angel even though he names himself after a Corvid).

At least this place is just as scientifically interesting as the last two places I've been. :) though science seems to work a little more normally here, even if this world seems to work within a "your science is our magic" trope.

(x-posted from Plurality Resource Forum)

Oracle Readings Received: June One Card Draw (June 30th 2014)

from ariestess's June One Card Draw
She used the Gypsy Fortunetelling Deck and I asked for general guidance.

Your card :: 4 of Clubs [reversed]

This is an excellent time to take inventory of your goals. Where can you adjust your timeline to be more flexible about end results? Do you have contingency plans in case something goes wrong along the way? If not, take the opportunity to make them. You never know when you'll need a backup plan.

100 Things We Have Or Want To Add To Our Self-Care Toolbox: 002. Reflexology

100 things we have or want to add to our self-care toolbox (AKA 100 Coping With Life Tools)

002. Reflexology

Ok, disclaimer here: I AM NOT A DOCTOR nor A PROFESSIONAL and if you have a major health issue, you should consult with a doctor, first before using reflexology.

Some major health issues -- for example: CFS/Fibro, diabetes, and any conditions being treated with blood thinners, may require you to be VERY gentle especially when dealing with areas that are trigger points. 

Reflexology is a type of body work using the reflex points on the hands and feet that involves thumbwalking. It relates to zone therapy and with the right practitioners it can be very nice and relaxing. 

I learned this through a class through BU's Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation's Recovery Center's Recovery Education Program. 

It's ideal if you can soak your hands or feet in epsom salts beforehand (or an exfoliating foot or hand scrub). Just no lotions - slippery feet and hands don't work very well with reflexology. I usually do this first thing in the morning after my shower. 

When you finish, drink lots of water and if you want you can put lotion on your feet/hands.

100 Things We Have Or Want To Add To Our Self-Care Toolbox: 001. Paper Chain Diary

 100 things we have or want to add to our self-care toolbox
(AKA 100 Coping With Life Tools)

001. Paper Chain Diary

This is actually a mix of a couple tools that we found works wonders together and it is also one toolbox item that doesn't require many spoons. We can do this in about a minute before bed and it's wonderful.

It's a heavily modified version of The Paper Chain Project (which is usually used for recovery from self-destructive habits)

Our version is mostly for tracking our mindset mostly and as a record of days. And we've only just started doing one of these outworld. :) I'd like to get back into doing this, but i need more colored paper again.

color chain links are for good days
white chains are for bad days

And on the link, we write at least one of the following -
1. Something we want to congratulate ourselves on from that day
2. Something we're grateful for from that day
3. Something we want to work on the next day

101 Quotes that Inspire Me/My Favorite Quotes from Books

Quote Post contains spoilers for some of my favorite books, movies, tv shows, video games, and people.

001. "I think one of our most important tasks is to convince others that there is nothing to fear in difference; that difference, in fact, is one of the healthiest and most invigorating of human characteristics without which life would become meaningless. Here lies the power of the liberal way: not in making the whole world Unitarian, but in helping ourselves and others to see some of the possibilities inherent in viewpoints other than one's own; in encouraging the free interchange of ideas; in welcoming the fresh approaches to the problems of life; in urging the fullest, most vigorous use of critical self-examination." - Aldlai Stevenson
002. "Dream. Believe. Dare. Do." - The Walt Disney Motto
003. "When we are dreaming alone it is only a dream. When we are dreaming with others, it is the beginning of reality."- Dom Helder Camara
004. "Dreams are necessary to life." - Anais Nin
005. "My friends are my power!" - Ven, Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep
006. "This boat runs on happy faces!" - Donald, Kingdom Hearts
007. "Let's meet again, in the next life." - Axel, Kingdom Hearts 2
008. "If you have a dream, don't wait. Act." - Axel, Kingdom Hearts 2
009. "We read books to find out who we are. What other people, real or imaginary, do and think and feel...is an essential guide to our understanding of what we ourselves are and may become." - Ursula K. Le Guin
010. "A dream is a wish your heart makes" - Walt Disney's Cinderella
011. "If time has a heart, it is only because other hearts stop." - Diane Duane's Young Wizards Series
012. "A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles." - Christopher Reeve
013. "When you do nothing, you feel overwhelmed and powerless. But when you get involved, you feel the sense of hope and accomplishment that comes from knowing you are working to make things better." - Pauline R. Kezer
014. "Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them - a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill." - Muhammad Ali
015. "Sometimes our light goes out but is blown into a flame by another human being. Each of us owes our deepest thank to those who have rekindled this light." - Albert Schweitzer
016. "Your greatest gift lies behind the door named fear." - Sufi Scripture
017. "...And the more these visits enriched our world, the fewer lies there were in theirs, the better it became. Just as our two worlds can injure each other, they can also make each other whole again." - spoken by the Childlike Empress; 158, The Never Ending Story by Michael Ende
018. "Master," the lion replied calmly. "Didn't you know that Fantastica is the land of stories? A story can be new and yet tell about olden times. The past comes into existence with the story." - 210, The Never Ending Story by Michael Ende
019. "As you go on in this world....always believe in your dreams. Keep looking forward to the future... to all you might be. Don't let old mistakes or misfortunes hold you down. Believe in yourself. So long as you are true to the strength within your own heart... you can never go wrong." - Ashley Rice
020. "In a decaying society, art, if it is truthful, must also reflect decay. And unless it wants to break faith with its social function, art must show the world as changeable, and help to change it." - Ernst Fischer
021. "There are so many ways to be brave in this world. Sometimes bravery involves laying down your life for something bigger than yourself, or for someone else. Sometimes it involves giving up everything you have ever known, or everyone you have ever loved, for the sake of something greater. 
But sometimes it doesn't.
Sometimes it is nothing more than gritting your teeth through pain, and then the work of every day, the slow walk toward a better life.
That is the sort of bravery I must have now." - Four, Allegiant, p. 509
022. "Yeah, sometimes life really sucks," she [Christina] says, "But you know what I'm holding on for?"
I[Four] raise my eyebrows. 
She raises hers, too, mimicking me.
"The moments that don't suck," she says. "The trick is to notice them when they come around." - Christina & Four, Epilogue, Allegiant, p. 526
023. "Since I was young, I have always known this: Life damages us, every one. We can't escape that damage.
But now, I am also learning this: We can be mended. We mend each other." - Four, Epilogue, Allegiant, p. 526
024.  "We're as likely to hurt the universe as we are to help it, and we're not likely to do either." - Augustus Waters, The Fault in Our Stars, p. 312
025. "The real heroes anyway aren't teh people doing things; the real heroes are the people NOTICING things, paying attention." - Augustus Waters, The Fault in Our Stars, p. 312
026. "You don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world, old man, but you do have some say in who hurts you." - Augustus Waters, p. 313
027. “I believe that if we really want human brotherhood to spread and increase until it makes life safe and sane, we must also be certain that there is no one true faith or path by which it may spread.”  -Adlai E. Stevenson
028. “That which seems the height of absurdity in one generation often becomes the height of wisdom in another.” - Adlai E Stevenson
029. “It is not a wound I can heal……Child, listen. That power resides in you alone. Nothing can be changed without undoing what was done. Yet even a stunted tree reaches toward the sunlight. Let the wound heal. Bear the scar with pride…. You will find a way.” - Asclepius in Kushiel’s Scion by Jacqueline Carey
030. “Let them grow to be whatever they want to be, as long as they’re good. Let them blossom into whatever they want to be. Support them 100 percent.”
-Oscar Viveros, Father of Andii Viveros the first Trans female to be crowned Prom Queen
031. “You are fiction to the selves
      who took other paths and choices.
              They are fiction to you.

You’ve got a lot to learn from each other.”
- Richard Bach, in The Messiah’s Handbook: Reminders for the Advanced Soul

032. “If you will practice being fictional for a while, you will understand that fictional characters are sometimes more real than people with bodies and heartbeats.”

from The Messiah’s Handbook: Reminders for the Advanced Soul in Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach

033. “What you carry is no curse, but a gift. Like any gift, it can be used for good or evil. If you use it wisely and kindly, it will bring only joy, and never sorrow. Trust your heart to guide you. Take your shame and offer it to God. Let him burn it away until only what is pure remains.” - Moirin in Naamah’s Curse by Jacqueline Carey, p. 283

034. "Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid." - Albert Einstein

035. “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” - Winston Churchill 

036. "All most of us want is for our boat to be lifted off dry ground to someplace new, someplace better. All most of us really want is to be loved, to be validated, to be held, to be heard. Maybe our costumes are different, maybe our interests are different, maybe our tortures were different. But the human condition is always the same. We want recognition. We want to be able to be who we are. We want to be real. An occasional hug shouldn’t be such a radical concept.”

- Nancy Slonim Aronie, in Writing from the Heart: Tapping the Power of Your Inner Voice
037. "It's not something that I have ever aspired to be or courted because I think the second that you say: 'Oh, I am a role model and that's why I make the decisions that I make,' you've kind of shot yourself in the foot. A role model is somebody that does things because of what they believe in regardless of what other people think." - Anne Hathaway
038. "Absorb what is useful, discard what is not, add what is uniquely your own." - Bruce Lee
039. "A path is formed by walking on it." - Chuang Tzu
040. "Nine words the Eclectic Rede attest:
Steal what works.
Fix what's broke.
Fake the rest." - The Eclectic Rede, Steve Storm
041. "With great power comes great responsibility." - Stan Lee in SpiderMan
042. "If you don't know the answer, look it up, don't make it up." - Elizabeth Barrette
043. "No matter how little you know, there's someone you can teach it to;
No matter how much you know, there's someone who can teach you more.

If you're not making any mistakes, you're not learning, you're coasting." - Elizabeth Barrette
045. "You are entitled to your informed  opinion." - Harlan Ellison
046. The Wiccan Rede
047. A Correllian Creed
048. Kwan Yin's Prayer for the Abuser
049. The 5 Reiki Precepts
050. "There is a love holding me. There is a love holding you. There is a love holding us all. We rest in that love." - Rebecca Parker, Unison Candle Prayer
051.  "We give ourselves one to another, covenanting to walk together as a congregation, promising to faithfully watch over one another and to delight for love to abide in our midst." - 1717 Covenant Adapted
052. "We can do together what we could never do alone!" - Brookline Benediction
053.   Unitarian Universalist Principles
054.  The 42 Ideals of Ma'at of the Temple of Isis

055. "The famous adage is wrong: the journey of 1000 miles doesn't begin with the first step. It begins with the assurance that you can take the first step." - Deepak Chopra, Evolutionary Enlightenment

056. "Be a strong female -- don't be afraid of the flack that goes along with that." - Christina Aguilera

057. "A woman is like a tea bag -- only in hot water do you realize how strong she is." - Eleanor Roosevelt

058. "There is a woman at the beginning of all great things." - Alphonse de Lamartine

059. "Why not be oneself? That is the whole secret of a successful appearance." - Edith Sitwell

060. "Realize that you don't have to follow trends -- differences can become your signature." - Dayle Haddon

061. "Living your creative dreams renews your soul. Make time for them!" - SARK

062. "There are always going to be bumps. Figuring out how to get over the bumps -- that's what's really fun." - Alicia Silverstone

063. "There's this wonderful quality that most successful people have... You have to believe in the impossible." - Will Smith

064. "Being the best is a simple decision...It's about commitment, plain and simple." - Mia Hamm

065. "God gives everybody gifts -- you just have to realize what yours is and work on that." - Beyoncé Knowles

066. "You have to learn what you're good at and what you're not good at, and figure out how to help yourself." - Bobbi Brown

067. "If you put yourself in the position to fail, totry something you've never done, that's when you learn the most." - Ethan Hawke

068. "It's bizarre when your dreams become reality... [So] I have this paper taped to my phone that reads 'Dream Bigger.'" - Ashton Kutcher

069. "Have some idea, not about what you want to do, but about the kind of person you want to be." - Barbara Walters

070. "If there is a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it." - Toni Morrison

071. "Eighty percent of success is showing up." - Woody Allen

072. "By being willing to be a bad artist, you have a chance to be an artist." - Julia Cameron

073."Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead

074. "Fear less, hope more; eat less, chew more; whine less, breathe more; talk less, say more; love more, and all good things will be yours." - Swedish proverb

075. "Believe there are no limits but the sky." - Cervantes

076. "There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth... not going all the way and not starting." - Buddha

077. "The joy of a spirit is the measure of its power." - Ninon de Leclos

078. "Nature often holds up  a mirror so we can see more clearly the ongoing processes of growth, renewal, and transformation in our lives." - Mary Ann Brussat

079. "Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born." - Anais Nin

080. A Defense of Teddy Bears

081. "Each morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most." - Buddha

082. "Be patient with all that is unresolved in your heart. 

                       And try to love the questions themselves." - Rainer Maria Rilke

083. "When we do the best that we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life or in the life of another." - Helen Keller

084. "The art of life is a constant readjustment to our surroundings." - Kakuzo Okakaura

085. "What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters, compared to what lies within us." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

086. "Inspiration may be a form of superconsciousness, or perhaps subconsciousness -- I wouldn't know. But I am sure it is the antithesis of self-consciousness." - Aaron Copland

087. "Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up." - Pablo Picasso

088. "Desire, ask, believe, receive." - Stella Terrill Mann

089. "We will discover the nature of our particular genius when we stop trying to conform to our own or to other people's models, learn to be ourselves, and allow our natural channel to open." - Shakti Gawain

090. "Creative work is play. It is free speculation using the materials of one's chosen form." - Stephen Nachmanovitch

091. "Especially because I have a good imagination, I choose to find amazing new ways of bringing magic into my life where there was only misery before. Evolution itself depends on how good I get at this. The world needs what I have to offer!" - Rue Hass, EFT for the Highly Sensitive Temperament reframe
092. "In Life's name, and for Life's sake, I assert that I will employ the Art which is its gift in Life's service alone. I will guard growth and ease pain. I will fight to preserve what grows and lives well in its own way; Nor will I change any creature unless its growth and Life, or that of the system of which it is part, are threatened. To these ends, in the practice of my Art, I will ever put aside fear for courage, and death for Life, when it is fitting to do so- looking always toward the Heart of Time, where all our sundered times are one, and all our myriad worlds lie whole, in that from which they proceeded..." - The Wizard's Oath, species-nonspecific recension, The Book of Night with Moon, Book 1 of Cats of Grand Central, a side-series to the Young Wizards series by Diane Duane

093. "See the Turtle of Enormous Girth,
On his shell he holds the Earth.
His thought is slow, but always kind.
He holds us all within his mind.

On his back all vows are made;
He sees the truth but mayn't aid.
He loves the land and loves the sea,
And even loves a child like me." - Maturin's Poem as told by Roland, The Dark Tower series by Stephen King
094. "Do not ask what the world needs. Instead, ask what makes you come alive. Because what the world needs is more people who have come alive." - Thurmond Whitman
095. "Be brave enough to live life creatively. The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. You can't get there by bus, only by hard work and risk and by not quite knowing what you're doing. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover will be yourself." -Alan Alda
096. "It's not about waiting for the storm to pass, but about learning to dance in the rain." - Vivien Greene
097. "I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something;
and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do." - Helen Keller
098. “All the world is made of faith, and trust, and pixie dust.” - J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan
099. "Stories wait for endings, but songs are brave things bold enough to sing when all they know is darkness." -To Write Love on Her Arms by Jamie Tworkowski
100. "If you take one step toward expressing all the greatness that lives within you, the universe will take a hundred steps toward you." - Debbie Ford
101." Fairytales are more then true; not because they tell us that dragons exist; but because they tell us dragons can be beaten." -G. K. Chesterton

NaBloPoMo Feb 2014 Day 14: Something I Love

Friday, February 14, 2014 

Show Me Fridays: upload an image to your blog (with or without words) of someone you love deeply.

I would have put up a picture of my fiance, but I don't have a recent picture of him and he is very much against me taking his picture, so... Instead, you guys get an old cameraphone picture of his cat who I love just as much as him because she's a really sweet old lap cat named Tabitha, Tabby for short. 

NaBloPoMo Day 13: 10 Years From Now...

Thursday, February 13, 2014What do you think you'll be doing 10 years from now on February 13, 2024?

My greatest hope is that I'll be working with a steady job, possibly as a Certified Peer Specialist, as well as being a reiki practitioner, and a writer. :) I also hope that by then I'm married and living with my fiance and we're thinking about starting a family in some shape or form. 

February NaBloPoMo Day 12: Draw Me

Wednesday, February 12, 2014Pick up an object and describe it in such minute detail that your readers can draw it without ever having seen it.

It's seated on the desk and has fluffy light brown fur, two furry arms and two furry legs, the fur on its face is in its beady black eyes and a triangular shaped brown nose and a sewn smile barely visible in the fur. It wears a deep royal blue knit sweater with "THE QUEEN'S DIAMOND JUBILEE" embroidered in an arch over an embroidered British royal crown emblem in gold and red. Below the crown it has "1952 - 2012" embroidered on the sweater. On its left ear is two tags: a round red bottlecap shaped button that has a circle in gold around the words "Keel Toys" in a script front also in gold in front of a long worn card that is mostly red with a union jack waving along the bottom and the words "THE QUEEN'S DIAMOND JUBILEE" in an arch over a golden British royal crown emblem with "1952-2012" underneath the crown. 

February NaBloPoMo Day 11: Thoughts in Perspective

Tuesday, February 11, 2014What helps you keep thoughts in perspective so they don't overwhelm you?

This is something I still struggle with a bit. But the first thing I always do is put one hand over my heart and one hand over my stomach at the solar plexus and breathe. This helps me calm down and grounds me immediately to my body. Then I can tackle whatever is overwhelming so that I can figure out what if anything there is I can do. 

NaBloPoMo February 2014: Day 10: Do You Think You Do A Good Job Keeping Problems In Perspective?

Monday, February 10, 2014Do you think you do a good job of keeping problems in perspective?

It depends on the problem. But I do not think I do a good job of keeping most problems in perspective. I get frustrated and overwhelmed by things that seem to be easy to other people. 

NaBloPoMo February 2014: Day 9: Love Reaches Out and TWLOHA

“Love reaches out. That is the essence of love. Love is our longing for deep connection. A search for connection is at the heart of all spiritual traditions and practices. The spiritual journey is a pathway into the depths of our being and also a journey of transcending the stifling confines of the self. Profound spiritual experiences are experiences of union – with others and ultimately with the great mystery of life. We are profoundly and fundamentally relational creatures.”- Rev. Peter Morales, President of the UUA, Standing on the Side of Love Sunday Feb 9th 

"Stories wait for endings, but songs are brave things bold enough to sing when all they know is darkness..." - Jamie Tworkowski, To Write Love On Her Arms

In high school, I dealt with several ex-friends who were suicidal and/or self-injurious and I almost followed in their footsteps once, but was prevented from it because of my faith and a guardian angel. 

Later, in college, I discovered To Write Love On Her Arms, a nondenominational but Christian-influenced nonprofit organization that uses music to say it's okay to be honest, hurt, scared, stuck, suffering from depression, suffering from addiction. A group that uses music to move people because songs go to the dark places and sing out, they don't care about endings the way stories do. Songs are more or less about living in the moment, no matter what moment it is. Whether it's a moment of pain, or a moment of joy or some bittersweet combination of both. 

I love To Write Love On Her Arms's affiliate bands and their message because I like to know that stories like mine and my ex-friends are told in songs that these are the stories that need to be heard. That we aren't alone and that music moves through pain, sorrow and joy and that hope and recovery are truly possible things. 

NaBloPoMo February 2014: Day 8: Learning from the Past, Hoping for the Future, and sometimes getting disappointed at changes

I am very disappointed.

I was googling the all-girls Catholic high school I went to, Fontbonne Academy, the other day and it came up in my search box with a series of news articles, opinion articles, and news blogs about the administration rescinding a job offer to a food service worker because he was gay, married, and listed his husband as his emergency contact and a group of alumnae protesting this movement which screams of discrimination and runs strongly counter to what we were taught at the school itself when we were students.

I understand from an academic standpoint that they felt they were advised by the Archdiocese against hiring him for his honesty, however, like the other alumnae, I'm not all that happy about it.

This is the very progressive high school that heavily influenced me to get involved in social justice/social action groups. This is the high school where I learned what the Day of Silence was for the very first time outside of the internet.

This is the high school where I had a theology teacher who encouraged us women to push for the Archdiocese to allow women to be ordained at least to be deaconesses as that was a serving option in the early days of the Church.

This is the high school that didn't flinch when I saw God as something like Mother-Father, as an all-encompasing One God. I always loved our Sign-of-the-Cross: "In the Name of the Creator, The Redeemer and the Holy Spirit."

This is the high school that made me realize that I liked women's schools because I could have conversations I wouldn't be getting in a co-ed program. Women's schools talk and do and push against the boundaries of society, we ask hard questions and we try to tell ALL the stories.

I'm not afraid of that school being my past because it made me a lot of who I am: a courageous, smart, strong woman (mostly) who isn't afraid to turn things on their head, to dream, to speak, to act. But I am very concerned for its future, since what I valued most about my education there was being a courageous woman who would stand on the side of love always, even when it was hard.

NaBloPoMo Day 7: Prized Posessions

Friday, February 7, 2014
Show Me Fridays: upload an image to your blog (with or without words) of your most prized possession.

I have a lot of prized posessions but my new tablet is my life-saver these days! I got it during NaNo because my laptop screen died, which turned it into a desktop, but this is a lot nicer to carry around to be honest and it's a lot easier on the eyes than my phone, since the blue-light removal program actually WORKS on the tablet lol. :)

NaBloPoMo Day 6: My House from the POV of Oreo the Cat

Thursday, February 6, 2014Do you have a pet? Describe your house from the perspective of your pet.

It's big with lots of corners and I get free range of the whole house now that there are no other cats, but my favorite places are all the way high-up. There's a grey ottoman in the little girl's room with the weird sleeping place with two beds one tall and one short. There's a nice chair in the TV room and my two scratching boxes on the floor! And then there's the window with the chair with the red pillows that gets lots of sun where i can watch the humans eat across the way from my food dish.

It's quiet a lot of the time since most of the humans aren't home that often.


.

NaBloPoMo Day 5: Explain blogging to an alien without using the word blog in your explanation!

Wednesday, February 5, 2014 You meet an alien and need to explain to it blogging. Explain what blogging is (and what blogging means to you) without ever using the word "blog."

"Greetings, I am very wary about your kind, but you seem like an approachable individual." 

"Hi, um, hold on a sec, let me finish blogging, then I can talk properly."  

There's a long pause as the woman finishes up typing on the strange flat device in her hands. "Okay, done... so hi. I'm Emma, what can I help you with?"

"What is that thing called blogging that you were doing?"

"It's a lot of things and it depends on who you ask too. For me, it's writing in some form most of the time. Sometimes to tell about how I feel on a topic, sometimes to just get information out to others, or to share information I've heard of. Sometimes it works like a captain's log, you have one of those on your ship, right?"

"Yes, we have captain's logs, but mostly those say what we have on board or where we have been." 

"This can be like that too but more public. More often than not people use it to expand on where they have been and what they have done. How they react to their lives. Sometimes even ask questions of each other. Or make things up, depending on what they write about regularly." 

"That's interesting." 

"It is! I love it because I can write about things and think about them and have a record to look back and see where things have changed in my life." 

February NaBloPoMo Day 4: Seeing through another's eyes

Tuesday, February 4, 2014 Do you think it's possible to ever truly see the world from another person's perspective, or are we held so tightly to our own way of viewing the world?

I think it is possible to see the world from another's perspective, though I DO think that our own views will color that. I think that recognizing people's differences are so very important in being good citizens, however I also think that everyone's view brings something important to the table.

NaBloPoMo February 2014 Day 3: Cat Receiving Work

Monday, February 3, 2014
Write about an event that happened today. Now write about it from the perspective of someone else in the room -- your child, your partner, a person dining in the same restaurant... your choice.

So I am a cat volunteer at my local animal shelter and back in December I got trained to do the backroom -- I am one of the few long-standing volunteers who had never set foot back there so I asked the woman who trained me if she'd show me how it was done a few weeks ago. We also don't have a lot of cats right now at the shelter that can be taken care of (some are sick, some are being scratch/bite -quarantined, a lot got adopted and/or transferred to other shelters).

So today I went through with the tail end of doing it myself training in the backroom. I was mildly surprised by the first cat on my list. It said it was a "feisty" cat but it wasn't exactly the type of feisty I was expecting. It was more of the feisty in an "I shall love you to death  and get in your way" cat.

It was interesting though unfortunately I spilled all its toys into the trash bin.


Harriet the Cat POV
These two humans are standing in front of my cage looking at me. I hope one of them is gonna feed me. Ooh the smaller one is coming closer. She's warm and she's paying attention to me. Ooh. I like this! Pet me! yay! Hey don't do that I want more pets! Ooh food! Food or pets! I want both! Keep paying attention to me.

NaBloPoMo Day 2: Spirituality Perspectives

Today's Imbolc, which is one of the wheel of the year holidays and the least known of all of them.

I recently joined a Unitarian Universalist church this past sumer officially and it's interesting that I finally found a church that suits me. I was raised Catholic and I still consider myself some flavor of Christian to a degree, but I also find that earth-based spiritualities and many other paths also call to me.

It was funny during service because we had a bat flying around the church. I was surprised that I didn't jump when I saw it and it made me happy to see. I usually hate swooping bats after a bad experience where one freaked me out at home.

Bats are good omens in most traditions, in spite of the fact that it's not healthy to have one flying around the building. People were making light-hearted jokes about it throughout the service until it settled or went back to its nest (I'm not sure which).

It was an interesting shift in perspective to not freak out about the bat and to experience a circle that was a little different than usual.

I think though the thing I like most about Unitarian Universalist churches though is that the learning and seeking never ends! There's so many things that I can do that are missing in my family's Catholic church.

NaBloPoMo February 2014: Day 1: If I could live anywhere...

If I could live anywhere... 

- from Creative Journal Topics Involving Different Perspectives

If I could live anywhere, I would live with my fiance in a place where it's not quite so cold as New England, but it still has seasons. I would live in a decent-sized house with a small dog, a cat, and a rabbit. I would be able to go to work nearby and still have some space to do my own thing and write and knit and practice reiki.