Today I settled down into my comfortable spot at my usual coffee shop, often used for study purposes. Since I have been on a school break for seven weeks, this spot has grown a bit cold, I expected it to feel funny, odd and a bit out of place. Much to my surprise though it felt oddly right. Like my usual spot had been sad I hadn't been to visit in seven weeks, mean sure a coffee here and a tea there, but not to be settled for hours pouring over books gaining considerable amounts of information. Something in my heart felt settled. I was back. I was home. It started my thinking about the familiar things and why they bring us comfort. Is it because we have already worked through the awkward hard new beginning phase? or because this familiar thing feels as though we can control it, and when we can control things/circumstances we feel at ease? In part I feel that familiar things bring structure and stability. These things might vary from one person to the next but we all have our familiar things that we can count on being there for us.
But what I have gathered is that we mustn't only have familiar, or we never grow. But we also, mustn't only have newness or we are never grounded. It must be a balanced blend of both to help us continually move forward we welcome the new challenges of our ever changing world, and to stay who we are we can willingly engage in the familiar.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Can you feel it?
It's looking as if this blog is turning more into a monthly thing instead of a daily thing, or even a weekly thing. I must inform you it is not for lack of lessons, that is for sure. Just a lack of time, or motivation. With that said I will share my lessons from the past couple of days. Boy have they been some hard ones.
Firstly I have to start with something I feel we are all familiar with, FRIENDS. Either we have lots of them and are closer with some than other, but none the less have them, maybe we don't have any at all, or maybe we have the allusion of friends. Sometimes friendship comes in all different shapes and sizes, but I have to say I have learned that I have one very good friend whom I know would and will have my back through anything. I guess you can't fully know exactly what a friendship will look like until you have an experience where the actions speak louder than the words. Truly I have seen actions speak louder than words in the last couple of days. With that said appreciate the friends you have who love and respect you, always looking for friends who will put into action what they speak.
Secondly, have you ever felt like your heart was breaking in two? Well I have. I wish I could say that I have learned a lesson from that, sadly I can't say I haven't yet. It still hurts a little bit to breath and because of that I think some how oxygen is not getting to my head, not allowing me to actually be able to put into perspective what is happening to me. When you honestly love someone so much, so deep, so much so that it is to the very core of you it is hard to think of living without them. The weird thing is, I have been living without for a very long time, not knowing what was laying at the bottom of your heart waiting to be awakened. I guess I have learned something, don't awaken it unless you are willing to live without because there is a reason it had been silent for so long.
I guess with those things I leave you. I don't really know who YOU is, considering that I am not sure anyone else reads this but me. As the page turns, I wait for the next life lesson.
Firstly I have to start with something I feel we are all familiar with, FRIENDS. Either we have lots of them and are closer with some than other, but none the less have them, maybe we don't have any at all, or maybe we have the allusion of friends. Sometimes friendship comes in all different shapes and sizes, but I have to say I have learned that I have one very good friend whom I know would and will have my back through anything. I guess you can't fully know exactly what a friendship will look like until you have an experience where the actions speak louder than the words. Truly I have seen actions speak louder than words in the last couple of days. With that said appreciate the friends you have who love and respect you, always looking for friends who will put into action what they speak.
Secondly, have you ever felt like your heart was breaking in two? Well I have. I wish I could say that I have learned a lesson from that, sadly I can't say I haven't yet. It still hurts a little bit to breath and because of that I think some how oxygen is not getting to my head, not allowing me to actually be able to put into perspective what is happening to me. When you honestly love someone so much, so deep, so much so that it is to the very core of you it is hard to think of living without them. The weird thing is, I have been living without for a very long time, not knowing what was laying at the bottom of your heart waiting to be awakened. I guess I have learned something, don't awaken it unless you are willing to live without because there is a reason it had been silent for so long.
I guess with those things I leave you. I don't really know who YOU is, considering that I am not sure anyone else reads this but me. As the page turns, I wait for the next life lesson.
Monday, January 4, 2010
New Year Here I Come!
Okay so here it starts, 2010. January is always a time where we can have a nice fresh look at our lives, something about January makes me want to change. Not change who I am, but change the things that are unhealthy in my life. But sometimes we can get so caught in the thoughts of new years resolutions that we forget to rejoice in how far we have come. So what I am learning you ask? Small steps, or as "What About Bob?" puts it baby steps. I have so much more living to do, I couldn't possibly change everything that needs changing in one years worth of resolutions.
Have you ever been afraid of having a repeat of that last year? I know I have. But that is a lie, you couldn't possibly have a repeat because you will meet new people, circumstances will change and time by its very definition is progressive. There is no possible way for anyone to have a repeat of a year. I guess to me that is settling to know, since I have had a run of a couple of difficult years now, and have been very fearful each time to start the new year. However when I look back, nothing is the same. Each year I have grown, those growing spots may be small patches of green grass in my life but they are there, and they are my green patches that are bringing newness in to my life daily. So this year I say step out of fear and into freedom and life.
PS. how can is really be the fourth of January already. if this is any indication of how 2010 is going I better put my glasses on so I can see clearly as it zooms past.
Have you ever been afraid of having a repeat of that last year? I know I have. But that is a lie, you couldn't possibly have a repeat because you will meet new people, circumstances will change and time by its very definition is progressive. There is no possible way for anyone to have a repeat of a year. I guess to me that is settling to know, since I have had a run of a couple of difficult years now, and have been very fearful each time to start the new year. However when I look back, nothing is the same. Each year I have grown, those growing spots may be small patches of green grass in my life but they are there, and they are my green patches that are bringing newness in to my life daily. So this year I say step out of fear and into freedom and life.
PS. how can is really be the fourth of January already. if this is any indication of how 2010 is going I better put my glasses on so I can see clearly as it zooms past.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Education
Education. It is something we are fed from the time we are born. We are learning something every second of every day, will it every stop? NOPE.
As I sat in a coffee shop this evening doing my homework, I started to look around and notice that the vast majority of people were learning SOMETHING. Now yes, you might be saying "DUH, of course they were there learning, isn't that what most people are doing in a coffee shop during this time of year as semesters and quarters come to an end?" Yes, I suppose so, but it got me thinking as I listened to the girl who was the barista talk about how she hasn't slept in almost a week. She was barely able to do the dishes, I wondered, "is that what every college student is bound to?" Weeks of no sleep, book after book, assignment after assignment in this ever growing cycle of getting an education. As a society we put so much emphasis on getting an education and what it can do for you, mean even Obama has encouraged that we all add more education to our resume. But I wonder what is it doing to us? Is it benefiting our well being? How many of those college students really retain what they are learning and even a step further than that can apply it in the real world? I have to admit, I am a product of what I address even now. Many nights I sleep only four or five hours, I spend whole days glued to my computer and reading page after page trying to find answers to questions so I can desperately get the work done. But what I considered tonight was actually pursuing education not just through school, but through my own pursuits. I want to be more purposeful in the education I get, not just in choosing the school I attend, or what classes I pick. But learning the things that shape our world and researching events that have produced change. If I spent half as much time reading books, education magazines and listening to AM radio stations as I do keeping up with pop culture I would be on a better educational track. Every choice we make is an opportunity to learn, I want to choose the things that add to my character, my intelligence, and my wisdom in this world. My challenge to you, is to make every choice a learning experience, who knows what you can learn when you are being purposeful about your education, not just involving books.
As I sat in a coffee shop this evening doing my homework, I started to look around and notice that the vast majority of people were learning SOMETHING. Now yes, you might be saying "DUH, of course they were there learning, isn't that what most people are doing in a coffee shop during this time of year as semesters and quarters come to an end?" Yes, I suppose so, but it got me thinking as I listened to the girl who was the barista talk about how she hasn't slept in almost a week. She was barely able to do the dishes, I wondered, "is that what every college student is bound to?" Weeks of no sleep, book after book, assignment after assignment in this ever growing cycle of getting an education. As a society we put so much emphasis on getting an education and what it can do for you, mean even Obama has encouraged that we all add more education to our resume. But I wonder what is it doing to us? Is it benefiting our well being? How many of those college students really retain what they are learning and even a step further than that can apply it in the real world? I have to admit, I am a product of what I address even now. Many nights I sleep only four or five hours, I spend whole days glued to my computer and reading page after page trying to find answers to questions so I can desperately get the work done. But what I considered tonight was actually pursuing education not just through school, but through my own pursuits. I want to be more purposeful in the education I get, not just in choosing the school I attend, or what classes I pick. But learning the things that shape our world and researching events that have produced change. If I spent half as much time reading books, education magazines and listening to AM radio stations as I do keeping up with pop culture I would be on a better educational track. Every choice we make is an opportunity to learn, I want to choose the things that add to my character, my intelligence, and my wisdom in this world. My challenge to you, is to make every choice a learning experience, who knows what you can learn when you are being purposeful about your education, not just involving books.
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