Real Neat Blog Award
The wonderful Naomi nominated me for the Real Neat Blog Award! Thank you, Naomi! It’s such an honor!
Naomi runs the real neat blog – Inching Forwards. It’s a blog brimming with positivity and integrity! I love how she gets her points across – her posts are levelheaded, opinionated and well-balanced. No matter who you are, if you believe in justice, I think you’ll enjoy her blog. If you prefer lighter topics, she also writes a bunch of life-related posts that are totally enjoyable and will make you feel less alone in this intriguing situation called life.
The Real Neat Blog Award rules…
So, what do nominees for the Real Neat Blog Award need to do?
- Display the award logo.
- Thank the blogger who nominated you and post a link to their blog.
- Answer the questions from the blog who nominated you.
- Nominate seven to ten bloggers.
- Ask them seven questions.
Answering Naomi’s questions!
Are you religious? If so, please write a bit about your faith. If not, please write a bit about your lack of faith/alternative to religion.
I’m not religious. This is hard to explain, but I’ll try. I got into this ancient Indian teaching known as Vedanta 5 years ago. It’s not religious or spiritual. The teacher I listen to calls it the science of consciousness. The heart of the teaching is non-duality.
To put it briefly, Vedanta teaches us to identify with our true identity, which is impersonal consciousness. If you stripped away all your personality, experience and preferences, the non-experiencing witness is who “we” really are. I think the easiest way to understand it is to think of ourselves as electrical appliances with different traits and uses. The electricity that powers us is the impersonal consciousness.
It’s the most logical and complete teaching I’ve ever come across. I absolutely love it.
What’s your favourite baked good?
This is such a difficult question! I love cookies, lemon pie and cheesecake. If I had to choose… I’ll say lemon pie, but it hurt to choose. 🙂
It’ll be lovely if I could get a slice of this pretty thing right now!
Who is the most important person in your life? Why?
No one, really. I’m not even important to myself. To be clear, I define important persons as people I can’t live without, indispensable, in other words.
Growing up, I’m so insecure I always felt that anyone can leave you at any moment. Not necessarily because they want to. It wasn’t a rational thought for me even though it’s true, and it stopped me from becoming overly attached to anyone.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my family, partner, and friends and I love having them around. But part of me still expects them or myself to leave. So I don’t assign importance. Love, on the other hand, is unaffected by mortality or geographical location. Sure, it’ll hurt to lose/leave them, but I can still love them, no matter where they are.
If I focused on their importance, I’ll be focused on the hole they’ll leave in my life. When I focus on my love for them, I’ll be focused on the person.
Does that make sense?
I think I overthought this question!
Do you write anything apart from your blog?
I used to keep a journal, I publish posts on Medium and I took part in Nanowrimo. So I do write shabby short stories and flash fiction though I’m not that good at it. Occasionally, I dip my toes in poetry. I also love writing long statuses on Facebook and Instagram that no one reads.
Who is your favorite character at the moment? (They can be from anything.)
Tyrion Lannister from Game of Thrones. He’s intelligent, bold, funny, messed up and actually full of love and capable of humility. I love characters who are flawed, not afraid to be bad, but innately good.
Imagine you’re going to a big fancy ball. What would you wear?
A vintage boat-neck A-line midi dress in red or black. Because… my collar bones are deeper than my cleavage and A-lines hide my flat butt. Haha!
What’s something that you like about yourself?
The way I think. I’m not the smartest cookie, but I can see things from different points of view and it makes me more compassionate and tolerant. I used to be hot-tempered as hell. Now, I’m a little more understanding. I hardly get angry anymore, except when I read about exploitation. Even then I can see how things get to that stage so the anger fizzles quickly.
My questions!
- What does freedom mean to you?
- How do you handle mistakes?
- What’s your favorite food or drink to make/bake/cook?
- What is your typical attire?
- How do you behave in a situation in which being real and being kind are on different sides? Looking for some tips!
- What bothers you most about the world?
- What do you love most about the world?
My nominees!
That Weird Girl Life: Emily is my sweet blogger friend who’s a veteran mental health warrior with a lot of heart. Her blog is a nice mixture of heartfelt reflections and fun box/movie/book reviews. Occasionally, she fills us in on interesting trips she took. Drop by her blog and say hi!
Mediadrome: Angie runs this real neat blog that contains reviews on mainstream and not-so-mainstream movies and books. I particularly like the types of books and movies she reviews – it’s a wonderfully quirky mix. Check out her blog, and you’ll know what I mean.
Frantasmagoria: Do you love reading about true crime and spooky things? I sure do, which is why Fran’s blog is real neat to me! Her posts are easy to read and well-researched. If you enjoy reading about true crime and haunted places, you’ll find yourself right at home at her blog.
My Mind Speaks Aloud: Alice writes about gratitude on her blog too! You can also read well-written flash fiction stories and reviews on books and films on her blog. I wish I was that mindful about gratitude at her age, that’d have done me plenty good! Go show her some love!
Welsh Wanderer: Elen Mai is the keeper of this beautiful blog with a focus on sustainability. She’s also a proud supporter of small local businesses – I absolutely admire that! Be sure to check her blog if you’re into sustainability too.
My Anxious Life: This is a feel-good blog about how living with anxiety is like and ways to cope with it. If you have problems with anxiety, I think you’ll find some understanding at My Anxious Life!
The Ray Journey: I’ve never met Ray, but I imagine she has to be a businesswoman, super-intelligent type. If you love blogs about practical topics, The Ray Journey is perfect for you. Her posts are thoroughly researched and clearly written. Want to learn something? Visit her blog.
I would’ve loved to read Naomi’s replies to my questions too. Alas, it doesn’t work that way. Click here to read Naomi’s response for her Real Neat Blog Award!
Thank you so much for the nomination and your lovely words! I really appreciate it 😊 I also love the questions you’ve asked, so hopefully I will get round to writing my responses soon!
Hi Alice! You’re welcome – you deserve it! I look forward to reading your responses! 🙂 Thanks for reading and commenting!
I’m so glad you did this post! Congrats again on being awesome, and thank you for answering these questions so thoughtfully. I found the one about faith so interesting. I’d never heard of Vedanta, but it sounds really fascinating from your description 🙂
Hi Naomi! Thanks again for the nomination. I really enjoyed replying to your questions. I agree that Vedanta is fascinating and if you’re curious, shiningworld.com has a lot of resources on it. I typically don’t talk about it for fear of sounding crazy or preachy. Lol. Do you have a religion or faith or a set of beliefs?
Congratulations on the nomination, Julie, and thank YOU for MY nomination! I’m so honored! And your little bit about me and my blog was so lovely. I feel so touched 🙂 But I absolutely loved reading your answers to the questions. I haven’t heard of Vedanta before but it sounds so interesting! And oh, lemon pie! I love all things lemon flavored, so that picture you put in was just mouth-watering! And I loved that you like the way you think. I feel like that’s such an an important thing to like about yourself. I love the way you view the world and then share your views on your blog. It’s really opened my own eyes and I really appreciate you sharing your visions and perspectives with all of us. This was such a great post and thank you again for nominating me! I’m actually working on a tag that you tagged me in a while ago so hopefully I can get that done before Saturday. Wish me luck!
Emily | https://www.thatweirdgirllife.com
Hello Emily! You’re welcome! I’m glad you enjoyed reading my answers. Vedanta has been absolutely life-changing, and I’m glad it didn’t come across as a weird or cult-like thing to you! Haha… Yeah, that picture made me want a lemon pie!
I never thought that someone will read and appreciate me sharing my views on the world, so that means a lot to me! You’re so supportive it’s amazing.
And I hope I haven’t’ “over-tagged” you! :p Thanks for reading and commenting!