You are Enough.

Opened my heart and mind to some quiet time for God to talk to me and for me to pour my heart out to Him. I quickly felt this message being delivered to me, and in a very firm manner.  A manner that said "I need you to learn this for once and for all. It's the core of My love for you and I feel your outcry to embrace that love but without THIS message being learned,  you won't be able to accept all else I have to offer you." And that's a hefty message. 

"I felt God telling me I needed to accept that I'm "enough"; that I DO enough, that I AM  enough, enough to be loved and enough to love myself.
Regardless of where we are in life, God, literally creator of the UNIVERSE,  loves you as His CHILD,  if we don't accept we're enough then we're taking His pure love for granted.

However I'll continue to keep trying to be  a kickass, loving person - but that's not my point. ;)" 

To those of us who make life harder than it is.

These are some thoughts, some struggles that crossed my mind - followed by the thought that shut them up. 

Living in the moment - 
Now, this one gets confusing. This one I'm still struggling to grasp. 
 It, to me, sends a conflicting message - One that basically screams CARPE DIEM and #YOLO, but also, and arguably more importantly, reminds us to be content in the moment. Maybe this is an American/Western culture struggle, or maybe resonates with people around the globe - but the feeling of contentment isn't commonplace.

 Contentment vs Settling (What I mean) 

Contentment: Contentment is saying "I have my dreams, I will work hard for them - but at the end of each day I will lay to rest loving myself for what I accomplished today. Period."  
Be happy with what you've done and where you are, whether you contributed to your goals/to-do lists/did your best, or you didn't.
 I believe this is where we (or perhaps I should only speak for myself) mistake "contentment" with "settling". 

Settling: Says "I shouldn't be allowed to be happy with myself when I know how much better I could have done today/at that meeting/on that project/in life."
 My personal struggle says that to feel content with myself is, by nature, settling. 
My mind runs wild with to-do lists and versions of myself I want to be. 
   But here's my point - unless we accept to be content where we are in this moment, will won't be able to achieve contentment even when the to-do lists are accomplished and you've become the best you you can be.

 You know what I mean, right? 

   This matters because there is no black and white, no "cross this line and you'll be happy" in life - it's a choice. And if you can't choose it exactly where you are now, you won't choose it when you are where you ultimately want to be.
But thankfully, the opposite is also true.  

That was my mind today, hope it resonated with you. 

~Sara :)

A Letter to Exchange Students

->Primarily, to those who have yet to return and visit your second home, your host country.

I worried I never would.
But I'm laying in the couch of a t.v. room at 2am, on the dot, in what was once my bedroom in Brazil.
Four years after my exchange.

If it's a true desire of your heart, it'll happen.
If you remember this:
Don't worry about "when" and definitely don't worry about "how (because the "how" is going to be messy), but instead focus on not losing that sense of curiosity, the facade of braveness, and the "Yes Man" attitude, that we {generally} adopted on exchange.

Because it's those very lessons that will not only someday bring you back to where your heart is in your exchange city, but take you further with your dreams in life as a whole.
I know this because once I stopped worrying about who I was going to become AFTER my exchange (2009-2010) and instead held on to what I wanted to continue to become because of my experiences on exchange (the aforementioned lessons, and more) - once I set my mind as such, even more adventures opened up and life fell into place for me, even when it appeared not to -- all because of perspective and heart.

Living with a new perspective and heart for life were two of the key tokens of wisdom my year abroad taught me, and that's the only change I truly want to stay. 

Hope you feel a bit encouraged,
Sara

*If you're not a previous exchange student, I hope this still resonated on some level with you.
But if you are, then I hope you know exactly what I mean - because I know how much it means to me. ♡

Never stop being curious.

It begins with the desire...

Welcome!
Bem-Vindo!
Hiya!


It begins with the desire, it happens with just the first step. (Aka, forming the blog!)
 This blog, much like my life, will be all over the place.
Main focus? Listening to my heart's desires and maybe, hopefully, inspiring someone else to do the same.

It's late, I'm in Brazil.. need sleep to fuel tomorrows adventures.
Boa noite, I'll post next... whenever I post next. (Hopefully tomorrow)

~Sara

I'll leave you with a photo of the scrumptious food I ate today, that is, the first true Brazilian food I've had since I was here four years ago.

Beans, rice, pineapple, mandioca, cantaloupe, greens, beets, beef... all yummy.