count your blessings

It never hurts to count your blessings and remind yourself why life is so great. Even if things are not going so well, remembering what blesses you in life will remind you of what makes you happy, maybe even bringing a little sunshine into your life.

(via the bean and the bear)

Last night, I had dinner with a really good friend of mine, Alvin, and we talked about life, our ambitions (as we always do!), friends, positivity/negativity, discouragement, what makes a good friend/person, etc. And he told me, "Liz, I admire your outlook on life."

He may not known it, but that particular sentence stuck with me for the entire drive home, during my jog, and in the shower. I began thinking about who and what has inspired me to form the outlook that I have now in this crazy thing we call life. In doing so, I began listing all of the blessings in my life that I frequently forget to be thankful for and what makes me, well...me.

So here it goes.

My positivity is mostly, if not all, because of Mark. When I throw temper tantrums, or I stress out, cry like a baby, get upset ("Korean anger" as he likes to call it), or let my impatience get the best of me, he reminds me in the most gentle way that I need to stay positive. Focusing on the positive will always make me the winner; I will always conquer my battles. When I apply this to my life, there couldn't be more truth to it. And although it is a daily process, and many times a roller coaster experience, I try to apply that positivity that he consistently lives out to my daily life. And guess what? It really does make me happier.


One of my biggest vices is that I set too high of expectations from the people in my life. I assume the best in people, which is good and bad. Good in the sense that I hold a high level of respect for the people in my life; Bad because, if they disappoint (which is inevitable because, face it, we're all human), I get really discouraged. Candice, however, has recently shed some enormous light on that. She told me that if I just love everyone, and give without expecting to get back, I will be happier. I will no longer have expectations; therefore, I will not be disappointed. This doesn't mean I should assume everyone will disappoint me because that would be a depressing way to live...rather, it means that if I don't focus on expectations and I simply give unconditionally, I will be blessed beyond my understanding. Many people can't say that they have friends who live by that same rule, but I do...I have many of them.

Another major imperfection of mine is my impatience. There's no way around it; sometimes I can be really impatient and ugly. But I've been blessed with a dad who is the ultimate example of a patient and forgiving person. He lives it out daily; in fact, when I think about it, I can't remember a time where I ever observed him lose his cool. He's always calm and collected and if he's annoyed, he just responds with sarcasm. He never raises his voice or gets frazzled. He's the ultimate example of a patient man...I can only strive to obtain a fraction of that.

My ability to love those around me (from friends to strangers to babies to animals) comes directly from my mom. As I grow older, I am constantly enlightened by how loving she truly is. She just loves. It's never superficial and it's always unconditional. She lives by example and just by watching her, I see how important it is to selflessly drop my plans to be there for the people that I love. It's a beautiful thing, my friends.

The only reason I live life never taking anything too seriously is because I'm around little people and animals who do it the very best...my brothers, sister and the dogs: Tsion, Max and Koda. With Robert's only concern being peanut butter, Mary's only desire to make people laugh, and Daniel's happy and nurturing nature, I have no other option but to laugh and play like a kid! And if it was up to the doggies (and kids for that matter), life would just be one long day of playing.





All of these people (and many more!) teach me to live the life that I do. My outlook on life is formed by my daily inspirations. It's not perfect and it's constantly evolving with the person that I'm growing up to be, but what I do know is this: it works for me. It's really as simple as that.

The best advice I can offer to anyone who's interested is that you have to let people in, let them love you and let yourself love them. What you learn from them will blow your mind. After all, life isn't meant to be lived alone.

I hope everyone has a beautiful Thursday and weekend!!

<3