flirt with paradoxes ★ adapt to chaos

this is where i splatter my thoughts and put myself back together again. ★ i try and give credit where its due - if you see your work here and would like it correctly attributed, drop me a line ★

[amandapearl]

[Wander Washington] Dream Big at the Pacific Bonsai Museum

[Wander Washington] Dream Big at the Pacific Bonsai Museum

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[amandapearl]

[Reading is Sexy] Understand Your Emotional Intelligence with 'The Highly Sensitive Person'

[Reading is Sexy] Understand Your Emotional Intelligence with ‘The Highly Sensitive Person’

“All virtues have a shadow.” For millennia, humans traded information by speech or song – imbuing tradition, history and knowledge with the tone of their voice. It wasn’t until 1440 when German inventor Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press; in less than half that time we now have temporal, instant gratification reinforcing social media channels from Facebook and Instagram to Snapchat,…

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[amandapearl]

[Wander Washington] A Romantic Getaway to the Red Mountain AVA

[Wander Washington] A Romantic Getaway to the Red Mountain AVA

While the skies shift slyly above us, the times shift slowly with us. The world always seems to slow itself down after the heat and hustle of the Summer, flowing into Fall relaxed and renewed, finding resolve in Winter and then new growth come Spring. Autumn in Washington means that Fall greets us with her cacophony of vibrant colors, and mercurial bouts of weather – instantly grabbing our…

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[amandapearl]

[Seattle Sights] Immerse Yourself in Art at the Olympic Sculpture Park

[Seattle Sights] Immerse Yourself in Art at the Olympic Sculpture Park

As the last year and a half starts to blur together, and we collectively try and negotiate the new normals of the world, or whatever that means, more and more of us are flocking back to our old favorite habits in new stomping grounds. For the better part of the last two decades, the music world was my life – concerts, festivals, massives, raves; whatever the event was, I was there and loving…

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[amandapearl]

[Self Discovery] Embrace Your Authentic Spirit Through Shadow Work

[Self Discovery] Embrace Your Authentic Spirit Through Shadow Work

Do I contradict myself?Very well then I contradict myself,(I am large, I contain multitudes.)Walt Whitman, Song of Myself, 51 To be on a constant quest of self discovery is the most human thing there is, and it seems like for the past year and a half we’ve all been thrust into the soul searching world of personal development – whether we’ve wanted it or not. With the societally imposed downtime…

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[amandapearl]

[Seattle Sights] Step Inside Shoreline's Best Kept Secret - The Kruckeberg Botanic Garden

[Seattle Sights] Step Inside Shoreline’s Best Kept Secret – The Kruckeberg Botanic Garden

‘If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden.’ — Frances Hodgson Burnett For as long as I can remember, I’ve had an affection for botanic gardens and the art of landscape gardening in general. For as much credit as both my mother, my step-mother – and now my mother-in-law – deserve for instilling this love inside me, there’s ample credit due to a few locations back…

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[amandapearl]

[I've Got 5 On It] Step Up Your Home Gym Game

[I’ve Got 5 On It] Step Up Your Home Gym Game

Rewind to two New Years Eves ago as I was dreaming up resolutions for 2020; I was getting into my groove of living in Seattle and was aiming pretty high. I wanted to go back to school to further my education, I was eager to make new friends in this new neighborhood in a new city, and get a gym membership and get back into some kind of athletic shape. Going back to school was easy, or at least on…

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[amandapearl]

[Self Discovery] Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

[Self Discovery] Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

Last weekend as I pawed my way through ‘The Voice of Knowledge‘, a cascade of thoughts started rotating through my head: what does my voice of knowledge lie to me about, how did I become my own biggest critic, what are inauthentic truths that I try and force on myself and how can I be kinder to my own mental space. As it turns out, what I was suffering from at that time is called imposter…

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[amandapearl]

[Reading is Sexy] Understanding the 'Voice of Knowledge'

[Reading is Sexy] Understanding the ‘Voice of Knowledge’

“In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you.” – Mortimer J. Adler When a good book hits you with words you need to hear, it gives one pause and perspective; and often, a necessary shift in mood. For the last few months, I’ve been bouncing between a few books – but nothing that had truly immersed me into it’s…

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[amandapearl]

[Seattle Sights] A Tranquil Trip to the Seattle Japanese Garden

[Seattle Sights] A Tranquil Trip to the Seattle Japanese Garden

“The art of stone in a Japanese garden is that of placement. Its ideal does not deviate from that of nature.”Isamu Noguchi If you thought the Washington Park Arboretum was fantastic, meet it’s neighbor and kid sister – the Seattle Japanese Garden. Tucked away in a small corner of the Washington Park Arboretum, the Seattle Japanese Garden is host to some of most marvelously manicured walks,…

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[amandapearl]

[I've Got 5 On It] Wonderful Ways to Elevate your Writing Game

[I’ve Got 5 On It] Wonderful Ways to Elevate your Writing Game

Raise your hand if you’ve tried at least one new craft or hobby during the last year in quarantine? It’s not like it was a prerequisite for lockdown, but on a personal level – my creative edge was one of the few things that kept me sane during those weeks, then months, that we were barely leaving our homes. Thanks to a supportive family and parents that were always cultivating my curiosity –…

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[amandapearl]

[Seattle Sights] Choose Your Own Adventure at the Washington Park Arboretum

[Seattle Sights] Choose Your Own Adventure at the Washington Park Arboretum

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, one of the most phenomenal things about living in the Pacific North West is the vast variety of accessible nature. From diverse deserts and wanderlust inspiring waterfalls, to rich coastlines and island hopping through the San Juan Islands – Washington has a bit of something for everyone. Seattle and it’s surrounding areas – doubly so. From Lake…

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[amandapearl]

[Self Discovery] Holding Space for Grief

[Self Discovery] Holding Space for Grief

For the most part, I consider myself an upbeat rationalist, a positive pragmatist of sorts. I try and take the world as it comes: framing things in a true and positive light, holding myself accountable for understanding uncomfortable feelings and holding space for my emotions. But it’s not always rainbows and butterflies; from time to time – life can get my down and out and the grey cloud that…

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[amandapearl]

[Seattle Sights] Chasing Sunset

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[amandapearl]

[Seattle Sights] Adventure Your Way Through the Kubota Gardens

[Seattle Sights] Adventure Your Way Through the Kubota Gardens

A hidden gem of the outskirts of Seattle, and Washington state at large, the Kubota Garden boasts beautiful grounds to meander through, inspiring views and incredible landscaping. Covering twenty stunning acres of land in the Rainier Beach neighborhood in South Seattle, the Kubota Garden started as a labor of love from the Fujitaro Kubota back in 1927; sixty years later, the city of Seattle…

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[amandapearl]

[Seattle Sights] A Cacophony of Color at Chihuly Glass

[Seattle Sights] A Cacophony of Color at Chihuly Glass

“I want people to be overwhelmed with light and color in a way they have never experienced.”Dale Chihuly I’m picky – with almost everything, but especially with what I want out of a museum. In my eyes – when art can exist in so many beautiful forms in ‘the wild’, let’s just call it, I have a hard time believing it should be relegated to a stuffy room with static lighting. I love when art is…

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[amandapearl]

[Self Discovery] Manifest Mindfulness in Your Morning Routine

[Self Discovery] Manifest Mindfulness in Your Morning Routine

When I was younger, I thought the idea of ‘waking up on the wrong side of the bed’ was a silly notion; but thanks to 2020, I now know that one can wake up on the wrong side of an entire year. Not to say last year was pure chaos, dissonance and struggle – but, between COVID and quarantine, racial injustice, protests, the dissolution of the office of the 45th President, and three surgeries to…

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