I haven't been writing very much lately because surprisingly enough, a joyous life is full of far less writing material than a lonely and scared one...
Life is full of paradoxes. When you stop looking for something, you'll find it. When you're finally okay alone, someone comes along and dares you trust again. In the darkest, scariest moments of our lives we find the greatest hope.
My heart is heavy with worry for someone I love so very deeply. She is the most important woman in the world to me and I can not even begin to fathom my life without her.
My heart is elated with joy because of someone I love dearly. He is the laughter that fills my heart and the peace that calms my fears.
Every day I make a choice. I wake up and I choose happiness, I choose joy, I choose to be optimistic. And ninety percent of the time, I have a good day because of that attitude. Attitude is a posture of the heart. A good attitude says:
"Today might be rough, today I may get overwhelmed or frustrated, angry or scared, but today I choose to make the best of those moments. Today I choose not to throw the towel in. Today I choose kind words, I choose love, grace and forgiveness. I choose to give others the benefit of the doubt and not let other peoples reactions dictate my own. Today I choose to lead by example, to spread a smile to a stranger, to give a hug where it's needed and to help those who are too afraid or too scared to ask. Today I choose to comfort, I may not be able to heal or mend but I will be there, I will be a friend and I will help soothe someone if they need it. Today I may not be the strongest, most successful or most talented person out there, but I will be the bravest, the most positive, and the most willing. Today I choose to be the very best version of me that I can possibly be, because when I settle, I let others down and more than anything I let myself down."
When you choose to "stick it to the world" and carry on when everyone else expects you to stop short, life has it's way of throwing curve-ball after curve-ball your way. Because life has a funny way of only giving the toughest to the strongest. So when you stick your chin out, be prepared to have it scraped up a few times. What doesn't kill us only hurts like hell, then makes us stronger. To be brave doesn't mean you aren't afraid or don't carry at least some kind of pain around with you. To be brave means to accept your limitations and carry on in spite of them.
We must learn to find the magic in the mundane, the joy in the smallest moments of life. We must learn that days don't have to be perfect, we just have to learn to view them with "rose colored glasses", if you will.
I may have shared this quote before, but it is by FAR my most favorite of all time:
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. -Marianne Williamson
