being the BEST you...random life thoughts.

“Minds are like parachutes; they work best when open.”

I am here this evening hanging in my bed with my dogs cuddled up by my side. It has been a great week...we have been assessing the children where I work for disabilities and the one-on-one that they love to have during this time has made me feel fulfilled about my job. Spending time with the children (who are from very unfortunate circumstances and home lives) has made me even more thankful for the life that I have and the lessons that I have learned and taken to heart. Along with this happiness as of late...I have also had some revelations.

“It is best to learn as we go, not go as we have learned”

I have recently become more aware of the fact that "it takes one to know one." Unhappy people like to call others names, they like to bring others down when in all reality they are just not at peace with their own circumstances. They are searching for happiness in the pain of others. The unfortunate part of this type of situation is that these unhappy people can not even admit to themselves that this is what they are doing. They convince themselves that everyone else is the one with the problem. I am now an even firmer believer that know-it-alls really don't know anything. Know-it-alls are closed minded. They live their lives getting all of their information from TV, internet and word of mouth. They refuse to expand their minds with real world experiences. If you don't get off the couch and immerse yourself in other cultures, cities and people you aren't having a realistic life experience. I couldn't imagine being on my death bed one day and realizing that I had wasted my life on material things, selfish desires and laziness.

I also think that it is easy for people to pity themselves. Children do this and that is fine, but as adults one should expect more out of themselves than a daily pity party. Faking happiness isn't going to work either, but maybe all of us should lose a little pride and find a way to fix our so-called problems...instead of sweeping them under the rug. Taking in daily inspirations can be important and life changing. I can even relate to a recent day when I was annoyed...I was annoyed that I had to walk all the way to the back parking lot where I work to get in to my car...in the pouring down rain. I think that this would put some annoyance in to anyone. The rain was partially frozen and it was coming down hard, so I ran. I made it to my car and felt some relief, but I could barely see through the frozen pieces of rain on my windshield to drive. As I was leaving the parking lot...peeking through my soaking wet window...wishing that my windshield wipers would hurry up... I passed a sight that would make me re-think my own self-pity. A little girl (about 4 years old) was in a wheel chair...she had no arms and I have since found out that she is paralyzed. SHE was sitting there in this pouring down frozen rain with no way to run..no way to walk...no way to even move on her own. Her mom was doing the best she could to load her and her chair in to their van and during that time the little girl just sat there. She just sat there with a look of strength and calm on her face, because SHE has been through the worst. A little freezing rain didn't even faze her and after that it doesn't faze me either. The more I take these things IN to my soul, the more nothing fazes me. Nothing makes me feel sorry for myself.

"Knowing our own darkness is the best method to deal with the darkness of others"

I do, however, feel angst for people who have not figured this simple aspect of life out. People that sit around and complain constantly..."poor me, why me?" If you are going to dwell on the bad things- then you need to remember to be thankful for the good things. For every time you question "why?" something bad has happened to you, why don't you question "why?" something good has happened to you.

Also, kindness is not always weakness and just because you have an "opinion", doesn't mean that you aren't rude, self riteous and smug. Saying something mean and then saying that it's "just your opinion" doesn't make you a good person and it certainly doesn't make you a nice one. People that judge other people's life decisions and accuse others of having the wrong intentions... People who jump to conclusions about other people without ever finding truth... People that think they are better than others...in all reality are simply insecure within themselves. These people need to realize that one day we will all die. So, what is the point in not doing whatever it is you want to do? Usually people who judge others fear being judged most. The fear of being judged looms too severely in these people's minds. This is the type of attitude that will kill you long before your heart stops beating.

A while back I read a book called "Tuesday's with Morrie." This book puts life in to perspective. If I had to determine a moral for this story it would be to live life your way! SURE you could say that it talks about things that are obvious in bettering your life. The question here is ARE YOU DOING WHAT IT TAKES TO MAKE THE CHANGES??? or are you just thinking, comprehending and NEVER APPLYING these lessons to your life?? There is a difference between KNOWING better and DOING better! I struggle with this too. I am not here saying that things don't get me down too...we are all a work in progress. BUT, we can not just be know-it-alls in this situation that we call life...that is IF we want a better one. If you are content in thinking that you have done all that you can do... then good for you. I JUST HOPE YOU'RE RIGHT!