The Blurry Generation
Everything seems to have a turbo-charged button added to it nowadays. As soon as we wake up we are expected to be at peak performance for the day and already planning for tomorrow. We have our day set out before we have a chance to even gather our thoughts well enough to enjoy a good stretch, yawn, a cup of coffee, or tea. Those are three examples of an infinite number of simple pleasures that we can enjoy every day, but we miss out on because we are so task-oriented that we ignore them.
If we miss a single step we are socially chastised and then we lose focus even more of what’s important. I’m going to share a few of my own small pleasures. I have been hit in the head with the brick of beautiful life. I pay attention now, I am more open to those little beams of bliss that life is so generous with. I also want to share a few ways to help you find a way to clear your mind, a few times each day or so to find those small joys.
Place All Bets On Your Pets
We all have things to do each day. Some have to wake up and get our families ready for the day. Kids ready for school, ourselves ready for work, our spouse out the door. Others have a more non-traditional role. I’m Jenn’s little sister and I live with our mom and it’s just the two of us with 3 pups 2 cats and a circus of animals outside. So, our days are always a bit unpredictable, but always entertaining.
I had a quick moment when I felt like life was reminding me that I was where I was supposed to be yesterday. First, let me introduce you to MoMo if you haven’t met him yet. He is a reindeer chihuahua, 4 years 4 months old, a bit hefty at 20 lbs, and my absolute best friend and the saving grace among many that I have in my life. He jams out with me to the same tunes and loves to sing with me, well I guess you could say he protests a bit. I’m not sure he agrees with some of my choices. That is why I gave him my headphones.
Well, MoMo, my mother, and I went to town yesterday for a few errands and I casually told my mother I was going to dress MoMo up as Yoda for Halloween. Not 2 minutes later, “BAM!” we roll up to the store and there is a Yoda onesie at the dollar store with 50% off on a huge sticker on it! Fate? Nope, that’s life falling into place. Superficial? To some, maybe, but to me, it really reminds me that I don’t have to conquer the world every day to be happy.
And if you were wondering about the Yoda onesie, well, we are in the process of sewing it together. It wasn’t exactly the perfect size. So, we will have to keep you up to date on all of the fashion news on that front.
All our furry, scaled, feathered, four-legged, two-legged, finned, special friends can relieve stress and give us such relief from a fast-paced world. They teach us ways to enjoy the world around us without even trying. It’s a lesson that we need to take into strong consideration.
A super healthy and easy way to get that zen kind of feeling doesn’t take hardly anything. Just lay with your pooch or your furball. When it’s time for me and MoMo to hit the hay, he nudges and settles into my side and sleeps right on my arm. I catch myself falling into his natural breathing. Doctors have said for ages that animals have a natural healing beauty about them. It’s all there to enjoy, so bask in the love.
Strength in The Strangest Places
It’s always easy to say that you will stay in touch with those friends we had when we were younger. It’s easy to say that things will never change and that you will always be friends through the good times and the bad. But, as time goes on we all realize that time changes a lot of things. We grow in different ways and our lives take us on different paths. There is nothing wrong with becoming different people and holding on to friendships can be difficult. I have been blessed with a friend falling back into my life who was not much of a close friend before.
I am a few years older than her and we really were never friends before. She was the youngest of the siblings I grew up with and we really had nothing in common. Well, little did I know, we had more in common than I cared to admit. She had her addictions and I had mine. She started working on hers and I was jealous of her and everyone else for a long time because of their ability to walk away. But, she didn’t. She didn’t walk away. She had to fight her addiction and build a life beyond. After years, she ended up back in my life and was able to give me a sense of hope that not many have. I try to make sure she recognizes how important she is to me and everyone she encounters.
My addiction has hurt every part of my life. The biggest part that has suffered has been my family. With some help from the strange places outside of the traditional ideas of “help”, I am able to embrace another idea of how important my family is. Addiction is still a part of my life and something that I have to deal with every day. But even something as small as holding the door for someone or giving a small smile or a sweet hello can change the direction of anyone’s day.
Remembering that kindness and embracing humanity is something that is easy to forget, but is even more simple and gratifying to remember. Keep your eyes, ears, and your arms open to others. Every single one of us deserves sincerity and love. Don’t ever lose sight of how important the ones that love us are because we never know when they may be taken before we ever have the chance to tell them how much they really mean.
The Eye Of The Beholder
Every day has so many different ways of showing how amazing this universe can be. Even something that can be disastrous like a fire or a flood can lead to beauty, like growth in the plants. It really all depends on how we decide on what we want to view as beauty. When I lived with Jenn in Carlsbad with her kids and all the animals it was fun to head out for walks or swim in the pool. There were plenty of things to keep us busy. I went through pictures and found a few that I never realized were taken but were evidence that beauty is taking place no matter if anyone is paying attention or not. Madisyn was feeding me chips. Vayda was taking pictures of ice ponds. Basking in beauty takes 2 seconds and lasts a lifetime.
I have found so many ways to be unhappy. Finding things to be depressed about and people to be upset with seems easy on the surface. However, when you really look at it, it takes a lot of energy. It is mentally exhausting and spiritually draining. Letting the universe just reveal its pleasures is, for lack of better words, a joy ride. There are plenty of struggles in this world and a number of worries that we can waste our lives on. Let’s allow life to find its positive position in our paths and embrace it with open arms. I’ll be there with open arms with you!
Leave yourself open to something awesome because, seriously guys, life isn’t a race. Let’s give it some space to fall into place.