Spring Cleaning for the Mind: 10 Ways to Make Your Day Better

1. Make someone else smile. – Ordinary people worry today and postpone their happiness for tomorrow. Intelligent people are happy today and postpone their worries for tomorrow. Wise people only wish happiness for all, today and tomorrow. If you wish to have a lifetime of happiness, dedicate time every day to helping others smile with complete sincerity and enthusiasm. 

2. Be imperfect. – Something that is really difficult, but totally worth it, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the journey of becoming your true self. The most beautiful part of this journey is simply returning to the peaceful feeling of being. This peace is the result of retraining your mind to process life as it is, rather than as you think it should be. 

3. Be enthusiastic about what you’re doing. – You’re not given a good life or a bad life. You’re given life, and it’s up to you to make it good or bad. So wake up and get motivated; not everybody made it to today. Don’t take your time for granted. Don’t waste time thinking back to what you could have done differently yesterday. Keep your eyes on the road ahead and do it differently today. Wherever the road takes you, bring your passion. Whatever you do along the way, do it with all your heart. 

4. Make the best of what happens. – More important than what happens to you, is what you make of what happens to you. The more thankful you are, the more beautiful this world appears. You must uncover the good in the bad, the happy in your sad, the gain in your pain, and what makes you 

grateful not hateful. 

5. Forgive your past self. – Sometimes, good people like you make bad choices. It doesn't mean you’re bad; it means you’re human. So get bored with your past; it’s over. Forgive yourself for what you think you did or didn't do, and focus on what you will do starting now. 

6. Spend some time simply being and breathing. – The only way to live happily ever after is one day at a time. Just be, breathe, and think not about what you’re missing, but what you've been given. Happiness is something that comes into our lives gradually through the doors we don’t even 

remember leaving open. 

7. Learn something new. – It’s important to remember that you cannot become who you are capable of being by remaining exactly where you are. If you are not willing to learn and grow, no one can help you. But if you are determined to learn and grow, no one can stop you. In the end, there are no permanent jobs on this planet; we are all interning here. Learn from everyone, evolve, remain humble, and don’t forget to have a good time. 

8. Look in the mirror, and tell yourself what you love about yourself. – What we see in the mirror is what we see in the world. Our disappointment in others perfectly reflects our disappointment in ourselves. Our acceptance of others perfectly reflects our acceptance of ourselves. Our ability to see potential in others perfectly reflects our ability to see potential in ourselves. Our patience with others perfectly reflects our patience with ourselves. 

9. Focus on the qualities you like about those around you. – Whenever we focus on a person’s wonderful qualities, we have a wonderful relationship with them. Whenever we focus on a person’s not so wonderful qualities, we have a not so wonderful relationship with them. What we focus on grows in 

our minds and hearts. 

10. Say 'YES' to a spontaneous opportunity. – Everything in life can’t be planned. Some of the greatest opportunities will knock on your door when you least expect them to. Be flexible, be spontaneous, and 

just say 'yes.' 

 {Source: Marc and Angel}

New Product Launch: Flower by Drew Barrymore & Her Beauty Tips

Check out the latest interview with Drew Barrymore from RealBeauty.com regarding her new makeup line! I am so excited to check it out!

By. Hallie. Gould

This cool-as-can-be celeb talked to us about her newly launched 181-piece cosmetics collection that is all about beauty by way of happiness. We're thinking that philosophy, as well as the line's price tag (only $5–$14!), is definitely something we can get on board with. Not to mention, dishing with Barrymore was basically like sending us to Disney Land.

Real Beauty: What made you decide to start a cosmetics line? 

Drew Barrymore: Well, I’ve been in a makeup chair since I was six years old, so I’ve worked with some of the best makeup artists in the world. I’ve played with every product! And I just absolutely love makeup. After I was a co-creative director at CoverGirl, which was the best partnership a person could ever have, I felt like I had gotten a college degree! I thought, wow, I should go out into the world and do something with these skills.

RB: What’s your beauty philosophy? 

DB: Happiness is the best makeup. A girl looks absolutely the most beautiful when she’s smiling—you see those eye crinkles and they sparkle. The beautiful teeth come out and it just has this glow that no makeup could ever pull off. It’s just that inner moment. So I definitely try to stick with that. Then, as far as my daily routine, I believe in concealer.

RB: What are your other must-have products? 

DB: Witch Hazel Wipes. I’m obsessed with them. They come in little individual packets and they’re genius. They’re cheap and cheerful—they’re like great facials on the go. And also Aquaphor, for my lips.

RB: Do you have any beauty tricks or secrets you swear by? 

DB: Yeah, absolutely. You know, when I work with makeup artists that put a little white sparkle in the corners of my eyes, I’m always like, wow. It makes such a difference! We have a cream eye shadow that speaks to that. It’s called, Rest on Your Laurel. It’s this beautiful, pale creamy pearl. I’m also really big on cheeks. We have cream blushes that I’m crazy for. We have Pure Petuniawhich is a very peachy, coraly pink. I like to put it on the apples of my cheeks. We also have one called Elegant Azalea that I put in the contour of my cheeks. It just depends if I want to look like a Kewpie doll and fresh, or more like a woman with cheekbones.

RB: What is your beauty inspiration? 

DB: I would probably have to say David Bowie. He is ever-changing and always playing, and just so interesting. If you look at him in the "Let’s Dance" era with Ziggy Stardust and the pinups, he was just the coolest creature ever! Sometimes, my inspiration is Sharon Tate or Jane Fonda. And I always think Naomi Watts looks so beautiful walking down the carpet, and Scarlett [Johansson]. She’s always changing and it’s always so fun. With Jane Fonda, you never knew what you were going to get, and it was always exciting. I like chameleons.

RB: Are there any beauty trends that you would never try? 

DB: I’m still hoping to make a good crimped hairdo look proper! You know, my whole philosophy is to not care what people say. Just do what makes you happy and feel good—and have fun! We have one very short life, and it’s all about experimenting. You’ll figure out what does and doesn’t work for you very quickly. It’s all about your journey.

RB: Is there a look that you’re dying to try out? 

DB: I’m kind of happy that the ‘90s are trending a little bit again. We did two products in the line that were, for me, really harkening back to that era. One is Chocolate Lilly lipstick and the other is our Toffee lip liner. When we created those a year and a half ago, we had no idea those colors would be coming back into play. I put them in the line because I was like, 'I used to wear these colors all the time!' We also have a lipstick called Pop Rose. I did the cover of Pop Magazine, and it was kind of grunge. It was a really fun shoot. I loved it and remember being inspired by that moment. We also created this lipstick called Black Rose. So if you’re into the ‘90s or what’s trending right now from back in the day, those are the three good go-to’s in the line.

RB: How would you describe it your personal style? 

DB: I’m still a jeans and t-shirt girl and probably always will be. But right now, I’m really into long skirts.

RB: Do you have any tips or tricks that help you stay healthy? 

DB: I do a lot of hot yoga and I try to do some resistance training to strengthen my old bones. But I’m not the biggest workout maven. I feel like there are probably other women who can speak much more to that. I just try to do what makes me feel happy in my head. I move enough to feel good.

Read more: Drew Barrymore Interview - Drew Barrymore Launches Flower Cosmetics Collection - Real Beauty 

Ladies & Gentlemen, This Is Writing...

I came across this poem late yesterday afternoon. Without question, it is the most beautiful pieces of writing I have ever read. Each time I read it, I become more moved by its sentiment and find myself dancing in circles. Ladies and gentlemen, this is what writing is about. 

“

Screw falling in love.

My heart itself is already in tangles. A web of nonsense
and a drawerful of necklace chains that I will never
have the patience to separate. I am sounds mixed with
different mediums of light. Six thousand eight hundred
dialects of flesh that I don’t have enough time to
translate into words. This dictionary of skin is unreadable and
Latin is dead because of what we never had the balls to
tell each other.

I am swearing off of love because everything inside of me
is oil and vinegar and I no longer believe that it’s morally correct
to fall in love with the intent of both destroying and rebuilding 
another human being. I am a forest fire and an ocean, and
my favorite color is the same as the color that hurts me the most.

I don’t want your sentimentality. Quit looking at me intending
to melt me. We all know it’s working. We all know what this heart
is capable of unfolding.

I am not as strong as my words pretend to be. Not 
as quiet as these caesuras promise. This heart is a patchwork quilt of people
that leave different shades of blue inside of me.

The drowning. Your skies. 
The outline of a blue jay on a porcelain plate.

For now, I am closing off these bones for someone who will know
how to trace me without me ever telling them what I look like naked.

I no longer want to seduce the words out of people just to see
if I can. The love that I’m looking for falls out of the realm of your lips
and my lips and our lips doing a dance that involves bodies and more skin
and your hair touching mine, gently, like two winds
colliding.

Screw falling in love.

It’s too much to handle when
I’m already having difficulties breathing and keeping track of my
heartbeats and making sure that my limbs are doing what
they need to be doing.

But,
men are so beautiful.

But this heart is so
fragile.

I am every vulnerability that the thesaurus has to
offer me and in a certain light it’s impossible for me not to pull you
towards me with the intent of kissing the very life
out of you.

What I’m trying to say is that you are not allowed in.
What I’m trying to say is that all I want is to open myself up and have you
rearrange me, untangle the gold chains of my heart, love me for
every shade of blue that I have hidden in the silent spaces
between parentheses.

I have sworn off of falling in love,

but I know that in the morning, 
outside, in the pale frost of February,

all I’ll want is to hold another person’s hand, warm and
gloved, in their coat’s pocket.

”

(Shinji Moon, I Don't Want to be Loved. I Just Want to be Untangled. 

Carrie Bradshaw, Olivia Wilde, and My Love for Magazines

She had Mr. Big, the city, and a closet full of Louboutin's and Haute Couture. Her evenings consisted of top shelf Cosmopolitans and expensive champagne with her girlfriends. Miss Carrie Bradshaw, despite her relationship woes, had it all. Even today, long after the show has ended, a big part of me still aspires to be like her; to wake up in a "fabulous" studio apartment in the Upper East Side, surrounded by my published novels and the aroma of Colombian coffee filling the air. 

Ahh. To dream...

In the meantime however, I adore reading magazine, just as Carrie did. I believe she was once quoted as saying: 

"When I first moved to New York, I bought Vogue. I just felt it fed me more."

Fashion. Shoes. Beauty. Glamour. I understand Carrie, I truly understand. That's why I couldn't help posting this spread by Marie Claire Magazine of the ever-so-lovely Olivia Wilde. 

D o w n

I don't know where I'm at
I'm standing at the back
And I'm tired of waiting
Waiting here in line, hoping that I'll find what I've been chasing.

I shot for the sky
I'm stuck on the ground
So why do I try, I know I'm gonna to fall down
I thought I could fly, so why did I drown?
Never know why it's coming down, down, down.

Not ready to let go
Cause then I'd never know
What I could be missing
But I'm missing way too much
So when do I give up what I've been wishing for.

I shot for the sky
I'm stuck on the ground
So why do I try, I know I'm gonna to fall down
I thought I could fly, so why did I drown?
Never know why it's coming down, down, down.
Oh I am going down, down, down
Can't find another way around
And I don't want to hear the sound, of losing what I never found.

I shot for the sky
I'm stuck on the ground
So why do I try, I know I'm gonna to fall down
I thought I could fly, so why did I drown?
I never know why it's coming down, down, down.

I shot for the sky
I'm stuck on the ground
So why do I try, I know I'm gonna to fall down
I thought I could fly, so why did I drown?
Oh it's coming down, down, down.

D o w n

{John Walker}

Cheer Up: Beat the Monday Blues

strikingtruths.com

I know today is Monday and you assume it's going to suck, but according to statistics, there will be over 5,000 weddings, 10,000 childbirths, and 42 million hugs occurring today throughout the United States. Also today, there will be a least 4 people that will win the multi-million dollar lotteries, 600 people will get promotions at work, and 3,000 people will lose their virginity. There will also be 600 dogs adopted, 35,000 balloons sold and 800,000 Skittles sold. Plus, the words "I Love You" will be said over 9 million times. So, again, I know today is Monday and you assume its going to suck but just smile, because according to statistics, it should actually be a really nice day.

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Something to Remember on International Women's Day

Those that are, and those that are growing up to be. The daughters. The mothers. The sisters. The fribblings-friends like siblings. The wives. The girlfriends. The aunts. The nieces. The grand-somethings. The 

young-uns, the teens. 

The women in your life. 

Who love, lose, cry.

Laugh, heal, thrive. 

Nurture. Create. 

You. Are. Amazing. 

As. You. Are.

Stronger than you know. More beautiful than you think. Worthier than you believe. More loved than you can ever imagine. Fiery when protecting those you love. Learning. Growing. Not alone. Warm. Giving. Generous. Quirky. Sexy. Funny. Smart. Flawed. Whole. Scared. Brave. And so, so, so much more. Be Strong. Be Confident. Be You. 

-Tia Sparkles Singh, 2011 

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