Little Teachers, Big Lessons

It's been a rough week. And when you're standing on a train platform, soaking wet in the middle of an almost 2 hour commute and start to cry from frustration, it's time to say...whoa, lets take a moment and reflect.

I'm sure I've written about these books before over the years: The Little Prince and The Alchemist.

They never get old. Sometimes when I feel like my world is out of whack and I've forgotten all the things I've learned the last couple years, I reread these books to remember. And then I feel in balance again.

The Little Prince:
If you're not already familiar (I have no idea why you wouldn't be..do you live under a rock?!) this little book appears to be a children book but is actually a self help guide for adults. It's the story of a little prince from a far away planet who feels the need to explore and see what's out there in the stars because he's lonely. He leaves his flower (who he loves dearly, although she's beautifully difficult and hard to reach behind her little thorns)and planet-hops for a while, meeting ridiculous people along the way. He finally lands on Earth in the Desert and meets a stranded pilot, a snake and a fox. The little Prince finally realizes, with their help and after all his journeys, that he misses what he left behind and is still lonely, and he wants to go home--back to his flower who may or may not be there anymore.
This book teaches about the dangers of being narrow-minded, the hunger of exploring both the outside world and yourself, and the importance love and relationships have in helping you grow. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry wrote this story on and off for many years in an effort to get the stories and pictures just right. And he did it. Which is why it can be translated in over 250 languages and still convey the same messages.


The Alchemist: This book is about realizing your Destiny, in a nutshell. It shows us how the main character, Santiago, has to travel for years and go through all sorts of trials and tribulations--loss, love, hard work--before realizing that his destiny WAS going through all that to become a better person who isn't always longing for what 'could be'. Just like the little Prince, Santiago is curious, and his curiosity and need to discover what his existence on this planet means, often drives him away from people and places he longs to be with.
This story teaches us that we must follow our instinct and be in tune with the world around us in order to really realize where it is we should be going on our personal legends, and also the danger of Fear, which often stands in our way of realizing our destiny.



Both books teach us that we have to go on a journey--it's called Life I guess--before realizing what we truly need and want, and what we are capable of accepting. Often times, we must leave the things we love the most in order to realize this. But if it is meant to be, if life is just a series of tests and lessons, we often end up just where we're supposed to be. When we look back, when we read the story, it all makes sense. And sometimes we have to reread the stories in order to remember this.

I urge everyone to read these books. They're short and easy reads but have so much meaning. And for those times we cannot learn through what we are actually experiencing, it's good to be able to learn by experiencing it through someone else.

Write A Poem, Read A Poem

April is National Poetry Month! There's only 5 days left so I am going to fill those days with poems I love, poems I wrote, and poems I haven't met yet. I feel like people don't write poetry anymore, just like people don't write letters anymore. We always used to read poems in school and I remember having to write them in middle school. I even have the first official one I wrote. I wrote a lot back them, and then I stopped. Sometimes they come out though and I like it. I like being able to reread them and remember the day, or how I was feeling or what made me write it. I have things written all over the place, in notebooks, in the Notes of my phone, on scraps of paper, it's pretty insane.

So in honor of National Poetry Month...

Here's one I just found that I wrote last February:

The whole world's sleeping
And I wish you were here.
Standing in the darkness
with a smoke swirl and a can of beer.
It was always so quiet,
But it's quieter alone.
The stars don't seem the same,
and I wonder if this is my home.

The whole world's under water
But I can hear you so clear.
Swimming in the darkness
with beams of light streaking near.
I was always so confused,
And yet this is still true.
There seems to be something missing,
And I wonder if it's you.

I can't decide if I'm Me with you
Or if I'm Me without you.
Ones not worse than the other
but both have a darkening fear.
Its different sometimes,
Sometimes it's the same.
But the stars don't seem the same,
And I wonder who's to blame.


Here's a couple of my favorites:

Sonnet XXXVI

Let me confess that we two must be twain,
Although our undivided loves are one:
So shall those blots that do with me remain,
Without thy help, by me be borne alone.
In our two loves there is but one respect,
Though in our lives a separable spite,
Which though it alter not love's sole effect,
Yet doth it steal sweet hours from love's delight.
I may not evermore acknowledge thee,
Lest my bewailed guilt should do thee shame,
Nor thou with public kindness honour me,
Unless thou take that honour from thy name:
But do not so, I love thee in such sort,
As thou being mine, mine is thy good report.
~ William Shakespeare



The Road Not Taken
By Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.


HAPPY POETRY MONTH!

Have You Checked The Data Yet??

The worst thing that could happen to an overanalyzing, overthinking perfectionist is….making the wrong decision. It’s earth shattering…to those people...not to me….because that doesn’t describe me...at…all. We think and we plan and we construct all the worst case scenarios. Then we go back and get expert opinions and analyze the data. And finally, we go over everything again until our brain is going to explode and we choose. And then we learn that we chose wrong.

So in a panicked frenzy, we go back to our data. We go over it and over it, shaking our heads “No, no, this can’t be right. I CAN'T be wrong!” But we are. Because no matter how solid our data is, there are other factors out of our control--people, events---things that don’t have anything to do with ourselves and our immediate airspace. Things and people who haven’t read the data, and if only they asked, you would’ve gladly shared it with them.

It’s one thing to be a fly by the seat of your pants type of impulsive person. The ones who decide on a whim to pick up and move to another city and then realize a year later, “That was the dumbest thing ever. Who let me do that? Oh well.”, and with a shrug they return to their original state. Those people are capable of shrugging because it was their own impulse that put them in that situation. There is no one to blame but themselves unlike the over analyzers who have to constantly keep a sharp eye out for all the various variables flying their way.

It’s exhausting. Constantly having to worry if it’s the right decision and being devastated when it’s the wrong one. I’m a strong believer in ‘you live and you learn’, because every single thing that happens teaches us something, but some habits are so damn hard to break. How can we learn to be the complete opposite of ourselves when it’s ingrained in our DNA?

That answer, I do not have. Because I haven’t done the data yet.

I'M BAAAACK!!

I began this blog many moons ago because I missed writing. I liked being forced to write papers in college even when I didn’t care about the topic. I had thoughts and ideas and I liked putting them on paper. I haven’t really written in the last year because working two jobs barely gives me time to shower and eat a can of soup when I get home and, unfortunately, the weekend is time to play catchup on life duties.

But I miss it so I’ve decided to be better at it and will be writing biweekly at least. I’m doing it for no one but me, and I’m putting it out there in case anyone cares, agrees, disagrees, or is entertained by it. So, welcome to my 2014 writing journey.
I have a lot of things to say…