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reflectoutloud

About me pages always make my mind go blank, which is ironic because there's really so much to say. I guess what stumps me is where do I start? Here are the basics: They named me Laura. They, meaning my parents, who were never married but mingled in 1988 in the country of Brazil, where little me was born. I grew up in New York City among a melting pot of cultures, smells, and hustle. I've learned to be a go-getter, thinker, intuitive, lover of life, peace maker, and coffee enthusiast - among other things. I like to write. I've been keeping a journal since my early teenage years. I created Reflect Out Loud to simply share whatever is on my mind in whatever style that comes up for me. I try to let whatever I put out here be free flowing. I simply want to share my thoughts out in the open. But to simplify this about me: I am a human, having a human experience. I have a story, just like you have a story. And some of that story you'll see here. Um... I guess that's pretty much all I have for now. Big love, Laura

Let Go

We have to learn to let go

Things come to an end,
they change

and yes it’s going to hurt

I think about it almost like a piercing…
It hurts in the moment
and through the healing process

but eventually it heals… and just becomes part of your story

You can’t be so attached to things that you don’t know how to be content on your own

Things come and go

and eventually you die — which is the big LET GO…

so don’t be shocked when things end

learn to adapt

learn to let go

(or invent a time machine so you can always go back in time)….

but until then

learn to accept that you don’t control when someone chooses to walk away

or when things come to an end

that’s the process

and that’s okay

let go

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Expectations

There’s a terrible pain that comes with unmet expectations

When you have an image of what life should look like

When you have hopes of what could be

When you create a vision in your mind’s eye

But then find that reality does not match it

You find yourself disappointed

Because what you thought would be is not

Because you saw things going one way yet life had other plans

WTF is that all about?
__


Then there is also the burden of expectations

The pressure to make something of your life and meet specific metrics society has set fourth

Or perhaps the expectations you believe society has of you so you just blindly go along with thinking you need/want something maybe you actually don’t (were it not expected of you)

Here is the thing:
You will have hopes, dreams and wishes
You will create plans
But they won’t always be met in reality
At least not in your timing, and not entirely the way you imagined

and sometimes….
sometimes it does all come together

keep your hope
but also be flexible
disappointments happen

delays happen

and sometimes it’s in the detours
the wrong turns
and in the unexpected, that we find magic beyond what we could have ever conceived

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Answer

I’ve been thinking a lot about love

aaand… I’m pretty convinced it’s THE ANSWER

not love in a romantic, idealized way — though that’s part of it too 😉

I mean love in a vibrational sense

Which is not something quite understood by thought alone

it’s something that is experienced

It’s a way

It’s the fact of all facts

It’s the motherlode

It’s actual and literal perfection

It’s a force

It’s a thing and not a thing

It’s a paradox

It’s not a paradox (lol)

It’s confusing, it makes all the sense

and it is something that I am still in process of understanding

I’m falling in love with life

the world

my body

with the minor details embedded in the fibers of existence

in the beauty woven into every moment that unravels and dissolves into the nothingness

—

There’s been thoughts of the eternal

Does it end?

Will it all end?

What does that look like for there to be an end?

Does it re-spawn out of nothing all over again?

Did it ever spawn out of nothing to begin with?

hmmmm…. lots to think about

I think I’m in love

but I don’t know

Just gonna roll with it

….

Also, how do we stop being mean to one another?

How do we learn to communicate better?

To forgive? To heal? To quantum leap and stop with our bullshit

Also important stuff to think about

—

It’s all in the work, bitches

—

I’ve also been listening to a lot of Brazilian music

I just wanna dance naked on beach with a margarita

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Fair

Life is not going to be fair, kid

it’s going to test you

push you

laugh at you

take from you

tell you NO after all you did and how hard you tried…

it’s going to fool you

challenge you

play you

and it won’t always be fair…

how you respond is up to you


what will you make of it?

that’s a good question to meditate on

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Open?

So far in my life all of my romantic relationships have lasted an average of like 3 years…

I have learned that just because something isn’t “forever” or for a lifetime doesn’t mean that it isn’t meaningful. Relationships don’t have to last a lifetime in order for them to be beautiful, important, and exactly what we needed them to be while they lasted.

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the idea of open relationships…

Would I ever want a dynamic like this?

Right now I’m in a place in life where for the first time ever I don’t want a relationship

I’ve been in and out of relationships since I was like 16 years old
I’m 33 now

Don’t you think it’s time for me to just be at PEACE on my own without needing to be with another?
I think it’s much needed

Like, who am?
What do I like?
And if I’m loud who cares — I don’t need your approval
This is my face, this is my body, this is my personality — TA DA
(Not saying this in an arrogant “my way or the high way, I don’t need nobody and don’t make compromises” typa way) I’m saying this in a more gentle “I accept myself and your acceptance is great but not needed for me to feel okay” typa way…

I feel like I’m in a time where I finally just want to focus all of my attention on me (and what a relief to get to this point, because I’ve been trying to find the “right” boy since I basically came out of the womb)

but I am wondering… If I ever do decide to lay my attention on another again, could I ever really be with just ONE person — for the rest of my life?

I don’t know

Right now I am feeling open
Open to exploring
Open to allowing things to unfold without needing to pin them down or make them into anything

I am open to BEING…

The other day I kissed a girl
There’s that

I feel like there’s a world inside me on the topic of self worth, value and relationships I want to share with you soon…. but for today I’ll just leave it at this, open ended






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things end

things come to an end
and the sooner we come to accept it
the easier it will be to process the pain


i was in the desert some month ago
and there was a moment when i laid on the sandy, rocky ground
silence…
sun beaming on my skin
for a moment i disassociated from my body
i was in it but i wasn’t connecting to it
focused on my breath, i bled into the moment
i could hear flies buzzing, bzzzzzzz, feel them landing on my skin
for a moment i felt like a corpse
just there to be eaten up by time
and then it dawned on me
“if you were dead right now, what difference would it really make?
life will just keep going…
and everything will just keep going…”



here’s the thing…
one day everyone and everything you know will come to an end
you will die, i will die, and everything will pass away

expect it
embrace it
so it doesn’t come to you as a shock

life is impermanent and everything is passing

so when your favorite yellow mug breaks into pieces, accept it
when your partner walks away, accept it
when your hairline recedes, accept it
when they fire you from your job, accept it
when your dad passes away, accept it
when your car breaks down, accept it
when your skin sags, accept it
when everything falls apart, accept it

now, accepting it doesn’t mean you are passive.
it doesn’t mean you do nothing about it

it just means you don’t fight the facts on the journey to manage and cope with the facts

you don’t resist or deny reality
you embrace it
and from that place of acceptance, you take aligned action and response

or idk
maybe you throw a tantrum like a brat
fuck it
either way it doesn’t matter

choice is yours

anyway…i probably have no idea what i’m saying
also… do you notice the gen z influence over me?
i write in low caps now (lol)

i’ve had so many new reflections i wanna share with you
i also wanna revamp this website a little,
especially the “pic me ups” section of it

anyway… i won’t fill your head with nonsense any further for today

the end


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Fill the Silence

Why do we feel the need to fill the silence?

Can we just co-exist with the moment?

Breathing, walking, taking in the sights, the sounds, the fresh air, the sudden hits of inspiration.

You, me, life, & the comfortable silence

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Rewind

Song on repeat
Chest sinking
Another wine glass by the bedside

Reflection in the mirror —
Puffy eyes.
Waking up from another terrible dream
Another dream where you walk away
And it’s not meant to be 😥

Sigh…

Today isn’t as bad as its been

They say grief happens in stages

Some days I go on streaks without thinking of you
Then suddenly remember “Oh wow, I haven’t thought about you all day!”
[the irony]

Some days it feels heavy, disappointing, angry
Some days it feels hopeful and even happy
Sometimes I want to share that happiness with you…

Sometimes I want to tell you about something cool I saw,
Share what I think would make you laugh…

Most times I feel mad at you for how selfish you have been,
and mad at myself for how stupid I have been

Yet a part of me wishes we could fix it all.
Can we rewind the tape?
Can we go back to the days when we’d wake up excited like kiddos
When every day felt like an adventure

…

But when I really think about it, I don’t even want to.


How many times can we rewind before we eventually get sick of hearing the same song…

I am better off as the person I am becoming
And I hope you are too

Perhaps when the sun has set just enough times to heal the wounds
Maybe then we will meet again…

or not…

nonetheless, the memories and the lessons will play on



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Late Night Cries

I’m wiping tears off my face
Wet eye lashes create a slight glow on my vision

I’m pausing to get my words together

Will I ever get it right?
Will I ever “figure it out”?
Will I ever get to that point where I feel really comfortable in my skin, in my life & feeling really proud of what I’ve accomplished, of what I’ve created?

Or will I never make it?
Will I never be fully actualized & certain of myself and my path?

At times I feel so disappointed,
Disappointed with some of the choices I’ve made
At all the time I’ve wasted being stupid,
But mostly disappointed with the existential place I find myself in
Not believing in anything concretely
Not having much of a ground to stand on other than “I exist, but I don’t know why”

Reality feels like an empty place, devoid of true meaning other than the meaning we give it
And I don’t know why that makes it devoid of meaning?

Maybe because I don’t value the value we humans give to things

This goes back to my issues with the belief in God
That belief has been shattered and left me very skeptical


There is as an intelligence embedded in the fabric of reality
There is something obviously happening here
And I suppose we can say that the totality of all that there is, the full universal energy/source/reality itself is “God.”

Sometimes I wish I could just be a normal person. I wish I could just talk about the weather, the latest lulu lemon leggings and not be so preoccupied with the nature of reality or the meaning of existence

I don’t even want to share this anymore…
I’ve stopped crying
And my emotional outburst has now passed

Energy changes
Emotions change
Everything changes

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