Why so serious?

Why so serious?  Have a happy meal 

Tired of being tired, sick of being sick and to busy being busy?  Let’s take a moment to reflect, shall we? Life can become so overwhelmingly stressful and utterly exhausting and if we allow it to, passes us by in the blink of an eye.  I don’t know about you, but I have a truckload of bucket lists that I never get time to even revise, let alone complete and finally tick off.  We don’t stop having fun because we grow older, we grow old because we stop having fun!! 

   So here’s an idea… just for today yell out, “Plot change!” and try some of the following tension-breaking, stress-relieving, random and seemingly meaningless things to do.  This can be your bucket list of things to do today.  Here are a few random acts on the ‘Today’s-to-do-list’ to try: • Go to the pet store.  Buy bird seed. Ask how long it will take for the birds to grow.  Wait for a reaction.  • Point at someone and shout, “you are one of them!” Run and pretend to trip.  Crawl away slowly.  • Look through a restaurant or shop/office glass window and when someone looks at you from the other side shout, “Oh my goodness, I’m hideous!” • Go to McDonalds and order a happy meal with an extra happy on the side.  • Put your desk in the elevator.  When people try to get on, ask them if they have an appointment.  • Arrive late at work and when your boss asks why you are late, say your pet rock had a seizure. • Jump onto somebody’s back and yell, “The sky is falling! Run man, RUN!” see what happens.  • Visit the library and ask for a book on how to read.  • Blow up a balloon, then ask somebody to pop it, when they do, start screaming.  • Shout “I won!  I won!” when drawing money from an ATM.  • Take a stuffed animal with you to a busy store and scream at it about how it ruined your life.  • Follow strangers around in a store and spray everything they touch with disinfectant.  • Call someone and tell them you can’t talk right now. • Call in sick – at a place where you don’t work.  • Run up to someone you know to avoid criminal charges and hit them over the head with a loaf of bread.

   By now you should be rid of stress and laughing so hard your tummy hurts. Fun feels good, doesn’t it? Well here’s a secret, happy looks good on you, and you should try it more often! That is all, as you were…

Glitter greetings (and all things shiny)

Bohemian B

Fundamentally fascinating

A touch of madness 

“You’re mad.  Bonkers.  Off your head – but I’ll tell you a secret – all the best people are” - Lewis Carroll – Alice in Wonderland.   This is one of my favourite lines from one of my favourite movies of all time.  It is true, being the mystery that I am, I do tend to have numerous favourites and you will often hear me exclaim (or more like shriek), “That’s my favourite part/thing/show/colour/song....”  I have many favourites of any topic you could possible fathom, does that make me eccentric? I certainly hope so!

   It was just the other morning that the word “dysfunctional” was used in the same sentence as my name.  I almost took offence, thankfully though, I didn’t.  Granted, it was never intended to be for the ears of yours truly and as one would normally jump to some or another lunatic assumption, expecting the worst, I chose the element of surprise rather.  Instead of taking immediate offence, I decided to explore this word, “dysfunctional” a little more, who knew, maybe I could regard the statement as complimentary instead of offensive.  After consulting with my good friends, the Oxford Dictionary and Google, I discovered the following treasures.

   The word dysfunctional is an adjective, (ok, we know that, but what else…?).  In the Oxford Dictionary we read that the definition of dysfunctional is, “Not operating normally”.  A wave of sheer relief washed over me as I drank in the authentic aura of the situation I found myself wrapped up in.  Just think about it, I came frightfully close to taking offence instead of rather seeing its intention as complimentary.  I came so close to hurting somebody’s feelings when I almost retaliated in anger and hurt, instead of gratitude and appreciation at this, obviously well intended, compliment. (For those who are not catching my drift – this is a slight touch on sarcasm some would call it – I prefer calling my tone, a touch of positivity, turning a nasty into a pretty)

   It is no secret that I can rarely be placed in a class accustomed to regular occurrences of normality and for that I am tremendously elated.  Besides making me chocolate and ice-cream hungry, these discoveries were breaking open new worlds in my mind as I was forced to explore more undisclosed avenues, this time taking a closer look at the word “normal”.  I chose to consult the same Oxford Dictionary as earlier and discovered the following: the definition of normal is also an adjective and its meaning is – “conforming to the standard, usual, typical or expected.”   Oh hell no, that is by no means this Bohemian!  On the contrary, rather expect the un-expected, un-usual and an altogether other level of attainment, opposed to anything standard or in any way reprehensive of predictable in any form from me. Now, I don’t know if you have noticed this, but that intricately defining word “dysfunctional”, is mostly tossed over to the fairer gender pool and often (not always though) by the other form of human species, namely men.   So gents, this message is specifically for you, Oscar Wilde said, “Woman are meant to be loved, not understood.”

  So if you find yourself realising that you have nothing in common with people who take themselves seriously (to the extreme) and should you find you are more often than not referred to as mad, crazy, weird or even dysfunctional, accept that there is nothing (or nothing serious, by ‘our’ standards anyway) wrong with you.  Engrave the following quote on your soul and do not be afraid to embrace your own unique weirdness, your quote for the day (being yours forever) is, “No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness” – Aristotle.   I have often heard people say, “define normal”, well now you actually can, how utterly unexpected and completely contrary to the answer (if any) that they may have expected.

  Well, there you have it in a nutshell… now aren’t you proud to be a fun-filled little lollipop, triple dipped in Psycho? Now go sprinkle that sparkle everywhere and keep people entertained!

Glitter greetings (and all things shiny)

Bohemian B

Simple Simon Says…

So you think you have problems?  Well, I have some good news for you today, albeit a bit of a bitter pill to swallow and not exactly always the easiest of solutions to apply, it’s still good news at the end of the day, depending on how you look at it of course.  There IS a solution to every problem (three solutions to be exact… continue reading) even the huge mountains that seem impossible to even imagine an attempt at climbing, let alone scaling it.  What makes the situation appear overbearing and greatly intimidating to the point of near hysteria, is the way some of us are programmed to look at things.  For instance a problem you may be facing could feel like a dire straits situation to you, a huge catastrophe, larger than life itself and a millimeter away from total damnation for sure, could in actual fact be the size of a mole hill opposed to the size of the towering Alps your mind has summed it up to be. 

Are you ready to hear what the three solutions to every problem are?  Well ready or not, here they come…

 (For those who thrive on drama and the sympathetic ear you will always find somewhere, stop reading this now! The answer could just change your life as you know it – for the brave, please continue) there are three solutions to every problem: Accept it.  Change it.  Leave it.  Now please don’t roll your eyes like that, I know you have heard this all before, but just hear me out before turning the page in disappointed disgust.  If you can’t accept it, change it.  If you can’t change it, leave it.  Often easier said than done, right? But have you ever wondered why?  Well, if you explore that avenue you may come up with a few reasons, granted you are honest with yourself.  I took some time and mulled this over in my mind and I must be honest, the brutal truth is not all that pretty, but necessary none the less considering you are desperate enough to change your life.  Here is what I found: Firstly, habit is a big culprit for our lack of taking action and responsibility for our own lives, our comfort zone if you will, albeit how bad it maybe, we tend to find a sick comfort there.  John C Maxwell said, “You will never change your life until you change something you do daily.  The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.”  Secondly, lack of faith and hope in your own ability to regain your own voice, strength, independence or maybe even responsibility.  What it basically boils down to is believing in yourself.  If you can’t believe in yourself, how can anyone else believe in you? And lastly, attitude.  If you are a ‘glass-half-full’ kind of person, you may be in the market for an attitude replacement operation, which comes back to habit.  Changing you negative attitude to a positive attitude has to,  initially become a daily conscience choice.  Make positive thinking a habit, your habit, for instance, instead of adapting a woe-is-me attitude.Should you fall down the stairs, rather choose to say, “I fell down the stairs today and thought, WOW! I sure fell down those stairs fast!”

I have to end this off by also adding that, the way you choose to change your habit and re-adjust your focus as you weigh up the actual size of the problem before you and have an attitude mind shift, may not be in accordance with how someone else would do it.  There is no right or wrong way, as long as you cause no harm.  Remember that, for as long as you care about what others think, you will always be their prisoner. 

So Simple Simon says… go conquer your problems.

Glitter greetings (and all things shiny)

Bohemian B

Awoken by Adversity

People say the only thing to fear is fear itself, but personally I think that is not altogether true for each individual.  I think it should rather be ‘the only thing to fear is yourself ’, because of the emotions we entertain.  Allow me to elaborate.  The way I see it is like this: fear can present itself in many forms and wear many different faces, each one presenting its own very real and terrifying oppression and it is ultimately how you react to this emotion that becomes the deciding factor of your survival, albeit emotional, mental or physical survival.  I can even go so far as to say that the way you either entertain or take control of the feeling of fear, could very well be the determining factor deciding your own fate in a life or death situation.  I have fears.  You have fears.  We ALL have fears.  We are all flawed and (disappointingly so) only human.  And that’s OK.  What’s not OK is to allow your flaws and your fears to prevent you from doing what you enjoy or becoming the person you were created to be.  I have always been one of those annoyingly, over-confident and bordering on fearless kind of people, believing that fear is but an emotion which we allow to damper our sense of self-security and stealing our joy in life.  That was until I came face to face with a terrifying side of fear I had never encountered before; becoming yet another victim of crime.  It was during that horrific ordeal that I came to a complete understanding of the words, ‘gripping fear’.

   We are all accustomed to some level of fear and one person’s fear is no greater or scarier than the next, as we all get to feel and experience the reality of the emotion for ourselves.  This feeling of fear can be paralyzing or eventually motivating as you learn to grow from the experience.  In essence, all fears are the same.  Your fear could be thoughts about the future or the view of looking down the cold, metal barrel of a gun.  What I have learnt is that it’s OKAY to be scared.  Being scared means you’re about to do something really, really brave.  Fear cannot be escaped.  The only way to escape fear is to go through it, not around it.  What we need to come to terms with is that we are all a little weak.  What we do with our weaknesses is ultimately what makes us strong.  Who we share our weaknesses with is what gives us strength.  I’m sure you are wondering how I managed to reach this conclusion, allow me to explain.  I believe the presence of fear is a sure sign that you’re trusting in your own strength.  I believe that each and every person has an extraordinary power within to overcome difficult challenges.  When you encounter fearful situations, you can either decide to be a victim or an over-comer , a conqueror.   

  Live your life to its fullest.  Dare to be courageous and always choose to be the conqueror and hero of your own story.  Next time you feel fear stopping you, ask yourself, what is it that will make it worth it for you to keep moving forward?  What will give you the strength to get back up again and again and again?  What is on the other side of that fear waiting for you to push through and claim it?  Ask yourself – are my dreams bigger than my fears?  Give yourself permission to dream deeper and bigger.  Don’t accept excuses from yourself and don’t settle for less than your worth.  You are not a victim.  Remember that you are not responsible for who or what is attracted to you, but you are responsible for who or what you entertain and eventually give power to.

Glitter greetings (and all things shiny)

Bohemian B