Don't Just Keep Swimming, Go For A Swim & Enjoy Doing It

I just freaking love this video! 💦🐢💦 I love turtles so much anyway, to me they are my zodiac symbol. While I don't believe in that I do believe that certain traits are more common at certain times of year, etc. I am a Cancer and I really fit the definition perfectly, while some people are more blended. Either way, to me it's just one way man has attempted to understand the stars' effects on us and how timing in cycles affect outcomes of individual events. Normally a Cancer is a crab, but I feel a turtle is a much better representation  And it works too, it fits all the same properties of the crab that are used for its representation of its people. Turtles are beautiful creatures with intricate and strong shells that are more than just something pretty to look at, it also provides a home and hiding place for the turtle. He can withdrawal whenever he doesn't feel safe. A lot like me. I could go on and on, let's just say I've taken a big liking to turtles now. Something about it in my gut feels right so I go with it. After feeding giant sea turtles you can't get much better, but I just loved watching this little guy go for a swim. I hadn't seen this particular turtle swim like this before and it was cool being right there and getting to watch as he swam right across my view. 

It relaxes me so much to watch them when they glide so effortlessly in the water. They just use smooth, wide, strong arc waves from their front appendages to propel themselves forward. Slowly and steadily the strength of each push combines to move the turtle along quite speedily. 

He made me smile. As you start your day today remind yourself to take it easy. Take a deep breath and slow down a couple times today. Be mindful. Take 15 seconds to pause, breathe deeply and clear your head and focus only on what you are doing right now - that is what mindfulness is. Try it today, use it to help you glide along like this fella. Don't just go through your life, enjoy it. Don't forget about living the life your so busy worrying and stressing away. 

Rule #4 - Hard Times Will Always Come, We Have To Choose How We Let Them Shape Us

Our problems with joy never stem from having too much of it, it's those times when we are truly lacking it that we realize just how hard life can be. It seems those times come in our life more often than we expect. I'm not talking about the little things that happen all day long, but sometimes even then things can feel amplified to unbelievable proportions. These bad times can drag us down and ruin our days, weeks, months or even years. Bad things are always happening and always will, the key is learning how to turn things around and make them positive or joyful. Not always smiling and happy, but joyful. There's always a joyful side to everything. Things could always have been worse, you can always have less and you could always be dead - but you're not, at least for now. Seize the moment, the day. Each of ours are limited. It's why I got the word "Joy" tattooed on the inside of my right wrist. No matter what I am doing all day long I will always see that word and be reminded that just by looking at and seeing it I have so many things to be joyful about. I can see, I am alive, I'm healthy and on and on. That's what you must find for yourself, a constant reminder that things are ok and will be as long as you don't panic and think positively. Sometimes the only joy that comes from a situation is in knowing that you have learned an important lesson, but even then isn't it worth it? A lesson learned prevents countless future mistakes. 

The only way to lead a joyful life is to look at everything joyfully. When you're walking down the street think about your day and everything that has happened so far. Take a second to breathe and reflect. If you can sort out the day you've had so far you'll be more prepared to face the rest of the day and all the things you have yet to face. Remember the joy in life, in things, in what has happened to you today and what will happen to you tomorrow. It's like footprints in the sand, there are those times when someone carries you through and instead of leaving two sets of footprints there are only one and those times when all that's left after the dust settles are prints and tracks all over in every direction resulting from the tumultulous intertwining of lives we are but a small part of. One singular thing that happens to us doesn't affect just us, it affects how we interact with others. We can let negative things keep us down and brood over them, holding on to fear, pain and vengeance, but because it affects how we then deal with the world around us and in turn the people in it we have to choose who we are going to allow to be affected. Hate is a poison spread over and over like a disease. When we hit those hard times, as we most certainly will, we have to remain strong not just for our own sake but for others. The sprawling blue ocean lies just beyond the dunes, to get there we just have to climb some hills of sand. The thing about sand is that it's tricky, you slide and slip and sink. It's almost impossible to get a grip or grasp on it. We have to rely on each other to get the support we need to stay afloat. No one can do everything alone, we are here to help lift each other up. Don't let your circumstances shape you, shape your circumstances. 

Rule #1

Life Is Never Balck & White

Brush Yourself Off

I made it through today; a small yet noble victory for me. With our licensing survey finishing at work, potential clients visiting, investigations, appointments and so much more I thought I was going to lose it today. On this ten hour day I really believed my nerves were going to just burn themselves out. Of course I had my partner coaching me along through iMessage all day long. I made a decision on my own though to throw it all out the window. I literally took all day today minute by minute. I only made sure all the paperwork was done and then just started in with no hesitations, look backs or flash forwards. It was like every minute hit the restart button. I have been trying to do this for years and I have never been able to truly master it before now. Maybe it was because of the stress, my support, my situation or a combination of all three. Whatever it was, I took it and ran. I used that fuel to keep me going today when all I wanted to do was give up and collapse in the corner. I know it will still be difficult but now I know that I can do it. No excuses. 

I don't know how it happened. I just know that it worked. You have to just push those thoughts and worries out of your mind. You already know they aren't realistic anyway, it's just too hard to push them away. So take it one minute at a time. Literally. Just focus on what you have to do right now and don't think about anything else. I realized today that by doing that you not only prevent yourself from a lot of pain and anguish but you also allow yourself to truly live. Live life in the moment the way it is meant to be lived and enjoyed. In life spiderwebs are everywhere, in the corners, the bushes or the trees. They spring up overnight and can tangle us up without us even seeing what's happening. Those twisted traps are made sticky, so as to cling on and suck the life right from us. It's up to us to admit when we are caught and have the integrity and courage to brush ourselves off and keep going like normal. Because it is normal. Life is normal, because there isn't such thing as normal. Life is random and crazy and wild and unpredictable. We have to keep our eyes open and guard up so that when those problems blindly try to tear us down we can see them for what they are and move on. There will always be spiderwebs. Everyday a new one, or maybe two new ones. The more we let things bother us the more those cobwebs build up until we have wrapped ourselves in our own cocoon of misery. Stop it before it happens, stop it when you feel it starting and get rid of the cobwebs caught up in your hair and on your leg and everywhere else. Brush it off and keep going. There isn't any other choice except misery. Do you have any cobwebs stuck to you, demons you are carrying around? Take a second and really think. You can make your life better, easier, more productive and more joyful. The choice is yours.

Stormy Skies

I took a picture yesterday getting out of my truck and heading into the house. It was such an awe inspiring sight with the clouds and rain and open sky mixed with the cold nipping at all of my exposed skin. The light peaking through the dark clouds felt so warm and refreshing. The picture doesn't even do it justice, but it at least shines some light on it. Through all that darkness and downpour of rain rays of sunlight emerged as strong as ever. You can quite literally see it in the picture. The small beams of sunlight are so contrasting and so revealing. Maybe it's a reminder that through every storm comes bright sunlight. Even in the middle of what seems like an impossibly torential downfall we can have hope. Reminders of the joy we have to hold on to, what will give us the strength we need to make it through. 

The second picture I took last night when we were taking Miss Stormborn for a walk. I looked up and saw that beautiful contrasting night sky. To top it all off is the palm tree in the corner. That sky though, it reminded me of the clear after every storm and the fact that life is made up of cloudy and clear night skies, meaning that neither one could prevail continuously. Through the clouds and rain we must remember that they won't last forever, soon there will be clear skies again. We must treasure the good days when things feel hopeful so that we have something to hold on to and fuel us through the night. Ups and downs, highs and lows. Contrasting, that's what life really is about. When you start to get upset or feel like you are having a bad day stop yourself and think about the last time you went to the movies or the newest album you ordered on iTunes. Think about those clear skies and that bright warm sunlight. Bathe in the soothing memories and give the joy inside you the fuel it needs to keep the fire going. Give yourself some hope. 

Love is Special, All Kinds of Love 😘 - PART I

PART I:

Love is key, love is life, love is joy. How better a way to go through life than filled with joy, love and hope. It is like a continuous cycle, each one recycling itself into the other for a never ending cascade of happiness. Love is what drives us and what keeps us going. It is the food for our soul and the source of our joy. That joy that we cling to so hard comes out of the love that we have for something or someone, from a partner or husband to a teacher or best friend. The Greek's had it right when they classified love into three words instead of only one single expression. To love is to live as breathing is to life. Everything we do is an expression of one form of love or another and the building bricks of love pile up to create a life of joy for us. 

Do you ever tell anyone that you love them? Lover or partner? Mom or dad? Friends or relatives? Your dog or your cat? There is someone in each of our lives that we love and to whom we can say that we love them, even if it is only ourselves. If you don't think there's anyone in your life that you love take a step back and really look at things. I think the best definition of love is the simplest, love is quite plainly the act of putting someone's needs before your own. In the case of looking within at ourselves it's important to remember that loving ourselves means accepting every part of ourselves and making sure we live up to own potential. I put my partners needs before mine daily without even thinking about it, it's become an automatic habit. I put my mom first when I call and talk to her on the phone for an hour and half listening and catching up. I put my dad before myself every time I buy and send him the last book I read that I know he will love or pick up a Blu-Ray or magazine I know he would like. I put my brother and his family, including my adorable little nephew Daniel, first by celebrating every holiday big and small with fun silly gifts and keeping in touch with him by texting at least every other day. I put the girls at work first whenever I plan my day around visiting them or when I bring them treats or candy or little silly gifts to make them smile and laugh. I put my administrators at work first when I do a few extra things in my spare time to help out. I put my little Miss Stormborn first when I wake up extra early to take her for a long walk before work or when I decide to go to that other park I like because it's the one she can go to with me. None of these things are particularly big or major, but they all create lasting   impressions on both the individual and the person they care about. The simplist things can turn someone else's day around. Think about that time when you were having a bad day and some random stranger did one tiny act of kindness, changing your whole day. All it takes is a poke and push in the right direction. All of those acts of kindness represent different forms of love. Love is infinite, but we can measure it by examining our own actions and the actions of others. When I am taking little Dany for a walk or when I am bringing home flowers and dinner to my partner I am showing love. Their needs are more important to me than my own problems. That's selflessness. The way that you love your mom and dad isn't the same way that you love your co-workers. Different people mean different relationships and varying degrees of commitment and love. The point is, however small or inconsequential, love is powerful and infectious. We have the ability to change someone's day for the better or for the worse, leading to any number of rippling affects in their lives. We are made up of memories and emotions regarding the people and world around us. By simply running into someone you have the chance to change the course of their day. 

The love you have for the random strangers living in the world around you is just as strong as the love for the closest thing to your heart. The only difference is that they are just that, different. Different expressions to a different degree of involvement. If we can say that we hate pickled pigs feet enough to never entertain the notion of eating one and that we hate our ex-boyfriend who cheated and stole five funded dollars then why can't we say I love you to the woman at 7/11 who holds open the door for us as well as our friends at work? I do understand that saying I love you is sometimes awkward and uncomfortable, especially for those people that are shy. It starts with seeing and then recognizing the feelings in you when they are happening. When we can see how we affect the world around us we gain the ability to exercise some semblance of control over our influence on people and events. If we are going to affect someone even unknowingly wouldn't it be better to at least know how you're affecting things? Every day we all have varying degrees of good news and bad news, besides lifting ourselves up, simple and small gestures of kindness from anyone can potentially help carry us through the turbulence we never even saw coming. 

So, examine your life, look at the things you did today in public, at the market, in line at the store, at work, in the truck and wherever else you just acted without thinking. Tomorrow try to recognize and think about the people you see and the things happening all around you. Look at your relationships and the people you interact with. Do you treat them like you love them? If you don't, then why shouldn't you? Treat others how you want to be treated. Laugh, but this is one of the few things in life that are sure as stone. Through time and experience we all learn just how true it really is. What's wrong with treating everyone with kindness, another word for an expression of love? Nothing at all. That is what opens the floodgates to joy, fulfillment and happiness. This is something you have control over, you just have to see it and take ahold for dear life. When you talk to someone on the phone or send an email look at your wording or think about the tone of your voice. Could you be a little nicer? If you added a "Hi, how are you?" or "How's your day going?" would it make things smoother and easier while making both of you feel better? The little things are the things that count. Stop and think about it. Love is powerful and it has a million faces in an infinite amount of forms, don't ignore the easiest way to find joy - spreading it to others.