I have been having some issues recently with this blog regarding plagiarism.
I've seen people directly quote Bohemian Genesis on their social media sites like the words were their own;
I have even seen people who have copied and pasted my blog posts into their blog as if they were the author.
I didn't think things like that actually happened.
There is good and bad to this.
The bad is obvious. It is not a great feeling to see the words and ideas that I take hours to put together under someone else's name.
But I can also see that what I am doing here has inspired people, and there is no greater feeling than that.
This is not meant to be a negative post. 
On the contrary, I am mentioning these events because I want to use them to talk about how to channel inspiration--
It is everywhere.
I myself am constantly being inspired by art, photographs, people, music, even other literature. 
But it is what you do with that inspiration that separates ingenuity from unoriginality.
What is there to be gained from stealing someone else's work? Can you even feel good or accomplished about that?
If you want to be a writer, be a writer. Turn your ideas into words.
If you want to be an artist, be an artist. Make your unique visions into art.
Consider this: Every single thing that can be thought, imagined, or created is floating around in the universe somewhere, just waiting for someone to catch it like a falling star and make it their own; to nurture and expand on it.
There are thoughts out there that haven't even been tapped into yet... there are ideas with unscratched surfaces.
Often times the subjects for my blog posts begin as mere seeds. 
It is not until I start writing that I am able to expound on my ideas, uncover new ones, and put everything together in an eloquent format. 
The process helps me to discover new things about myself and about my surroundings. It is refreshing.
There will always be times when you will want to quote someone else because you feel like they effectively said what you are trying to say. 
That is great, quote them. But give them credit. 
Everyone loves to see that their work is being consumed and appreciated by others.

Uniqueness is a quality that not many people strive to maintain anymore. I cannot understand why.
There is nothing more beautiful than being yourself. You are the only you on this planet. 
You aren't one in a million.
You are one in seven billion.
Use that. Be the best you that you can possibly be.

"The strongest force in the universe is a human being living consistently with his own identity." -Tony Robbins


xx

reflections

It is apparent to me 
that in this world, most everything that we do and strive for centers around who 
or what we are going to be.
We spend our lives working toward this divine calling;
this destiny that we, or perhaps even someone else have laid out for us
telling us, this... THIS is you. This is what you are good at. This is what you were born for.
And we listen to them, to ourselves. 
We hurdle down these tracks on a one-way train
not realizing that the only limit to our opportunity is our mentality...
And those of us who do not yet know what we are going to be have been made to believe that we are the lost ones. 
But I don't feel lost.
I feel multi-talented.
I feel boundless.
Because, you see, everyone is anything. Anyone is everything.
Picasso was no more an artist than you are,
and Steve Jobs was no more an innovator.
I am an astronaut who has never been to space.
I am a scientist who's yet to make a discovery.
I am a mother with no children.
Only when we put ourselves in these labeled boxes
with the misconception that we "can't" and that we're "not,"
only then are we truly lost.
Passion is good; to be engulfed in flames that don't burn... Do what you are passionate about, always.
But don't do something simply because you think that that is the only thing you are capable of doing;
the only thing you're "good at."
You don't have to limit yourself like that.
Break those chains, baby.
Be a rock star.
Be a stunt-man.
Take every train you can. Maybe you'll catch one you'd like to stay on a while.

Never let them tell you who you are or where you're going.
You are you, 
and where you're going? 
Wherever you want. 
That's TBD on this here itinerary.

Much love.
xx