i heart this guy

Dalai Lama

Even our physical structure seems more suited to feelings of love and compassion. We can see how a calm, affectionate, wholesome state of mind benefits our health and physical well-being. Conversely, the feelings of frustration, fear, agitation, and anger can be destructive to our health.  This is why we are impelled to seek happiness.

first off, i had to look up the word 'impelled'.  got that now.

it's no secret that this guy's a favorite of mine. look at his happy face!

i mean really folks.  i don't care what you believe in, that's the happiest lil' guy i've ever seen.  and all he wants us to do if friggin' relax already and do what our bodies were meant to do. just be happy. feel content. be grateful for what we have. treat each other with kindness and respect.

i grew up thinking life was a "test".  my struggles were sent to see how i handled them and, more importantly, what i learned.  when something bad happened, i it was for my own good. i thought that life was supposed to be hard. 

i'm wondering now how much my life was hard because i thought life was supposed to be hard as opposed to what it really is: an experience.  

i made a lot of things more difficult because of this belief, and i could have saved myself from a ton of grief.  hey, that rhymed.

i am not always able to do this. i complain a LOT. just ask anyone who gets long ranty emails from me in the middle of the day when i want to go postal. i still complain that life is "hard" and i'm tired of all the "tests".  but after i pull myself out of that (if i'm able to), it's so much easier to approach life this new way.

nothing is good or bad, it just is. and no matter what happens to me, i'm not the first person to go through it and i won't be the last.

man, i got off track again. he makes me think.  i try not to do that much, as it tends to make my head hurt.

back to the brilliance. i think i've talked about a book called feelings buried alive never die. this quote made me think of it. i do agree that if we don't take care of ourselves, our feelings manifest physically.

my favorite part of this idea is that human beings were not built to suffer. we were meant to be happy and calm. when we're not, we become sick.

when i feel anxious, i get sick to my stomach.  when i feel stressed out or overwhelmed, i get headaches and really tired.  i also get really tired when i'm sad.  it's like my body smacks me on the back of the head to get me to pay attention.

it doesn't always get my attention quickly and i often figure it out in hindsight, but i always come around in the end.

we'll always have those things that are out of our control. people die, we lose things that are important to us, natural disasters. but i've seen people even take these tragic things and turn them into experiences rather than perpetuating that "bad things always happen to us" attitude. 

their lives must be so much easier than mine.  hehe. :)

and just for fun, dave matthews and the dalai lama.

ahhh, that's good stuff right there peeps.