pathofsoul

[pathofsoul]

Am I the only one who looks at what’s in my bag pictures and think “why are they not packing full that bag?”.

My bags are usually packed so full I don’t need a bag organizer to keep things in place, but I do need and industrial excavator to get things out.

[pathofsoul]

This is not a new phenomenon. I receive this report daily, for the last two years, at least. The worrying part is not that one day these are up and then down, but that several times this year all of them have been down.

[pathofsoul]

Go bag-less?

Yesterday I met up with my friend, and she came carrying only her phone, her carkeys and her shades. I still carry around a totebag full of stuff. We met for lunch. She told me that ever since she has her banking cards on her phone, she no longer needs to carry any thing else, so she has no need for bags. She is a school teacher, though and she does use bags when she goes to work, but at her social life, she has gone bagless.

I admire her. I normally carry my planner (a Personal size Lockwood zip from Filofax), my journal (A5 hardbound Bomo Art journal), the book I'm reading (Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius), a pen poch with fountainpens, a pen pouch with markers (for the book), a pouch with date stamps and inkpad (journaling), a cosmetics pouch, a 250 ml water bottle (I secured a lovely one from a recent trip to London), my carkeys, my house keys, a magnifying glass, a handkerchief, my driving lens, my sunshades, my phones (I have two) and a hand fan (I have an oldie, foldable fan).

[pathofsoul]

I finished my thesis in December and now I’m working on thesis-prep, making the presentation for the defense and preparing a summary for the lectors (my thesis is +84k words). Today I finished chapter 2. Six more chapters to go.

[pathofsoul]

Money questions

After some hard times money-wise, and a lot of hard work to climb out of it, I decided to look for new options to learn more about money, personal finances, and so on. I don't usually like self-help books - I have read some because of therapy, and each time find them less-than-enlightening, to put it mildly.

Anyway, I found some content creators and authors I resonate with, THOUGH I must note that there are a lot that are simply trying to play people, sell them "solutions" that would only worsen their situation (with a built-in automatic reply that goes something like "if you fail at this, the problem is you, not my advise"). Honestly, if you want to read about personal finances, you must have a basic knowledge on finance and banking, be capable of critical thinking and only then check on books, always taking them with a grain of salt.

After searching for this type of content, I'm getting flooded with loads of sketchy adds about personal finances. One that repeats itself ad-nauseum is this Hungarian lady talking about Nicholas Cage and Al Pachino being in bad financial situations, and how the root of all problems is the "scarcity-abundance mindset", and what we have inherited.

...

So, you are irresponsible with your money because... you inherited a "bad mindset", you have to break out of it, and she can tell you how?

So, ... it's not because our educational system has never built in basic life-skills into kids, like how to manage money or why is it important to ensure living wages, practice tolerance towards others, be inclusive and erradicate poverty?

[pathofsoul]

[pathofsoul]

So much truth.

[pathofsoul]

Are you a conservative who's angry about the price of gas?

Luckily, there are solutions.

You could buy your own gas station then set the price to whatever you want.

You could just walk everywhere instead of driving. No one's holding a gun to your head and forcing you to buy gas.

You could work harder and make smarter choices. Then, you wouldn't be struggling so much.

You could give up the little bit of enjoyment in your life so you could save enough money to afford the expensive gas.

What's that? That advice is complete nonsense and downright cruel to even suggest?

Yeah. You're right. It is. But that's what you've been saying to struggling people since forever. And now you act like it's some horrific injustice when the group of people who are struggling now includes you.

[pathofsoul]

Crazy how our bodies are literally built for pleasure and overly ascetic patriarchal religions try to tell us that our flesh is evil. We have thousands of taste buds for enjoying delicious food and drink. Happy hormones are triggered when we dance. We can sing to entertain ourselves and others. Conscious, aligned sex with a good partner feels great and improves your health. We have beautiful eyes, figures, lips, hair to attract each other. We laugh so hard we cry and it feels GREAT. The smell of a rose on a warm summer breeze lifts my mood instantly. Our bodies are so so sacred. Nature is sacred. The Divine dwells in the earth and within us just as much as 'up there'.

[pathofsoul]

“First love does not mean best love. And best friends may not mean best friends forever. But they both mean at some point, somewhere, someone did care. And their memories still there.”

— Crywank - Welcome To Castle Irwell

[pathofsoul]

Birthday books now at home. I won’t put them on the shelves until after my birthday, on the 30th.

[pathofsoul]

The books I have selectas for my Birthday gift. From me to me. 💕

[pathofsoul]

Happy Pride Month! 🏳️‍⚧️🌸💜

[pathofsoul]

1) Can I get it on a shirt?

2) Well, if we (LGBTQ and allies) clearly suck at being Christians, maybe we should leave the church in mass, leave the religion and find a new one. One that’s really about love and acceptance.

(via LJggSRa.png (PNG Image, 1080 × 1696 pixels) — Scaled (67%))

[pathofsoul]

The lily of life a fairy tale by Marie, Queen, consort of Ferdinand I, King of Romania, 1875-1938 https://archive.org/details/cu31924050044324

The Dreamer of Dreams by King of Romania consort of Ferdinand I Queen Marie https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40950

Marie of Romania https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_of_Romania

[pathofsoul]

God is a drag queen 💅