Saturday, March 8, 2014

10 Painfully Obvious Truths Everyone Forgets Too Soon



It has been an extremely long time since I have written in this blog.
A lot has happened in the past 1.5 years since I put up a post (which I will hopefully get to share with you sooner than later).

One thing that hasn't changed is that I'm always looking to improve, be inspired, and live an amazing life.

This article is one that I recently read (at a time when there is a lot of soul searching and self-examining going on in my life) that really stuck with me.

These are a list of "10 Painfully Obvious Truths Everyone Forgets Too Soon"
(Post originally written by Mark Chernoff:)
Yes, it is painfully obvious, but it's amazing how many people forget these little simple truths to life.
I hope you read this, remember this, and incorporate it into your life.
I'm sure your life will change in ways you never imagined.




“What each must seek in his life never was on land or sea. 

It is something out of his own unique potentiality for experience, something that never has been and never could have been experienced by anyone else.” 
-Joseph Campbell




You know how you can hear something a hundred times in a hundred different ways before it finally gets through to you?  The ten truths listed below fall firmly into that category – life lessons that many of us likely learned years ago, and have been reminded of ever since, but for whatever reason, haven’t fully grasped.
This, my friends, is my attempt at helping all of us, myself included, “get it” and “remember it” once and for all…

1.  The average human life is relatively short.

We know deep down that life is short, and that death will happen to all of us eventually, and yet we are infinitely surprised when it happens to someone we know.  It’s like walking up a flight of stairs with a distracted mind, and misjudging the final step.  You expected there to be one more stair than there is, and so you find yourself off balance for a moment, before your mind shifts back to the present moment and how the world really is.
LIVE your life TODAY!  Don’t ignore death, but don’t be afraid of it either.  Be afraid of a life you never lived because you were too afraid to take action.  Death is not the greatest loss in life.  The greatest loss is what dies inside you while you’re still alive.  Be bold.  Be courageous.  Be scared to death, and then take the next step anyway.

2.  You will only ever live the life you create for yourself.

Your life is yours alone.  Others can try to persuade you, but they can’t decide for you.  They can walk with you, but not in your shoes.  So make sure the path you decide to walk aligns with your own intuition and desires, and don’t be scared to switch paths or pave a new one when it makes sense.
Remember, it’s always better to be at the bottom of the ladder you want to climb than the top of the one you don’t.  Be productive and patient.  And realize that patience is not about waiting, but the ability to keep a good attitude while working hard for what you believe in.  This is your life, and it is made up entirely of your choices.  May your actions speak louder than your words.  May your life preach louder than your lips.  May your success be your noise in the end.
And if life only teaches you one thing, let it be that taking a passionate leap is always worth it.  Even if you have no idea where you’re going to land, be brave enough to step up to the edge of the unknown, and listen to your heart.  (Angel and I discuss this in more detail in the “Passion and Growth” chapter of 1,000 Little Things Happy, Successful People Do Differently.)

3.  Being busy does NOT mean being productive.

Busyness isn’t a virtue, nor is it something to respect.  Though we all have seasons of crazy schedules, very few of us have a legitimate need to be busy ALL the time.  We simply don’t know how to live within our means, prioritize properly, and say no when we should.
Being busy rarely equates to productivity these days.  Just take a quick look around.  Busy people outnumber productive people by a wide margin.  Busy people are rushing all over the place, and running late half of the time.  They’re heading to work, conferences, meetings, social engagements, etc.  They barely have enough free time for family get-togethers and they rarely get enough sleep.  Yet, emails are shooting out of their smart phones like machine gun bullets, and their day planners are jammed to the brim with obligations.  Their busy schedule gives them an elevated sense of importance.  But it’s all an illusion.  They’re like hamsters running on a wheel.
Though being busy can make us feel more alive than anything else for a moment, the sensation is not sustainable long term.  We will inevitably, whether tomorrow or on our deathbed, come to wish that we spent less time in the buzz of busyness and more time actually living a purposeful life.

4.  Some kind of failure always occurs before success.

Most mistakes are unavoidable.  Learn to forgive yourself.  It’s not a problem to make them.  It’s only a problem if you never learn from them.
If you’re too afraid of failure, you can’t possibly do what needs to be done to be successful.  The solution to this problem is making friends with failure.  You want to know the difference between a master and a beginner?  The master has failed more times than the beginner has even tried.  Behind every great piece of art is a thousand failed attempts to make it, but these attempts are simply never shown to us.
Bottom line:  Just because it’s not happening now, doesn’t mean it never will.  Sometimes things have to go very wrong before they can be right.  (Read The Success Principles.)

5.  Thinking and doing are two very different things.

Success never comes to look for you while you wait around thinking about it.
You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.  Knowledge is basically useless without action.  Good things don’t come to those who wait; they come to those who work on meaningful goals.  Ask yourself what’s really important and then have the courage to build your life around your answer.
And remember, if you wait until you feel 100% ready to begin, you’ll likely be waiting the rest of your life.

6.  You don’t have to wait for an apology to forgive.

Life gets much easier when you learn to accept all the apologies you never got.  The key is to be thankful for every experience – positive or negative.  It’s taking a step back and saying, “Thank you for the lesson.”  It’s realizing that grudges from the past are a perfect waste of today’s happiness, and that holding one is like letting unwanted company live rent free in your head.
Forgiveness is a promise – one you want to keep.  When you forgive someone you are making a promise not to hold the unchangeable past against your present self.  It has nothing to do with freeing a criminal of his or her crime, and everything to do with freeing yourself of the burden of being an eternal victim.

7.  Some people are simply the wrong match for you.

You will only ever be as great as the people you surround yourself with, so be brave enough to let go of those who keep bringing you down.  You shouldn’t force connections with people who constantly make you feel less than amazing.
If someone makes you feel uncomfortable and insecure every time you’re with them, for whatever reason, they’re probably not close friend material.  If they make you feel like you can’t be yourself, or if they make you “less than” in any way, don’t pursue a connection with them.  If you feel emotionally drained after hanging out with them or get a small hit of anxiety when you are reminded of them, listen to your intuition.  There are so many “right people” for you, who energize you and inspire you to be your best self.  It makes no sense to force it with people who are the wrong match for you.

8.  It’s not other people’s job to love you; it’s yours.

It’s important to be nice to others, but it’s even more important to be nice to yourself.  You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.  So make sure you don’t start seeing yourself through the eyes of those who don’t value you.  Know your worth, even if they don’t.
Today, let someone love you just the way you are – as flawed as you might be, as unattractive as you sometimes feel, and as incomplete as you think you are.  Yes, let someone love you despite all of this, and let that someone be YOU. (Read Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On It.)

9.  What you own is not who YOU are.

Stuff really is just stuff, and it has absolutely no bearing on who you are as a person.  Most of us can make do with much less than we think we need.  That’s a valuable reminder, especially in a hugely consumer-driven culture that focuses more on material things than meaningful connections and experiences.
You have to create your own culture.  Don’t watch TV, don’t read every fashion magazine, and don’t consume too much of the evening news.  Find the strength to fill your time with meaningful experiences.  The space and time you are occupying at this very moment is LIFE, and if you’re worrying about Kim Kardashian or Lebron James or some other famous face, then you are disempowered.  You’re giving your life away to marketing and media trickery, which is created by big companies to ultimately motivate you to want to dress a certain way, look a certain way, and be a certain way.  This is tragic, this kind of thinking.  It’s all just Hollywood brainwashing.  What is real is YOU and your friends and your family, your loves, your highs, your hopes, your plans, your fears, etc.
Too often we’re told that we’re not important, we’re just peripheral to what is.  “Get a degree, get a job, get a car, get a house, and keep on getting.”  And it’s sad, because someday you’ll wake up and realize you’ve been tricked.  And all you’ll want then is to reclaim your mind by getting it out of the hands of the brainwashers who want to turn you into a drone that buys everything that isn’t needed to impress everyone that isn’t important.

10.  Everything changes, every second.

Embrace change and realize it happens for a reason.  It won’t always be obvious at first, but in the end it will be worth it.
What you have today may become what you had by tomorrow.  You never know.  Things change, often spontaneously.  People and circumstances come and go.  Life doesn’t stop for anybody.  It moves rapidly and rushes from calm to chaos in a matter of seconds, and happens like this to people every day.  It’s likely happening to someone nearby right now.
Sometimes the shortest split second in time changes the direction of our lives.  A seemingly innocuous decision rattles our whole world like a meteorite striking Earth.  Entire lives have been swiveled and flipped upside down, for better or worse, on the strength of an unpredictable event.  And these events are always happening.
However good or bad a situation is now, it will change.  That’s the one thing you can count on.  So when life is good, enjoy it.  Don’t go looking for something better every second.  Happiness never comes to those who don’t appreciate what they have while they have it.

Your turn…

What else would you add to this list?  What important life lessons do you often forget?  Leave a comment below and share your thoughts.



*~ Have a Beautiful Day! ~*



Sunday, July 1, 2012

Happy 1st of July!

"In summer, the song sings itself. "
-William Carlos Williams

Ok, it's been a reaaaally long time (almost a year.... maybe longer...) since I've regularly posted on my blog.
No excuses, but let's just say I've kept myself pretty busy...

However, I have not forgotten my readers out there!!!
I sincerely apologize and want you to know that I HAVE been thinking about you!
SO, I hope that from this point on, I will be writing more regularly.
I have lots of experiences, tips and tricks, and other randomness to share~*


Summer is here, and I hope you are able to take advantage of the sunshine, the different bodies of water there are (whether it be a sprinkler, pool, lake,ocean or whatever form of water you can find), fireworks and fireflies, ice cream/ice pops/gelato/smoothies and all the other yummy frozen treats, and of course the longer nights!!!


So put on those flip flops, embrace the heat wave by doing whatever u have to do to cool off, and enjoy the sun and air of laziness that floats around while you can!




"Then followed that beautiful season... Summer...
Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light; 
and the landscape lay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood."
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow




*~ Have a Beautiful Day! ~*



Monday, March 26, 2012

Every Day Is Earth Day: Week 17




"We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive. " 
-Albert Einstein 

Friday, March 16, 2012

The Makeup Show L.A. 2012


The Makeup Show LA 2012

                 SATURDAY
MARCH7

9:00 AM – 6:00 PM

                     SUNDAY
MARCH 18

9:00 AM – 5:00 PM



The Makeup Show LA will continue to grow and deliver the largest PRO ONLY
driven beauty event in Los Angeles, California!
Join us at The Makeup Show as the top industry artists and pro-driven companies present the newest products, seminars, forums and hands-on workshops. We’ll deliver the same pro-driven, artistically inspired, celebratory energy of The Makeup Show to the west coast, and bring together your top brands and inspirational artists and educators for two amazing days of community, career and craft building. Check out the fresh looks of the upcoming season. Learn about the newest lines and product launches. Explore makeup workshops and discover school programs. Network with your peers. Develop new relationships with the companies that make the industry tick.
It’s the west coast must-attend event for all professionals in the business of makeup and beauty!


The Makeup Show L.A. is THIS weekend 3/17-18 at the


California Market Center
110 East 9th Street (between S. Main Street and S. Los Angeles Street)
Los Angeles, CA 90071
 



So much to learn with all day seminars, tons of business forums and hands on workshops, and lots of shopping  (Bring your money.... you can skip a meal or two!)


It's an event worth going to that only comes once a year. Don't miss out!!!!


Hope to see you there!  
(Come say hello at the Make Up For Ever booth!)



*~ Have a Beautiful Day! ~*



Wednesday, January 11, 2012

How Does It Taste? -Mark Nepo

I recently read a story from Mark Nepo's Book of Awakening (Oprah approved!!!) that I loved and have been sharing with my friends.

For my first post of 2012 (HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!), I would also like to share it with you.





Thursday, November 17, 2011

Every Day Is Earth Day: Week 16

"On Spaceship Earth there are no passengers;
Everybody is a member of the crew.
We have moved into an age in which everybody's activities affect everybody else."
-Marshall McLuhan

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Trish McEvoy Brush Bath

Everyone that has worked with me or knows me knows that I'm kind of obsessed with brushes.
To be more specific, I'm really anal about brush maintenance.
Many a people have received my look of horror when they tell me that they have never washed their brushes.

I recently discovered a new product to add to my beauty arsenal.
It's made brush washing a lot easier, quicker, and a much nicer experience.



I present to you

Trish McEvoy Brush Bath

Trish's high performing Brush Bath is a gentle shampoo for brushes of all kinds,
powerfully formulated to break down makeup collected in brushes whether powder or cream.
Brush Bath will add years of use to your investment in fine brushes.


Retail Price: $20- 4 oz.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Every Day Is Earth Day: Week 15

"It is our collective and individual responsibility to protect and nurture the global family,
to support its weaker members and to preserve and tend to the environment in which we all live."
-Dalai Lama


Monday, October 31, 2011

*~ Happy Halloween 2011 ~*




It's Halloween! It's Halloween!
The moon is full and bright
And we shall see what can't be seen
On any other night.
Skeletons and ghosts and ghouls,
Grinning goblins fighting duels,
Werewolves rising from their tombs,
Witches on their magic brooms.
In masks and gown we haunt the street
And knock on doors for trick or treat.
Tonight we are the king and queen,
For oh tonight it's Halloween! 

-Jack Prelutsky



"I'm a Bag Lady!"
 

*~ Have a Boooootiful Day! ~*


   *All makeup by Make Up For Ever .
The Make Up For Ever Academy opens in NYC on January 2012*
 

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Every Day Is Earth Day: Week 14


"It has to do with keeping things in balance.
                               It's like the spirits have made a deal with us. We're on our own.
  The spirits have been good enough to let us live here and use the utilities, and we're saying:
                                                            We know how nice you're being.
                             We appreciate the rain, we appreciate the sun, we appreciate the deer we took.
                                                          Sorry if we messed up anything.
                                          You've gone to a lot of trouble, and we'll try to be good guests."
-Barbara Kingsolver



Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Your Relaxation Rx- Mind/Body Alternatives to Common Problems

"It is amazing how much crisper the general experience of life becomes
when your body is given a chance to develop a little strength"
-Frank Duff


Life can be rough. 
It can bring about a lot of different ailments.
So many people are stressed out, overworked/underpaid, tired, and achy.

It's easiest to take some medication to help with your ailments, but I believe it's better to get to the source of the problem to try and fix it instead of just masking it.

Here are some tips for some alternative methods to a few common health problems from Self Magazine:

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Hurricane iRene.....



The past few days, I've been getting lots of texts about all the trouble "I'm" causing in the North East this weekend.
Yes, the irony...

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it won't be so bad... but better to be safe than sorry.

If you live in the North East, here is some of the latest information about all the public transportation closings, evacuations and what not that you should be aware of for Hurricane iRene.

Everyone~ stay safe!
Those iRene's are nothing but trouble!!!  ;)

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Every Day Is Earth Day: Week 13


"They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself"
-Andy Warhol



Monday, August 22, 2011

Makeup Testing Tips From The Pros At Allure


When people come to me to find new makeup, I always recommend testing it out before buying it.
I also highly recommend using the products correctly when trying things out (i.e. test foundation on your face, eyeshadow on your eyes). 
Just make sure to wipe the makeup clean and be sanitary.

There are some people who don't like to try on makeup before buying it.
For those people,  here are a few tips on the best ways to shop for beauty products from an online Allure article.