MANTRAS and becoming self actualized

It's pretty late and I have work in the morning but here I am listening to L.A Takedown and picturing in my minds eye that I'm floating in a body of water while watching a hazy sunset full of oranges and pinks as the water swells with the ebb and flow of the tide.

a link so you can listen too https://youtu.be/g3JogMjRDD0
(it'd be cool to hear what it makes you see/feel, and/or what songs bring strong vibes to you) 
Another song that comes to mind is Music for 18 Musicians by Steve Reich https://youtu.be/E_jwv2QMtAo
(my favorite minimalist piece actually) 

I find my self listening to these pieces when I am looking for solitude and the current environment doesn't allow it. It is almost like my own form of meditation listening to them. An escape from the chaos really - or diving into it, depending on your view minimalist music.

Recently, I have been adding mantras into my yoga practice. I am hardly a yogi, I've been on and off for the better part of three years. It is something that helps give a break to my thinking mind. As a self diagnosed over thinker; i.e always thinking about the possibilities of the future, over criticizing everything (mostly myself), It can get pretty loud up there. This break is always welcome.

man·tra

ˈmantrə

noun

1. -(originally in Hinduism and Buddhism) a word or sound repeated to aid concentration in meditation.
2. -a Vedic hymn.

A quick Google search will show you that a lot of people take this really seriously! Which is neat! I'm positive those people are the most down to earth and most flexible people ever. It comes from the Sanskrit word "mantrana", meaning suggestion. Chanting, whispering, or mentally repeating these phrases can help calm the mind and bring peace to the body. There is also claim that it literally fills each cell of the body with energy, destroying bad microbes and restoring health and energy. Well. I'm no scientist, so I can't speak for that, but I can vouch for the calming of the mind.

There was a phrase that I came across while researching this more deeply that I really enjoyed. It stated that "Mantras are protection for the mind". Isn't that neat?! That uttering these words can protect your mind, like some kind of spiritual armor fighting off all the bad vibes - and we can all use that. And the beauty of mantras you ask?

IT CAN BE ANYTHING!

Of course there are traditional mantras that go back to Buddhist and Hindu roots BUT it can be ANYTHING.

examples:
- "i accept" - this can go into "I accept where I am today", or "I accept that this is where I'm supposed to be right now"
- "let go" - maybe Elsa was onto something
-"be present"
-"everything is as it should be"
-"the universe is still forming and so am i"

(those last two are some of my favz)

They are exactly what you need them to be. To be a better person. A calmer person. More understanding. anything. And I luv that. I think self care is something that is too often forgotten about and these little sayings could help put your mind and anxieties at ease. Sooth the psyche.

Yoga has shown me that I struggle with living in the moment. I am never just doing one thing. I'm often a three screen-er, i.e the t.v on, laptop open, and texting someone. At work I listen to podcasts and get caught in my thoughts about whats going on, what needs to happen, and all of the consequences that I can think of, and how to possibly tackle them. There is an argument that this is just an American Ideology (this in itself is another conversation) that I have been raised with. Just twenty minutes of yoga makes all of that noise, the constant rat race, turn into silence.

Silence.

And in that silence I mutter these little mantras to myself and they remind me to be present, connect with the moment. Accept myself. Whateva I want. In that silence I exist.

Simply exist.

Podbasting brevity

Sorry for the Brevity
this isn't really a post, more just like an update as to the big, small, and everything in-between 

This past week was filled with a lot of impulsive decisions

-Went to dinner with a Nazi Sympathizer (yikes right? at least got free dinner from it)

-Decided to start a PODCAST! w/ co-host and actual angel SARAH BLACKMON. Will be posting them here as well as probably itunes, and soundcloud maybe? Who knows. It'll be 30-45 min of us bullshitting our way through topics the same way we bs our way through life. It'll be FUN.
Stay tuned

- CANADA! Sarah, Deana and I will be OT to Toronto the first week of August
(OT is Toronto slang for out of town. thx Drake )

- Neon Demon and Swiss Army Man. Two very original movies. See Neon Demon for cinematography: C- in writing A+ in being pretty.  See Swiss Army Man for lots of laughs, maybe tears, having your heart warmed, and also pretty shots: A+ in everything

-Driving down to Orlando tomorrow to drop Brooke back off at UCF. Kielyn, Deana, and myself drove down to Orlando last night to surprise her and bring her back up to Jax for the weekend.

-I got to eat a slice off pizza that was basically as big as me.

Lazy Moon Pizza 

Goodnight everyone and a big happy early birthday to USA (Monday is the 4th of July)

Office Vibez: A history 1966-2016

Offices. I feel like this is going to be more negative than I truly mean it to be but ~whateva~

My brief liberation from the public school system in late May led me to be enslaved by corporate America. To be fair, I did turn myself in. They issued me a identifying employee number, my cell is a small cube with no glimpses of natural sunlight. I'm doing my time in 8 hr incriminates until I reach 40 hrs to be released on Friday and then turn myself in the following Monday. All for the one meal a week: my paycheck. It. Is. Delicious.

Office vibes are pretty strange. Almost completly void of vibes. Blank space? more like office space (pls don't sue me TSwift). I think it's all the florescent lights (and lack of vitamin D) that flood the building with false feelings and faked politeness. Everyone is DOING GREAT and SO NICE TO MEET YOU. WOW can't believe it's only WEDNESDAY! HAhaHAhaHA

When feeling slightly awkward in a conversation, bring up the proximity of the current day of the week to Friday. I just had great success with this today with Debra from Payroll. They don't even notice the nervous laughter. Then again this is the demographic of people that casually uses ellipses in their everyday texting...

Offices hold some strange magic where there is a non-hostile work environment from 8 to 5.While I appreciate it for the sake of getting shit done, I'm very glad the rest of the world not washed out by florescent light does NOT act like this. I'm not a fan of  ungenuine emotion

While sitting, I began to wonder how office vibes may have changed through time. Was it always a vacuum or did it slowly get the life sucked out of it? Even worse, is this the best that the office life has ever been? Would that be DEPRESSING or what?

Let's go back fifty years, to 1966. Gas costs 36 cents. The Beach Boys, Beatles, and Rolling Stones are the big names in the biz. America is in the middle of a massive civil rights movement and the Vietnam War. Women are fighting for equal pay and for less sexual harassment, in the workplace specifically (baby steps right?).

The workplace is expanding and it's all the hype for suburbia to have office jobs. Honey, it's what the Johnson's from down the street are doing! More people than ever are placed inside. All on an open floor plan. The ever dreaded cubical is no where in sight. Technology has yet to share the space with people.

I've added some pics to help you visualize. While the pictures are pretty cool, imagine the practicality of the actual situation for sake of a better argument.

 While cubicles are awful and very much dreaded, I appreciate them when thinking of this alternative. A bustling office can get loud even with the noise canceling walls. I can't imagine 50+ people on top of each other with no privacy, all trying to get work done. Where would people gossip? The break room?! please. How would you hide the birthday cake that you don't plan on sharing with the entire department?  (True story. It is rude. Looking at you Christy with a C)

No privacy. No rights. How vibin can a place be in black and white anyway? 

1996 shows slightly more promise with a faded pop of color 

The welcome of monochrome computers brings on the panic of the Y2K threat. (oh just google it already)

Things still look pretty damn bland though. I do like the plants in the corner, they bring a little diversity to the workplace 

Some where between 1990 and the early 2000's we see the introduction of segregation in the workplace: CUBICLES. more privacy, sign me up. Not much has changed in the office scene other than cubes, as we say in the office, and no more monochrome displays. A few new color options with the carpet and the employees. And that's about that.

Look at the color of my cube wall, I didn't think you could produce a color that so precisely matches my mood from the hours of 8am to 5pm. Dingy yellow/beige with a shadow of sadness. - side: look at this computer monitor, what is this 2007?
--also that's a draft of this current entry. how ~meta~

Of course there are exceptions with all of this. There are always exceptions. This isn't the office of say Google, which is basically the equivalent of corporate Disney World.

See for yourselves-

But as average American offices go, not much has changed. I think it will always be a vacuum of good vibes, unless you're Google, duh. Lets put a pin in this and revisit in another 50 to see where innovation leads us. Hopefully it'll be a holographic cube that I just float in for 8 hours, or maybe they'll really change it up and go to spheres. Who knows. Surprise me corporate America



Catch yah later haterz 

Blogging?!

This blank page and blinking cursor keeps beckoning me. Calling my name, begging me to share my half baked ideas and shit opinions with the people who I will ultimately force to read this (all of them are probably pictured below) and to my small fan following ten years from now who decided to see what I was up to during the summer of  '16. #stayhumble

I'm Nicole. 18 and just graduated high school. Bright eyed and ready to tackle the world. Well, more or less.  Starting in the fall I'll be formally starting my endeavor to get a degree in Music Business Management. Not sure what I'll do with it yet but maybe we will make that discovery together. I'll be trying to delve into some discussions of music, film, whatever holds my attention long enough for me to actually write about

Get to know me (and my ~squad~) through some pictures.

 

After a Front Bottoms concert in downtown Jacksonville. 

I held a guys tooth in my purse the entire night (it was returned)

I'm the one closest to the ground

Antique malls have great ambiance (and lighting)

My ode to the seventies: rainbows, daises, and a jean jacket

Mermaid pictured: Kielyn

Pictures are a convenient media medium. Take these as a brief intro into myself and the people who are the closest to my heart. Soon I will dive into the idea of Office Vibes. Where did they come from and why are they so weak?