30 Day Writing Challenge–Day 20

Education is a broader subject than one may think. I believe that education is one of the highest priorities, although that doesn’t always mean mainstream-public-elementary-middle school-high school-college-type education. Education just means learning in general, and that to me is essentially why we are here, and the only way to make things better than they are. I encourage everyone to be educated. Learn about a different culture or religion, learn a new skill, a new language, a new way of doing something. There is so much information out there that it’s a shame if we don’t take time to explore it.

So many people have various excuses for not educating themselves. It’s too hard to learn, they will never use the information, they don’t have the resources, they don’t agree with something, or they don’t have the time. All of these are garbage excuses. It’s not too hard to learn, you just have to put your mind to it. I mean maybe if you decided to take up quantum physics, it may take a little more for you to grasp, and you may never become a master at it, but it shouldn’t hurt your will to try! Give it a shot and you might be surprised. Everything isn’t for everyone, but until you try it you never know! As for not having resources, libraries are free, a majority of people have some access to internet, and even for those who can’t read or write, or those in poor areas, learn a skill from an older person, watch others, there’s always a way to learn something!

A big barrier to learning is not believing in something. A major example that comes to mind is Islam. In the United States today, there is a lot of hate toward Muslim people and the Islamic religion. Most of the people harboring this hate will simply spew what the media has said or just very simply “I don’t like them!” giving no real reason why. When you try to educate these people they don’t want to hear it. If the hate is so real, learning about the religion shouldn’t bother you at all. The truth is the hate is a mask, and people have no desire to learn the truth. If people would take the time to learn something, their hate might melt away. Just because you don’t believe in something doesn’t mean it’s not worth knowing. I study all kinds of things, I ask lots of questions, and everything doesn’t resonate with me, but it doesn’t hurt me to know.

Not having time is another lame excuse. There is always time to learn. There are so many ways to learn that there is no reason not to. Too busy at work? Ask a coworker to teach you a new way to complete a task that might be more efficient. Too busy at home? Learn a new cleaning technique. Kids have you crazy? Teach them something, and in teaching them, you may learn something new as well!

Learning comes in so many forms! You can pick up a book, do a google search, go talk to grandma, people-watch, check out a youtube video, or even just try to figure something out for yourself like picking at guitar strings until something pretty happens! There’s not excuse not to learn and broaden your horizons. I challenge all of you to go learn something new every day. Whether its a new way to do something, or a fact about an old friend, I guarantee learning will enhance your life.

Mainstream “school” education is important to a degree, but if all you do is go to school and come home, you aren’t absorbing everything you can. I think school is a great starting block, but you have to enhance that learning with educational adventures of your own. This is how you become well-rounded and wise. Never stop learning no matter what your age or ability level. You won’t regret it!

*~*MR*~*

30 Day Writing Challenge–Day 15

Well, I can honestly say that I haven’t used Tumblr in quite some time. With that being said, I’m going to highlight a few of of my favorite blogs right here on WordPress!

1.This Tiny Blue House

2.The Wandering Broski

3.Jay Colby

These three have to be my top favorites! I believe This Tiny Blue House was the first blog I came across when I joined WordPress. Jenny shares a lot about her life, frugal lifestyle, parenting, and her family. I really like this page because of Jenny’s honesty. She shares a lot of things that are not easy to share, and I admire that. She also posts a lot of things that help those of us who are also trying to live more frugally. I thank her for her posts, as many of them have been very helpful for me and also because I enjoy her writing style in making her readers feel like a part of her life.

Michael’s blog The Wandering Broski documents his travels across the world. I enjoy hearing about a lot of the places that are on my bucket list and using the posts to gather more information about places I’d like to see. There are usually pictures included with the posts, and it really helps to make readers feel like they are right there in the middle of the travels. Definitely worth the read!

Jay Colby is a new blogger to me. I just recently liked his blog last week or so, but I’ve found many of his posts to be thought provoking and interesting. Much of what he talks about pertains to things that I have been thinking about or going through in my own life. If nothing else, the blog is a springboard for discussion. I like that a lot. Not enough people want to talk about anything of substance anymore, and to actually have an opportunity to read about and discuss real world issues is important to me. And when I say “real world issues” I don’t mean Donald Trump, the Kardashians, or the unrest in the world that is all over the news (there’s already enough discussion about that!) but actual issues that we face as human beings in the real world day to day. Those issues are often swept under the carpet as all of the media issues are shoved down our throats. Real world discussion is important!

So there’s some of my favorite blogs, and the reasons why. I encourage you to go check out some of my fellow bloggers. There’s a lot of good information out there!

*~*MR*~*

30 Day Writing Challenge–Day 14

I can’t remember exactly what my very first memory was, but I can definitely go over a few good ones I remember from the beginning.

I remember the first time I was reading and actually knew what I was doing. It was a book called Henry Babysits and I walked into the living room reading it to my mom. I was very young, and I remember her just looking at me like, “What did you say? Are you actually reading that?” And I was 🙂

I remember my mom teaching me to tie my shoes. We were listening to Lee Greenwood on my dad’s really big stereo system. Just as I was about to get my shoe tied, one of the speakers blew and scared the shit out of me. Pretty sure I was traumatized to the point that it took me a while to care about learning to tie shoes again!

I also remember being really young and my cousins from Oklahoma came home! We were piled into my uncle’s van and I remember being in a parking lot at a mall that is no longer there. All of us kids were singing Mary Jane’s Last Dance…and none of us actually knew what that song was about then!

Those three specifically stick out to me as potential first memories. It’s hard to tell now, because at the time when your memory is logging these things, it doesn’t know how to process when each thing happened. Some parts of my childhood were great and a lot of fun. I also had some extremely shitty parts of childhood, but lucky for me, most of the memories I retain vividly are the good ones! While the bad ones are definitely still there, I can honestly say I don’t “feel” them like I feel the good ones. What are some of your childhood memories?

30 Day Writing Challenge–Day 8

Man, today is a tough one. A moment I felt most satisfied with my life. I could think of a lot of points for this one. The only thing is though, with all of this Buddhist stuff I’ve been doing, its been helping me learn to be satisfied with my life no matter where it takes me. Honestly, I can say I was pretty damn satisfied this afternoon. I went to my niece’s 9th birthday party, and spent a lot of time talking with my father in law who lives about 4 hours away. We had some fun conversation and I loved watching my niece’s face light up as she opened her gifts. I left the party and went straight to the gym. I noticed on my way there that the sun was so bright and the air was the perfect temperature. The distance from the party to the gym wasn’t very long so I didn’t get to enjoy the outside for long. I went in and busted out my workout, took a nice shower and even got a massage. When I left, I decided to drive the long  way home just so I could ride around with the windows down. I was blasting Kaleo and just enjoying the sun and the breeze. I decided to stop by JT’s work and grab something to eat and say hi. When I got home, I ate my food, listened to a few more tunes, did my dishes, and sat on the porch to read a chapter of a book I’ve been reading. I was starting to get a little sleepy (I worked last night, and I’m at work now), so I took about an hour nap before getting up to come in for my shift. It really hit me through that, life really is what you make it. Today was a simple day, nothing too out of the ordinary, but it was glorious. Like I said, I could list a thousand moments where I’ve had these same thoughts. It’s not the day that’s bad, it’s the thoughts you have about it. I felt great today. I know every day won’t feel as nice, but that’s the beauty of it, gives you something to look forward to. It doesn’t take a lot to be satisfied with your life, but if you let yourself get bogged down with bullshit, it can take a lot out of you. Hope all of you can have some satisfying moments yourself!

*~*MR*~*