Tag: inspirational

Smile!

On By Naty MatosIn Inspirational ThoughtsLeave a comment
My smile
Image via Wikipedia

Have you ever pondered on how much a smile can affect another person, including yourself? I honestly had not thought about it until I discovered it myself in the craziest of ways.

 Doodling at my desk at work, I pulled out a post it and drew some eyes a nose and a smile. I pulled the post it on the top of my computer screen. I know it’s totally silly and those of you who know me know that I have more than one screw missing. Every morning when I start working I see that post it and it makes me smile. That is a piece of paper (yes, I’m not that crazy…I do know it’s not real) Can you imagine, the impact that it can have on people around you if YOU who are real gave away a smile?

In this new era of technology where most of our communication is hidden behind some kind of gadget we tend to forget the basics about how to relate to others. We were created to connect, to form relationships. So smile today, smile a lot, to all those around you and if you’re like me, hidden in a cubicle, create your own smile!

Job 9:27
‘I will forget my complaint, I will change my expression, and smile,”

Have a blessed day!

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Into the arms of fire

On By Naty MatosIn PoetryLeave a comment

Running into the arms of fire

Without a way to stop

I watch my flesh melting

I can smell my hair burn

But instead of running away

I go deeper into the burning wood.

It’s a paralyzing fear

It’s the petrifying peace

while all this fire

controls everything inside me.

I fight the thoughts and feelings

as I burn inside this fire

is it all true? Is it all a lie?

will I lose everything at once?

While my mind and my body

get consumed

can’t stop but wonder

If I’ll live this dream

or reality will doom.

Natalicio

On By Naty MatosIn Inspirational ThoughtsLeave a comment

Natalicio is another word for birthday in Spanish. I happen to be counting another one of those in my calendar. I woke up this morning thinking about my daily routine, even complaining about things here and there and then I stopped myself.

New Years Eve is not the only day to make inventory of your life, every time another year of life is added is good to see where you are, especially in comparison to where you’ve been. I started by thinking where was I for my last birthday. I remembered having a family dinner and a small gathering at home. I am grateful for the efforts but I was not in a good place.

This last year has been filled with hard lessons and great challenges, but has also been filled with the Mercy and Grace of Jesus Christ. I look at myself in the mirror and I’m definitely not the same person I was. I have grown a lot and thank God it has not been in my dress size. I have made new friends, have taken new risks and I can look at the future with purpose.

I also reviewed that God has allowed me to live this far, not saying that I’m old, but any enterprise more than 20 years is a long journey. I looked at my life with gratitude. I have a God that has provided for me every single day. I have never gone to bed without eating, unless I wanted to and I obviously don’t chose to. I’ve had a roof over my head all my life. I’ve always had clothes to wear, and all of you should be grateful for that too. My bills have always been paid, a delay here and there, but that’s my stewardship challenge, not lack of provision. I can’t even count the many times God has saved my life from trouble. I stopped my pity party and looked at life in a different light. I made a decision. Today was the day to move forward; to start looking at life for its blessings.

I felt filled with joy and left my house to live the first day of my life, it was truly my birthday; my day of birth. To complete my joy, friends and family overwhelmed me with demonstrations of love. I was already happy to be alive and have the Lord, everything else was icing in the cake, and I had tons of it, all fat free as it was all involved in love.

Even if it’s not your birthday today, take an opportunity to look at the blessings in your life. Be mindful, your job may not be perfect, but at least you have one. Your check may not be enough to allow you to travel, but your bills are paid. You may not have the latest fashion but you’re not naked. You may not be able to eat at a fancy restaurant, but you don’t go to bed hungry. Be grateful for all you have and all the blessings God has poured into your life and experience your own birthday.

As promised…

On By Naty MatosIn Writing HappeningsLeave a comment

Internet is back up, Halleluiah! As promised, upon my return I was going to add another one of my short stories for your delight. Please go to e-reads page and click on “Loud Silence” or simply click on the link below and enjoy this dramatic story of a woman who had it all and basically snapped.

Feedback is always welcome and thanks for your patience while I was away.

Happy Reading!

Starting SumNoWriCha

On By Naty MatosIn Writing HappeningsLeave a comment

This is the first day and it has already been a drag; not for lack of muse, but for lack of energy. It has been a busy day, but at least I was able to get a pretty good outline of what I want the book to look like. We’re off the gate right on schedule with 1129 words, let the writing begin!

SumNoWriCha

On By Naty MatosIn Writing Happenings2 Comments

I know it sounds Chinese but it’s not.  It’s The Summer Novel Writing Challenge. It’s the new writing competition I just joined. It starts on June 1rst and ends August 31rst. This one is for a 100, 000 words novel. I love the idea as I’ve had some projects roaming my head for a while, but also because it give me more time even when it’s double the number of words.  The challenge for me: I’m still editing “The Road Home”, so writing and editing…hopefully I don’t cross the stories…LOL

I’m determined to cross the finish line and not have a “frenzy” moment.

What am I planning to write? The title will be Days of Dolores. It’s the story of a survivor, who endured not only emotional pain but a lot of physical pain as well and how she came through. It will be fiction based on a true story. No, it’s not a story from my life.

 I’m psyched about this opportunity. We’ll be back tomorrow with Part 3 of the Mercy series. Stay tuned.

Crossed midpoint

On By Naty MatosIn Writing HappeningsLeave a comment

The script has crossed the mid point in terms of pages and in terms of the story; we are slightly ahead of schedule, but not much advantage to spare. The irony of this story is that who I created as a supporting character is taking center stage and I’m not sure I want to squeeze her into the back again. I’m actually enjoying the things that are occurring and how they are developing. I may just have to change the title at the end. 60/ 100, we are almost there!

Progress in quality not quantity

On By Naty MatosIn Writing HappeningsLeave a comment

Part of the challenge of not knowing what you’re doing is that you may have done tons of work and it could be done wrong. Last night after writing, I decided to look into our frenzy resources page and realized that there was specific software that helps you format scripts. I subscribed to one of them and had to reformat all that I had written. So today instead of progressing in my story, the time allotted went to reformatting the story. Thank God I’m ahead of schedule and that I found http://www.scripped.com

Day 5 Script Frenzy 26/100

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More than expected; since I am ahead of schedule, I figured I would do just a page, but the inspiration hit and was able to do much more. I don’t have a structure of where I’m going with this story, but I do know that it’s taking a life of its own. I’ve been able to enter some not necessary comedy, but some sarcasm to the story, through the sister of the bride. She’s the voice of reason. This one is definitely going to be more than a 100 pages, so now my goal is not so much the page count, but to actually finish the story.

Day 4 Script Frenzy 22/100

On By Naty MatosIn Writing HappeningsLeave a comment

It was a productive writing day I’ve been thinking all day on how to make this funny. I placed some physical humor. There is nothing better than a couple accidentally knocking themselves over in their honeymoon to make some great memories. Thinks are getting hairy for my main character. She’s starting to discover that her husband and she have different expectations and goals. They just made it home from the honeymoon. We’ll see what will happen next.