Happy Valentine's Day

"To love is to suffer. To avoid suffering one must not love. But then one suffers from not loving. Therefore to love is to suffer, not to love is to suffer. To suffer is to suffer. To be happy is to love. To be happy then is to suffer. But suffering makes one unhappy. Therefore, to be unhappy one must love, or love to suffer, or suffer from too much happiness. I hope you're getting this down." - Woody Allen, Love and Death

While I'm not a big Woody Allen fan, I do find that quote rather amusing. In essence, as we all know, love is a tough concept to pinpoint, to define. Each of us has had our own experiences with love and it's hard to say what it means to any one person. Therefore my wish today is that we all celebrate the people or activities in our life that bring us joy and make this day-to-day journey worth living.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Growth

Every spring the trees sprout leaves and the flowers rise up from their winter hibernation to shower us with their beauty. It's a time of rebirth, an awakening. It's a time for people to start leaving their homes more often to enjoy the great outdoors.

While it's not spring here yet (thanks Puxatony Phil) I find myself on a path of growth and discovery much like the buds and bushes experience when the icy weather begins to thaw. I'm realizing that holding on too tightly to the past -- possessions and people -- is not healthy for me. Gee, ya think? Maybe that's not a huge revelation, but I have had the tendency to grasp, cling and dwell too long and too hard, putting too much energy and effort into situations that only caused me harm.

I am tired of fighting losing battles. I am tired of feeling hurt, or like a fool. I'm tired of coming in second and exerting too much of myself towards people who don't have the time to return the same type of energy. Therefore I am releasing myself from those things, situations and persons that are toxic to me.

'Nuff said. I challenge you to let go of whatever you need to that is weighing you down.

Past Present

"[She] doesn't cry now; she's far too busy for anything like that. Still, there are mornings when she wakes with tears in her eyes. That's when she knows she's been dreaming about him. And although she never remembers her dreams, there's always the scent of grass on her pillow, as if the past were something that could come back to you, if you only wished hard enough, if you were brave enough to call out his name." from Alice Hoffman's Here on Earth.

Have you ever wanted to talk to someone so badly but you can't? And it's not because this person died, or even moved away. It's just that you can't be in their life anymore. Although you might hear about him or her from other people once in awhile, see a photo of that person, you know, in your heart, you can never talk to this person again? Even if you could, what would you say? What good would it really do?

Lately, I've been thinking about a person from my life, past life if you will, and wishing I could turn back the clock to see him, talk to them, get a hug, maybe a kiss. It feels as though I am in a dream. A dream where everyone else can communicate with this person but even tho I am thisclose to touching him, whispering his name, he can't see or hear me because essentially, I'm invisible to him.

And while I know it's for the best, I know it won't do any good to try to see or speak to this person, my heart still aches and I miss him sometimes. I miss the part of my life he filled. The way he made me laugh and the way he made me feel.

Does anyone else know what I'm talking about? Is there someone you feel you can almost reach, but somehow can't? Someone you miss from your past? I'd love to hear your stories...

Thoughtful Yummy-ness

As I sit here eating my slice of chocolate tuxedo cheesecake, I am relishing every bite of the sumptuous dessert masterpiece and thinking about things that make me happy. Some of these things include: spending time with good friends and family, reading books that I can get lost in, drinking hot cocoa on a cold winter's day, listening to a classic car growl as it is driven up to a show or better yet getting a ride in one of those classic beauties, making people laugh, running outside all bundled up in layers until spring, hearing a favorite song on the radio, falling asleep on a summer's night with the windows open and a gentle breeze coming into my room, dancing in the rain with or without my favorite umbrella, getting a genuine compliment, having a cute guy smile at me, or listening to the giggles of my one of my friend's twins. And the list goes on and on. But, truly I am grateful for the life I have. And I think sometimes we lose sight of what we possess versus dwelling on what we don't have.

Have you stopped to give thought lately as to what makes you happy in your life? You might be surprised how delicious your world really is...

*Photo from Cheesecake Factory

Scream and Shout

Ever have one of those days when you just feel like yelling at the top of your lungs? That was today for me. However, I'm realizing that how I react to the source of my anger may determine how I can handle it the next time it happens.

Sometimes, no matter how frustrated you are with a person or a situation, talking to someone you trust, someone who will listen, or even someone who will just make you laugh, is the best way to go. Remember, today is just one day. Tomorrow will hopefully be better.

How do you deal with stressful or uncomfortable times in your life or people who know how to push your buttons? Care to share any strategies with me? I'd love to hear 'em.

Why can’t I be you?

We’ve all done it – wanted to live someone else’s life. I remember, years ago, when I was miserable in my job; my 45 minute commute seemed like forever. I would watch people who were jogging or walking leisurely in my neighborhood or on the streets I passed to get to the highway and wondered, “What do they do for a living?” Maybe they had a wealthy spouse and they didn’t have to work. Perhaps they were freelancers who set their own schedule and worked out of their homes. Who knows, maybe they had won the lotto and were now independently wealthy?

Whatever the case may have been with any of these people, I could only imagine, wonder, pine for their life. However I had no idea what happened behind the closed doors of their homes, the activities they participated in, the way they earned their livings. Therefore, being jealous of their lives was rather silly.

I realize now, after having been unemployed for over a year and being one of those people who took morning walks and jogs while the rest of the world was driving their cars to their workplaces, rushing not to be late, sipping from their coffee cups to wake up, someone passing me by on their commute might have, in fact, wondered about me.

And despite the fact I could set my own schedule and do things like go for long walks or sleep in a little later, or even meet someone at 2:00 in the afternoon for coffee and sit for a few hours to chat and brainstorm, inside of me I was frantically pondering how much longer until I became a working citizen again. I liked one aspect of my “freedom” but the other part of me wanted health benefits and a salary that would help me not to worry about every penny I spent. I wanted to feel like I was contributing my skills and knowledge and being useful in society.

I do admit, while I am grateful now for a job where I work with amazing people and have so much possibility to learn and grow, I do still long for the life of those who can make their days their own. However, I’ve started to realize that no matter how great we think someone else has it, maybe we need to stop and realize our lives can be whatever we want and we don’t need to try to live anyone else’s.

Do you have aspects about your life that you think others might secretly be wishing they had in their lives? You never know who might be wanting to be you.

Innovation

This morning at the office, we had our monthly communication meeting. Usually the primary messages encompassed in the PowerPoint slides are all about EBIT, making the numbers and other financial gobbledy gook that makes my eyes start to glaze over.

However, while there was some of that today, a pleasant surprise in the presentation included a short discussion on innovation.

Innovation is a new way of doing something or "new stuff that is made useful."

The gentleman leading the talk gave two examples of innovation. The first, about an employee of Johnson & Johnson who invented a product that failed miserably, but when he thought he would be fired, instead he was asked by senior management to make some tweaks to the original formula. The next attempt was very successful. The second person he mentioned was the entertainer Chris Rock. Apparently Rock goes to comedy clubs to try out his new material. And many of these jokes really bomb. But he keeps trying and eventually, he has some great material.

The true takeaway from all of this was, how can we be more innovative in our daily lives? What ideas can we try to make a reality even if they are looked upon with disdain or trepidation?

So now I pose that question to all of you. What have you done lately that was innovative? Or what can you do tonight, tomorrow, this week or even this year that is innovative, original, and really outside of your comfort zone?

You never know, you might change something or someone in a brand new way.