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This will be a combination of quotes and thoughts about my recent journey thru current challenges that seem to not want to go away and the quotes that I have been using to find solace and re-connection to every disconnection that is keeping me from my goals and dreams. and more so…. To every beautiful part of me that I keep fumbling to find. May this also in someway help you thru your day.

Today is Saturday….. But as I write this, it is now Sunday. And this may not be finished today. I’m currently at work and I have just been feeling negative all night.  I keep trying to “mentally”  shake it, but I don’t know, its like trying to shoo a fly that just won’t go away. So instead, I decided to look up some quotes as well as read the quotes on my small vision board (amazon fire tablet) that I have here at work. I also have a app on my phone called “motivation”. It is a app that will have an almost endless supply of quotes that span all aspects of life. How many quotes will I tell you about? Honestly I don’t know. Instead, I rather just do enough to allow you a small opening to the night’s crossroads.

Let’s begin………

• Instead of crying because roses have thorns, be thankful that thorns have roses.

I LOVE this one. Why do I love this quote? Well, for me while growing up (99.9% of the time) it was just me and my mom. And my mom, when she was a young child going to school, by the age of 12, her mother told her that school was no longer something she would ever do. After that, she was conditioned to live a life that in many ways she hated. So needless to say, the lenses of her life that she was forced to wear have a lot pain, heartache and remorse scratched onto them. The funny oddity about my life is that while growing up, and without her or I knowing, and even though I probably never did what my mom told me to do, the so called “funny oddity” is that I imitated my mom. I probably didn’t do what she told me to do, but I imitated her.  I imitated her thoughts and emotions.  And those thoughts and emotions became human actions (of imitation) that ultimately became my habits. It was me just imitating the exact same things that my mom saw and did to survive during her own fragile childhood. And so now, I am seeing from the personal work and understandings of my own life, I am now able to comprehend and see just how painful my mom’s life was.  My mom’s life was so painful that all she could see was the thorns in life, and whenever she had a positive moment that allowed her to see a rose, it was probably a small moment only long enough for her to barely get a scantily lingering scent of its beauty, but never long enough to truly touch or enjoy the beauty of what this universe created for her. And so this quote means to me that life is all about perspective. That the life I live can either be as painful as my moms, or I can choose to always look at the roses and to know that there is real gratitude in the little that I am able to see, cultivate and manifest around and within me. And if I can continually work at only seeing the roses in life, then within enough time, I will be able to finally hold the rose in my hand, bring it close to me, hug it, and enjoy all of its beauty, thorns and all, and do it without ever bleeding on myself or on the ones I love.

It is so important to realize that the true meaning of life is not just to see the good around us and within ourselves, but in reality it is to understand the perspective that the beautiful rose is created with the thorns. Life is both together. We must have both. And realizing the duality within each of us and how to carry and properly see our pain is the difference between a beautiful life and a painful life. Always love the rose not because of it’s looks, but instead, love the rose because it has a true reflection of life. Practice on what you “choose” to see.

• If you find yourself constantly surrounded by drama, it’s probably because you made space for it. Close the space by walking away.

God, this one hits me so close to home. I think there is just so many ways to look at the root cause of things in our lives. And this quote says to me, so much about what I have finally come to learn, but I have not yet mastered. I have finally learned to understand that life is also about “learning internal and external space “. It is a mixture of words like (but not limited to) challenges, tests, pain, pushing, anger, hate, love, mis-understandings etc. And that each person has their own dictionary of words for seeing their own definition of “their space”.  And one of the true depths of learning “proper space” is to finally know when to walk away. Knowing when to walk away from the drama, which in almost every way also means walking away from your own internal negative thoughts. (The stupid shit you say to yourself that gets you angry at yourself and or mad at the world around you) And to find positive creative words to bring into perspective a life that either has a limited amount or that is completely free of drama. And for those that get caught in drama we must work to see that many times we probably allowed the door to drama to stay open too long and unknowingly invited the drama into our life. Which means we invited unwanted emotions into our sacred space. Practice standing guard at the doorway to your thoughts is deeply important and something that is rarely practiced in areas of poverty. Where I grew up we relished and enjoyed and actually took pride in practicing the art of “talking shit” about someone, we practiced being jealous of others, we practiced thinking that we “deserved” while others didn’t. Overall it’s just toxic people pushing more toxicity onto themselves and onto those around them. Really something that I hope to completely omit from my life.

• What is the difference between “I like you” and “I love you”…….Beautifully answered by the Buddha

When you like a flower, you just pluck it. But when you love a flower, you water it daily.

One who understands this, understands life.

What I really love about this quote is it’s simplicity to show the difference between love and like and between want and need.  We all have love within us, but few of us understand how to water the love within ourselves and many of us coincidentally also rarely know or learn how to water others with positive nurturing love. Many times in my life people (including myself)  have said they “love” someone or something, but in reality, they only really “liked” someone or something. It has taken me many years of “personal development”……The reading of books, and quotes, and watching videos, and the reflections of my own personal writings in diaries and journals,  and the constant daily work of unpacking thoughts and emotions and not giving up on myself to become a better human…..It has taken all of that along with the time to digest and understand the depth of the above quote. And then, it is even more work to constantly ask myself the truth in and of my emotions….”Do I like or love something”? Because if I say I love something then it is my duty to water it daily, but if I just “like” something then it forces me to now ask a new question….. “If I pluck it, will this be good for me and the other person, or will it just be good for me”? And in the end, it if it is only good for me, then it is best that I not pluck the flower. That I do not pretend that I want something from the relationship, the person, or the connection.

Learn to water before you pluck. Just my advice.

• I am not a creature that was born…… I am a fire that was set.

This quote is so powerful that it needs no explanation….. Just re-read it……… I am not a creature that was born…. I am a fire that was set.

Now imagine yourself not as  human, but instead as that which is all powerful, all loving, and all connective to everything you ever wanted in and from life. That my friend, is truly what you are. You are a fire that was set. You and I, we, just need to remember to unlock the door to the best loving amazing powerful version of our self, and set the fire a blaze.

Always remember to set your fire.

Love,

Max.