2 beautiful women and their blogs...

There are two blogs that I find to be "follow-worthy".

"It Is What It Is"
About a young woman's candid confession of her experience with cancer,

and

"The Kitchen Prep"
About a girl, food, and all the other ingredients to make you smile every day

The former is one that you should follow just because you need to

The latter is one you will smile about as it comes across your feed

Both are reminders to be aware of the simple joys in your life.

old soul?

This picture hangs in my 3-year-old son's bedroom.

When I was getting him dressed, he smiles and points to it.

"Mom, do you think he is having fun? That was me when I was older."

I tried to correct him.

"You mean when you grow up, that's what you want to be?"

"No," he says, "that's what I was when I was older."

Ironically enough, the same day, I had gone out and bought this book:

It's an amazing story about parapsychology, a branch of psychology that includes the study of reincarnation.

Call me out there, but I can't help but think, 

even for a moment,

about the things kids say.

And about coincidences.

One of my closest friends has cancer. 

It's come, gone, and come back.

I have a bad cold. Silly, but I have found myself subconsciously walking around like I am in her shoes. I think maybe I wanted to feel her pain for a day as if I owed it to her. I was having a coughing fit and my son asked me if I was going to be okay.

I felt her.

I couldn't concentrate on much because I just didn't feel good.

I felt her.

I want to be with her and maybe, just maybe if I became aware of every little ounce of pain I could possibly be feeling, just maybe I'd feel hers, too.

And then I heard her voice telling me I had it all wrong.

She says don't sympathize with my pain,

The joy I see is not seen by many.

grow up

It wasn't until I turned 33 years of age this past year that I truly started to understand the beauty that age brings about. I was puzzled as to why I still get so excited on my birthday, how I feel better each year and how I look back on prior years and almost giggle at how young I must have been...

And then it flooded my thoughts with a real honest answer:

I focus less on the fact that I have a horrible cold, and more on the fact that I can still breathe on my own, walk on my own and that my heart still pumps blood and I am healthy even when I'm sick.

When i walk into a place, I am more focused on how the space affects me than on what or whom is in it.

When it's really bad it could always be worse

Surrender to what isn't, accept what is, let go of anger shortly after it creeps in

Always try to achieve a delicate balance between being content and never being too content

I am aware that memories are being made as they are happening and not 10 years later. 

All people want to be respected, admired and feel worth something - so help them feel this way.

That the Buddha was right - all creatures, humans, can relate to suffering in some way, and that, without true suffering, you cannot truly rise above 

"All that we are is the result of what we have thought."

~Buddha

(I wonder how old he was when he wrote this :)

our duty to protect

1/3 of the oxygen we breath and a large percentage of the food we eat

come from the ocean.

An amazing truth is that our ocean's health is largely dependent on an abundant shark population...

Last night I had the pleasure of attending a private screening of Guy Harvey and Jim Abernathy's documentary,

"This is Your Ocean: Sharks"

What I learned is that

We are all creatures on this earth

We all have intelligence and instincts

We all try to survive..

And yet people are slaughtering these animals by the millions

I watched a poignant scene where a giant Tiger shark the size of a small car bonded with Jim, as it's nose bumped and poked at his dive mask. The shark ever-so-slightly approached him as he lay very still on the ocean floor. Jim is convinced the shark knows him after he's been diving around him in the Bahamas for 7 years.

It was a reminder that we all need to transform our fear of the unknown into an exploration of the truth. And the truth is this animal is beautiful, fascinating, and was here long before we were.

You can help by signing an online petition to stop the slaughtering of sharks and to allow for more protected waters by clicking on this link:

http://www.thisisyourocean.com/

trust

Today I did a 'partner' workout at the gym with a girl I'd never met.

We had to run 1 mile side by side,
Jump over each other while lying on the ground and do 100 total push-ups on either side, sweat dripping on each other, and carry each other on our backs for 200 m each, drenched.

All the while, I didn't know her  name.  I didn't ask because I just wanted to blindly trust a stranger.

We motivated each other like we'd known one another forever, and then I realized that ultimately we were the same, there for the same reason, and we didn't need to know anything else.

It felt good to trust and be trusted like that..

Sort of refreshing actually.

What is better than sharing a beautiful sunset with your loved ones?

Sharing it with strangers.

There is already beauty in the former.

for the greater good II

So I've confirmed all over again that the worst part of a situation is the massive build-up in your head about the anticipation of the event or its outcome - not the actual event itself.

No one and nothing else is your enemy unless you let it be so....

Phew

for the greater good

About to do something tomorrow that I do not want to do,
A situation I do not want to be in -
And with good reason

BUT

 I'm gonna put on my big girl pants, 

 listen...

take in....

 respond calmly.

i'm not religious...

... but I'm praying tonight for 

A cure for cancer

An end to violence

Justice for all.

Goodnight.

mostly undiscovered

This is what I see when I look at people.

A massive undiscovered depth of a soul.

And there's just no need to try to figure it all out, 

to discover it all, to explain, to try and make sense.

You just accept what is, what isn't, and what could be,

and never stop allowing yourself

to 

be amazed.

crossing the bridge...

Our relationship lives in the space between us.

That is a sacred space.

If we don't know about this space, we can pollute it.

Watch this clip on the woman who can change 

your relationship even by just watching this...

needing you

Just when you think you're ok as you are, and that you are independent, self-sufficient and in your own little world,

Your friends come along,

-some everyday friends and some out of the woodwork-

and remind you that you matter to them.

And that's a game-changer.

Because it means that who you are is way bigger than you.

oil loves water

I love 'odd' couples who don't seem to make sense.

The big white girl with the tall thin Asian.

The loud obnoxious with the shy nobody.

---> you know exactly what I'm talking about

It takes assumption and slaps it in the face,

gives it the beating it deserves,

pushes

it

down

_____

There was a time when I loved perfect endings, 

things that rhymed,

what made sense.

Now I appreciate what doesn't

and all the acceptance that comes along with it.

close your eyes...

...and push play

I want to live my life

like she sings this song

this is what passion sounds like when i close my eyes and listen

Saw these stones submerged in a small pool 

inside my favorite little spa.

Think about 

.....what it is

.....where it's at

.....what it says

And you get a rock under water saying just breathe.

body of thought...

Laird Hamilton has a body.

A real good one.

I'm in awe of a good body. 

Because no matter how the world can disagree,

(religion calls it a sin, science says it's a machine, hollywood says it's money),

To say we don't obsess over our bodies is to say that a bear doesn't shit in the woods.

I believe the body doesn't lie. It doesn't lie. 

The hands of an old woman show her age like the whites of the eyes show health. 

The muscles of an athlete show determination, strength, 

the color of your skin shows your genetic DNA.

Yet a 'body' is also the nave of a church, the content of a book, a collective mass of water, a group of individuals, the main compartment of a vessel...

And Laird,

that body,

He says the body is a 'vehicle', 

needing fuel, maintenance and a driver.

So I've decided I am an old, restored car,

I slow down on good days and speed up on bad ones.

I prefer the highway as food for thought.

I choke when I fill up with low grade fuel

There's an American flag on my antenna to 

remind me where I last parked

and that compass to remind me where I'm headed.

And when I start to look worn, tired, past my day, 

I want someone to listen to my story

My year, my make, this mileage.

The body doesn't lie.

on death

The other day I had a peculiar vision about my own mortality. I was walking out of the kitchen and when I glanced back at the coffee cup I had left on the counter, I had a vision that my mother had come to my house after I had passed and this coffee cup was the first thing that reminded her of me.  Strange, huh? Maybe, but it sure made me more aware of being alive that day.

I came across an interesting blog about death, and how talking about it while we're young and healthy is actually...well...healthy. Our collective fear is that if we talk about death we will bring it upon ourselves or sound morbid. But the reality is that every day could be your last.

The blog mentions a physician named Ira Byock who wrote a book called  The Four Things That Matter Most.  It was based on the four things that he learned from dying patients to say to our loved ones before it's too late:

Please forgive me.

I forgive you.

Thank you.

I Love you.

Profound....