TaylorTrashley

2010 was very good to me! 2009 kind of kicked my ass so I really deserved my golden year and I feel this year has definitely been that. I have traveled extensively, fallen in love, succeeded in my career, and have found myself spiritually. 

I’ve traveled to Hawaii (Kauai), Canada (Calgary), New York (Buffalo, NYC), North Carolina (Raleigh), Louisiana (New Orleans), Texas (San Antonio, Dallas), Oklahoma (Oklahoma City),California (San Jose, Bakersfield, Los Angeles, Anaheim ), Florida(Tampa), Nevada (Las Vegas 4 times hehe), Oregon (Portland), Tennessee (Memphis),  Missouri (St. Louis), Maryland (Baltimore twice), Washington D.C., Colorado (Denver, Durango), Utah (Salt Lake), Georgia (Atlanta) and Illinois (Chicago).

I have flown with the Colorado Avalanche, Phoenix Suns, Los Angeles Kings, Denver Nuggets, Chicago Blackhawks, Arizona Diamondbacks and the Oakland A’s.

I have been to several Coyotes games, Cardinals games, Suns games and an Avalanche game.

I’ve seen Muse, Silversun Pickups, Third Eye Blind, Hello Goodbye, Paramore, Good Charlotte, Fun, Reliant K, Korn, Rob Zombie, Tegan & Sara, NFG, Five Finger Death Punch, Lamb of God, Disturbed, Avenged Sevenfold, Stone Sour, Halestorm, Sevendust, Nonpoint, In This Moment, Every Time I Die, Circa Survive, and Dredge in concert among others.

I went to Disneyland and Universal Studios (for Halloween which was TERRIFYING!)

I’ve met so many interesting and amazing people, made great friends, discovered a lot about myself, and spent a ton of time with my amazing family. 

Thanks to all my friends and family for always supporting me. I love you!

2011 has a lot to live up to and I am so excited to see what’s in store! 

My New Years resolutions are to be more healthy (work out, lose weight, cook more etc), make more music, and live life in the moment. What is yours???

This is not meant to offend anyone. These are merely my thoughts. I believe something so strong that I want to make it known. The happiness that I feel in my life from knowing the truth (or what I perceive as truth) is incredible and I wanted to share. Perhaps you feel the same way that I do about the subject. Perhaps you have a different point of view. No matter what you believe, I think this is something that needs to be said.

The more I learn about Religion, the more I begin to wonder why people want to be a part of it. I understand wanting a “plan” or “purpose” for your life. I understand wanting good morals for your life. What I don’t understand is how you can look at the bad things your religion has been a part of and continue to support it DESPITE these facts. When you KNOW your religion has been part of murders, molestation, bigotry, and persecution, why would you CHOOSE to support them in any way? We all know that man is capable of sin and error and atrocities so why don’t you bypass man and go directly to the source? Why not cut out religion and have your own spiritual relationship with whatever God you choose? Why subscribe to an organization with blood on their hands? I am sick of hearing people blame extremists instead of blaming the organization that bred the extremist.

In my own religion, Mormonism (which I no longer follow), I find that when I try to talk about all of the bad things prophets have done or said or when I bring up things like Mount St. Meadows Massacre, the Kirtland Banking Crisis, the Kinderhook Plates, the Polygamy, the racism, etc., the believers will say that even prophets of god are men and capable of error. If they are capable of error, how can I trust ANYTHING they say as divine inspiration? Why would I dedicate my time, money, and very SALVATION to something that has hurt so many people?

A feeling is not enough to overlook the facts. Countless people FEEL that their religion is right and other religions are not. All of these people can’t be right. That doesn’t make sense. What kind of God would have this super secret religion that is the one and only true one and if you don’t believe in it too bad for you!?!? That isn’t anyone I would choose to follow. Heaven is looking less and less attractive everyday when I look at the people who assume they will be there. If there is a heaven and hell, I’d agree with Mark Twain when he said “Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company.” 

We are all born as humans. We all come with characteristics and attributes that are unique to us. We exist. Then, our life is defined by our circumstances combined with our choices. It is this interesting mixture that creates our essence (or our destiny as some call it). I love the diversity of humans on this planet. I believe that it is so extremely self centered and partly ignorant to assume that one of us has all the answers to life’s most important questions. When people tell me they KNOW something is true, false, right, or wrong, I understand that they only KNOW those things based on their life experiences. Those are values they believe in for themselves. To Sally Smith born in Provo, Utah, reality is quite different than Nikhil Gupta (yes I Googled “popular Indian names”) born in Calcutta, India. If Sally has no knowledge of Nikhil’s circumstances and no shared experiences, I think it would be foolish for Sally to believe her viewpoint is more relevant or true for Nikhil. The point I am trying to make is that I am often baffled by over zealous opinions people place on humanity. Furthermore, I am often confused by people who feel they have much wisdom to share with others when their own lives aren’t as stable or redeeming as they would like to think. I love expressing my opinions, but I never feel that my opinions are the answers to anyone’s questions. I am simply telling others what has worked for me in my life. I believe if you desire to learn from someone, you must first admire something about them. I listen to my father’s advice because he is one of the strongest people I’ve ever met. I have my reasons to heed his advice. On the other hand, I don’t value the opinion of some of my other family members as much, because I don’t envy or admire much of their lifestyles. Likewise, sometimes I may admire someone’s work ethic but despise their views on relationships… so I wouldn’t be interested in hearing their advice regarding the latter. It seems like I have a lot of friends who feel their advice is of utmost importance, but then they make bad decisions in life, seem confused by their consequences, and are more often than not miserable. We should all search for the humility within us to use positive influences in our lives as teachers. Surround yourselves with those who uplift you and support your cause. I once believed I could solve everyone’s problems, and make everyone happy. I spent most of my energy focused on this. Once I decided to only work on myself, I felt I was being selfish. However, what I’ve come to find is that once you’ve mastered your own happiness you are much more of a blessing and positive influence to those around you.  If you yourself are depressed and miserable most of the time, how do you expect to benefit others? And those are my somewhat scattered thoughts of the day.

It is 9:20 AM on this wonderful Friday. Friday is my favorite day because we are on the brink of an unknown weekend. I guess we are always on the brink of the unknown. Life is interesting. We think we are confined by our circumstances and what happens to us but in reality it is quite the opposite. The possibilities are endless and we are only confined by our own mind. Reality is definitely in the eye of the beholder. Everything that happens to us in our lives is our own creation. If you can accept that completely, you can then start to really live. I know once I began to understand this concept, my life began to change. Suddenly opportunities came my way, doors were opened, and stress began to dissapear. If our thoughts can affect objects and things around us, and trust me it can, imagine what our thoughts can do to ourselves. It is truly truly amazing. If you would have told me 5 years ago that I would be where I am right now doing what I do and experiencing all that I am, I would not have believed you. That is because we really can’t forsee all that the universe has in store for us. All we can do is control how we think and feel and the direction we are headed. After we do that, we will be so pleasantly surprised at what the universe has in store for us!

“what we think about, we become” -buddha