I write this post 3,916 km away from where I call home. We had busy couple of weeks and on the last week, we had a house inspection on Friday, a stake dance Friday night, a ward service project Saturday morning and a flight to catch Saturday night. When I say "we" I refer to myself, my son, my husband and my mom. We landed in the island of Samoa on Sunday morning at 4:45am (we were apparently really early since it was meant to land at 5:15am)

This would be the 3rd year I have travelled in a row and each time has been for a purpose. Hence why the caption in the picture says: "Never to Vacate, Always to Educate" When visiting Samoa, I've never really looked at it as a vacation. I've always wanted to find ways to better the living situations of my family and my husband's family there. Being here in Samoa has educated me in a way where it constantly reminds me to be humble. It always has a way of making sure I will always serve others where I can and to know that there are others who have it more worse than I, so I will always be mindful of how I live my life. But that's just me. I always want to find and do things that will educate me, remind me and uplift me based on my own findings, research and materials. Yup, I'm an autodidactic (someone self taught) I don't rely on what others tell me, I want to go experience it for myself, live it and learn from it.

In the time I have spent here, the heat is one thing I did complain about at one stage but then again, I thought: "I have only spent a couple of days in this heat with no air conditioning or ceiling fans but they have to endure this every day, all year round without the luxury I have at home" With this mindset, it has allowed me to look at every thing from a different perspective.

I'm only into Wednesday, we leave on Saturday but I will run down on most things in my next post! 

- Lots of love, hugs and kisses.

Corina Jane

I Just Haven't Met You Yet.

So as I am writing this, I'm listening to "I just haven't met you yet" by Michael Buble.

This song always puts me in a good mood. It has such a good feel to it that just makes you smile and it makes me want to dance at a grocery store haha.

But hello! I have been extremely busy and I'm heading for a busier weekend. But I wanted to write about my latest experiences about meeting new people. So if 'I just haven't met you yet' one day I hope I will.

Lately, I have wriggled my way in to trying to get to know new people. Everyone needs a friend right? How can you make a friend if you don't get to know other people? With the way the world is, what people need is a good friend to help them through.

In this experience, I noticed one thing we all have in common. It's L O V E.  We feel it towards our families, our children, our friends, our pets etc.  There was a time, when I first started in film and television at the Gold Coast and this was the first experience on set and there was this girl who was also there. There was alot of people there but something prompted me to go talk to her. So I did. She was just as nervous as I was. But once she had someone to talk to, her nerves went away and so did mine. We instantly clicked and as we were filming an episode, we made other new friends too. And when we were filming for 6+ hours, having a friend made the day so much fun.

When we are focused on others, you will always want to meet new people and make a new friend. If you have qualities that you know will help and bless the lives of others, wouldn't you want to share it with someone? in hopes it may help them? People need good friends and if you are that 'good friend', don't shy away - the world needs more of YOU. Smile and go the extra mile and find a friend.

So if I get to meet you, don't shy away. If you need a friend, consider me your friend and a selfie together is a must haha! For memories.


- Corina Jane

Are you feeling me?

I'm an outspoken person sometimes. At times I have no filter on how I feeI. If my feelings are on a high, it may build up inside and suddenly it comes out like and I quote from "Mean Girls" - 'word vomit'. Like this one time, I got the hint a guy liked me, the feeling was mutual. It was obvious in our conversations, in his voice and his body language but it was too complicated. Remember me saying that when my feelings are on a high? Yeah I ended up being the first to admit that I had a crush on the person to his face and well, it was something that just found it's way out of my mouth (maybe my brain was thinking it and my mouth just said it haha) In reality, I was never meant to say it because I didn't want to complicate it. On the other side, this was probably one of those 'just keep it quiet and move on' moments but on the upside, atleast I was honest with myself. Once it was out, I was able to acknowledge it, accept it and move on.

Honesty. 
A major thing I learned from this experience was being honest with myself and my feelings. If I had never openly admitted to having a crush on him, I wouldn't have known how to handle it or what to do with it. This provided me with the next step to take. It felt like I didn't have to mask how I felt anymore, it made me think clearer. With this confession, it allowed me to see what I wanted or needed or how much growing I still needed to do and what was really important to me.

There are many different scenarios in life where it requires us to voice our feelings whether purposely or accidentally but one thing that they all should have in common is to be honest with yourself. 


Fear.
This is the biggest road block that we encounter. It's fear. This is sometimes why it can be hard for us to say how we feel. We fear the feeling of rejection or feeling alone where you're the only one feeling a certain type of emotion. We may fear of having no one that could relate to our situation or having no one that understands us. Some may fear the 'unknown' or being in a not so familiar state of emotion and be lost. We can fear disappointing others and also even the most popular one - fear on what others would say. All these reasons may also be a reason on why it may be hard for us to say how we feel. When we constantly live in fear, we are only keeping ourselves from progressing.


Pride. 
This would be another road block right next to "fear" that could make it hard for us to voice our feelings. Sometimes when we're in the wrong and we know that we've hurt someone, our pride may not let us come down to Earth and say how we really feel while being considerate of the other person's feelings. This is something that will harm any relationship/friendship we make and have if we let our ego/pride overrule how to human 101. Learn how to be humble and maintain. 


Circumstances. 
In some cases, depending on the circumstances or situation. Saying how we feel may have to be postponed until a more suitable time, I'm talking about light issues here. But if it is an urgent matter you wish to speak to someone about as it impacts you negatively, I highly suggest you reach out to someone immediately and if you can't - seek professional help. Going back to my confession experience above, the timing wasn't the greatest for us both and we knew it but fast forward to now, I love where I'm at right now.

Note:

If you are upset with someone, tell them in the most considerate way possible.
If you want to declare your love, do it without fear.
If you want to say sorry, then sincerely forgive.
If you want give advice, freely give and live by wisdom.
If you have like someone, tell them without expecting.
If you're not happy, speak up and be honest.
If you care for someone, let them know by words and actions.

Live with no regrets. Whether it works in your favour or not - the main thing is that you were honest to yourself and your feelings. 



- Corina Jane (CJM)

Home & Away

H i.

I'll admit it that I kinda slacked off a little with blogging. So much has actually happened in between and to be honest, my mind was literally E V E R Y W H E R E. I was too crowded in thought to actually know what to write about. My mind was about to explode with everything that was happening around me, I honestly had to detach for a little while to handle life and come back when it all settles down.

Has everything settled down a bit? Not really. But I need to make an effort to write. The past couple of months I should say has been quite a rollercoaster ride, the one that goes up and down and just tornadoes through. In the beginning of August, we went through a loss but leading towards my birthday, August was going to be memorable for all the right reasons. I was endowed and entered into the temple for the first time ever! Also, had a seafood buffet waiting at home for me. In September, we received some life changing news and as we heading towards our wedding anniversary, September was going to be another milestone worth celebrating. A day before our wedding anniversary, my family and I were sealed in the temple for all time and eternity. Then our Wedding Anniversary on the 16th followed. My husband and I have now been married for 2 years.

I made new friends.
Such amazing people who inspire me daily.

Now fast forward to October 13. Which is today and yet there is another part of our journey to come.  Besides that, the weather has been crazy! We are supposedly in "Spring" but it kind of feels like winter with a mix of our usual summer storms. Til next time.

- Corina Jane