The MInimalist

Recently, one of my favorite Youtube makeup guru Xteener got rid of a lot of her make-up to a minimal and she said she was much happier. She cleaned out her drawers and baskets worth of make-up in her room and all is left are the few items she need and uses on a regular basis; the real name of Xteener is Christine; she is a Vietnamese American living in Atlanta, Georgia; she started doing make-up tutorials on Youtube in 2009 and has devoted to making videos since then.  She does make-up and fashion videos which aim to help young women to look better and to express themselves in a better way.  I have watched her videos for the past six years and her beauty and fashion advice have never failed me a bit; her style and way of putting on make-up are functional and can be applied to many situations and at any time and day in the year.

Christine rarely posts Vlogging videos but she decided to put one on today.  The video chronicled her weekend: what she did over the two days, what she ate, etc.  In one clip, she described how she finally reorganized and cleaned her make-up cabinet and got rid of many products; she stated her hoarding of the make-up was not healthy and cleaning it up to a minimal created a happier mindset for her.  This clip taught me how being minimal makes you happier and that having less helps us to focus more on the important things in life. We can apply this rules of thumb to any arena in our life, such as in our romantic, personal, and professional relationships.  Maybe having more is not the answer to our struggles, maybe it's being minimal, maybe just have what we need is more than enough to fill in that empty gap we have in our hearts.


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Can't Wait for the 30s

There is one common revelation that people in their 30s know and accept wholeheartedly: they stop caring about what other people think about them.  In our 20s, it is one of the hardest decade of our lives since we are trying to find out who we are and trying to adapt to the adulthood like millions of people out there in the world. In fact, we get into relationships that were not meant for us because we care so much about the negativity that people tie with being single out there or we choose a career path that we hate because people say how good and how financially secured it is.  Our 20s are filled with decisions that are based on how society and our peers view and appreciate.

People in their 30s know who they are and they are not afraid to speak up for what they want out of life and this is visible in any relationships they are in; however, in order to get to that point, or to that stage in life, many people had to go through milestones and challenges in their 20s in order to appreciate themselves and their own decisions. The 20s are filled with unwanted and unexpected failures in a lot of areas of our lives, think relationships, friendships, career, jobs, etc., and when we deny to accept the fact, we will drive ourselves insane and this is a sign of denial to problems and this will only leave problems unsolved and lingered longer than they should be.  So the 20s is the self-discovering years and the 30s are the years to enjoy the self more, I don't know about you but knowing what to come in my 30s gives life more hope and definition.

Creativity

I ran across an article about graphene the other day and it grabbed my entire attention.  The article was about six pages in length in the magazine the New Yorker, and as those of you have read the magazine, its article are generally quite lengthy compared to other magazine.  The article discusses how researchers and scientists discovered graphene and how it is put to use in a new setting; for instance, graphene can conduct electricity at a much faster rate than silicon materials and this will eventually help to build better and faster technologies later on. In addition, graphene are used in 3D printing; researchers are putting graphene on top of certain prototypes of the 3D printing in order to make the printing results more efficient and useful.  The article is written in a layman terms so if you can read English at a college or high school level, it is definitely a digestable piece of work to process.  This article proves how smart the human brain its; it is smart in its own way but we have to take advantage and know how the brain works in order for it to be creative.  We have to put some effort in building its creativeness and nourish the strength it has in order to put it in a useful way.

An Outing at Night

It's 8:45 and I am standing in front of my apartment breathing in the crisp cool air that flows through my nostril; my body feels tense from all the stress from work today but no worries, just a few minutes of walking will undo the damage and restore the energy that work zapped out of me.  I am standing on a sidewalk, covering by pavements, and on both sides, there are various plants, some have flowers and some do not.  I've taken this walk for some time already but at every new occasion, there is always something new to see and something that stands out which keep me entertained during my walk.  The tall apartments on both sides are mostly dark and quiet in the interior but the apartment to my front left has the sound of a child, perhaps in an infant age, screaming on top of her lungs then it became quiet.  It's about 61 degree outside in the opening and it is actually warmer than before as spring is approaching soon. Most of my neighbors are in bed right now so the peacefulness reflects the soundless environment and the calmness of the dark night.  The earth is quiet in its special way and this peacefulness gives me a sense of belong to this earth.  We are meant to enjoy this great weather and this short life we have so enjoy as we do not know when our last day will be. 

It's Okay.

As humans, we want to find the purpose of our lives and to have everything planned out. When things do not go our way, we become a baby once again; we panic, cry, become whiny, yell, blame, scream, etc. We are adults but we act just like little children who run around and not thinking straight when things do not pan out the way we desire.  People say the 20s is the most important decade of our lives; it's a time where there is self-discovery and self-reflection and it's a time where the foundation of our lives is formed; it's a time where we are fitting pieces of our lives together and hoping they would make sense; making sense or not, people in their 20s go through many changes and disappointments that school and family did not prepare them for.  When people in their 20s realize it's okay to not have everything figure out and it's important to just go with the flow of life, things begin to make more sense.

My 20s have had some rocky events that shook me and it makes me question everything I learn in school and what was taught to me during childhood at home; lately, I figure that it's actually typical to not have things all figure out.  In the last episode of the Season 4 of How I Met Your Mother, the character Lily said, "Look, you can't design your life like a building.  It doesn't work that way.  You just have to live it...and it'll design itself."  A lot of time, we try to  build our lives and when it doesn't turn out the way we want, we dive into depression and this sucks the life out of us; we stop enjoying the things we used to enjoy and we get irritated over the small things that are not worth our time.  Maybe it's okay to be scared and to not have what we want, maybe not having what we want is the best thing that can happen to us.  Maybe, maybe we just need to live life and enjoy it every minute because we might not have tomorrow.  

Healing

Healing is not a point in time; it's a process that we have to go through after some traumas and its length depends on what the traumas were and the personality of the injured person.  There is no exact time frame in the process but when it comes, the person will know and there will be obvious signs that signals the person to take the next move.  We all hope to come to this point and we all want some closure to our wounds.  The important thing is to remember the healing process will come and you will know it, you will experience a revelation that gives new perspectives.  It is only a matter of time when it comes and the important thing is to remember that it will come no matter what stage you are in life and when it comes, it will change you and it will be the light that will guide you to the right path.

The Wealthy

I decided to visit Malibu for the first time today and the experience was an eye-opening one.  I wasn't expecting much since most of the beach on the Pacific Coast Highway (or California State Route 1) is similar in one way or another; for instance, most of the PCH beaches have thick black rocks or boulders along the beach and groups of seagulls are visible from all ocean direction.  Malibu is considered as one of the wealthiest place to live in California and seeing expensive vehicles such as Lexus, BMWs, Tesla, and Porshes gave proof to its entitlement.  As we drove on the PCH, the beach houses seem very close and very far at the same time; they are either next to the water or on top of the mountains and hills that surround the small beaches in the city and like most of the land in California, dry green plants can be seen through out the vast expansion of the mountains.

Every time I drove to Newport Beach, there was always a swarm of BMW, Porsche, Lexus, and other very expensive cars but in Malibu, everywhere I look, there is always an expensive car here and there, at a higher percentage than Newport Beach. The shopping center across the Malibu lagoon was filled with numerous new and big-name cars that are rarely seen in the small city I live in.

As I study the city, I learned that wealthy people are no different than the poor people.  The rich lost something, love something, and hate something just like any other people.  Life is volatile, it changes all the time and maybe when we least expected; the rich can be poor at any minute and they can lose everything they have at any day of the year.  Some of my clients were once wealthy--they once owned a restaurant and other businesses that brought them fortunes-- and they lost every thing in just one day. One client stated he lost everything so quick that he couldn't believe it; he lost his business, second wife, and custody of his children--all of what he loved the most. From this, I learned we should enjoy what we have and not always wanting something more.  Easier said than done, but I think when we acknowledge the wisdom, there is a sense of freedom that we will experience and this will allow us to enjoy life for what it truly is, rather than living the "what if" style.