Kristen's Random Thoughts
Updated July 28, 2007
These are random little thoughts that popped up in my head and needed a place to get written down. Perhaps I'll turn some of them into articles one day.
- You can't search for happiness like searching for a treasure. You find happiness when you take time to appreciate life as it is, indulge in tiny pleasures, and pursue things greater than yourself.
- Everyone deserve a wonderful life, to have their dreams fulfilled, to live at ease. A remarkable person isn't somebody who has achieved such blessings. A remarkable person is somebody who takes those blessings and uses them to help other people find their own blessings.
- Each of us is a composition in progress. Every person who speaks or acts and every event that happens adds a note, rest, dynamics, tempo change, and so forth to the score. Even on our deathbed the music keeps playing and changing.
- It doesn't matter if you're a king a vagrant, you're still just another person, longing to be loved.
- At some point, everyone wonders if they really are important or just faking it.
- The only way to forgiveness is through understanding.
- The best way to stop an enemy is to become his friend.
- Surround yourself with people whom you admire, and you will learn to grow into an admirable person.
- Present yourself to the world as you wish others to see you.
- Talents are blessings that are meant to be shared with the world. It is shameful to waste them because of embarrassment.
- There will always be critics. Let them spend their energy criticizing. Spend your own energy on producing works for them to criticize.
- The greatest sin is arrogance. Never be arrogant enough to assume you have all the answers. Don't even assume that you truly know a single answer. We are each flawed with misinformation.
- When you read, you learn information. When you write, you create ideas.
- In every situation (e.g. birth, death, joy, pain, winning the jackpot, finding a penny) I ask myself, "What can I learn from this?"
- The best way to communicate is to use words that the majority of the people understand.
- The goal isn't to be better than everyone else. The goal is to be better today than you were yesterday.
- Hindsight is only 20/20 when you are looking at past events with humble honesty.
- Patience with clear thinking is the only way to avoid frustration.
- To be creative is to let yourself go, create without limits, make mistakes, and laugh at what you produce.
- People who can control themselves are far more powerful than people who can control the entire world.
- If you want to be a victim, just keep asking, "Why me?" If you want to be a hero, start asking yourself, "Why not me?"
- Every moment is precious, even the bad moments. Every object is filled with the energy of creation, even the objects we despise. Every person is worthy of love and compassion, even if we abhor what those people do. Every living being deserves respect, even if those beings seem to lack consciousness.
- The most difficult lesson to learn is how to be unbiased, to let go of judgment.
- If you want to feel the ultimate joy, dedicate yourself to helping other people find moments of joy.
- Spend more time focusing on fixing your mistakes, which you can fix, and less time trying to fix the mistakes of other people, which you can't fix.
- Surround yourself with people who are stronger, healthier, wiser, wealthier, happier, and more educated than you are, and every day, you will find yourself being stronger, healthier, wiser, wealthier, happier, and more educated as well.
- Don't be afraid to let other people learn from your success and failures. Display your mistakes and accomplishments as lessons for the world.
- Always take time to stop and think things through clearly, letting yourself view all sides of the situation, even the sides you don't want to face. The biggest mistakes happen when we hurry to decisions.
- Everyone is special and significant, but don't assume that you are more special or more significant than anyone else.
- What you think about determines what you create. Think thoughts of resentment, and you will create anger. Think thoughts of understanding, and you will create forgiveness and compassion. Think about little things, and you will change the world in little ways. Think about big things, and you will change the world in big ways.
- There is no good. There is no evil. There are only wisdom, mistakes, and dumb luck.
- If God created the devil, then even the devil is worthy of forgiveness.
- Looking eccentric doesn't make you interesting.
- Looking extravagant doesn't make you wealthy.
- Acting annoyed doesn't make you important; it just makes you annoying.
- Quoting literature, movies, television, or music doesn't make you intelligent.
- Our purpose in life is to be happy. I want to enjoy my life, and I want to help other people enjoy their lives.
- Find humor in everything. (I'd rather meet comedians than any other type of entertainer.)
- Be optimistic. Things will always work out in the end, even if it's not what you had hoped.
- Be prepared. Just because things will always work out doesn't mean you should sit back and stop looking out for yourself. The worst can happen at any moment, so make an effort to be prepared for whatever life throws your way (from personal setback to natural disaster).
- Don't accept anything as truth just because somebody says it's true. Whether it's religion, politics, or science, look at the evidence and decide if it makes sense to you.
- Don't be afraid to admit you were wrong or change your opinion. It's really not a big deal.
- Find something artistic that you love to do, and make time to do it. I love to write (even before I knew how to scribble the alphabet), and I ensure that I do it daily.
- Learn as much as you can about as many subjects as you can (from cooking to theoretical physics). The more you learn, the more you'll understand. The more you understand, the more you'll make wise decisions.
- Strive to understand why people do what they do. It makes it much easier to forgive them and reduces the chance that you might take something personally.
- Don't assume that experts know what they're doing. Always be an informed consumer.
- Don't be afraid to do something yourself rather than using an expert. Many things are easier than they seem, and you won't overcharge yourself. Plus, you can ensure that the job will get done exactly the way that you want it done.
- If you don't do everything yourself (and you generally shouldn't do everything yourself), be prepared to accept that the quality of work or method of execution may not be what you want.
- Eventually, everyone you love will die (not a happy thought), so never take them for granted and always say "I love you" at every opportunity (at least several times a day).
- I love watching flowers rain from the trees in spring. I love watching leaves rain from the trees in autumn. I love watching snow fall in the winter, and rain is beautiful as long as I'm not in a flood. There's just something about seeing things fluttering, swirling, and dripping through the air. Birds flying. Clouds rolling. Balloons. Planes. Smoke. Fog and mist.