*crouches To Go Into Stealth*

Your friends watching something for the first time and getting to that scene VS you, the knower.

hi love you guys do me a favor. big big big BIG breath in right now all the way all the way breathe in feel your belly expanding hold hold hold.. hold.. now everything out like ur a deflating balloon. whoosh. whooooooooosh. imagine water streaming from the top of your head down your shoulders off the ends of your fingertips and toes. u are a reed in a river a beam of pure light a steady anvil solid and heavy. ok that was all thank u

In mine and many other east Asian cultures, the dragon traditionally symbolises things like power, wealth and strength (imperial symbol and all)

I think we often forget that in the story of the Great Race, the dragon came in fifth because it'd stopped to give people rain. Then it'd stopped again to push a rabbit adrift on a log across the wide river so it reached the shore safely (that's why the Rabbit year comes before the Dragon).

Dragons aren't meant to just be powerful - they are meant to do good with such power, and to help those in need.

So in this lunar new year, I hope you gain more power, so that you might be able to help others. I pray you have abundant resources so you may give to yourself and those around you. I wish you courage, endurance, kindness and generosity, for yourself and your people.

I hope you, and I, will be rain givers, life preservers, joy bringers.

I hope we will be dragons.

#Marine fashion

fashion is cyclical

Christmas advice for ladies (crossposted from Old Weird Scotland on mastodon, with permission)

I want you all to keep this in mind!

Solving conflict, not like a compromise or a "let's forget about this and move on", but really understanding why the other said or did what they said or did, and them understanding you, and both of you feeling closer and trusting the other more afterwards is one fucking amazing human experience.

I have a friend with whom I had a very sudden and painful conflict and she went no contact for 4 years, then she came back and asked to talk it out, and now it has been 10 years and how we solved this conflict got us so much closer.

But sometimes, there are some conflicts that will never get solved, some apologies we'll never get to make. Somewhere, someone is telling a story about what a dick you were, to a new friend, over a drink.

And I learned that it is ok. Conflict solving requires both parties being willing to try, the right timing, and sometimes some special communication and empathy skills. It cannot always work.

But when it does, and I get to understand myself and someone I love so much better thanks to it, it makes me so happy. I also trust people more after having even a minor conflict with them and see how we both handle it.

I'm grateful for all the conflicts that made me grow and feel loved and fought for afterward.

By Wealthy Loser on Instagram

aw hell yeah

goth manta goth manta goth manta goth manta goth manta

Link.

I feel that whatever part of the diagram I find myself in, my mind is capable of spinning a depressing and self-judgmental narrative about the situation. This post offers an alternative to rephrase these narratives and be more encouraging and empathetic to oneself. In the end, is it really our achievements that count, or the story we tell ourselves about the meaning of our life and what happens to us? Some people succeed so much and are never content, neither kind to themselves. Maybe being kind and encouraging towards ourselves through our journey is more important than what we can or can't do. Maybe we need both to fail and succeed, to persist and walk away, if we want to fully experience what it means to be alive. Maybe it is all just very interesting.

This post genuinely altered the trajectory of my life and how i make a lot of my decisions and i think about it so much

"It doesn't have to be like this. We could have it so much better"

Calligraffiti in Chicago, Illinois