Smile, please.

Smile. The word has no real definition. Where do they come from? 

Contemplate about what makes you smile.
Is it a person?
Is it an object?
Is it an action?

A place?
A memory?

Just recently on my Christmas trip, I wandered into a small store and found myself instantly drawn to Jeanie Leung's artwork. Actually, it was the title of this book that captured my attention:

I started flipping through it, engaged to her philosophical words and admiring her beautiful artwork. Of course, I decided to buy it. Little did I know that the message Jeanie was trying to get across would stick in my mind for such a long time. 

The story talks of Oowa, her signature character, starting off in his 'secret garden', but eventually leaving it to explore the world. He meets a little girl who never smiled, and tries many different ways to bring that smile to her face. However, he was always unsuccessful, until he found his once abandoned 'secret garden'. Her main message, I will share with you. All credits go to Jeanie Leung herself - I am just sharing her inspirational words.

Black on White on White on Black.

~ 

"It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light." - Aristotle Onassis

~ 

Dear You,

I know that you're going through a difficult time in your life. I would say that I completely understand how you feel...but I cannot say that. Because the truth is, I don't know how you feel, because I am not you. But what I can do is tell you that there are people out there who try their very best to put themselves into your shoes in order to help you feel like you're not going through this storm all alone. People always say that the greatest and truest of friends always appear when you are at your worst. Believe what they say. A hug can do so much if it is given by the right person, so here is a hug for you. I hope you feel it.

                                                                                                                        Love, Me.

RE: What Is Love: Everyone Wants an Answer

On my way to school this morning, I was listening to the radio and the thing that really caught my attention was the Google list of most searched items for 2012. Of course, PSY and Gangnam Style was a topper, as well as Justin Bieber and One Direction - these were a given already.
But what I didn't expect was that the question that was most searched on Google this year was, in fact:

What Is Love?

This really caught my attention because...who knew that so many people are trying to find out what love really means?
This proves that the topic of love really seems to be the most unclear of them all, everybody wanting to understand it because it is human nature to want to be loved, and to know if what they, or others, feel is real love and not just one's own perception of the term.

Please feel free to leave your thoughts on What Is Love by commenting on any of the posts from the series!


~Minti~

The Real Me

You're right. I really do degrade myself too much and too often.
But that's only because there's nobody out there that knows the real me.
I believe that I am actually a tough cookie, they do not.
They think that I am a soft cookie/a marshmallow.
I am not.
They don't know the real me.

I am tougher than they think I am, more capable than they think I am.

I guess that's why I degrade myself so much, because I am given the impression that no one believes in me. Or more so, they cannot see my strengths or "tough side" and think that I am just some helpless, overly-nice "princess" who is a pushover.

In the long run, when people treat me like a degraded version of myself, I start to believe that I am actually a degraded version of myself, and start to put myself down.
This needs to change.

But how...?

*Once again, I had these brilliant thoughts in my head, but could not formulate them into words, making this blog post less effective and brilliant than it could have been. Oh well...great writing comes with a lot of practice.

Rollercoaster Ride

A picture is worth a thousand words, says a Chinese Proverb.

You can take it the figurative way, or the literal way: quote typographies.
Like this one right here - my current life, summarized through one picture.

Quote from The Perks Of Being A Wallflower.

This is actually not just my life, but every teenager's life. 

Think of it as the world's largest, scariest, most thrilling rollercoaster.
You're scared to go on it, yet you have to admit, you're a bit excited too; that's the deal with entering into the teenage years - you're really excited that you finally get more freedom, responsibility, and will feel older. 
However, that is the stage in life where most of the drama happens.
You're on a search for identity.