Note to Self:

• Stop being so hard on yourself. Things will fall into place.
• Stop acting so nervous all the time.
• Stop chewing your fingernails. It's horrible.
• Stop over-analyzing everything. You're driving me crazy!
• Stop being afraid of stupid things. Face your fears!
• Stop eating so much salt. Do you want to end up like your father?
• Stop wondering "What if?" in a negative way. There are plenty of positive what ifs to embrace.
• Stop leaving your bedroom a mess. You're a grown up.
• Stop complaining about the laundry and dishes. It's giving you something to do.
• Stop being such a wallflower. Sometimes you need to dance.
• Stop hiding behind a book. Show them you are more than "the quiet one"
• Stop questioning every move everyone makes. Not everyone has an ulterior motive.
• Stop hiding your laughter. It's your favorite sound, why do you hide yours?
• Stop being afraid to sing your heart out. Jesus loves it, so should you!
• Stop thinking you can't do it. We both know you are more than capable of doing things.
• Stop worrying about what they are thinking. Yes, their opinion is important but you have to do what's best for you.
• Stop thinking you're not good enough.
• Stop saying "I'll be fine. I always am." No one's buying it.
• Stop letting yourself feel inferior to them.
• Stop being so "hard to figure out"...they deserve more.

Life IS the messy bits.

Too often I make up my mind to have everything perfect. I make plans that seem infallible. But God, with all of His wisdom, has an unmatched way of bringing me back to reality.

I absolutely love the book/movie "Letters to Juliet". It's a quick witted, charming love story with no sexual content or cursing. Seriously, it's amazing! Vanessa Redgrave plays Claire. She's a gem! I love her so much! She is full of wisdom throughout the whole movie. (I've posted some of them before) In one scene, Charlie (Claire's grandson) states that if this is in fact the long-lost Lorenzo, she'll get to go from farm hand to billionair and "skip all the messy bits" along the way. Claire looks at him with a coy smirk and says, "Life IS the messy bits." Oh, don't we all need someone to remind us of that at times? When we start to think everyone else's life is the normal, perfect one we should have?

I know exactly what I want from life, but I know that if I do it on my own, I won't succeed. If I expect smooth sailing, I won't appreciate the land when you arrive. I can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs. Those moments in life, the ones when we wish things didn't happen to us or weren't so difficult, are the ones you learn from and remember.

Everytime I think my life should be closer to my idea of perfection, I see Vanessa Redgrave's smile and here her saying, "Life IS the messy bits."

Oh Bother...

Admit it:

This photo made you laugh.

We all know the story of Winnie the Pooh.

He is notorious for getting stuck in the wall.

TOO MUCH HONEY!

But he'll never learn.

You can deny it all you want, but we've all been in Pooh's situation. We get stuck because we wanted too much of something.

And like any good friend, Rabbit is sitting there. Sometimes that's all friends can do. Just sit and wait for you to ask them for help. And let me tell you, even if it seems like they don't care,

THEY DO.
I've learned one of the worst feelings in the world is seeing someone's world fall apart and not being able to do a thing about it.

Even if it's their fault and you saw it coming.

You could easily say
"I hate to say 'I told you so...'"
"Oh my gosh, what have you done?"
"Don't complain. You did this to yourself."

But that's not what a friend does.

I mean, sure, you can comfort them with cliches like
"It'll be alright"
"You can pull through this"
"I believe in you"
"God's got it all under control"
and the list goes on.

And while they appreciate the thought, they don't want anything to do with cute phrases.

They don't fix anything.
People do.

God does.

So what does that mean for you?
I have no idea.

Only you do.

You have to decide how you're going to help your friend.

Even if that means sitting and watching until they ask you.

Even if that means you have to push someone through a wall.

Even if that means you have to do absolutely nothing but let them cry on your shoulder.

Don't underestimate yourself.

Remember, your help may not be what they want, but it's what they'll need.

Promises/Promisses

I've had some pretty weird dreams in my life.

I've watched them unravel and thought,

"What the heck is going on in my subconscious?!"

In a few of my dreams, my family or friends have been killed off.

Worst. Dreams. Ever.

But I've noticed something in all of them:
some sort of promise was made and then broken.

I had this dream where I made a promise to a friend and another friend made the same promise to a friend. And this promise was all fine and dandy until it conflicted with destiny, if you'll allow that word.

I got to thinking about these dreams and the promises that represented real promises in our friendship.

By pinky swearing to do or not do something, are we robbing ourselves of that experience?

Does the person understand that by making you promise, they could be effecting your "destiny"?

You have the free will to make the decision to break the promise or to act upon the feelings you have, but that's a tough situation. Even hypothetically.

Talk about a rock and a hard place!

So, what would you do in that situation?

I'm a sucker for musicals.

This song came on the MusicChoice today and had flashbacks to when I first saw Oklahoma.

:)
It's still stuck in my head three hours later!

I know this isn't the best vocally, but it's my favorite interpretation.

P.S. I have about 13 posts started on here that I do intend to finish. Give me time, and I will. It's about time I start posting stuff worth reading. :)