"Trafficking thrives in the shadows. And it can be easy to dismiss it as something that happens to someone else, somewhere else. But that is not the case. Trafficking is a crime that involves every nation on earth, and that includes our own." - Hillary Clinton
The intro to Not for Sale, a book written by the founder of our organization, David Batstone. I'm on the first chapter, but I know Dave's story, and if you have any interest at all in what I'm about to get myself into, or are just looking for a good read - find this book.
18 January 2012
The following is via HeyAmbarRae. Totally digging her right now.
"When I hear people talk about trying to make positive changes in their lives, they often explain how they want to feel in three months or a year from now.
“If I take this job then I will make enough money to pay off my student loans. Then I’ll be happy.”
“If I do this graduate program, it will give me enough credibility. Then I’ll feel good enough to do the work I’m meant to do.”
“If I date this girl, she’ll help bring balance to my life. Then I’ll feel better.”
No. False. That job won’t make you happy. That graduate program won’t make you feel good enough. That girl won’t make you feel better either. Temporarily? Of course. But in the long term? Absolutely not.
Why? Because happiness comes through self-understanding. It comes through an awareness of who you are, what makes you tick, and why you exist. The path of your life will obey the shape of your beliefs about love, value, and possibility. To make any lasting change in your life, you must first understand that which is shaping your beliefs right now. You can’t fight it, shame it, or ignore it. With openness and understanding in mind, you must get curious about why you feel the way you do. When you welcome your feelings and let the stories unfold, you’ll get to know yourself. Your true, naked self. The kind who lives a life full of pleasure, enjoyment, and adventure.
So if you’re feeling stuck, and if you want to make any change in your life, start by listening to your feelings. Unmet feelings obscure your ability to know yourself. So starting asking questions. Be tender to yourself. Let the stories unfold. Pay attention to and accept what arises, even if it surprises you."
"When I hear people talk about trying to make positive changes in their lives, they often explain how they want to feel in three months or a year from now.
“If I take this job then I will make enough money to pay off my student loans. Then I’ll be happy.”
“If I do this graduate program, it will give me enough credibility. Then I’ll feel good enough to do the work I’m meant to do.”
“If I date this girl, she’ll help bring balance to my life. Then I’ll feel better.”
No. False. That job won’t make you happy. That graduate program won’t make you feel good enough. That girl won’t make you feel better either. Temporarily? Of course. But in the long term? Absolutely not.
Why? Because happiness comes through self-understanding. It comes through an awareness of who you are, what makes you tick, and why you exist. The path of your life will obey the shape of your beliefs about love, value, and possibility. To make any lasting change in your life, you must first understand that which is shaping your beliefs right now. You can’t fight it, shame it, or ignore it. With openness and understanding in mind, you must get curious about why you feel the way you do. When you welcome your feelings and let the stories unfold, you’ll get to know yourself. Your true, naked self. The kind who lives a life full of pleasure, enjoyment, and adventure.
So if you’re feeling stuck, and if you want to make any change in your life, start by listening to your feelings. Unmet feelings obscure your ability to know yourself. So starting asking questions. Be tender to yourself. Let the stories unfold. Pay attention to and accept what arises, even if it surprises you."
12 January 2012
05 January 2012
"If you look at it, you see a dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever lived, lived out their lives. The aggregate of all our joys & sufferings, thousands of confident religions, ideologies & economic doctrines, every hunter & forager, every hero & coward, every creator & destroyer of civilizations, every king & peasant, every young couple in love, every hopeful child, every mother & father, every inventor & explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every superstar, every supreme leader, every saint & sinner in the history of our species, lived there on a mote of dust, suspended in a sunbeam."
"Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity -- in all this vastness -- there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. It is up to us. It's been said that astronomy is a humbling, and I might add, a character-building experience. To my mind, there is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly and compassionately with one another and to preserve and cherish that pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known." - Carl Sagan
"Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity -- in all this vastness -- there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. It is up to us. It's been said that astronomy is a humbling, and I might add, a character-building experience. To my mind, there is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly and compassionately with one another and to preserve and cherish that pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known." - Carl Sagan
04 January 2012
I'm going to call this my hell yes for 2012. Via White Hot Truth.
wear your white shirts. get them pressed.
use your good dishes -- everyday.
shave on weekends.
do not wait for special occasions.
do not tuck your best away in the drawers, in the back of the closet, in your heart.
don't wait for holidays or invitations.
declare that your today is the special occasion.
call instead of emailing. (it feels so good to connect.)
go for coffee.
quit.
take care of it.
renounce your glory days. you've told all of those stories more than twice.
focus forward.
wear perfume for yourself. toss your only-wear-around-the-house clothes and let your good clothes graduate to around-the-house status.
intend to feel good all of the time.
write your book.
launch.
make ecstatic sex a priority. (this deliberateness will make you more creative, productive and generally gracious. on your death bed, you will think about all the amazing sex you had this lifetime.)
burn your to-do list.
write poetry. one a day.
make a point to be as encouraging as possible, as much as possible, to everyone possible.
don't look back.
if you feel like you're always failing, consider that this is part of being an artist. let it be a divine inclination. keep going.
enter.
leave.
eat real food.
often refuse to be in the presence of people who make you feel repressed, anxious, or pull your frequency down.
do not entertain haters.
send light to the haters.
give it away. you probably don't need it and someone else does.
turn off the tv.
let it be easy.
burn candles. during the day.
fall in love. with yourself. with the person you're with. with the persons in your orbit.
because no one is perfect, but you can let the love be perfect for the both of you.
because everyone -- everyone -- is a doorway to God.
because you can get there from here.
because life is short.
wear your white shirts. get them pressed.
use your good dishes -- everyday.
shave on weekends.
do not wait for special occasions.
do not tuck your best away in the drawers, in the back of the closet, in your heart.
don't wait for holidays or invitations.
declare that your today is the special occasion.
call instead of emailing. (it feels so good to connect.)
go for coffee.
quit.
take care of it.
renounce your glory days. you've told all of those stories more than twice.
focus forward.
wear perfume for yourself. toss your only-wear-around-the-house clothes and let your good clothes graduate to around-the-house status.
intend to feel good all of the time.
write your book.
launch.
make ecstatic sex a priority. (this deliberateness will make you more creative, productive and generally gracious. on your death bed, you will think about all the amazing sex you had this lifetime.)
burn your to-do list.
write poetry. one a day.
make a point to be as encouraging as possible, as much as possible, to everyone possible.
don't look back.
if you feel like you're always failing, consider that this is part of being an artist. let it be a divine inclination. keep going.
enter.
leave.
eat real food.
often refuse to be in the presence of people who make you feel repressed, anxious, or pull your frequency down.
do not entertain haters.
send light to the haters.
give it away. you probably don't need it and someone else does.
turn off the tv.
let it be easy.
burn candles. during the day.
fall in love. with yourself. with the person you're with. with the persons in your orbit.
because no one is perfect, but you can let the love be perfect for the both of you.
because everyone -- everyone -- is a doorway to God.
because you can get there from here.
because life is short.
03 January 2012
Started my year off with a wonderful surprise - an email from Hieu, one of my students from Vietnam, with the picture below and a short but sweet message, "we all hope that you have a good work in the coming new year!" It's so humbling to know that they still think of me. I miss them every day. And, they look so grown up and beautiful in their ao dai's.
This is the picture I sent them in return. They loved looking at pictures of my friends, so I try to send some with every reply. With this one, I said "I rang in the new year with some of my closest, oldest friends. I couldn't be happier!" And it's true.
This is the picture I sent them in return. They loved looking at pictures of my friends, so I try to send some with every reply. With this one, I said "I rang in the new year with some of my closest, oldest friends. I couldn't be happier!" And it's true.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)