Kitsilano Beach Park

T'was the third Sunday of July 2011 when we went to Kitsilano Beach Park (Vancouver, BC). Kitsilano Beach Park is nowhere near a tourist-spot-resort, though you can swim in the beach, it is best known as a family picnic place. It is a perfect place if you just want to enjoy the sun, get a spectacular view, play some outdoor games, or just to eat out with your friends or family.

What I loved about this place is the variety of things that you can do without going too far way. When we went there, a beach volleyball competition took place. You can get a glimpse of what's going on in the competition because the park, though it had a lot of trees, has a vast open space area which enables people from one end to look easily at the other end of the park.

We chose a place that's both close to an open ground (for outdoor games) and the beach. Going here was a breath of fresh air because it captivates you with the view it offers, it makes you appreciate the birds and swans (or ducks) wandering close to you. Those were significant relaxing hours.

Stars shine for you. ;)

Have you ever had a day that just felt so wrong? Like your world has stopped and just can't catch as the world of others continue to move forward? I have.

Sometimes we just feel so restless and feel like something's making us sad. But no matter how hard we try, we can't figure out that 'something'. We then start to think of possible reasons to blame of why we really are feeling down. But most of us don't know that this makes our feeling worse. We start to see the wrong in us. We start to look at the flaw of almost every thing around us. This is normal, and this is healthy - that's what I think.

Sometimes acknowledging our sadness helps us. It reduces the pressure we feel inside. It heals the pain we feel. I also believe that once we know our flaws, we begin to appreciate them. Life is just so ironic and crazy. Today it'll make you happy, the next thing you know it's slapping you with problems. But I guess as a fifteen year old, I don't have a clue of what life is yet. But I know that the stars will always be there. And I know that the stars shine for me. So you have the right to feel sad and feel bad sometimes. You just have to get your positivity back and know that life is challenging, but always fabulous. You have to remember that stars shine for you, and they will shine brighter tonight.

Fear: a State of Mind

Every day, we spend time planning and thinking about our future. We tend to dream of bizarre things and have those dreams on our mind again and again. We often imagine “what if, what if” circumstances, wishing some to come into reality. Some can be ambitious enough to envision themselves being in the list of the world’s popular celebrities. Some are pessimists and envision themselves as being forever alone. During lunch breaks, we talk about activities of tomorrows and next weeks with our friends. We do all these future-prospecting and more as we live and take another day. Part of grasping future is having fears. It’s normal. Everyone has fears. But those fears could make our future even more equivocal.

Before I sleep at night, I often think of what’s going to happen when I wake up. I always plan to do something exciting for the next day. At times, I find myself taking a pause, thinking twice if I should continue doing that ‘exciting’ matter or just forget it at all. That pause was brought by fear. I’m pretty sure that there’s a bunch of other people who have been in that kind of situation already and witnessed how furious fears could be. Fears limit what we want to do. They push us backwards as the world continues to move forward. They block us from having once-in-a-lifetime experiences. They take our aspirations, they steal our dreams. I guess fears could take away half of our life, not through curtailing the length of our living but by retrenching our chances to live life to the fullest.

Fear is unquestionably powerful. But fears couldn’t be victorious if we won’t let them overcome us. When I was watching the movie “Love Happens” starring Jennifer Anniston ang Aaron Eckheart, one line struck my mind. Aaron Eckheart, a book author in the movie, on one of his seminars, insisted: “Fear is a state of mind.” Awed by the line, I tried to think about it critically. I realized then that he was actually right; fear is only a state of mind. We are scared of the dark because we don’t know what’s in it. We think of horrifying creatures that would touch us and other crazy stuff. However if we actually try to relax our mind and believe that there is no unwanted creature that would appear, our fear could be gone. We are frightened to feel pain because we could hardly bear it. If we try to take a deep breath and believe that there is nothing that humans could not endure, we could actually surpass the pain. Moreover, we all know that pain is just temporary.

Take time to consider this – in this world, we extremely fear death because we think it is the worst thing that could happen to us. It is from this thought where all our fears start. We are scared of heights because we are afraid to fall down from a very high place, in such way we could possibly die. We are scared of deep oceans because we are afraid of drowning which can lead to death. We are frightened of many things because we are scared to die. But hey, if death is the worst thing that could occur, then there’s no reason for us to be terrified. Besides, it is something that we are all heading to. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying this to waste your life because we all are going to die anyway.  I’m saying this to convince you that we cherish our lives by living to the fullest, and we live to the fullest by living fearlessly. I know you don’t want anything or anyone to ruin your future. Our future is in our hands, we should not let anyone interfere with it. So go ahead, watch the sun rise with a feeling of courage and hope.