#mindful words

[enchantingepics]

Note #4

Creating, whether it's through art, writing, or any form of expression, is a beautiful yet intricate process. The joy derived from these creative endeavors is truly special, but it's crucial to acknowledge that this joy blossoms organically when there's a genuine passion driving the creation. It's like nurturing a delicate flower; you can't force it to bloom on command. Your ability to create is commendable, and I want to emphasize the value of time in this creative journey. Each stroke of the brush, every word on the page, they're all fragments of time and effort coming together to shape something unique and meaningful. It's not just about the end result; it's about the journey, the growth, and the love you pour into your craft. Now, let's talk about that feeling of falling behind. I hear you, and I want you to know that you're not alone in this sentiment. The twenties can be a tumultuous time, filled with expectations, uncertainties, and comparisons. It's a struggle that many of us face, navigating through life in an age where everything seems to move at an accelerated pace. So, my friend, I'm holding space for you. In a world that often pushes us to be in constant motion, it's essential to acknowledge and honor our individual timelines. You're not racing against anyone; you're on your own path, and it's perfectly okay if it takes unexpected turns or requires a bit more time. Remember, growth is not a linear journey but a mosaic of experiences that shape us into who we are meant to become. Take a deep breath, appreciate the progress you've made, and know that you're capable of creating beautiful things at your own pace. Your journey is uniquely yours, and there's genuine beauty in that.

[unscramblerer]

Todays word of the day is: Lucid

[inketernal]

Quote Blatherings || Hunting Prince Dracula pt. 2

“Death and murder isn’t the satisfying part. It’s the hysteria surrounding it.” (pg. 324)

I really like there’s something to this. If killing someone as done just for the feeling of satisfaction, there would be more body counts in a shorter amount of time. But we live in a world of media and the need to sensationalize these acts for a scoop on the competition. The need to gain information over others give the killer a new power that they didn’t realize they had before. Suddenly they’re not only instilling their victim with fear, but the society around them, giving them a higher satisfaction. And like any addiction, their goal is going to become wanting to top that last high.

‘Darkness made confessions easier– it comforted me in a way the light never could.’ (pg. 408)

I talked a little about this in my quote blatherings for Caraval too. The idea of hiding in the dark always seems comforting because we’re left unseen. Darkness creates a mask for us to make us feel protected by what others can’t see. It takes time for our eyes to adjust to the dark, which means we have time to adjust ourselves to what we want to show. If you’re afraid of what you’re about to say, doing so in the dark makes it easier because the other person won’t see it. And as I said earlier, we all have what we want to project to others or what want to see. As long as that need exists, darkness will remain our friend.

[inketernal]

Quote Blatherings || Wonder Woman: Warbringer pt.3

“But the stronger you get, the more you achieve, the more people want to make you know your place.” (pg. 273)

As sad as it is, I think this is something that will always be true because of how much we seek confrontation, as a race. It’s like we live to compete with each other just to make the other person feel small. Hollywood seems like a perfect example to me, really. Everyone fights their way to the top, to earn some sort of name for themselves that they didn’t have before. Then the second they achieve that, the second they become as bright a star to the rest of the world as they are to themselves, the media and “fans” tear them back down. They’re suddenly one half of a “Who Wore It Better” competition that they never meant to be in. Their biggest embarrassments or failures are suddenly plastered everywhere they turn, seemingly undoing all their success. Why? Because for some reason, we can’t let anyone do even remotely better than us in some way. So we put them on the spot with the sole purpose of making them feel lesser; to remind them that they started from the bottom and will never be better than that.

“We can’t stop war. But we can change the way war is waged.“   "War is war. People will die.” (pg. 310)

“Humans can’t hold to peace, Diana. We’re brutes and have been since our beginning. If we can’t have peace, then at least give us a chance at a beautiful death.” (pg. 313)

‘It was what helped them remember that despite their greater strength, their speed, their skill, the promise of glory was nothing in the face of another’s anguish.’ (pg. 348)

WORLD TAKE NOTE! “Preventing” a war by starting a different war is NOT changing anything. Attempting to prevent deaths by causing the deaths of others, only cancels out your “noble” deed. If everyone would just stop and understand that, to truly care about lives rather than their own egos and reputations, maybe we could finally create a world where peace is possible.

[inketernal]

Quote Blatherings pt. 2 || Crooked Kingdom

'He'd started to think of Jesper as fearless, but maybe being brave didn't mean being unafraid.' (pg. 203)

I like this quote because I feel like it says something important, that we never really think about. We always think of the words fearless and brave as one in the same, but in reality they aren't. When you're fearless, that doesn't necessarily mean that you're brave. Being brave is showing strength against hardship; facing your fears is brave. Knowing that they exist and choosing to face them, to fight them with everything you have. In my opinion, being fearless doesn't make you brave, facing down the thing that scares you most, does.

 'No mourners, no funerals. Another way of saying good luck. But it was something more. A dark wink to the fact that there would be no expensive burials for people like them, no marble markers to remember their names, no wreaths of myrtle and rose.' (pg. 266)

A reference to death and our legacies we leave behind. We all try so hard to make our name something worth remembering, to exist and matter for people we don't even know. We want something to leave behind, to prove that we were there and real long after we aren't anymore. But the truth of the matter is, not everyone gets that. Not everyone in this world, making a grand scale impact or not, is always remembered when they're gone. Not everyone has a monument or a pretty flower display to lighten up the loss. Some are just lucky to even be found once they're lost. To know that, even after death, at least one person saw them even if they never knew or loved them. Sometimes  I feel like we just put so much stock into leaving our mark and making a name for ourselves that we don't realize that. We don't realize what it means to truly matter and exist to one person in this world, in the rawest and realest ways. And it isn't until death that we see that.

 'Sure a lock was like a woman. It was also like a man and anyone or anything else-- if you wanted to understand it, you had to take it apart and see how it worked. If you wanted to master it, you had to learn it so well you could put it back together.' (pg. 278)

People always make it seem like women alone are difficult to figure out, but the truth is that we all are. We all know how to keep secrets, we all hide things even from ourselves sometimes. The only way any of us can understand anything entirely is to immerse ourselves with everything we are. Listen to others, watch the way they interact and live life. Even the smallest detail that you never thought would be important could be the missing piece to figuring the person out. You just need to have patience and pay enough attention to detail to unlock a person, no matter the gender.

 "You're not weak because you can't read. You're weak because you're afraid of people seeing your weakness. You're letting shame decide who you are... We can endure all kinds of pain. It's shame that eats men whole." (pg. 283)

One of the most relatable and truthful things I've ever read. We never want to be seen as anything less than perfect, thinking imperfections are weak when really it's that thought that makes us weak. We put ourselves on a pedestal not even taking into account that no one in this world is perfect, we just like to pretend like we are. We rather shame ourselves for the thing that makes us human than embrace it as a world commonality. We'd rather dwell on it and make ourselves feel miserable over something that only we know about ourselves, rather than accept it or try to improve on it. And if you think you can't improve on it? Then do something else; something that will overshadow your self inflicted shame with pride.

[inketernal]

Quote Blatherings pt. 3 || Crooked Kingdom

“Stop treating your pain like it’s something you imagined. If you see the wound is real, then you can heal it.” (pg. 339)

This is so important! We are a society that likes to keep our pain bottled up inside. We don’t share what hurts us because we don’t want to reveal a weakness within us to others. Admitting something wounds us is viewed as offering others leverage to hold over us in the future. The downside of that is, when we don’t open up our pain to others, we tend to hide it from ourselves too. And hiding things doesn’t fix them; it just allows them to cause more damage on you and your life, creating greater problems. So the best we can do for ourselves is to acknowledge what hurts us, make it known that it’s real, and work on taking it’s power from us. Treat it like a physical wound; you wouldn’t let it be exposed without treating it and risk infection would you? Then why do it for your mental and emotional health?

“The Suli believe that when we do wrong, we give life to our shadows. Every sin makes the shadow stronger, until eventually the shadow is stronger than you.” (pg. 359)

This concept is both frightening and amazing at the same time. It’s really the idea of cause and effect, but in a way that really makes us stop more to consider our actions. People always say there are 7 people in the world who look like us, but imagine them as the shadow of ourselves. If you met one today, how strong would your shadow be truthfully? Would you be able to handle going against them or would you suddenly regret every life choice you made that created them? I would like to think I would be able to handle mine, but I guess it depends really on whose definition of sin we go by.

[myrabbithole]

Focus