It's Time to Depart

Last Easter I randomly decided to start a blog.

Here I am, 9 months later, ready to say goodbye.

For now? Forever?

I'm not sure.

I want to focus on other things now (namely my own non-bloggy writings & readings & thinkings), and as I would rather not become one of those incredibly sporadic bloggers with posts far in between, the best thing is to say goodbye to my little corner of the blogosphere (for now?). I'll still be reading, following, and commenting on other's blogs, but just not blogging myself.

If anyone is interested, I have a few writings that I could just schedule up to be posted later. Otherwise, Star Spangled Sisu will be up & quiet and waiting me to (maybe?) someday return. We will see.

To you all who followed, commented, and read whatever I had to say, you are amazing, and I'll be here waiting to check out your future posts to your own blogs. :D

So, see you all around! And hey, thanks.

Stanza Saturday // Will You Dare?

People are a little funny. We all have such fabulous potential to do great things...and we all just want to try be like each other.

Who can break the norm, and utilize all your God-given talents for helping one another rather than fading them away to fit in? You can.

Will you dare?

Will You Dare?
Sofia Nikula

what will you tell them
when they ask you
your thoughts
your hopes
your dreams?

the sea of blank faces
will turn at the sound
of the undying question.
some will shrug
and stare in consternation
(and then you can ask them,
where is your passion?)

but you.

you can think as deeply
as the number of breaths
all your ancestors breathed

and hope with vibrant color
igniting the rainbow
in a shower of ideals,
lofty as the heavens.

and you.

you can dream in more than the sky
dreaming with a heart full of the stars
dreaming up new constellations of passion
sparks shooting far
in a sea of grey masks,
beautifully bizarre.

so you,

what will you tell them
when they ask?
will you shrink your features
and dull your colors
and intone with the faces
of the human race
homogenized?

will you show them your colors?
your talents--
will you share?
will you set fire to the stars?

you.

will you dare?

5 Ways to Follow Through With Your New Year's Resolution

It's that time of year again.

Whether it's to learn a new skill...

To get out in the great outdoors more...

(Photo by Sasha at Me and Me.)

Or any other number of things,

New Year's often equates to the setting of new goals, dreams, and hopes. 

New Year's resolutions are infamous for lasting, oh, approximately....24 hours. If you're lucky. ;)

Sometimes it seems pretty hopeless to even set one, but they aren't literally impossible to keep. There are some ways to help you accomplish your New Year's resolution.

1: Pick One Thing

It will help you keep on track with your dream if you aren't overwhelmed with innumerable things you should be doing. Regardless of what you may think, you are going to be busy sometimes this year. That's just what happens. Pick something to really concentrate on, and set your mind to achieving it.

2: Be Realistic

Allow yourself some wiggle room, and set a goal that you can reach. Understand that you will have other preoccupations in the coming year, and give yourself some room around it.

3: Understand You Will Mess Up

News flash: you are human. Embrace it! Don't pressure yourself to never, ever mess up. It will only stress you out more than necessary when you do. 

4: Get Back Up Again

Another news flash: messing up does not equal failure. "Fall 7 times, stand up 8" says the Japanese proverb. It's okay if you mess up, but get back up and try again. You will never accomplish what you want if you quit the first time you fall!

5: Record Your Progress

Whether it's through a journal, calendar, or anything else, find a way for you to comfortably track your progress. Give yourself reminders of what you want to accomplish, and believe that you will accomplish it. Avoid forgetting about your goal.

So, dear readers, don't give up hope! Aim for the sky this year, and fly even further!

What are your goals for 2015?

A Joyful Beginning

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 

This time of year, it can be pretty easy to be in a bad mood. Here where I live, for instance, the long, stubbornly sticking snow just finally melted....right in time for Christmas.

Good timing, snow. 

We had a month of powdery white, and now it has melted just in time to deny us a white Christmas. Plus, the long months ahead promise dreary cold, slush, and ice, far into what we would normally hope to be spring. The year before last, we had snow days in April!

We can't control the weather. Something we can do, however, is keep a positive outlook on the winter ahead. Christmas is kind of a good way to start that.

Christmas is the celebration of the birth of our Savior, the beginning of our hope. We can also see it as a beginning of a long winter, and remember to be positive about it.

I encourage everyone to keep the Christmas spirit into 2015. :) Merry Christmas, everyone, and a blessed new year!

We have reason to be joyful! <3

Words

our words are all we have
to communicate
         vast
                complex
                                galactic
thoughts of the human mind.
we cannot place our feelings directly
into another's brain.
but with our vague and abstract words
they cannot be interpreted exactly.
it's an unending game of telephone
just words trapped in our brains, all alone
to the beat of an unending metronome
tapping out the time of the universe
.
And what gets lost in the foggy translations?
we cannot say.
neither can we truly tell
what all we thought today.

6 {Big} Reasons to Keep a Journal

I have a lot of notebooks. Keeping a regular notebook or journal was something I always wanted to do, ever since I was in 1st or 2nd grade. My problem was I had always thought they were for writing all about your day, and they had to be written in nearly every day. 

I totally missed the point. Thus, reason number one you should be keeping a journal:

1. They are fun to write

Keeping a journal is fun. You can totally customize it to your specific writing style. You can have as many or as little rules as you want. I personally write purely when I feel like it. I never force myself to write. I go weeks writing every single day, then never write at all for a number of weeks. I don't write what I don't want to write. I don't have to introduce myself, or explain myself, because the reader (me!) already knows all of it. Skipping the boring parts leads you straight to the exciting parts.

2. You can see how your life has been fitting together

Looking back at old notebooks, I can see patterns I wouldn't have noticed otherwise, prayers I didn't remember that were answered, and just how my life has been going. Keeping a journal is great for retrospection. We as humans often don't notice little things happening. Reading back is like rereading a book and noticing all the little subplots you hadn't noticed the first time.

3. They can provide you inspiration for other writings

Honestly, when I need inspiration for a story or a poem or just a different writing in general, I go to my notebooks. Partly because I've scribbled in so many poem drafts and story ideas that I can use now, but sometimes just interactions you've recorded can help you launch a plot.

4. They remind you of goals/plans you have had

I have a short and limited memory. It's amazing how much you can forget in just a few days or weeks. Flipping through my current Notebook can remind me of my goals, why I set them, and inspire me to see them through. Often not reaching a goal for me is less of a matter of quitting and more of a matter of just forgetting about them.

5. It's like writing a little book for yourself to read in the distant future

Sometimes when I finish a notebook, I just want to destroy it and forget about it. But seriously, if you keep them for long enough, at some point you'll be glad you did. There'll be interactions you have forgotten about, little snippets you don't even remember writing, and thoughts that will show you how you've shaped into who you are.

"We can imagine a rainbow of possibilities.

We say 'anything', and 'everything'.

But in the end,

it's only our limited rainbow

and we forget there are other colors,

incomprehensible to us."

6. You can learn your writing style

Keeping a journal teaches you writing in a valuable way. You learn to write better with practice, you learn to express yourself and your opinions, and you learn yourself in a way you didn't before. Keeping a notebook is a fantastic way to get better at writing, check in with yourself, and enjoy yourself in the process. The writing doesn't have to be great. The notebook itself doesn't have to be high quality. You can write anything you want. And in the end, in this way, you learn more about who you are, and what you truly care about.

We Have the Same Dreams