fear seems like both a silly and strong obstacle in life.

Climbing uphill

I am a good person, I am an attractive person, I am a talented person
grant me grace


Sometimes, on snow days like the ones we have been having, I remember how much I need to get outside. I am almost saddened to be without the buzz of others. Strangers and friends who stand along side me on long lines, in traffic, and laughing as we discuss the next and now of how wonderful we are together.  It is forever an uphill journey to get out and to find an adventure in the everyday . But it is my journey. To see the best in people and myself in the little adventures you face when you go out to meet them. I remember this song as a way to keep going with your dream, happiness and life even if it seems like there is a huge obstacle in your way.

Five Ways to Become Happier Today | Tal Ben-Shahar | Big Think

Five Ways to Become Happier Today Tal Ben-Shahar Big Think

from Tal Ben-Shahar, Harvard Professor and author of "Happier".

Some days feel like extended swimming lessons: don't be afraid to show up, wade in and close your eyes. Floating only looks difficult.

stay

These words I whisper to the ones I love, If only because sometimes, I know not what else.


I can quote Jackson Browne, and peel his lyrics from my lips, as if I was a kid once again in the backseat of my mother's snug green minivan, taking us home and where we needed to go. Off the small two sided cassette tape, we echoed and I sat with her in the softness of our voices. Tirelessly, we heard his words and repeated "stay", "somebody's baby", and "the pretender". Our songs playing out, the music filling the gaps in time, those in between places where we are going to where we have yet to arrive, but the chords have their ways to work into your mind.
I close my eyes and picture my mother so young and beautiful, her dark hair and freckled skin, my bright clothes and small limbs. Where the songs have gone they have always been. In the fast moving cars, making the longest drive, the slowest of winters, go by.
 I must sing a long to the words I can't help but know, and the ones that will catch on.
Reminded of these songs, from two cars a part, J and I followed our way home with this song on the radio. A home that will bring me near and far away.


"when that morning sun comes beating down you are going to wake up in your town,
..People stay just a little bit longer"

if you don't see everything, then just see things

making the best of life is very similar to making your bed: folding over and adjusting so what you see makes you happy and comfortable

how to bring peace with you

... where you need it and where you go

how to be more than a dream

Within your lifetime you can do something that makes the world a little better.  We are human bumper cars:
 moving, and changing the direction of another. It can be a positive spin and a real whirlwind but sometimes we are afraid to get hurt.

In a now very famous speech, Martin Luther King Jr., discussed his dream for change. He was not in any position of power, majority, or what have you. He only spoke what he knew to be true.

"Now is the time"
Believe in the life you live. If you do, it's not just a dream, it's what you wake to.

MLK Jr. I had a dream

Can you imagine what you can do if you kept trying and kept exploring after being told, "I just don't want to hear it?"

To keep going until you bump into someone else

... who happens to be a very good listener too.

http://www.allforgood.org/

Get SMART

What do you see yourself doing? It's not only important to imagine the outcome but the daily attention it takes to achieve your goal.
Can you believe in your life with what you'd like to achieve?
So many questions... :)

Here are some ideas instead:
When making a list of where you'd like to go and what adventure to choose next be SMART

• Specific- precise, and specified. who what where when why
• Measurable- clear goal, what is it exactly you'd like to achieve?
• Achievable- that can be worked towards and do not set yourself up for failure. what's your plan? 
• Realistic- be honest with yourself, can it realistically happen under all these set terms?
• Timeable- time frame for structure

I've realized it's not important to simply find out your dream. Dreams are nice however, you feel like the possibilities can take you wherever you'd like to be. But the real adventure is to find out if you can make it happen; If you are willing to work towards the destination and grow towards the tiny seed you've planted in your own head.

But don't forget, the most trusted method for finding out what you want is believing in yourself to deserve exactly what you need.

how to please yourself

Don't forget in all your new beginnings and resolutions...


" You can't please everyone so you've got to please yourself"


Ricky Nelson, Garden Party

see yourself in great places

perspective

A New Year's win

one day
one good luck penny
is one good start

How to collect

I am a collector of things, people. The way they take up space and time, it helps to look to different things as collections in order to make the time go by.
When I was a kid, I collected certain characters. Polly Pockets, Beanie Babies, brand name dolls. I felt that with my search and acquisition, I had something to show for myself.  As I grew up, I let go of many things, I thought I no longer loved. Things I thought were childish. In doing so, I think I forgot about collecting. I still have some of these toys, loving compressed between a blanket and a storage bin, or scattered somewhere between my room and the attic hall.
But my search is not the same, I have collections of stickers found from walking across foreign streets. Images of twenty something one hit wonders who croon in a distant tongue, parodies of society, ones with hearts, and curved letters around Valentines' cards. I have clippings from magazines that have inspired me, hand written letters, scraps of my own writing from four years of college, t-shirts from charity events and organizations, books I've found in different corners of the world, Playbills from Broadway shows, and ticket stubs of concerts that changed my life. I look for things that are part of where I am and in doing so I find where I want to go. The laundry list above takes up the contents of my room. I try to empty out the details of my life as I consolidate  and prepare to start out on my own. What is a collection that you cannot keep? What things were you meant to give away?
Please start a collection. Wherever you go it will follow you.

what do you need to live happier? to have a better day? can you give it to yourself?