Thursday, 29 November 2012

Will you forgive my quirks?


"I'm tired of people being ugly to each other." John Coffee, "The Green Mile"- thanks to a friend of mine who posted this on Facebook.  My friend and I were on the same wavelength that day as I was watching some negative, petty things going on between two friends of mine.  Since then, these two friends no longer talk.  What a waste of a friendship.  How sad that we cannot forgive and get past some of each others' quirks.  To me that shows a massive lack of self awareness.  If we expect others to overlook our quirks, how can we refuse to overlook theirs?

What if we could forgive each other and ourselves for being imperfect?  What if instead of responding with negativity to negativity, we responded in a positive, encouraging manner? Can you imagine the surprise and the (more than likely) positive response.  This not only helps the other person involved, but it makes your experience positive as well.

Do you realize the extremely powerful, positive impact you can have on others?


Check this out:

http://on.ted.com/Dudley

Wednesday, 28 November 2012

The Good Old Days

The good old days never really existed. They were just days, like today.  That's not to say that massive change has not occurred on this planet.  And that is not to say that many of us prefer more open space, less technology, or you fill in the blank.  But, in reality, all of us are going through the same emotions everyday just based on different or sometimes exactly the same struggles.

Be grateful for today.  For your life just the way it is.  Keep your goals, your plans, your hopes, your dreams. But today, be thankful just to be alive.

I recently made a list that I call my "daily reminders" to hang on my bedroom wall.  I see them every morning and every evening.  I do not always read them, but that sheet of paper alone is a reminder of my gratitude.

There are many things you may want to accomplish in this lifetime. And we can all relate to the terrible feeling of disappointment and regret in different areas of our lives when we don't accomplish, or perhaps that feeling of elation when we do accomplish.  When we do have regret, sometimes it is from areas in our lives that we have a desire to change and can actually change, but just don't have the discipline, knowledge, or you fill in the blank to actually take the steps to change.  But regardless of how much sadness, regret, disappointment you feel, there are so many more things to be grateful for.  Tap into those things because it is too easy focus on the negative.

It goes something like this... some are shallow and some are deep, but they are all real and honest:


Daily Reminders

I am so incredibly lucky.
 

I am grateful for…

A loving, supportive husband (and having found a man that is everything I could dream of)
The fact that he puts up with me 
Having Liam and Cooper in my life
An incredible family that never gives up on each other
A goofy, fantastic Kona Bear
My health
My Mother's love
My Father’s strength
My few close friends whom we have each other’s best interest in mind, always.
Many incredible friends all over the world
Finding an incredible coach and mentor
Having found a passion in sport
The massive improvements on my bike


I want to improve…

My patience
My ability to be kind regardless
By losing my desire to “get something out of every situation” especially human relationships—I want to give without wanting back…
My ability to “go with the flow” (smooth out my emotions)
My threshold for patience in the kitchen: spending the time to plan and cook healthy meals
Becoming even more mindful about what I put in my body (and Steve, Liam, and Cooper’s)
My swim (therefore… swimming more often)
My run (therefore learning to suffer more in training and racing…)


Tuesday, 27 November 2012

What if I embarass myself?

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." -anonymous

Sharing your honest insight on this world is a very difficult thing to do, your deepest thoughts.  I grew up in a household where this was not acceptable.  Why? It was our family's culture and perhaps because it is desirable to hide the negativity that is no doubt lurking.  There is something to be said for quiet suffering and "getting on with it."  You must do this in life, you must learn to do this.  However, there is also something to be said for thinking highly of yourself.  In order to do this, and this is one of the keys to feeling content as often as possible, you must understand that everyone around you is suffering in the same way.  The human experience does not differ as much as you might think.  This is the topic that I want to explore in depth. 

I admire writers of all kinds, especially when they publish honest books about their experience.  It is a very Western ideal to desire the creation in others of envy and jealousy.  Just take a look on Facebook.   This is not necessarily wrong and most of us are guilty of this.  I know I am.  The positive in this is that it can also inspire and encourage hope.  But it does have a destructive power to hurt and lead us all to wonder, "How do they do it? How are they so incredibly happy?"  Let us just go ahead and be honest, no one on this planet has truly sussed out how to be 100% happy all of the time.  So forgive yourself right now for never reaching that goal.

I am creating this blog because I am coming to realize my deeply analytical nature and my desire to share my thoughts with the world.  I struggle continuously with this desire because I also think, "who is actually going to want to read my thoughts?"  But finally today as I search on the internet for other's thoughts on various topics I am personally struggling with at the moment, I realize honesty is the key.  I discovered the beauty and freedom of honesty when I was about 5 years old, funny how it's taken me so many years to get on with the honesty.

One day I would like to write a story or a book.  I would like to share things I have learned in this life to perhaps provide some relief, hope, or simply share suffering and share happiness with others.  If I truly want to realize this dream, I have to practice.  So here it goes.