Shitty Day

Having a shitty day? Just remember that the most beautiful flowers and most flavorful vegetables are fertilized with shit.

Take the waste of days past, relationships lost and dreams crushed and fertilize your life with their lessons. I promise, beautiful things will grow in the garden of your life.

Perspective

Perspective: the state of one’s ideas, the facts known to one, etc., in having a meaningful interrelationship:

I was wading in the ocean with my sister in law and we were just chit chatting about her upcoming move and life in general. In the conversation I said something to her that may have had more of an impact on me than it did her. It was so profound to me that I repeated it in my head over and over again until I could get to my phone and type it in, thus securing its place in my life. Before I tell you what I said, allow me to remind you that I went from something that was not bringing any joy to my life (actually, it was like a joy-sucking vampire) to something that I thoroughly enjoyed with a lot of people I enjoy spending 8+ hours a day with. By changing just ONE aspect, many things followed suit.

“When your perspective on life changes, your entire life changes.”

By changing just one thing in my life, my entire life changed. It was like a fog lifted and I felt “me” again. So, I started thinking about that. If I can change one physical “thing” in my life, imagine if I changed my thoughts; the way I thought about those “things.”

It really does come down to (and I can’t take credit for this quote) “Life is what you make of it.” I also can’t take credit for this quote, “Thoughts become things. Make them good!”

Happiness is friendship

I was at a party surrounded by 95% of unknown people and 5% of those I do know. A group of us were talking about how lucky we are to have our friendship within each other. Some have known each other since 7th grade, others even earlier, some more recent. It doesn’t matter when the friendship develops. What matters is developing friendships.

It is true we may have friendship in a spouse or partner. If you have a spouse or partner then yes, it is important to have a sort of friendship within the realm of the relationship as a whole. But sometimes you just need that “girls night” or “guys night” to connect with people that truly understand what it is like to be a woman or man! To laugh at the idiosyncrasies associated with it and of course the idiosyncrasies of the opposite sex as well.

I have gained many friends throughout my life. I was lucky enough to have 2 in my immediate family! I am also lucky enough to still have childhood best friends. Sure, I have let friends down. Some worse than others. And yes, I, too have been let down, some worse than others, but nurturing the friendships is a well-worth life long adventure. Each and every friend has given me happiness. It is my goal in life to give happiness to each and every friend. Every time I laugh, I am happy. Every time I am laughing with my friends I am happier than I ever could put into these words.

So maybe the title shouldn’t be “happiness is friendship”, but rather “friendship is happiness.”

Happiness never decreases by being shared

“Thou­sands of can­dles can be lit from a sin­gle can­dle, and the life of the can­dle will not be short­ened. Hap­pi­ness never decreases by being shared.” the Buddha

Be in love with yourself

Not often enough do we say, “I love me.” There is such a social stigma about actually loving yourself. People tell us to love ourselves, respect ourselves, but when we start to actually truly list off the things we do love, it can feel like we are bragging, or be perceived that we are bragging. To love a spouse, child, friend and feel that warmth in your heart overflowing with love, do we ever truly look at ourselves and get that feeling? Look at yourself. Not in the mirror, but in your heart. Let your heart overflow with love for you. Be in love with yourself.