The Beauty of Life

I've had an epiphany.
I don't even know if the new insight I've aquired can even be put into words.
Here is the simplest way I can explain it, and I need to try, because I cannot afford to forget what I've come to realized.
Basically, I've always lived for my future. In my small valley as I ventured from elementary school, to middle school, to high school, I dreamed about what I wanted to do and what I wanted to become. Now that I'm in college, I'm in my future. I'm living what I've been dreaming about.

This was hard because I had spent the previous years of my life only dreaming of what I'd do, and now that I was doing it, I couldn't really grasp it. I continued to work for things I thought I might want. I continued looking, because I hadn't gained that satisfaction I had hoped for.

I went home for fall break, and the genuity and familiarity of everything about colorado make it hard to go back. But I ignored it.

I met up with my best friend back and school and we both justed cried in realization that we hated where we were. But it was what we wanted. Why wasn't what we thought we wanted making us happy? It makes you question the concept of beauty. Its superficial. There is no depth. It is great to look at, but one cannot live simply on beauty. One needs substance.

My school is simply that: beautiful. People are gorgeous. But that's it. There is no substance. At least not in the aspect that I was looking for or expected to find. I felt I had no way out. However, I began to realize what I wanted, quickly learning that through experience one truly discovers who they are.

I can not know who I am going to be, where I think is right for me.

I am living my first day in the moment. I am not going to act based on what I think will make me happy. If it makes me happy NOW, I will do it. I used to strived for the beautiful. I got the beautiful, and that is all that it is. PRETTY. Superficiality is not a negative aspect. People just need to understand that surface beauty is simply surface. Beauty can often be used as a mask to cover the deciet and negativity of emptiness. That is why love cannot be about beauty and you cannot live meaningful life based soley on beauty.

Beauty, in its visual definition, is not always synonymous with truth, just like dreaming is not synonymous with reality.

Define beauty? COMPLEXITY. It makes things interesting. Look at the world. It is not simple.

Confidence is beauty. Confidence can only be obtained by the individual, which essentially would imply the notion that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. You as an individual are responsible, not only for the beauty of self, but the beauty of the world.

Beauty is still everything I thought, but it goes beyond everything I know.

Irony is beautiful. Irony is a sign that you are in line with the universe. Here are my weekend quotes from Abraham:

"Start taking pleasure from your inner reality. Most people are approaching this backwards. Most people are saying, "Okay, I want that, and I am not fulfilled until I get that manifestation." The reason for that promise of manifestation out there, to begin with, is that it gives you the reason to play the game in the inner reality. It is your imagination, it is the feeling of Energy flowing through you that is life. "

"Offer a vibration that matches your desire rather than offering a vibration that keeps matching what-is. "

I guess in reflection, I misinterpreted beauty. I think beauty is the result of something truly fantastic and complex. It is not meant to define something, but rather a simplified expression of something too intricate to understand visually. Art is a prime example of that. However, it only leaves me with further questions. Looking outside my window at the snow covered mountains, I have to wonder beyond who and ask what provoked such beauty? I have come to find that experience gives us meaning and defines who we are. Life is beautiful through our every act and lesson. So is beauty an result of a meaningful life or is a meaningful life a result of beauty?
And yet I can't even ask those questions expecting a right or wrong answer because when it comes down to it, the meaning of life is the most ambiguous question a curious girl can ask!
LOVE LOVE,
CuriousChloe

"Being kind is more important than being nice"

I came across this quote while skimming through an issue of I-D. (A british high fashion magazine) The words themselves are simplistic, but the meaning of the quote was harder to comprehend.

This is what I concluded:

• Nice focuses on how the other person is thinking and feeling;their perception of the situation.
• Kind is personal action;what you decide to do and why.

• When you want to be nice, it’s because you want to please the other person; you want everyone to be happy.
• When you want to be kind it’s because you want to do what is right regardless of how other people feel about it.

My entire life, I have always been "nice". Ask anyone, people who barely know me, and that is the first word they would identitfy me with. I hate that word. While I'm sure people mean it as a compliment, I cringe at its reference toward me. People ask "How can you be so nice," as if its a great attribute. Before reading this quote, I never realized why I felt so ashamed of it. But it now makes sense.

I have been so obssessed with how the other person feels and acting for the "good" of others.

Even if someone did something bad, I would try to make them feel better by telling them that whatever they did was ok, and acceptable. My concern was on the individual, regardless of my values and morals. I hated being called "nice" because subconciously I knew I wasn't being nice...or atleast not to the full extent.

Being a good person requires an equal amount of niceness and kindness, so to speak. Combining the both, if nothing else, results in a genuinely good person.

xoxo,

Curiouschloe

ps- I found this great link, that better exemplifies the definition of the quote.

http://aolff.com/?page_id=77

Stay grounded. Fly High.

Sometimes life becomes so habitual, so expected, that you begin to go through the motions rather than enjoy the actual experience.

Enjoyment. It seems hard for me to truly enjoy something once it becomes the norm. All the previous exciting emotions it once conjured, disappear; the suspense, and the thrill are lost.

Gratitude. I feel it is my personal misconception that once you are thankful for something, its ok to disregard it. As if once, you've recognized your appreciation, it becomes invaluable; things are taken for granted. Take marriage. So many people fall head over heels into a whirl pool of emotional chaos, they have can barely grasp for a breath of reality...and they get married. But once time goes by, and your significant other takes on ordinary conotations, they become unneeded. The spark is ruthlessly extinguished as the excitment and intial thrill die down. There seems that without emotional attachment, things become meaningless and once we no longer feel strongly about something, it no longer proves valuable.

Emotion. As things become routine, and enjoyment and gratitude disappear, emotion follows. We become robotic. While still center stage of our lives, our manuscript becomes tiresome as the dialogue proves monotonous. We loose emotional connection and begin to live life in a logical state. Although analysis gives us glasses to focus our perception, feelings give us shovels to dig below the surface and interact. Living life exclusively by logic results in nothing more than a passive existance. Some can say emotions put people in the clouds, and I can agree--without some amount of logistic comprehension, we are lost. HOWEVER, approaching life like a study course, may secure your feet to the ground, but blast your soul out of the universe

Its like learning to speak a new language-- Teaching it like a research topic and taking tests and completing worksheets can result in great understanding. However, the student who is immersed in the language and partakes in the culture will be able to speak it. He/she may use improper grammar or lack the knowledge of its origin, but the student will be proactive.

As with life. We can learn every lesson, study every artifact, understand every step to success. Yet without emotions, we cannot connect our life to our learned lessons. Knowledge derives from external resources...Our feelings come from us. Anyone can inhale the same information, but it is our emotions that expel different responses.

Be grateful for what you have, and content in the smallest factors that precede in our life. We cannot lose sight of the reality in which we live. It is only once we connect emotionally to the factors the world gives us, that we can we truly begin to live.
Stop asking questions like "What is the right thing to say?" and instead contemplate "What am I feeling as a result, what is my personal perspective?"

Question feeling, not just action.

Love Love,

Curious Chloe

Please identify the following:

WHO ARE YOU?

The complexity of a person becomes apparent by observtion of different enviorments. Can you ever truly know someone? If a person is still searching for who they are, like most, can anyone really know the truth of a soul?

I, personally, know the core of my identity, yet I allow different parts of me to shine according to the setting I am in. I would not call myself fake, because I do not attempt a false facade. Every quality I release is genuine. However, in order to relate and partake in certain circumstances, I will highlight certain characteristics. While I won't discuss the philosophies of Spinoza at dance practice, I will not deny my interest in the topic. I wouldn't say I hide any aspect of my identity; I stay true to who I am. Yet for the sake of others, as well as my personal happiness, it seems logical to emmulate parts of you that correlate to others...or is it?

The acutality of a person is an intricate labyrinth, so much so, that revealing everything at the same intensity can be overwhelming.

I believe that a true friend is someone who knows every detail of the puzzle and pieced together the picture. However, even if you know one's identity, does that necessarily mean you know they're responses in different environments?


An environment has to do with surrounding circumstances, conditions, and influences. It was my belief that regardless of external forces, if you truly knew a person, you'd know how they'd repsond to certain stimuli. However today I have come to question that.

While you may know what they stand for and how their true character would respond, the anxieties of superficial aspects combat personal values. I have learned that while you may know a person in all their beliefs, values, and interests, you must also know their strength and confidence--It can be hard to be true to yourself when acceptance is questioned. In certain circumstances, it seems evident that insercurites can reformulate and disguish.

But here is my dilemma: say you know the "true" identity of a person, yet to an audience, they mask their genuine qualities. What if someone has opened up to you, allowing you to see them for who they are, yet forbidding others to see the truth? Who are they? Could the person you see just be another one of their false personalities. If so, then who are you really friends with?

After contemplating this, I come to question my own identification, leading me to wonder:
Am I an imposter if I emphasis different qualities in different environments, even if if don't contradict the quieter characteristics?
The question of identity is overwhelming, and my mind refuses to stop overanalyzing...i love it.

Love love,

CuriousChloe

Harmonious Rarity

The beat of a song

Its musical Rhythm

Can make the heart light

No though of decision

The music uplifts

And carries the mind

Into a distant reality

Where no one can find

It can brighten the soul

With each aging hour

Strengths the heart

Beating with power

Music depicts

The hidden emotion

It composes the feelings

immersed in commotion

Music is my knight

In white shining armor

It helps me to think

"No body can harm her"

With gained confidence

From the musical flow

I cannot be let down

I cannot fall below

-Music can be so overpowering, envoking thought and revealing suppressed emotions.

Music is my safety from drama and confusion.

If I overthink or become overwhelmed, rhythmic tranquility allows me to relax and take control.

Currently my favorite break from reality: Sigur Ros- Staralfur

love love,

Curious Chloe

Do You Believe in Magic?

Adolesence is murdered when kids discover the truth about Santa, the Easter Bunny, and so on. It is quite a tramatizing blow to realize that your immortal, perfect parents have lied to you. At least it was for me.

I was an emotional wreck; a desolate soul at the age of 9. The worst part: all my friends still believed, so I carried the burden day after day, refusing to detinate the lives of my peers. That day I made a pack to NEVER tell my children the truth. Also on that day an angered poetic verse was written in response to my agony. Please do not judge me, I was one of the cool 3rd graders! Anyway, I found this yesterday and couldn't stop laughing... Priceless. Oh god...enjoy.

THE MAGICAL THINGS

by 9 year old Chloe. (original edition. please excuse spelling)

Santa, the Easter Bunney and rhe tooth fairy are cool! I believe in them," said Jen O'Tool.

"So Do I," yelled Mick Smie.

But one August night, their parents told them and the children had fright.

"But what about Christmas Eve when we gave santa a pie. Did you just eat it and tell us a lie?"

"But what about when I wanted a baby doll. When my tooth came out I wanted one, so I put it under my pillow. When I woke up I found baby Dillo. Was that a lie too?"

"But what about on Easter when we found eggs filled with Candy. Did you just hide them and lie to me and Mandy?"

Their parents nodded yes. They glanced and yelled "We thought you were the best!"

They stomped up stair with big wet tears.

They looked at their inisent face in the mirrors.

They finally forgave their parents after 2 years.

BUT they never forgot how they looked in their mirrors

-please told you applause...What? OK, what the hell- clap it up! :)

love love,

Curious Chloe

Lost in Thought

When I begin to overanalyze a thought, it is as if the world stops. I become consumed with an idea and as I dive deeper into the topic, my mind is on multiple detours from endless tangents.

My mind encourages more reflection, implying a life altering discovery around the corner; if I think fast enough, I will uncover the fusing quality that symbolizes total unity among everything in our existence. Sometimes I grasp this richly overpowering comprehension of some idea, but it is lost before I have time to find a pencil. I don't know what I'm looking for or where to find it, but I feel like a detective, trying to solve some impossible mystery.

Because I have second period off, my dance team coach (also a teacher) lets me use her vacant classroom and computer. I keep the lights off with the exception of a stout lamp that gives off a warm glow. I get online, not knowing what I want to find. Somehow, some website, some article inspires a new mental masterpiece.

When the period is over, the sharp school bell is a rude awakening to actuality, in which I become incapable of interaction. It’s horrible. I love the time I spend uncovering the essence of the world's obscurity, but by the time I re-enter I feel out of place… As if the observation of reality makes it impossible for me to partake in it.

Is this strange to anyone other than me? Is there a reason for all of this?

I love getting lost is thought, but its becoming more and more difficult to find my way out. I have always been the spontaneous, free spirit, but after my 2nd period sessions, I come out someone else.

Is it possible to live life if you constantly over think it?

I refuse to live passively as an onlooker.

~*~I WANT TO BE THE STAR OF MY STORY, NOT JUST THE AUTHOR~*~

Love Love,

(slightly confused) CuriousChloe

Does Comprehension symbolize Agreeance?

Misunderstanding is a common foundation for conflict.

But what if we do understand? Does comprehension symbolize agreeance?

A belief is personal, so the reasoning behind it is just that, personal. It is possible to respect others in their justification, because in the end, their reasoning creates their truth, which builds their reality. Understanding an individual's foundation for their beliefs, still allows you to hold your own.

The rebutal "You just don't understand me." is a lame defense. Even if a parent understood that their child did cocaine to escape from the pressures of school, they would not allow it. Understanding allows agruement to stand on common ground. However it does not mean you have to surrender your personal values to match their's.

Sometimes that is hard to accept. To have someone understand your motives, yet still not agree with it.

love love,

CuriousChloe

Silence...

Silence.
Do you hear it very often?
Silence can be a beautiful immersion of tranquility or an uncomfortable entrapment of desolation. Its all a matter of perception.

Without the interactions of the world around us, silence gives us the opportunity to look inside ourselves without interuption; a warm invitation to clarity, or in many cases, (this being one of them) overanalyzation. Without the concentration on outside noises, silence gives a voice to thoughts. But what if there is nothing to observe? What if the thoughts and memories held within are too painful to acknowledge?

In those situations, silence can be a painful reality shock. Therefore silence takes a negative connotation and becomes avoidable.

If you are wealthy by societal terms, the world outside of self becomes a haven of contentment. If a life is built exclusively around possessions and physical desires, you no longer take center stage of your life. So when silence encourages personal exploration, the hungered soul eats away at the heart. The reality may not be that dramatic, or perhaps it is not even reality. But I just wonder why society fears this delicate peace. Why does it seem to make so many of us uncomfortable?

Often times emotions cannot properly be expressed through jargon. Silence gives us the opportunity speak a different language. Our thoughts provoke emotions, and our emotions trigger body movements and mannerisms. I'm not saying we should all just stare at each other and twirl around to express ourselves, but many relationships lack substance because they're based on words, not feelings. What if we kept our thoughts to ourselves and allowed our bodys to speak for us?
Are we too different from one another, that our interpretations would be misleading?
Would it create a deeper understanding or a huge miscommunication?
Ah- this got a little too complicated and threw me off whatever I initally wanted to explore. Oh the irony of silence...it creates too much commotion!!

Love Love,

Curious Chloe

Is Pleasing a Form of Compassion?

what is nice?

When I take a step back and observe the everyday, I find that good deeds are constantly happening. From an outside perspective, every nice act seems just that...nice. But dive into the truth behind each of those actions and nice becomes nothing more than a facade.

Can deeds be good if they better a situation yet are intended for self gain?

As a high schooler, I am a witness to many "false" acts of kindness. The idea of popularity masks true identity. People become consumed with pleasing everyone and being well-liked that true opinions and values are replaced with sticky happiness and hallow acts. I will not deny my active involvement, but once you reach the top, everyone's so-called "love," feels incredibly vacant. So much of their "love" they seem to be giving, is just a mechanism to climb up the social ladder and hopefully, with the right amount of kindness, kick you off it.

It just begs the question, Is a falsified act of kindness still "good" because the deed is beneficial? Does the outcome overpower sour intentions ? I suppose regardless, it's better than cruelty. I am not a cynic in any way, but our society's emphasis on self gain causes me to constantly question the intent of everything.

What do you call a kind act, done not for the reciever but for the giver?

Love Love,

Curious Chloe

My Formal Introduction

As I continue to experience life, I continue to question everything about it. These questions burden my mind and will not cease to exist. Instead of having them take over my life, I will share them with you. I don't expect to become a huge, successful blog, overflowing with readers, but I want to hear other opinions and other points of view. Please, feel free to respond to my thoughts and give your own.

Before I start, let me give a little insight into who I am.

My name is Chloe. Growing up in a sheltered ski town can cripple the mind. However, my disadvantage fueled curiousity. Living in naivety simply pushed me to explore the world beyond snow-covered trees.

Living in a town that boasts of conformity, my passion for creative indivuality blossomed. Fashion became my form of expression and helped me find and mold my identity.

I have gone through heartaches and traumas, but who hasn't? And really, I feel blessed to have experienced them. It is my belief that we grown through the tough times. They create a backbone that strengthens character and verifies our ability to survive.

Each day I discover a new piece of who I am and question a new aspect of life.

I want to share it with you.

I am hear to speak as well as take in all I can!

So much of who I am cannot be expressed bluntly. I am not to be described but rather experienced.

I hope to paint a picture through my writing.

I hope you can immerse yourself in my thoughts and uncover my identity.

Make your own assumptions.

You are entitled to them.

However, as of now

I am nothing more than

CuriousChloe