Sundays...

Sundays are my favorite...

Sometimes I take photos...

So here are some photos that I took on Sunday

Selflessness Vs Selfishness

There is a very thin line between selflessness and selfishness...this really explains how and why I attract such damaged people...

for some reason the word bitterness came to mind as a key characteristic that separates those who are selfless and those who are selfish... those who are selfless find it hard to be bitter.... unless it is towards themselves...

...this is just a thought from the other day.

Peace. Love,

Em

The Fam Bam: Charlos Rambino

Guys, I don’t know where to start on this one… I’m gonna start by saying this is another blog post about some of the most amazing people in the world...and I also have the honor of calling these people my friends…I’m so proud to being writing about my good friend, Charlie Curtis-Beard

Charlie Curtis-Beard is a native of Lincoln, Nebraska. He’s currently in Chicago, studying at Columbia College Chicago. I’m gonna say it now, Charlie can claim Chicago! He rides hard for this city! And I’m not even mad at it and I’m born and raised on the South Side…sooo, I mean…

The funny part about how I met Charlie, was the fact that I met him 3-4 times before he could actually remember that he’d met me. I worked as a resident advisor at the UC for two years, so I was almost always in the building. Charlie was a resident of the building at the time, so we were bound to cross paths. In addition to this, hanging out with Melody Kai almost ensured that I’d see Charlie here and there.

I didn’t really get to know Charlie until he released an LP called Childish. Melody was on several songs so I didn’t have much of a choice but to listen...now I listen to Childish by choice ALL the time. Literally anytime Mel sings with Charlie, my best friend Jen and I are there to support!

I recently had the honor of attending Charlie’s listening party for his latest project, Existentialism on Lakeshore Drive or XOLSD for short…

...Charlie has the very rare ability to understand the circumstances of an entire generation of people... and then adequately convey all of the emotions that these circumstances evoke as music! Amazing music! I have no other words but that. If you’re feeling lost… misunderstood… alone….listen to this album… actually just listen to Charlie’s music in general!

XOLSD has songs that will literally have you up and dancing! And then, there are songs that have memories dancing around the corridors of your mind! By the end of XOLSD, you enter a level of introspection comparable to Sherlock’s mind palace (Shout out to all my Cumberbatch kids, my Holmies, and my cumberbitches!).

Personally, XOLSD is now the theme of my entire life! Charlie is great! Listen to the project! Listen to his music! I’ll link to Charlie's internet stuff at the bottom of this post…well actually there are links all over...

XOLSD will be another blessing on your lap on November 17th!

Side Bar: ...guys seriously Charlie is awkward and he knows it...the truth is that I'm nothing but an awko taco myself...We have a tradition?? Ritual?? IDK...we used to act like two positive ends of an awkward magnet so it created this whole awkward vibe... so now when we link up, we mock our old selves being awkward as kinda a weird awkward people gesture, ritual thing....point being...nothing

Peace, Love, Soul, Emerithing and more,

Em

Bloggers Note: Yo, Charlie!  Mybad for sending you that Steph Curry GIF when the Warriors beat the Cavs. I was under the impression that you were a Golden State fan. I legit inadvertently sent you that GIF slightly destroying your soul but I thought I was just spreading the love and happiness! I still don’t like Lebron though, mybad B.

The Forgotten Lessons of Life <3

Have you ever sat down and thought about how many lessons you've learned?? And how many of those lessons that you've forgotten??

Forgotten lesson #1... I am the ruler of my own life... somewhere between asking if “I may go to the bathroom” in class and paying rent, I became an adult. For as long as I can remember, important decisions were not left up to me. Just as the transitional period of my independence began and I was slated to make a few decisions for myself, I handed over my decision making rights to my significant other... what do you mean by that, Emeri? 

Well I’ll explain more by referring to a popular stereotype of women... “women are horrible at, or will not make decisions”. I see memes about this, people have joked with me about this, but the truth is, is that it isn’t funny. The core of why myself and many other women don’t like to make decisions is abuse and or trauma. 

Making a decision is truly the most stressful thing in the world to me and that’s because of a learned behavior from a past relationship. I would be asked to make a decision but no matter what my choice was, I was chastised for it... so then I stopped caring... I don’t want to be asked if I want KFC or Popeyes, respond that I want Popeyes, and then get told Popeyes sucks and I’m stupid, that’s not fun...

In addition to it not being fun, it also essentially dismantles the foundation of self trust. If I feel awful about making a small decision, such as where to eat, then how do you think I feel about deciding whether or not I’m worth more than the awful relationship that I’m in? And that ladies and gentlemen is how I handed over my decision making rights, right when I was about 18 years old.

It only took me 4 years of self reflection and hundreds of conversations to realize that my life is about me, myself, and I. I am not intended to live for any other human being. The choices that I make are to make me happy and the people who I care to consider happy. The same goes for all of you. Your life is yours and unique. Do not feel selfish for considering yourself...on the other hand, true self love does not negate another being’s self love. 

I believe that is the difference between self consideration and being selfish in the most negative meaning of the word. If you truly understand your own self worth, self love, etc then there is absolutely no way in hell that you will not have compassion and/or respect for another being who is essentially doing the same thing, this is where the idea of compromise comes from. 

I’ll admit that last part wasn’t a forgotten lesson as much as a tangent but it goes along with the general theme here....which is basically

 “YOU IS KIND! YOU IS SMART! YOU IS IMPORTANT!” Or in other words, be sure to have at least one moment of pure self consideration a day because you're worth it!

Peace, Love, Soul, and Emerthing like that,
Em