It has been a long time, where did that time go? We sometimes lose track of direction, the real purpose of our goals and appreciation of things in life. Being able to make time is priceless, if you can’t afford time, you lose value and sense of worth. Don’t ever stop doing what you love, never forget to keep your eyes on the big picture.
I’ll be back with my new chapter by next week. Exams are here!!
ITYAS
We’re scared to be open. Masks set us free!
The beauty that masks give, is the opportunity for freedom. The opportunity to seek new things you thought you could never have or done. The opportunity to be someone you wish you were. Why do we hind behind this other person who is you, the defensive you. I guess it comes down to life experiences, what has shaped you. Venetian Masks are devine, like moscato…yum! I visited the Indooroopilly Material store to gather the things i needed for my mask. A lovely lady assisted me. We became friends instantly ahahaa, she or you are probably reading this … yes you lovely lady! So here is my final product. I am quite proud…I have already made another one, so do stay tune for my upcoming paintings, poems and masks!!
ITYAS
So I have had 2 hours max of sleep. I feel terrible for the first time in a while. Today I have to go and present my critique to my class of my self-portrait. You can view my self-portrait by clicking on Virtual Gallery. My self-portrait is under my name Yen Thi Nguyen. I really do hope I get a good mark for this! It’s very nerve-racking when you have to explain to everyone who you are to these strangers. Something personal and deep, that won’t be entirely understood but if they can appreciate me for who I am, and how this artwork turned out, I’ll be happy. After that, I’ll be headed towards my favourite art shop in the valley to get more products, canvases, paints etc very excited to start on my new project!!! I have a lot of projects to do, so it seems I’ll be very busy this month. Not to say the least, my project has been acknowledged by Family resident Dj, Jer Ginakis and International renown singer/song writer Marcie Joy. Absolutely thrilled to have support and feedback from them, it means a lot and motivates me to continually be creative and love what i do best, as they do for themselves. I also have support of a new friend business owner of GLAMOUROUS EYES I’m looking forward to finishing off her painting which I am starting today. I better be off, just a quick morning update, I wish i was feeling better, but the world isn’t always pretty on some days, particularly today sigh!
Take care and thanks for popping by!
xo ITYAS
So it’s morning over here and I had a lousy night. Still I won’t let that stop me from being and doing what I love, growing towards being the best artist to my potential and making art. There are just some people that don’t see eye to eye, but knowing that just drives me further to do better. It’s kind of uncanny to say the least, art is controversial, in terms of the subject and how it can mean so much more to others and not. This is my personal piece, it’s who I am, have always been. I’m looking forward to not doing my assignment for the entire day as I have work now, just wanted to post my random thought of the morning. Go check out My Art is My World, in the above pages, I have posted my first artwork on this site 🙂 Thankyou!
ITYAS
How is everyone? I’ve been in a warp hole and only have I managed to climb my way out. I’m really excited to have finally found the time to concentrate on this post’s long-awaited topic, Generosity.
The relationship between life and humans is an unkind yet delicate, constantly nurtured link. We receive many gestures, comments, racists remarks, compliments, gifts and looks etc everyday, and do we ever take a minute to stop and think, hey my life has all been about strangers, friends and lovers giving and exchanging a lot of what I mentioned above. Stuff those racists one, you can atleast show them your middle finger and pull one eye down at them, to show your appreciation. But for the other aspects, we should take the time and give back. Give back to those who volunteer to help others, those who do causes to help charity, help the environment, help your neighbour, help a friend, or in any familiar case, help yourself believe in you. I walked past a man who was holding out a money tin who was help raising money for the blind. A first I wasn’t sure who he was so I kept walking. When I came out he asked me again and I kept walking, not quite hearing what he said, but when I made out the words he was helping the blind, I stopped right in my tracks, back tracked and grabbed all my coins and apologised and gave it to him. He had a smile on his face. That kind of recognition and satisfaction of helping him, who was helping others is quite possibly the most rewarding achievement at the end of the day. A feeling quite similar to finding that special heel and trying it on the first time, well not quite that but the message of this post is to help yourself find out who you are and be appreciative of you and your goals before being generous enough to help others when you can find that little generosity bank somewhere deep down. Trust me, you will feel amazing and I am sure most of you know that feeling.
I would also like to acknowledge a co-worker of mine who demonstrates an incredible display of selflessness, courage, and generosity, Nick Madsen, who is in full support and help run a charity event RACE4CHANGE (The Oaktree Foundation) being held in and around the CBD (Brisbane). Get on it brisbaners, it’s your chance to show how much you can give and also win some great prizes, plus get fit haha.
I also had an Epiphany tonight, as I watched an animation by Yoshifumi Kondo. I never knew what I wanted to exactly do with my life before tonight. I know teaching is my backup plan if not my future plan. But when i watched this film, I had rekindled a certain flame that has been burnly ever so slightly, just enough to passionately flame bigger than ever before and be inspired to chase after my dream of being an animator. I love drawing and have been drawing ever since i laid hands on a pencil and paper, I just never had the time for it now, particularly with a job and doing full time uni. But now I’ve taken on a challenge for myself, and if you haven’t known already, I have started to paint. You can follow my link to the I’lltellyouasecret Fb Fan Page and you’ll see my recent paintings if you’re not my personal friend. I decided to make this blog as my progress to my art aspiring life from now on but I’ll still keep to the main theme time to time and write as I write now but now you can actually see what I love to do best, write and draw about art and my fanfics! So hopefully after University, I’ll get into an animation course and see where life leads me. “Do what your heart says, because in everyone there are those small gems which you need to find yourself, and polish regularly to shine at the best potential” Yoshifumi Kondo words.
Sincerely ITYAS
xo
Are you a cheater? (laugh) those two people who voted infidelity, whatever makes you happy I suppose. Let me recap, humans are both monogamous and animals by primordial instincts, it’s not a given. I guess it is up to how you’ve been raised to understand what is right and what is wrong and comes down to how badly affected you are by this materialistic world, and the attitude you portray and perceive to be correct. Now straight onto my next, long-awaited topic, Restraint.
Is there such a thing as too many choices? When we are faced with an abundance of choices, there is little room to be able to identify which choices can offer goodness, vice versa. Then there are some in which turn our heads and one must restrain one self and proceed with caution. To know that we are thrown into a world of endless choices, where decision-making for the stability and happiness in life is where it counts most, an attribute one must require learning at the youngest of age for the common goal to grow into a wise and knowledgeable adult.
Development and Restraint are two peas in a growth pod (laugh) it’s how we learnt when restraints were put on us as a kid, ultimately teaching us that there are rules, standard guidelines to follow, when bed time was, or you must brush your teeth before bedtime, (which was a must and not an option). And if one chose to do otherwise would get in trouble, it’s no different now. You know it’s an important option/choice/decision to make, you know the consequences behind making that choice, and yet you choose to either act upon it or not.
Choosing for one self, choosing for others, when do we know when not to take things for granted? There are third world countries who have nothing more than just the tiny miniscule of options offered and yet they’re happy, live by and don’t complain, so that makes us completely idiocy, sorry (covers mouth) Did I call you a retard and myself for that matter (laugh) I sure did.
We are lucky to even have such options, the option to drink clean water, to treat ourselves to a professional doctor, the option to live under shelved and walled houses with hot, cold water and let alone cooked food. Might I add in protection by our family members… We have it all, but we want more, we’re greedy and I blame it on the narcissist way of thinking, that we need everything because we try and pretend we have nothing, that we don’t have any clothes, that we don’t have enough computer technology devices to arouse our minds, don’t have enough houses so let’s just knock down the whole forest… You get my point. This greed does nothing but harm to others and everything around us makes us become monsters when we aren’t.
At this point you may be getting tired of reading, so take a break, invigorate yourself by watching this short clip of Chastity (Exclusion or moderation of the indulgences of the sexual appetite).
Welcome back, I hope you are reenergized and know a bit more about Chastity. Now you can understand what I will be saying from now on.
The challenge for us is to vision that having excess in our lives isn’t the best, “Quality over quantity,” is what the righteous mind would follow. The virtue that involves restraint shows one true’s value to one self, to moderate their own needs in pursuit of one’s happiness. We learn that often, our lack of restraint is promoted under the guise of individualism or privacy, conditions that increase our options by allowing us to do what we want, when we want to. By this I mean, the interest of one individual is the interest of one being, we tend to carry out certain activities for the interest of our own concerns, self-serving, and to them could be an action that results in happiness. But there has to be an “understanding of the wise and often limited use of options—ever-expanding choice becomes a “tyranny of freedom,” Such acts include spending too much time on computer/TV or unimportant, to fill in the void of one’s empty life. Many psychologists blame such growing social isolation for the epidemic of depression. (Please I know there are face book addicts out there (laugh at them and myself as well) get out and start doing something productive!)
We also know there is a world out there, not just our own being with our own interests, but thousands of beings with thousands of interest. Sometimes, an opportunity arises, and we take too much, and give less in return. How can we learn that we need to stop grabbing at them vigorously, be awake and be aware and conscientious to the choices and the consequences that follow. And how does this apply or relate to dating?
You see when someone restrains from someone else, will show the person to face the conviction of one’s life without the other. It will show oneself their false hope misconceived as a shared reality. Deep down, when we realize their restraints, we deny, it’s one of our narcissist characteristics. We need to face reality and know that if they made these restraints, we need to be the bigger person and count the losses. We need self-control to make the choices, if they’re unable to face up and do so. That decision will turn out as the right choice in the long-term, as most people realise.
Ultimately, by having one option or limiting our choices down arduously, can be the answer to one’s happiness. Don’t be afraid to take risks “DON’T LET FEAR GOVERN YOUR LIFE!” yet don’t over indulge, don’t let all the choices consume you. Take action, practice to set restraints, maybe it may seem a big sacrifice now; ultimately it will be the answer to long-term happiness.
In my next blog, Generosity will be discussed. Thanks for reading, please leave me your opinions. Thanks and much appreciation.
ITYAS
I hope you have all sat down to think long and hard about what makes you happy, what the parameters of happiness are and do they exist? How do we attain it and if it’s possible, to be content with ourselves from the decisions that we’ve made would result in happiness, and whether you want that happiness in your life. Does it create a clearer mindset in making decisions? At what point, can we truly be happy to acknowledge our mistakes and move on from what we know and have experienced to be ultimately content with one’s life to be the bigger person. Everyone is an individual, with different values and standards, different ways to love, and different ways of being happy. Only you can live your life and make your life happy, however that may be.
So I explained the first human Great Virtues in my previous blog, now it’s time to explain the second virtue, Fidelity. A wise man, Piero Ferrucci once stated To be faithful to one another –whether a person, principal divinity– means being faithful to oneself, transparent to oneself. To explain this, we have the ability and choice to be honest, faithful and loyal. They say humans are monogamous, but we are all inclined to having sexual desires, we are animals, who have instincts, emotions and sexually driven to hunt down their long life partner. Which raises the ultimate question, are humans monogamous? Or are we animals, given the opportunity, would you act upon it?
There are millions of people already living, breathing as we stand tall to defend one self, how tough would it be to defend your partner from the invitingness of another attractive desirable person? In the animal kingdom, fidelity is a rare commodity. Like animals as we may or may not be, they struggle to be faithful as the male animal species find it hard to spread their genes let alone the women animal species find it hard to find a proper dad for their young. There is a small percent of animals species that form life long bonds, as they are animals, they do have flings on the side I would presume, so Why is that any different to us humans? Scientists have discovered there are 3 types of Monogamy in animals:
Sexual monogamy is the practice of having sex only with one mate at a time. Social monogamy is when animals form pairs to mate and raise offspring but still have flings — or “extra-pair copulations” in science lingo — on the side. Genetic monogamy is used when DNA tests can confirm that a female’s offspring were sired by only one father.
I would believe the social and sexual monogamy go together which raises the question, of fidelity and loyalty in human beings.
If you really wanted to know if you were at high risk of fidelity, you should try this quiz out http://www.thirdage.com/content/are-you-flirting-with-infidelity
Also try this poll out and question your intentions, your morals and values.
When we are standing at the alter, (the day will come!) we vow to be faithful. But as we are all individuals, with different perceptions and upbringings, one thought to what faithful is; how to be faithful can be different to one another. The capacity of infidelity comes from the sense of freedom which stems from continuity of the self. The self is what creates the truth to our own life, and to do so we have to leave the dubious comforts of narcissism. We were all narcissists earlier on in our lives, we all cried, whinged and got what we wanted from our mothers, but somewhere along the journey, we learned to listen and answer to others, wait for others, invest energy and interest to look after ourselves and for others.
But what is it that makes us to stay truthful and be monogamous? Is it because of Love? To stay in the relationship to care for the child (if applicable), or to protect their own status? The underlying factors to monogamy are hard to identify, leaving it an open-ended question.
What is it that makes us want to become unfaithful? SEX is the vehicle of liberation where idealised views of sex links to love, nurture , comfort and transcendence. Being sexually active but not monogamous gives us that sense of freedom, being able to do what we want without constraints. An act which allows us to give to someone a whole new us and gives us permission to forget our anxieties. It is the defiance of age and death. A desire hard to resist and a need we urgently must attain, we’re all sexually driven but some of us can control it, for love and happiness and ultimately for self integrity. For those who cannot, are the very minority of people who either have sex for that sense of belonging and connection, being wanted, have very little respect for the mind, body and soul, purely stemmed from being rejected, hurt, abandoned, playfully acting out to what it may seem as revenge. If they are in a relationship, they do this because they’re not happy and want to get caught out, in most relevant cases.
So to end this section I ask you; why do we ask so much from our sexual relationships? WHo do we exercise fidelity towards and why is this important? Is Sex so important in this day in age, if we aren’t happy with the sex with our current partners, does that allow you to be unfaithful to have what you want? Are we monogamous or are we just like animals where we are unable to control our natural instincts, needs and desires to prowl for flings?
So in my next blog I will be discussing the third Virtue. Look forward to that readers!
ITYAS
So now you’ve surfaced to the waters, facing the reality of the truth, that you matter. In fact, you are an important person in life, on this earth, you play a big part on making things happen, affecting the lives around you. Every decision you make counteracts with another decision, forming situations that you can’t foresee. This makes decision-making the hardest part, knowing whether if the options presented to you can result in a good outcome. But life is uncertain, no matter how much you plan ahead, there will always be a certain object/obstacle/situation to lead us astray. It’s the beauty of living, a life without mistakes is not really living, learning, or growing to become the person you can truly become with all the wealth of knowledge that you will acquire from the certain experiences.
Mistakes are inevitable but we can definitely learn to make right choices through personal development. It’s our decisions based on happiness within ourselves which either create mistakes or create further stepping-stones towards the future we all hope for. Stemming back to my previous post, finding the inner happiness and sanctum from within is a critical aspect to becoming the person who we want to become, by understanding the key elements of the six great human virtues as Stephanie Dowrick explains in her book, Forgiveness & Other Acts of Love, that ultimately affects our decision-making, transforming the way we see ourselves and others.
Short and succinct thoughts on the six great human virtues…
Courage – It takes courage, to realise our own happiness, to state our own flaws and make a step towards change. Ultimately, it takes courage to reflect on the possibilities of knowing happiness can ultimately be upon ones reach if we start fighting for it. Courage however can not make us love, but it can balance the fear, so we can live life and be free. But when do we realise we have courage? It’s when there will be a turning point in your life, which asks you a question, a realisation that only you can answer too, the courage to deal with the situation first hand as honestly and conscientiously as you can, in light, opening a pathway to increasing conscientiousness to what we didn’t know back then. In my case, the real turning path for me was when I came out of my second relationship.I asked myself many questions overtime, where one question stood out, repeatedly playing over and over, “Do you respect yourself to know what the real problem is?”
The fact is I did know in all God’s answer, yes the problem was that I loss sight of what respect was, the appreciation of myself and my rights and knowing the values of what a righteous relationship was. I certainly wasn’t in one, where hurt and pain was inflicted upon myself. It took courage to reflect on what was happening, knowing that I could change all of this if I summoned enough bravery to leave, therefore, understanding, reflecting and applying my thoughts showed true courage.
I will talk about the rest of the human virtues in my upcoming blog, what’s your views and perceptions about inner happiness and how it can help us to make better decisions?
So I’ve been brainstorming, figuring out what women & men need to know and learn first before they hit the dating scene. It’s quite simple and could possibly solve the epidemic swirl of gossip and pandemonium havic caused by idiocy and lack of will and respect for (this really important person which I’ll tell you very soon!!) in relation to the increasing number of failing dating scenarios. You know you are in this catergory, whether you’re the dater, the victim or simply the friend who has to listen to this very familar story AKA gossip, countless times over coffee and brunch.
To cut to the very chase, it’s about finding inner happiness and sanctum, mutual respect for one self, that’s the secret TAH DAH!!
Now I can honestly bring forthward the questions to you, that you may need to ask yourself:
“Are you happy with your life at the moment?”
“How do you view love, dating and relationships”
“Are you stable, have plans and set goals for your future?”
“Are you willing to or capable of involving another being into your life at this very moment?”
“Are you a man/woman yet? Have you matured?” (in other terms)
“Do you have the will and power to control ones tendencies and desires to cut out temptation if one problematic thing should arise and run?”
“What are your plans exactly, in relation to dating this person at the moment?”
I can’t think of all the questions right now, but here are a just a few of the many thoughts that stand out and scream IMPORTANT, so important that you need to sit down and keep asking yourself until you can get a proper and correct answer by you.
If you’ve answered these, and you know
a) You’re not happy.
b) Dating and relationships are not serious agendas atm and its fun and games.
c) What plans? I’m living it day by day.
d) You can’t or you don’t have time to fit anyone else into your life.
e) I know I have matured, well I think so, I just think sportsfishing is the way to go at the moment, does that make me immature?
f) I love challenges, especially if they come in a great package that can rock my bed!
g) We’re just kicking it…
So if that’s how you answered it, you obviously aren’t suitable or ready to be in the dating scene, that’s if you’re serious about it. A person who is happy, matured, and is of a respectable status would have answered all of those in a different way. If you aren’t ready, if you approach the dating scene in the above way, you shouldn’t be out there, because you’ll be the one to hurt someone, and that’s not a great thing. If you were anything different, you’d choose to be someone respectable, matured and have a positive outlook on dating, therefore attract the right person in your life, have a clear set game plan so you don’t end up hurting anyone or be the one that gets played!
So ask yourself these simple questions, sort yourself out, and ultimately know who you are first, be happy with being independant and also the reality of rejection, there’s plenty of deserving people to attain your beautiful heart, so don’t pull all the eggs in one basket.
Well I hope that helps 🙂
ITYAS
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