quite too often
I hear people tell others to
EMBRACE their flaws
well
I don't want to
embrace my "flaws"
I want to change
the way I view myself
so that when I look in the mirror
I accept and love
my ENTIRE body
because I SEE no flaws

Why
Why is everything falling apart
Come back
I feel as though I’m scrambling
To piece together the control
I thought I had
This quarantine has forced me
To look in the mirror
Because all other directions
I tried to escape to look
Have lost their charm
I no longer find the thrill
In binge watching movies
Scrolling through social media
Reading romance books
Working out
I feel like everything is slipping
And I can’t control the natural path of the fall
That’s disregarding my defense mechanisms
And now I am forced
To look in the mirror
And truly look
At what I’ve become
Who I’ve been afraid of confronting
And explore why it’s taken me this long
To finally
Come back home to myself

Tell me all your insecurities
So I can tell you
Why they aren’t

I stopped writing poetry
Took a break
Some might say

Maybe it's because I'm finally happy
And I don't need to express my
Melancholy
Frustration
Or anger
Into words
Since they've disappeared

Maybe it's because my muse left me
And now
I don't have any
Raging teenage hormones
To fuel my passionate
Love struck emotions
Into cheesy poetry

Maybe it's because I just needed a break
So that I can start writing about
Happiness
Serenity
Completeness
And look for another muse
To kindle other emotions
That got lost in the flame
That was put out
All too soon

how are you really doing
-> insert photo with lots of adjectives describing emotional states; if none are applicable, then just state energy level (high or low) and pleasantness (high or low)

2. share two poems: one you have recently read and one you have recently written

3. three life events that have happened
-> state whether you would like feedback or if you would like to just be listened to

4. answer four questions from the list ( if a list is not created, then just ask four thought provoking or simple questions; how did you learn to ride a bike; who makes you feel the most loved, etc.)

5. write a poem about a certain topic or style then share it with one another

6. part with asking how they are currently doing
-> state an adjective and use level of energy and pleasantness

The thing with my glass heart
Is that it
Fills very quickly
But breaks very easily
So I ask you
Can I trust you to hold my delicate heart
Or should you return it now
Before it fills anymore
Before it falls and breaks
Pieces scatter
To the point where I can’t piece it back together

We’re all ****** up
We’ve all been victims in certain stories
We’ve all been oppressors in others
So stop pointing the finger
Because it’s only a mirror

I want to be with someone
Whose heart stutters
With my gentle caresses

Whose breath stops
Just with one glance at me

Whose palms sweat
Because nerves get the best of him
Even though he's been with many before

I want to be with someone
Who struggles to suppress a shy smile
Every time I smile widely
In his direction
With one that's reserved for him
And him only

There is
No
One
On this entire planet
That is
Exactly
Like you
Your looks
Your preferences
Your character
All combined
Makes you
Uniquely
You

In a consumer driven
Defining itself over one another
Capitalistic society
Which feeds off of instilling
Insecurity into its victims
With the desire for more due to
A sense of inadequacy
A sense of never being enough
The most rebellious and revolutionary act
One can do
Is to love oneself
Because it facilitates so much joy
Not happiness
For joy is not externally dependent
Like happiness is

I want to smear red lipstick
On my lips
Strip you of all your clothes
Piece by piece
Kiss your body
From head to toe
Only to pull away from you
And admire my artwork
Literally
And
Figuratively

Breath
Relax
It's okay to let loose
Truly live
Allow the responsibilities of life
Blur into the background
And live in the present
Freely
Wildly
Passionately

You deserve to have someone
Revere you

You deserve to have someone
Whose heart thumps a little faster
When they see you

You deserve to have someone
Whose idea of perfection
Sits before their eyes
And has your name

You deserve to have someone
Who gets nervous
When they're trying to think of a response
That will woo you

You deserve
To be boldly pursued

You deserve
To be loved

You
Deserve
Love

a being that is easy to anger
is easily controlled

But at the end of the day
Are you proud of what you see
Staring back at you
As you stare at yourself
In a rose-colored mirror?

As you stare
Not at your flesh
But at your soul
Because looks can be deceiving
And your flesh is a master
At deception
But your eyes see beyond
The unmoving mask that your flesh
Portrays to the outside world

So I ask you
Are you proud of what you see
As you stare
Truly stare
At yourself in a mirror
That's no longer stained
The color of a rose

~
1. Carry a humble confidence
With you
Everywhere you go
~
2. Be spontaneous
Because the best memories (typically)
Are never preplanned
~
3. Realize that you are
Beautiful
Intelligent
Warm-hearted
But never
Allow any one of those traits
Define you
~
4. Learn to love yourself
Before deciding to fall in love
With another
~
5. Never compare yourself
To something or someone
That you were never meant to be
Compare yourself to who you were
And will be
~
6. Never crave validation
Of your worth
Through the meaningless words
Of people who don't truly understand
Or know you
~
7. Most importantly
Live.
In.
The.
Moment.
Because life's too precious
To have your focus be in anyplace
But where you currently are
~
9. Embrace all emotions
With spiritual discernment
There is no such thing
As a good or bad emotion
There are
Positive and negative emotions
And both are meant to be felt
~
10. There is a reason you feel an emotion
It is your body
Trying to tell you something
Listen
There’s a reason you’re feeling that emotion
Pay attention to your body
~
11. Never marry someone
Unless you’ve seen them
When they’re
Sick
Stressed out
And angry
It is when we are in dire situations
When our true character is tested
~
12. Others do onto you
As they wish others do onto them
~
13. People crave to be reflected
And validated in their emotions
Just as a baby and their caregiver
regardless of their age
~
14. Two words
Mimetic Theory
By Rene Girard
Go look it up
~
15. Go and flirt with that person
You think is cute
Life is too short to over analyze everything
~
16. Play the naïve narrative
It’ll work in your favor
sometimes
~
17. Recognize pretty privilege
It’s a real thing
Be cautious and careful with it
~
18. Have grace towards others
They are just projecting their trauma
It’s nothing personal to you
They’re dealing in the ways they learned
At an early age
~
19. You have the power
To break the cycles in your life
NUEROPLASTICITY
~
20. You will change
Find sometime whose own growth
Compliments yours
~
21. Depressive days
Are healing days too
Sometimes you need to take a break
From always thinking and reflecting
~
22. When you get emotional
You enter into your limbic brain
And rational thought is hindered
Because you are no longer in your
Prefrontal cortex
~
23. Any deviation from the norm
Or extremes
Calls for a red flag
It doesn’t necessarily mean that there is
Something wrong
But that there’s something
Worth taking notice
~
24. Your vulnerability is a gift
Not everyone deserves to
Receive it
~
25. Parenting is the process
Of equipping an individual
To become autonomous
And guiding them
To discover their personal identity
While you sit back and admire their discovery
In every high and low
Which means
Your children
May not have similar beliefs or tastes as you
And that is okay
~
26. You are not responsible
To be someone’s
Savior
Therapist
Drug
Crutch
Lover
~
27. your features
don't go in and out of style
~
28. five years form today (5-24-20)
you will be the same person that you are today
except for the books you read and the people you meet
~
29. sometimes people are beautiful
not in looks
nit in what they say
just in the way they are
~
30. a person in two months
can make you feel
what a person in two years couldn't
time means nothing
character does
~
31. if you're feeling down tonight
think five years ahead
think of all the good music you'll hear
between now and then
all the places you'll visit
all the food you'll eat
maybe you'll have even met the love of your life
i know life can get hard
but better things await
seek hope
~
32. i wonder how many people meet the person
they once were
and feel like they're staring at a stranger
~
33. find someone who will treat you this way
"we're all the same, we're all ****."
"this guy in front of me isn't ****,
and i'll still be here when you finally believe it too."
~
34. there are moments you remember
and
people you will never ******* forget
~
35. no onw knows us
not the human fragile parts of us
i dont think they'll ever stop
unless they see
~
36. there will be times
where you cannot change
you cannot change your parents
you cannot change your friends
there will be times
where others will refuse to accept your change
respect yourself and them
let go
maybe the version you want the to be
isn't the one they ever wanted
don't go backwards
your change happened for a reason
~
37. make your heart
the prettiest thing about you
~
38. be aware of your
emotions
thoughts
stereotypes you have of others
stereotypes others have of you
don't feel shame or embarrassment
instead
view them without judgement
but
do be aware of them and work with them
~
39. learn to be intentional
with everything that you do
~
40. seek to see the other perspective
in every moment in life
you are given the opportunity
to see life from another perspective
which breeds compassion
~
41. the worst kind of loneliness
is to not be comfortable with yourself
~
42. "I like people
who have a sense of individuality
I love expression
and anything awkward and imperfect
because that’s natural
and that’s real" - Marc Jacobs
~
43.“I like how sleeping next to someone
means more than ***
sometimes
its's the body’s way of saying
‘I trust you to be by my side at my most vulnerable time’
you have no defenses when you are asleep
you tell no lies”
~
44. do you ever get weirded out
by the fact that everyone around you
is constantly within their own mind
and thinking a million secret thoughts
and battling internal struggles
just like you
and that you’re not the only one who thinks these things
and that the people around you
aren’t just faces meant to fill up your life
but they’re actually really deep people
who have a lot more to them
than you ever actually even think about
~
45. take a deep breath
take a shower
clean your room
watch a movie
take some time for yourself
~
46. my ultimate life hack
i never wear makeup
except for occasions where i want to feel overly hot/professional
this way
people who see me everyday won’t be shocked
when i don’t wear makeup
they will instead be shocked
at how much hotter i can become
how much potential i don’t unlock
for no reason other than laziness
~
47. sometimes
the person you want most
is the person you're best without
~
48. i am mine
before i am anyone else's
~
49. my father told me once
to never date anyone
who talks smoothly around you from the start
because if someone likes you
they should be a little nervous
~
50.
~
51.
~
52.
~
53.
~
54.

Carry a humble confidence
With you
Everywhere you go

2. Be spontaneous
Because the best memories (typically)
Are never preplanned

3. Realize that you are
Beautiful
Intelligent
Warm-hearted
But never
Allow any one of those traits
Define you

4. Learn to love yourself
Before deciding to fall in love
With another

5. Never compare yourself
To something or someone
That you were never meant to be
Compare yourself to who you were
And will be

6. Never crave validation
Of your worth
Through the meaningless words
Of people who don't truly understand
Or know you

7. Most importantly
Live.
In.
The.
Moment.
Because life's too precious
To have your focus be in anyplace
But where you currently are

You mouth
I love you
Against my lips
Because you’re too shy
To look me in the eye
And proclaim your feelings
Scared of the emotion
Which is all too foreign
To the likes of someone like you
But that’s where you’re wrong
Because if you just lifted your face from mine
You would see the genuine emotion in my eyes
As I tell you that you are worth loving
As I tell you that you are capable of receiving love
As I tell you that you are loved
Because the fear of rejection
Is the result of chronic insecurity
To love oneself
As they are
Unconditionally

the body
is a living  moving time capsule
your scars carry stories
whether that be from adventurous moments in childhood
a burn from attempting to cook
or the pain of feeling empty inside
and just wanting to feel or escape something

your scars carry stories
they also depict the love that your body has for you
they depict survival
they are a reminder that you are here
they are a reminder that you deserve to be here
they carry memories
the good
the bad
all are essential
because the combination of all your experiences
are what make you
you

I
Don't
Want
You
I
Just
Want
You
To
Want
Me

My beauty
Is not found within conformity
My beauty
Is found in embracing my originality

Be with someone
Who makes you question
Whether you've ever been in love
Before

The very things
That once gave me euphoric highs
No longer keep me satisfied
And no amount of blissful lies
Can make me blindly ignore
This brutal realization

Reflection and poetry are synonymous
To be a poet
Is to be reflective in nature
To be a poet
Is to disperse sparks of wisdom
Within the space of letters and lines
Through moments of inner monologues

When a member of the opposite ***
Asks this question
I can’t help but laugh
Inside outside emotions
This is a concept where the outside emotions are the thoughts that are being said out loud from the conscious
While inside emotions are the thoughts that are being said within the subconscious typically
So
In this case
When someone asks
What’s your type
What they might be saying is
Depending on the analysis of the person
I’m kind of insecure
And I don’t know if I am someone that you would pursue a romantic relationship with
So maybe
If you could name off some characteristics
I could compare myself to them
To see if I fit any of them
You can learn a lot from this concept
The analysis of the subconscious using the conscious
Asking the question why

paint your face
not too much but just enough to look like it's not
dress up in your costume
smile
laugh
say the "right" words
and move your body in the "right" way

you say you are an open book
that you trust too easily
but baby
that is so far from the truth

your distrust has armor that holds up expectations of perfection
you protect yourself from others seeing you
the real one
not the fabricated
societally conditioned Barbie
at the dispense of others' real-life fantasy

fu*k perfection
authenticity is being starved
and you are the one that is refusing to open your mouth

speak up
and live life boldly

and as i sit in this church pew
i can't help but find myself writing poetry on my left palm
i use the pens that are supplied
behind the backs of the wooden rows
and let my mind wander
to places where my golden thoughts lay
i am also aware that these captured emotions
are written from stolen ink
and pressed onto my sensitive flesh
only to disappear from sight
when i fold my hands together
bow my knees
and begin to pray

regarding addiction
daniel amen once said
the behavior is not the problem
it is the expression of the problem
that is not to say that the behavior is not a problem
because it possesses the ability to be one
but it is not the problem
the problem is what compelled the individual
to use the behavior as a means of coping
the behavior is an expression
of a human's attempt to find resolution within
it is the diseased leaves
that have manifested from a rotting root
yet we still like to blame and look at the leaves in isolation
we try to treat the leaves
when the root is what must be tended to
but the leaves are easily noticed
the root is not
it is buried behind weeds and soil
it requires more effort and thought

Have you ever looked at someone
And thought to yourself
I wish you were mine
All while trying to suppress
A shy smile
And hope
Pray even
That your eyes
In return
Aren’t revealing the depth and complexity
Of your infatuation

I hope you understand what it’s like to be alone
So that when you meet someone
You’re able to appreciate their presence
More deeply

I find it quite interesting
How the entire world magnifies
Right before our eyes
When we are on the brink
The brink of crying
When the unshed tears
Have gathered and collected
At the bottom of our eyes

They struggle to fall
Yet for a brief moment in time
We see things closer
We see things blurrier
Than we have ever before
Right as they sit on the edge
Before they take the tumble
Before they take the fall

I want you to psychoanalyze me
Tell me what’s wrong with me
So I can fix it

But that’s when I paused
Shocked by my own revelation

I may have never said it
But in between my words
Laid the belief

I am a problem

This is the root of my desire to be psychoanalyzed

This is the problem

Products and/or standards of a capitalistic market
Are usually never intended to
Create long-term satisfaction
That is just not how it works
They need to shift constantly

What is "in" or on trend frequently changes
In order to be able to continue selling new products
It is based on promising a temporary product with a temporary high