Inspirations from afar.

So I always enjoy reading this guy's blog ---> http://tylerknott.com/. I used to have a tumblr account before I had my blogspot, and he was always one of my favorite inspirations I knew I could turn to for lovely poetry, incredible daily haikus, and beautiful photos of encouragement, happiness, and light. When I deleted my tumblr back in January of this year, however, I realized how much I actually missed reading up on his inspirational messages and started following him on twitter where I realized he posted all his tumblr blogs, and so the reading continued. His words of hope and love are so encouraging, fresh, and motivational. Even though I've never actually met this man in person, I feel a strange sense of connection to the way he words his entries, and they always seem to resonate within my soul. I highly recommend you check him out..his entry today especially caught my eye, so I thought I'd share with you what he wrote:

First Sight

I believe
in love at first sight
but
I will always believe
that the people
we love
we have loved before.
Many, many
many times before
and when we stumble
through grace
and circumstance and
that brilliant illusion of choice
to finally meet them again
we feel it faster
each time through.
The one glance
that set life alight
is two sets
of two eyes
staring through the layers
of lifetimes
and stolen glances
and first kisses
and hands held;
the brace against the
weight and unrelenting
tide of waiting.
I believe
in love at first sight
but am not burdened
with the misconception
that it’s a first sight
at all.

-Tyler Knott Gregson-

And if you want to check out the actual post, just go to this link: First Sight.

Always inspiring, always encouraging, his words are so beautiful, pure, and true, and I'm so glad I have the opportunity to listen to such a hopeful individual on a daily basis, even if it is via the internet. Keep it up Tyler Gregson, wherever you are in the world, just know that you are truly an inspiring individual.

xo

Jardin

This one's for you, lovely lady friends:

So every now and then I stop to think about just how many amazing ladies make up my wonderful life. So, in saying that, in this short entry I'd like to recognize some of these beautiful girls and just how grateful I am to say that they're a part of my awesome life!

 With Meggie - Summer '10 - Floating the River!

 You're my favorite kitty...err..I mean coworker! Meoooow! xo

 From the beginning and through the end...best friends for always and forever.

 Best friend twins?

 The Photobooth Chronicles - Summer 2010 - Lubs, Jubs, and Lobs

 El Mercado - the ladies - spring '10

 
Keeping it Classy, New Years Eve 2010-2011 Edition

 My residents keep it real. I got da best ones for realz.

And then there was me. I feel like without the friendship, love, and memories that I've created with all these ladies in the photos pictured above my life would be in a very different state. I've gone through a lot these past few years, but I couldn't have done it alone. Dealing with a rough relationship, adjusting to life in college, trying to manage 2 jobs plus school plus a life...things have been kind of crazy since the end of high school. However, I'm always growing and I'm always learning. My mind is now in a constant state of flux where I know I'll succeed in whatever I decide to put my efforts into.

 Recording my first EP in the fall of 2010 was proof of how far I'd come in my personal life, and without the help of some awesome young ladies (unfortunately I have no photos with the 2 beautiful girls who helped me reach my goal of recording an EP..Karissa and Yara, I owe you ladies a lot!!) plus the ones in the photos up above, I really don't think I would have been able to keep up with such a positive attitude through it all. 

It takes the rough times to understand the good times, and it takes a beautiful friend such as the ones I've got to be there with you through it all. I couldn't have asked for more awesome ladies in my life, and so I'm truly grateful for these few ladies who I believe have definitely impacted my life in such a positive manner. Of course I'm always inspired by the women around me on a daily basis, yet these are just some of the few who I feel have really touched me on a personal level. Yall rock ladies, and never stop being the awesome "you" that you all are.
Love love love :)

xo

Jardin

Are you living your life?

I always try to think of my life in terms of the future - what am I going to do when I graduate? Will I have enough money for France this summer? Will I continue to play music through the years? Will I get nervous going home to meet C's parents? So many questions, but I rarely find that I have the answer to anything. I've learned that I need to stop focusing on the future, when I'm living right now in the present. Nothing else should matter if I focus on the beautiful moment I'm living in this very second. I also need to learn that the past is the past for a reason - it's there to serve as a reminder of both the bad and the good times one's encountered, as well as to grow from mistakes and to take joy in the fond memories you've had, yet the past is just that...the past. One can only grow from that and continue to live life growing constantly, mentally and physically. I've become so much more mentally aware of how much more of a confident person I am these days - I feel happier, more energetic, more creative and always inspired...when I let go of the worries of yesterday and tomorrow, and start to solely focus on the now, I think I then begin to realize that none of it is going to matter in the end. What matters is what's going on in my heart, my mind, and my life at THIS very moment, not any time other than this. Nuh-uh. At this very moment, I am grateful for the fact that I'm laying in my comfortable bed with my bright green laptop atop my lap clacking away at the keyboard, stealing glances at the beautiful roses sitting in the outline of my window. I appreciate these little moments. I feel that I'm more appreciative of the things in my life when I think of them in current times - I'm so thankful for the friends I have now, the boy who loves me, the school I'm currently attending, and the guitar I get to pick up and make music from whenever I so damn please. Life is beautiful right now! Not just in mine, but in yours too...you just have to realize it first. If you don't focus on the now, and take the time to breathe in the little moments that make up the grander frame that is life, then you'll never truly appreciate just how awesome things are. Yeeeooowzaaa! It's a pretty cool thought when you stop to think about it :)

Seriously though....life is beautiful, but you have to be living it in the now to fully recognize that. Don't let it go before you've experienced both the passion and pain of it all!

xo

Jardin

ps. I took a yoga course at school last semester and we had to read Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth as one of our class assignments...I think he has a lot of good things to say about this very subject...i.e. living your life in the "now" and keeping your mind focused on the present! Here's a couple passages that stand out to me in particular:

"The great arises out of small things that are honored and cared for. Everybody's life really consists of small things. Greatness is a mental abstraction and a favorite fantasy of the ego. The paradox is that the foundation for greatness is honoring the small things of the present moment instead of pursuing the idea of greatness. The present moment is always small in the sense that it is always simple, but concealed within it lies the greatest power... only when you align yourself with the present moment do you have access to that power."

Empower yourself in the present moment!! What a rad concept is that?! Live your life as if you had no idea what next week will hold for you. Stop to admire all the "small things" that are so seemingly irrelevant as you go about your daily actions. You'll be surprised as to how beautiful the world seems when you look at it from a different vantage point...

Blue skies, sunny days..

...that's what the forecast for the week says, at least! Aside from having awful allergies and non-stop rounds of sneezing every time I walk outside, I can't help but be in love with this beautiful weather. As much as I complain about Mother Nature's ever temperate moods with the weather changes on the daily, I can't help but love Texas at this time of the year. Everything is in bloom, the colors are so vibrant, and I'm in the mood to get out on the lake and go kayaking for the rest of my life. It's so lovely outside and all around me. Minus the pollen and you have yourself one happy lady ready to enjoy all spring has to offer me. 

 

Current obsession. Alexz Johnson, you rock girlfriend.

I'm actually getting my shit done in the library right now - I'm finishing up my French and I'm about to start all my studying for science here soon. Three cheers for productivity, and I haven't even had my normal coffee intake of the day either. Woah. What's gotten into me? Most likely my fast sinking GPA, for starters. I've got to get my grades together for this last semester of junior year. I want to begin my senior year strong! =]

This is still one of my favorite SNL skits ever.

Want of the day:

Want. These shoes. On my feet. Now.

A brief summary of the past several months...


January: Trying to forget.
February: Learning to love again.
March: Sleeping in new hope.

And as for the rest of the months ahead, I only foresee good things on the horizon. I'm not just in love with my friends and with my life, but with the opportunity and good fortune that presents itself to every smiling soul with hope in their hearts and a positive attitude in their mind. I'm also in love with a boy who stepped into my life at just the right time - I know I've talked about him a little bit in recent posts, but I can't help but slip in these words of positivity towards my current relationship. I feel so happy and proud that I not only can say that I have a boyfriend, but that I can say I have a boyfriend who just happens to be the wonderful one I've got now, and I get to experience all the wonderful things about him day-by-day. I realize how much I love him as the hours roll on, and things only seem to be looking up. I can honestly say that I only see good things in the future for the both of us, and regardless of what our future holds for us individually, I know that as a unit we will most definitely go far.

I've also come to realize that the more love you give, the more love you receive and become. We are all made up of so much love, and so when we share it with those around us, it becomes an endless cycle of happiness and joy. 


As I came into this year in a somewhat tumultuous state of presence, I couldn't help but notice myself lacking the one thing I wanted the most - love. And peace. Above anything else, I wanted peace in my life where I knew that wherever I was, I would feel ok with the things in my life going on around me. I'd worked the entire year of 2010 to get myself to a better state of mind, and it was crazy how something so little as a missed connection could make me feel as if everything I worked for had been for nothing in the end. But as the month of January came to a close, I began to realize that right in front of my eyes was something (or rather, someone) who had been there in the background silently, and as we drove out to Red Bud and Mt. Bonnell that February evening, something in my heart clicked - I knew that good things would come of that night.


And so on the 5th of February, 2011, I fell in love again. And not just with any boy, but with someone who I know loves me back for everything I am. I'm such a weird individual, and so the fact that I can be weird around and with him and for him the same back to me, well..it puts a smile on my face knowing that I can just be ..."me." He loves me for me!! What an awesome feeling! After months of thinking that nothing would ever come of things between him and I, and having the hugest crush ever, that crush actually turned into reality, and I'm so glad I didn't just stop at the stairs like I usually did after we'd been hanging out and it was time to say goodbye. I'm so glad that we talked more about life and everything and as the night unfolded, so did our feelings. 


I'm so happy to have found such an awesome individual as C - I haven't felt this happy in so long. And as the days roll on, so does my appreciation for living such a beautiful life. I've got too much to be happy for these days to see my life any other way.


Never forget that love is all around you, and it's up to you if you want to reach out and make it yours. Give love, receive love, be love. It's easy if you try :)


xo
Jardin