25

I have learned to walk: ever since, I let myself run. 

I have learned to fly: ever since, I do not want to be pushed before moving along.
Now I am light, now I fly, now I see myself beneath myself, now a god dances through me.

24 {Real Food}

What you CANNOT eat:

1. No refined grains such as white flour or white rice (items containing wheat must say WHOLE wheat…not just “wheat”)
2. No refined sweeteners such as sugar, any form of corn syrup, cane juice, or the artificial stuff like Splenda
3. Nothing out of a box, can, bag, bottle or package that has more than 5 ingredients listed on the label
4. No deep fried foods
5. No fast foods

23 {Vegetarian. June/28}

No more meat in my diet.

22

I love him who makes his virtue his addiction and his catastrophe: for his virtue's sake he wants to live on and to live no longer.

21

The leap of faith is this: You have to believe, or at least pretend you believe until you really believe it, that you are strong enough to take life face on.

----

I have never been normal about my body. It has always seemed to me a strange and foreign entity. I don't know that there was ever a time when I was not conscious of it. As far back as I can think, I was aware of my own corporeality, my physical imposition on space.

----

You may change your behavior, change your beliefs about yourself and your body, give up that particular way of coping in the world. You may learn, as I have, that you would rather be a human than a human's thin shell. You may get well. But you never forget.

20

"My weight was my mood, and the more effort I put into starving myself to get to an acceptable level, the more satisfaction I would feel as the restriction and denail built into an incredible sense of accomplishment."

19

Magic words: No - Enough is enough.

18 {Breaking free from BA}

Focus on actions, not outcomes.

• Stock your house with real, whole foods you enjoy
• Perform 3 strength training workouts per week and focus solely on what you can do
• Engage in a fun activity 1-3 times per week
• Focus on eating your meals slowly
• Eat slowly and savour your food
• Learn to eat your favourite foods with zero guilt
• Relearn how to identify physical hunger

• 
  

17

BUEN VIAJE

La primera vez ocurre que te miras en el espejo

y tu cara ya no es tu cara.

lo mismo sucede con las palmas

de tus manos

o con los dedos.

después, debes acercarte a tu mejor amiga

y decirle que hace tiempo que dejó de ser

tu mejor amiga.

y no esperar que llore.

también tienes que asumir que la definición

de las cosas ocultan su significado,

y que, tal vez,

tu padre se viene demasiadas veces abajo

y tu madre es feliz

pero sólo a ratos.

has de comprender que tropezar y caer

de rodillas,

no es lo mismo que arrodillarse.

que a veces,

la tragedia es la sonrisa perversa

del camino equivocado.

debes decidir si existes

y no olvidarlo.

y puede que, algún día,

con suerte

con mucha suerte

aprendas a atarte fuerte los cordones

antes de dar

el siguiente

paso.

*

Ester G. Camps (Valencia, España)

en Bukowski Club 06/08. Jam session de poesía, Ediciones Escalera, Segovia, 2008

16

"For women who are 'difficult' to love."

you are a horse running alone

and he tries to tame you

compares you to an impossible highway

to a burning house

says you are blinding him

that he could never leave you

forget you

want anything but you

you dizzy him, you are unbearable

every woman before or after you

is doused in your name

you fill his mouth

his teeth ache with memory of taste

his body just a long shadow seeking yours

but you are always too intense

frightening in the way you want him

unashamed and sacrificial

he tells you that no man can live up to the one who

lives in your head

and you tried to change, didn't you?

closed your mouth more

tried to be softer

prettier

less volatile, less awake

but even when sleeping you could feel

him travelling away from you in his dreams

so what did you want to do love

split his head open?

you can’t make homes out of human beings

someone should have already told you that

and if he wants to leave

then let him leave

you are terrifying

and strange and beautiful

something not everyone knows how to love.

― Warsan Shire

15

Every ceiling, when reached, becomes a floor, upon which one walks as a matter of course and prescriptive right.

14

You'd kill yourself for recognition,

you'd kill yourself to never ever stop.

You broke another mirror,

you're turning into something you are not.

13

I don't care if it hurts: I wanna have control;

I want a perfect body. I want a perfect soul.

12

Mis certezas desayunan dudas.

11

That always confused me. I was a child, but I got the point. Quit acting like a child. Be whatever you want, but don't let anyone see. Perfect the surface. Learn your lines. Sit up straight. Use the right fork, put your napkin on your lap, say excuse me, say please, smile for chrissakes, smile, stop crying, quit whining, quit asking why, because I said so, dammit, don't talk back to me, watch your mouth, Missy, behave yourself, control yourself.

10

"If you’re going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don’t even start. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives and maybe even your mind. It could mean not eating for three or four days. It could mean freezing on a park bench. It could mean jail. It could mean derision. It could mean mockery—isolation. Isolation is the gift. All the others are a test of your endurance, of how much you really want to do it. And, you’ll do it, despite rejection and the worst odds. And it will be better than anything else you can imagine. If you’re going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that. You will be alone with the gods, and the nights will flame with fire. You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It’s the only good fight there is."

— Charles Bukowski, Factotum

9

Living is easy with eyes closed

Misunderstanding all you see

8

I don’t believe in them, but somewhere there are gods hiding inside of their own heads using all their might trying to stop their own eardrums from pounding out the sound of your name.

You are lightning trying to tame thunder, leaving split second scars against the sky as if you were breaking the skin of something that won’t die. My first instinct is the same as my second, strongly reinforced as if by a diamond sheeting that donated its glimmer to charity so that it could look dull and tough. A shine now scuffed, as if the world left a bruise on light.

I fight my instinct long enough to realize that I won’t win. I give in, surrendering to an impulse, somewhat believing that my imprisonment will not involve torture if I confess everything I know. 

I know nothing. I bring an emptiness to your need, like a dog laying a skeleton at your feet, bone by bone. I lay stone all around you in a circle, as if at any moment you will burst into flame and warm us long enough so that I can tell you my ghost story, that a part of me still haunts my memory. It throws chairs against my mirrored mind, cracking the reflections in which I once thought I would find answers. If I reflect long enough, there will be answers, but like mail on Sunday none came.

So I sit before flowers, hoping they will train me in the art of opening up. I stand on mountain tops believing that avalanches will teach me to let go. I know nothing, but I am here to learn.

Shane Koyczan, 'The Student'.

7

Every day you get closer to the end of your existence. Make it worthwhile.

6 {Health}

Health:
1. Drink plenty of water.
2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants, and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
4. Live with the 3 E’s — Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.
5. Make time for prayer and reflection
6. Play more games.
7. Read more books than you did in 2012.
8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
9. Sleep for 7 hours.

Personality:
10. Take a 10-30 minutes walk every day —- and while you walk, smile.
11. Don’t compare your life to others’. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
12. Don’t have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
13. Don’t over do; keep your limits.
14. Don’t take yourself so seriously; no one else does.
15. Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip.
16. Dream more while you are awake.
17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
18. Forget issues of the past. Don’t remind your partner with his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don’t hate others.
20. Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present.
21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
23. Smile and laugh more.
24. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

Community:
25. Call your family often.
26. Each day give something good to others.
27. Forgive everyone for everything.
28. Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
29. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
30. What other people think of you is none of your business.
31. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your family and friends will. Stay in touch.

Life:
32. Do the right things.
33. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
34. Forgiveness heals everything.
35. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
36. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
37. The best is yet to come.
38. When you awake alive in the morning, don’t take it for granted – embrace life.
39. Your inner most is always happy. So, be happy.

Last but not least:
40. Enjoy LIFE!

5 {Goals}

Life Goals:

• Weight loss
• Go vegan
• Let my hair grow
• Exercise
• Drink more water
• Travel
• Learn more languages
• Plant fruits/veggies
• Room for a library/tea saloon

• Willpower
• Self-control
• Motivation
• Habit

4

You are the most important person in your life.

3

Do it again 
Over and over
Redo and retry
But you need to get it right

2

I spent days eating nothing but air.

1

You really need to learn when to quit.