The real YOU

Ok, so the other day I caught myself watching Oprah. Which, for the record, I am not ashamed of. I think she has a lot of good points and interesting thoughts. Anyways, I was watching an episode where Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers were singing together. It was great. Very country. Then at the end Oprah was sitting down and talking with the both of them, and she turns to Kenny Rogers and asks him what he likes so much about working with Dolly Parton. He gave a very insightful answer. He said, "Well each person has 3 people who they are. The person you think they are. The person they think they are. And the person who they really are." and then he said, "the closer you can get to being the same for all three of those people the happier you'll be." He then went on to say that Dolly Parton is the most genuine, real person he's ever met, because all 3 of her "selves" match up.
I love that thought! I've been thinking a lot about it, wondering how congruent I am in who I think I am, who people think I am, and who I really am. There are many secrets to happiness, but I think knowing who you are and being that is a great key to contentment in this life.

Sunday thoughts

Hmmmm.... What should I write about??? -sigh- I always find it interesting that generally on Sunday nights I find myself reflecting a lot. Sometimes it makes me just want to go to bed because when I reflect on my life I sometimes want things to work out a certain way, and it generally doesn't work out the exact way that I had imagined. Life is a learning experience. Not that my life is bad, or sad, or anything terrible right now, I just have been thinking about this poem. I love this poem, and find that I can relate with it a lot.

Just A Weaver
by Benjamine Malachi Franklin

My life is but a weaving,
between my God and me,
I do not choose the colors,
He worketh steadily.

Ofttimes he weaveth sorrow,
and I in foolish pride
Forget He sees the upper,
and I the underside.

Not till the loom is silent,
and the shuttles cease to fly,
Will God unroll the canvas,
and explain the reasons why

The dark threads are as needful
in the skillful weaver's hand
As threads of gold and silver
in the pattern He has planned.

a necessary evil

My life is like a Tide commercial, everyday is laundry day! As I've been reflecting on my life I've come to the conclusion that I do laundry more than I do anything else. If we were to break down my life into a pie chart, I venture to say that 35% of my time is spent doing laundry! That is far too much! I think half of the problem is that the majority of my clothes require line drying, and this is quite the process, there's the initial hanging it up on a hanger, hanging the hangers on the shower curtain rod, then shuffling the clothes around to accommodate for showers in the morning, hanging them back on the rod, removing them once they're dry, blah blah blah, folding and putting away. The whole thing is annoying. This excessive laundry has caused me to think a lot about my situation. "Am I a super dirty person? Am I a clean freak? Do I have too many clothes? Do I not have enough? Do I like to change outfits a lot?" What is the deal??? All I can think is that this laundry explosion is going to have to settle down before I get a family of my own and have to do everyone else's laundry as well. I'll need 3 sets of washer and dryers! :) If you have any ideas I'm open for suggestions, but until then... I'm off to go put in another load of laundry!

The first mile is the hardest

So I've never been much of a runner. I have been known to say "I hate running" and I actually mean it! There are just so many variables that go into running. You could get half way through a run and all of the sudden have to go to the bathroom and there's nowhere to go, your lungs may hurt, your legs may hurt, the weather may change, your ipod battery may die, your muscles may cramp...the list goes on and on. But I decided last fall that I wanted to become a runner, I wanted to run a half marathon. I entered me and a group of friends into the Canyonlands Half Marathon lottery and hoped that we would be chosen. We were, and began training in January. I'm not gonna lie, it was one of the hardest things that I've done. There were many afternoons where I was like... "uh... do we really have to run today? I'm so tired, or busy, or not motivated." But we would go. A lot of the time I felt like it was a test of my dedication and mental will power. I had never run more than 5 miles before this whole thing, and it was amazing to me to see that once I told my body that I could do it, I was able to. A lot of sweat, and hard work made for a successful experience. Right before the race started on March 20 I caught myself thinking that the race we were about to run was not the most important run, it was just the icing on the cake. The most important run, was a culmination of a bunch of different runs. The ones that we did by ourselves in the cold, in the dark, or with each other when it was so hard and we wanted to give up and walk, but we didn't. All those little experiences made me able to run like a champion on race day. I learned about finding joy in the journey. I've felt a runners high. I've crossed a finish line and knew that I did my best. I've learned that the phrase "no pain no gain" actually has a lot of truth to it. I've conquered a fear. I've learned that I can do most anything I put my mind to. I like running! And that's enough of victory for me!

The Big L

"Tell me everything you can tell me about being in love"... It's funny that I go around asking people this question, when I'm so far from it, but this question has brought new insights, new friends, and a whole new twist on how I think about love. The best though was when I asked my aunt what she could tell me about love. She got teary eyed, choked up and her response was, "it's caring for someone more than you care about yourself." Some people said love is a long conversation, some said it's something you grow into as opposed to falling into. Some said it's having someone who cares about all the small stupid things that went on in your day when no one else does. Others said you know you're falling into love when your world starts revolving around that person. All agreed that it's hard work, but well worth the effort. Music artists try to write songs about love, thinking it can be expressed through music or words, but I think it runs much deeper than that. "Love lifts us up where we belong", "all you need is love", "love is a battlefield", "I will love you always" "it's your love". However I look at it, how ever you sing it, or express it, I can't help but think... it's true... love is the answer!