Detective work into your future…

Posted by random olio

The desire to know what will happen next. How will things go when your family visits? Will you receive that promotion? What will you learn at your next doctor’s appointment? If only we could know what the future brings. It could make our life easier, and it could make our life dull. This Daily Om: “Fully Committed to Now” speaks to wishing we knew what was going to happen to us:

“If someone had told you as a child of all the jobs and relationships you would experience, along with each one’s inherent ups and downs, you would have become overwhelmed. With your head full of information about the future, you would have had a very hard time experiencing your life in the present moment, which is where everything actually happens.”

I have been through a lot in my life. If I could have looked ten years ahead to know all of the different ups and downs, I think I might have lost it. That is why we are only given a few details at a time. It is like we are the Encyclopedia Brown or Sherlock Holmes of our life, but we are only given a few morsels, and the detective work lasts a lifetime. We are cracking the case and as we do we learn a bit more about ourselves. We find out about our strength, our poise, and patience. We are tested by the facts, the compelling odds, and then we synthesize the details to find answers to our questions that are meaningful to us.

Having said all that does not mean that I do not crave to know what is next for me. Am I doing the work I should be doing? Is this where I will be in 2 years? 5 years? What is my time table for starting a family? What is the future for my friends and family? I have so many questions, that only day by day will unfold for me. Sometimes I want a hint or at least the cliff notes for my future, because that would help, would it not? Or maybe that would be dull, like reading the last chapter of a novel and not wanting to read the rest of the book.

By being detectives of our own lives, we are able to be present in the now, always watching and aware of all that is happening around us.

Anything is possible…

Posted by random olio

A friend shared the below video on Facebook yesterday (thank you, Kim)! I was curious when I saw her comment earlier in the day: “such a fantastic story. i am continually amazed at what the human spirit is capable of…” but the screenshot of the video did not spark my interest. When I got home last night, the thought came to me: “You need to watch the video Kim shared.” So I sat down to watch and by the end there were tears streaming down my face. It was just the video I needed to see.

Over the past few days my knees have been killing me. I’ve been running 6+ miles a day for a few years now, and never had any problems. We recently had issues with our treadmill and it has meant that I have done my runs outside. After a few weeks of running on pavement, my knees have been hurting. Last night I came home and took a long, hot salt bath in hopes it would help my knees to rest a bit. After watching the below video I realized my complaints are lame in comparison.

I am also completely addicted to Coldplay’s song “Fix You” which is featured as a cover in the below video. The story and a bit of “Fix You” might shift your perspective today. It is a bit long, but so worth it when you get to the end.

What did you think? Has your thought shifted?

“Routine doesn’t deserve its bad reputation.”

Posted by random olio

I am in the middle of reading “Happier at Home” by Gretchen Rubin. You might have heard of her book: “The Happiness Project” which I read last year. “Happier at Home” brings The Happiness Project to her home, where she looks for ways to make her life happier with a specific focus on her home. She breaks it up into different areas she wants to focus on each month. One of the areas that resonated with me while reading over the weekend was her section on routine.

Usually I have a love/hate feeling about routines. Part of me loves the competition I have with myself to stick to a routine. Part of me feels like it makes me completely boring, dull, and unadventurous to follow a routine each day. I have quite a few routines. I have a green smoothie every morning. I eat basically the same lunch everyday. I go crazy if I do not get a run in each day. I like to stay up-to-date on my email as much as possible. An overflowing inbox makes me feel out of whack. For some reason these so-called routines that I have help me feel like I have just a bit more control over something in my life, when so many of the other aspects of life I have no control over. This all came into my thought after reading this quote from Rubin’s book:

“Routine doesn’t deserve its bad reputation. It’s true that novelty and challenge bring happiness, and that people who break their routines, try new things, and go to new places are happier, but routine can also bring happiness. The pleasure of doing the same thing, in the same way, every day, shouldn’t be overlooked. The things I do every day take on a certain beauty and provide a kind of invisible architecture to my life. Andy Warhol wrote, ‘Either once only, or every day. If you do something once it’s exciting, and if you do it every day it’s exciting. But if you do it, say, twice or just almost every day, it’s not good any more’.” page 147

In my own way my routine does bring me happiness. I can do these specific things in my life and not have to overly think about them. I do not have to agonize over what to make for breakfast or lunch. I feel so much calmer and collected after my run. These routines ground me. They bring a balance to my life and that makes me happier.

What do you think? Does routine bring you happiness, or does it feel like it drags you down?

To pee or not to pee…

Posted by random olio

On Saturday, at about 5 pm and dark out, we were getting out of our car at a store. I hear this strange sound and look over and see a large man peeing in the parking lot. Gross. Luckily, I saw him from behind instead of the front. Still I could not get it out of my mind as we went into the store. So much so that I wanted to make our purchase, leave, and come home. Why did it bother me so much?

I am not completely against the peeing in public thing. I have a friend that will drop and pee if needed, but she is discreet. This was far from discreet. There is also a big difference between a small woman crouching down and hiding behind a car door, and a man standing in the middle of the parking lot, with the sound of his spray similar to a fire hydrant.

What would you have done? I would love to have said something to the man, however, I was not in the safest of neighborhoods, and he was three times my size. I had a hard time finding out if it was against the law in Oregon or in Portland to publicly urinate. I found this, but I am not sure if it is legitimate:

“Any person who urinates upon any public sidewalk, street, parking lot or building, or in any public place, except in receptacles and recognized places provided for those purposes, commits a Class B violation.”

If it is that hard for me to find an answer online, then I wonder if most people know whether it is legal or not. I was thinking about the person that parks in that spot next. When they get out of the car, and they step into a pool of water they might think it is rain (it is Portland), or they might think someone emptied their beverage, not their bladder.

#whatisthisworldcomingto

Tell it like it is…

Posted by random olio

I often think I do not do the best job of telling people in my life how important they are to me. We just had probably one of the most normal holidays of all holidays, Thanksgiving. While you might have stuffed your face with cornbread stuffing and other Turkey Day favorites, what did you do to tell someone else how important they are to you?

I did to one person, but I can sometimes be shy to tell others. I am never hold back to tell Chris what I am thinking, and Thanksgiving Day is no different. I adore him, and am ever so grateful that he is in my life. Yet, why is it that sometimes I let time go by without telling other family members and certain friends how I feel?

I recently read a few posts from someone I used to work with and am connected to on Facebook who had a childhood friend pass on from cancer. She did not know her friend had cancer. She was shocked and upset. You could read the pain through her posts. It got me thinking. How often do we tell those in our life, no matter how close they are to us, how important they are to us? If you have not recently, what is holding you back?

I am going to try to reach out to friends and family in the coming weeks and tell them how I feel and that they are important to me. Holidays can be full of fun and happiness for some, and challenging and depressing for others. December is a great month to reach out and connect with others. You never know what another individual might need until you reach out and express your appreciation and love to them. Here I go, will you join me?!

I hope you had a wonderful holiday, enjoyed time with friends and family, and are ready to get back to work. A happy week to you!