Rain Hunter

A quirky trait about me is that I really enjoy watching the weather channel. Weather fascinates me. I love watching people “hunt” weather.  It’s always changing yet always the same. It’s predictable yet unpredictable. How do you hunt something like that?! Nothing is set in stone. Except, perhaps, that you cannot trust the weather man, he will always be wrong. 

One of my favorite weather forecasts is when they announce that sometime during the night there will be a “stray thunderstorm”. A stray thunderstorm. Like what it got lost and it’s trying to find its way home? Or what it’s passing through and you’re telling us so we can be prepared with treats? I don’t get it. Yet I love it. It makes me think about life....Often stray little storms blow into our lives, cause a little chaos and excitement, and then blow right back out. The problem is, we are then left alone to clean up the mess. When those storms blow through, they do so quietly and stealthily. This way when people walk by you sorting through the rubble they can ask “What happened?” and try as you might all you can come up with is an intake of air, a falter of words, a shrug, a sigh, and then a confused “I don’t know”.  You can sit and ponder the reason and meaning of your storm for days and still come up with nothing. That’s the point though. What causes stray thunderstorms to happen? How do they get off course? And why did they pick this particular spot to stray to? Maybe sometimes trying to find answers is not the key. Maybe sometimes you just go with the flow and dance in the rain. 

It happens

Ever find yourself saying, “Dang. I let that situation get the best of me”? I thought that myself today. As I was sitting there kind of beating myself up I thought about that saying, “get the best of me”. Think about that. I’m not sure there is a better self explanatory phrase in english. When you allow a situation to make you react in a negative way it does in the most literal sense “get the best of you”, because then all you have to offer is the worst of you. It happens, so easily. So I’m sitting there wondering how to avoid this. I just kept coming up with one solution. How do I give only my best, at all times. It’s not a question, it’s the answer. The truth is I don’t know how to give only my best at all times. The best I can do, is notice my worst, acknowledge it, and let it go. 

Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure.
-- Oprah Winfrey 

His name was Robert Paulson

Yesterday I asked on Facebook the question, “Can you be two people at once?”. 

The general response was “ya sure, if your crazy”. 

Here’s what I think:

I am constantly at war with me. The first “me” being who I am at any given moment. Every decision I make, everything I say and do without thought, is the me that just comes naturally. The second “me” thinks deeply about the things I want to do and say, and plans carefully for the choices I want to make. I consider both “me”. 

Is it possible to be both at once, without being crazy? 

One of the responses to my question yesterday was that yes you could be two people at once, but only for a time, “eventually one will consume the other”. At first I was blown away by that thought and completely agreed. You can’t possibly be two people at once. 

I’ve been thinking though, if that is so, then the idea of hope is completely lost. It is impossible to be who you want ALL the time. Try as you might you WILL fail. And that’s ok. The you that you naturally are isn’t bad, it might not be exactly who you want to be but it’s still good. 

I therefore not only think that it IS ok to be two people at once, but would argue that it is crucial to our growth spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. When you start naming your other self then maybe you should worry :) 

Thanks Brent for the inspiration!!!

Blue Pens

So you just get out of class and your walking along and you notice people are looking at you. At first you feel awkward and wonder why people are staring at you. They are smiling at you too. You feel a little uncomfortable but you brush it off, sometimes people just stare. You keep walking along and you notice people are still looking at you and they are still smiling! You felt weird but now you start to feel good. Your thinking dang I must look good today! I knew these new jeans made me look good. Before you know it you have a new swing in your step and you are smiling right back at everyone. You feel so confident and good that you get really outgoing and strike up conversations with people. Everyone seems to respond well and you are just flying high! "Dang!", you think "I am really cool and people DO like me, I should be like this all the time". Before your ego gets too out of hand you decide you better take a quick bathroom break. As you are washing your hands you look up in the mirror only to see that the blue pen you were using in class earlier is now all over your face. Somehow it got on your hand and you had leaned your face on your hand. Your face is blue. All day people have been staring and smiling at your blue face. Dang. 
There is a good lesson to be learned here. And no it's not "don't use a blue pen" or "don't get caught up in ego" (although that is a good lesson). The lesson to learn is that regardless of why you were getting attention it allowed you to be more open and free. You were confident, happy, charming and witty all because you felt good. Maybe today let go and let yourself feel this way.  Oh and ya...maybe avoid blue pens :)

Take a closer look

I interviewed a girlfriend about how she buys produce. I asked her what deemed something worthy for her to buy. What inspections does it have to pass? 

She informed me that she first looks at the fruit. Does it have any obvious bruises? Then she feels the fruit, for any wear or tear, squeezes it a bit -if it’s too hard then it is not ripe. She said she then smells it, if it smells really strongly then you know its super ripe and if you buy it, you have to eat it right away. I think we can all agree that we go through almost the exact same motions. 

When you make decisions in your life what do you do to deem something worthy of you and your time? As I was thinking about her response I had to wonder, is there something wrong with our first approach? Perhaps we are missing out on an amazingly delicious piece of fruit merely because it looks a little bruised. Don’t judge a book by its cover.  Maybe the same principal can be applied to our lives. It could be that we take to much for face value, and forgo the next steps. If so, we could be missing something delicious. 

Time or Money?

It was well once said “Give me liberty or give me death!”. 

Well the world has changed. Now the world demands “Give me time or give me money!”.

Take the relationship between men and women. Girls need either time or money from their man. Girls don’t need both but they demand one or the other. 

My friend and I were sitting at LAX trying to decide whether to take a taxi or a shuttle. A taxi to downtown L.A. would be a half hour ride but a bit expensive. A shuttle on the other hand would be super cheap, but maybe and hour and half ride. We constantly are forced to choose between time and money. Money is said to be the root of all evil. So we choose time. Sadly time is money. Yet what’s the one thing money can’t buy. Time. As Benjamin Franklin said, “Lost time is never found again”. 

Do you see the other side?

"What we see depends mainly on what we look for." 
                  -John Lubbock

The advice I most often receive: "You need to change your perspective. "

Look at the two photographs. The same subject with slight changes. You are automatically inclined to like one more than the other. Look at the one that appeals to you more. Why does it have more appeal? What does the other lack?
Now, pretend that the one you like less is your favorite. Ask yourself the same questions, why does it have more appeal and what does the other lack?
You have just changed your perspective.
Imagine the possibilities if you could do this with every instance in your life. Just because I can now appreciate both sets of roses does not mean I have changed my mind on which is my favorite. Changing your perspective doesn't mean you have to change your mind. Two words come to my mind when I think of Perspective. Compassion and Empathy.

Stand Up

Emotions. Not our fault. The literal definition of emotion is : a natural instinctive state of mind. Part of our "human code" is to experience and then feel. Therefore our initial emotion that we experience in any given second is truly part of our human instincts. However, does that give us the justification of running away with our emotions? The second half of the definition is: an intuitive feeling as distinguished from reasoning or knowledge. Well...I guess we could argue that maybe, just maybe a little, we are allowed to let our emotions get the best of us. ....Unless we have had prior knowledge or reasoning. 
I often find myself in a pool of feelings and emotions, drowning in confusion. My friend gave a great analogy of what to do when drowning.  
So your in the shallow end of the pool where there is only 2 feet of water. You have your water wings on. You are nowhere near that rope that separates the shallow from the deep end.  Yet for some reason you feel like you are drowning and you are flailing and kicking and yelling and you know you are about to die. You can see people standing on the edge of the pool kind of laughing at you and pointing and you start yelling for help, because your drowning.
Finally someone says, "Hey, just stand up". 

Be who you want

You think because I’m Mormon that I am just conforming

But that is not the case I’ll lay this down with taste

I don’t live life by rules, I live by use of tools

I like to keep it real let me tell you how I feel

Just because i’m humble, doesn’t mean I’ll mumble

Yes I do have strong beliefs, why do you give me grief?

If you don’t stand up for nothing then you will fall for something 

The reason for sitting in those pews is to learns some good values

By having some devotion I can get through this commotion 

This faith it gives me love, and I know it comes from above 

These morals act as shields for this ever growing battlefield 

My standards may be high but they keep me safe at night

I like the life I lead, its everything I need 

Everyone deserves the chance to stand and take a stance

For what they believe for what they desire for what sets their souls on fire

Who am I to judge or to push or to budge?

We are all in this fight trying to do what we think is right

We were given free choice so that our opinions could be voiced 

This is what I choose anything else I refuse 

This life I lead is hard but yes I chose this card