Seven Secrets to Life

Happy 77th day! In celebration of surviving seventy-seven days of homelessness I've decided to post seven things I try to keep in mind about life to try and keep things in perspective. These will be followed by seven of my favorite songs. The songs I had a harder time with because I have way too many favorite songs, so I tried to pick ones you most likely haven't heard before or haven't heard in awhile. I'm not trying to pretend I have superior wisdom or taste in music, just trying to shake things up a bit to keep it more interesting.

Seven Important Things to Remember About Life

1. Be Generous.
   -You never know when you'll be down on your luck so give when you can. You never know when you'll need someone else's help so it's good to spread a little extra kindness around when you are able to. 
2. Accept the Generosity of Others.
   -Look at it this way: karma may or may not exist so it's probably best to err on the side of caution. If you don't accept something from someone else you might be preventing them from getting their good karma. So really you accepting their kindness is helping them get their good karma. You wouldn't want them to be without their karma points would you?
3. Everything in life is temporary.
   -Life changes really fast. You'll go through very low phases and really high phases but none of them last forever. Take advantage of life's high phases and when the low phases come remember this too shall pass. 
4. Nothing in life is free.
   -This needs little explanation: you don't get anything without working for it even when you're homeless. Unless of course, you are Paris Hilton.
5. Nothing in life is guaranteed. 
   -You never know what tomorrow will bring. Never take a single moment for granted.
6. Everything is funny. 
   -It's better to laugh than to cry. Look for the humor in everything. It makes life more bearable when you hit the low points.
7. Life is short.
   -The only way to live forever is to create something that will last forever.

Seven Songs That Will Change Your Life

1. The Tide-The Spill Canvas
   -This is my favorite song of all time. Out of all the songs in the world this one is the one I relate to the most. I also think the message of this song is important. The only way we can guarantee Heaven for ourselves is to experience it here on earth by living each moment to the fullest. I really want to get the line "Heaven's not a place that you go when you die it's that moment in life you actually feel alive" tattooed on me somewhere but most artists say it's too long.
   
   
   
2. Elephant Ears-Jimmy Wayne
   -So here's a little known fact about me: I sleep with a stuffed elephant named Cha-Cha. I got her in San Diego where I met the live elephant Cha-Cha. She was my favorite because she acted like she was dancing to circus music in her head.
   I wear an elephant ring I got in Tacoma and my locker in shelter was picked solely because it has an elephant sticker on it. I love my elephants. So when Jimmy Wayne released this song about a foster child who can't love anything but a stuffed elephant I was floored. I really felt he had to have followed me to write it. The only person I will say "I love you" to is Spencer. Anytime anyone else asks I explain that love is a chemical/hormone reaction in the brain. Kitten Lady teases me about this and says she makes me feel "chemically".
   
3. Wanna Be- Spice Girls
   -Some of my favorite childhood memories involve dancing around to Spice Girls with my stepbrother. 90's music really was the best. I think there's something to be said for music that can instantenously lift your mood. Laugh at me all you want.
   
   
4. Unwell-Matchbox 20-Here's another one of my favorite 90's jams. I used to write the lyrics of this song on the walls of the mental hospital, where I would intentionally get myself sent so that I could sleep in a bed and have regular meals and normality. Doctors have made me out to sound like I'm really fucked up but I was just trying to survive living with my mother who made me a little unwell.
   
   
5. Amazing Grace-Rhema Marvanne
   I don't know why but I still really love the old school hymns I grew up with. I think they are really simplistic and pretty. I love this little girl singing it too. I really hate when churches play these hymns then blast it like a rock song and put on some crazy light show. I personally think it ruins the song. Less is more.
   
6. At least I know I'm a sinner-Atreyu
   I think the lyrics sum this one up. When Christians start to preach at me that I need Jesus but they don't even follow their own Bible I think of this song. Christians so quickly forget that Jesus was homeless when they see us on the streets. My mother used the Bible to justify terrible acts of cruelty she committed to me and the rest of our family. I don't think that's what Jesus' intentions were assuming he existed.
   
   

7.  Obvious-Josh Phiffer
I think Josh Phiffer is one of the most underrated undiscovered artists ever. His voice is beautiful. and I love the lyrics because it's another one of those songs where less really is more and makes the song all the more pretty.