August 12, 2011

Dreams are illustrations...from the book your soul is writing about you.


Falling into the deepest desperation gives you the chance to find your true nature. Just as dreams come alive when you least expect them to, so will the answers to questions you cannot unfold. Let your instinct build a trail of wisdom, and let your fears be diminished by hope.

August 4, 2011

You change your life by changing your heart

"Without change, something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken."
~Frank Herbert

Recently, I have been getting really into the TV show Criminal Minds. It's kind of a Law and Order meets Without a Trace but sooooo much better. My favorite aspect about this show is each episode either begins or ends with a quote and the music selection is phenomenal. I was watching it tonight and was really moved by the writing and music selection. Tonight was a rather sad episode: my favorite character, JJ, ended up leaving in the beginning of Season 6 (I had no idea!) and it was her final episode. The ending monologue spoken by JJ was taken from her exit evaluation written to the boss. While this takes place my absolute favorite song by Ray LaMontagne plays in the background. Yeahhhh...goosebumps. I was really taken by her closing words, which everyone can relate to in some way, probably multiple ways. We meet so many people throughout our lives and go through so many experiences; but everything ends at some point...nothing lasts forever. It sucks but life continues to move on. You need to move along with it or you aren't really living.

Just this past weekend while reading Regina Brett’s book she brings up life lesson 31: No matter how good or bad situation is, it will change. I don’t know about you, but I hate change. Why? Because it’s hard…but nothing good ever comes easy.  Regina emphasizes this: 
"The secret is not to get too attached to any of life, good or bad. The good times will come and then they will go. Our job is not to cling to one or fight the other but to allow them both teach us and polish us….There’s an old saying people use to cope through bad times: “This too shall pass.” Most people don’t want to use that when it comes to the good times. We don’t want them to pass. We want them to last forever. But sooner or later, everything changes…The secret is to ride life like a raft in a river and let it carry you through the white water and the still water and beyond. Float on down like a leaf holding onto nothing, trusting the flow of the river."
Once a person realizes that “this too shall pass”, even the good moments, a certain appreciation of life and all of its graces can form within the heart. I know many times when I am happy, really enjoying an experience or even just a night out with my friends, I think: this is it…this moment I have right now is all I have so I must savor it. It makes the moment that much more sweet and forms a sense of gratitude which inspires me to never take anything for granted. Don’t get so caught up with the past or trying to figure out the future that you ruin what you have right now….because right now is really all we have.  

I'm thankful for my years spent with this family; for everything we shared, every chance we had to grow. I'll take the best of them and lead by their example, where ever I go. A friend told me to be honest with you, so here it goes. This isn't what I want, but I'll take the high road. Maybe it's because I look at everything as a lesson, or I don't want to walk around angry. Or maybe it's because I finally understand. There are things we don't want to happen, but have to accept; things we don't want to know, but have to learn, and people we can't live without, but have to let go.
~Criminal Minds

"Let It Be Me" by Ray LaMontagne 

August 2, 2011

I have spread my dreams beneath your feet


Encouragement is awesome. It has the capacity to lift a man's or woman's shoulders. To spark the flicker of a smile on the face of a discouraged child. To breath the fresh fire into the fading embers of a smoldering dream...
~Charles R. Swindoll