give yourself a cardboard box

my parents ordered some crap online and it came in this huge cardboard box. and we left the box out in the living room and my cats have never been happier. it is crazy. i can just imagine them talking to each other "omg checkout this new hut dude!!!"

i bet it is the best thing that has happened to them since we switched up the cat treats.

the fact that this brown box can bring them so much made me think how simple it is to bring excitement back into our own lives.

we have to give ourselves a cardboard box.

my dad gave himself a porsche. and it has made him feel like a kid again. he can get in his car and loose track of time. just sit and stare and be content. and i think this is something that we are all missing. it is our longing for those days when we could carelessly run around in the grass with no real plan. we just did it because it felt good. and somewhere we loose this. we found it briefly when we realized alcohol brought us back to our youth (as bad as that sounds). but i can speak for myself that this release that i get from drinking has dwindled (trust me- i still like to get crazy once and a while).

but i am currently on the hunt for my cardboard box. i think this is why life is so challenging and confusing because at the bottom of these emotions is an emptiness.

and honestly i don't want a "thing" to replace this void. i want my outlook to be childlike. and somehow see everything with a smile and with appreciation.

maybe i want my whole life to be a cardboard box. and who says that it cant be.

"not a shred of evidence exists in favor of the idea that life is serious"

find a way you can bring back your childlike joy. change your mentality. change your friends. change your clothes. do whatever, but find a new way. one that will make you happy and make you look at the world as you once did.

"Dear Prudence, won't you come out to play
Dear Prudence, greet the brand new day
The sun is up, the sky is blue
It's beautiful and so are you
Dear Prudence won't you come out to play

Dear Prudence open up your eyes
Dear Prudence see the sunny skies
The wind is low the birds will sing
That you are part of everything
Dear Prudence won't you open up your eyes?"

and to you jenny beckman - get your audi!!!!!

a reason to reflect

maybe this is a simple question but - how come we don't just like everyone?
why do i feel compelled after meeting someone to say, "oh i did not like her vibe". that may be my instincts coming up to warn me. but i also think it is important to analyze what traits in that person made me come to such a conclusion.

let me back up. i once read that everything you dislike about someone else actually represents something that you don't like about yourself. TRIP ON THAT!

when i heard this, it made me think about this person that was once apart of my life. i remember not liking her negativity and her constant need to judge and pick people apart. but now i see that this trait that i found so ugly in her was actually a fear of mine. it was a part of me that i always worried would come out. tucked away was my own desire to critique people and sort their traits into being good or bad. this behavior that was so blatant in my friend was actually an issue of my own. it was something i disliked about myself.
yes, this person was not good to have in my life and had to go. but also it was a blessing because it made me look at myself in a new light. and forced me to dig up some of my own insecurities.

i will be honest it's scary. and at first you are going to deny it to yourself. believe me my first reaction was to run from this discovery. i fed myself bullshit that i was this positive person, always free of judgment. let me say this -no one can be something all the time. no matter how great you think one part of your personality is, there is always a flip side. this may be confusing and even disheartening. but uncovering this flip side will release a lot of problems and will open you up to so much more.
"the art of living lies less in eliminating our troubles than in growing with them".

so in response to how come we cant like everyone? i think we can. if we do enough digging and reflection of ourselves we can begin to let more people into our lives.

its interesting because after writing this i was thinking of that person that i learned this from... and there is no way in hell i want her back in my life.
but i am still grateful for the experience i had with her. i gained something from it. it wasn't a life long friendship - it was more. i gained knowledge about myself.
thus i think allowing more experiences and more people to pass through your life makes you a better person and eventually helps you find love in more places.

"With love I will tear down the wall of suspicion and hate which they have built round their hearts, and in its place, I will build bridges so that my love may enter their souls. "

“Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is Enlightenment.” - Tao Tzu

talk nicely to yourself

In a non creepy way this older man struck up a conversation with me... and we talked for a couple of minutes and then at the end he said... - "you are so beautiful, you have the rest of your life ahead of you."
It was so nice. It made me feel good all day. How great is it that someone who I just met can say so little and yet have such a positive impact. It was so easy for him to extend this complement and it inspired me to be more like him. Pay a complement to someone that honors their light.
For me it is always easier to find the beauty in someone elses appearance or actions, but I hardly ever look at myself in that way. I always replay the negative things and let my mind become consumed by how "stupid" i acted. or ill look at myself in the mirror and literally say - "you look like crap." how mean!!! I would never say this to anyone else, so why do i think its okay to say it to myself?
Talk nicely to yourself.
Practice positive self talk. we all LOVE something about ourselves, so why not fill our mind with those thoughts and think less about how we could have made the past different or how we could make our present self more "perfect".
Love yourself now. and celebrate it.

"We are what we think. all that we are arises with our thoughts. with our thoughts, we make the world". -buddha

and for those who are not strong enough to operate their minds in this positive way, help them by giving them a complement. snap them out of their negative pattern. they do not deserve to continue to beat themselves up. so spread the love.

"the love we take is equal to the love we make." -the beatles

hard work can never be wasted

Before bed I was doing some yoga stretches and thought... why am I doing this? it scared me how cynical i was being about something that is so good. good for my mind, body, and soul, and yet I was still questioning it. wondering what was making me set aside this time and put all my energy into touching my toes. wouldn't it be easier to just get in bed and watch Keeping up with the Kardashians?

true, yoga can be boring in the beginning, but you just have to open up to the possibility that it will feel good if you just stick with it. i think this is how we have to see our daily routines or our seemingly pointless jobs. yes, right now its like walking through quicksand. but we will get through it. and it will benefited us.

just remember - nothing is a chore. in one way or another we are giving gifts to ourselves. and sometimes those gifts are not realized right away. and that is okay. it will become clear later.

"you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life." -Steve Jobs

"I renounce the finite for the Infinite,

whereas you are renouncing the Infinite for the finite" - Indian yogi