I heard on the tv show HOUSE tonight a great line, “Religion isn’t the opium for the masses, it’s the placebo for the masses.”  I think this line can speak a lot of truth for a lot of people….I think that most people have something that has this effect of comfort for them. ..Something that they look to when they are trying to find answers for questions that simply have no explanations. 

As humans we seem to have a problem with not knowing the answers, we can’t except things that just are, we have to find an explanation for everything in this world….and what’s beyond it, if there is anything at all.  It seems to be hard for people, myself included, to just take things for what they are. 

I don’t think we’re meant to understand the way life works, whether you believe in God, a higher being, fate, or nothing at all…there just seem to be things that we can’t control and usually don’t understand why they happen the way they do….but none the less we have to deal with what comes our way, so we might as well just accept what is there.  Why search for answers that will most likely never come…why not just take life one day at a time and enjoy as much of it as you can and not worry about everything else.

Playing it safe with people gets you nowhere except hurt feelings and loneliness.  If you never get attached to people or let them all the way in, they will eventually drift away, or leave you feeling like it doesn’t matter if they are around or not, because they don’t really know you. 

When you try to please everyone in your life, nobody ends up satisfied, including yourself…that isn’t good for anyone.  But then, who do you leave out???  I know many people pleasers and they are all  unhappy most of the time, because they spend their days trying to make everyone happy.  They do things to make the most people happy, rarely do they do anything to make themselves happy.

Now, there is obviously a thin line here, because we have too many completely selfish people in our society as well…I realize that you can’t go through life acting like an arogent jerk..well you can, but that’s not how I want to live my life…but you can’t go through life trying to please everybody in your life all the time either…Everyone loses when a person tries to stretch themselves too far.  Everyone will eventually feel neglected and detached from you. 

It’s so hard to find the balance and order the priorities in life, but it needs to be done, or you will find yourself unhappy and all of those you are trying to stretch yourself between will be unhappy or feel like something is missing as well.

Silence is a very interesting thing that happens for many different reasons.  Sometimes it is hard to determine why there is silence around you. 

Silence, what does it mean?

The loneliness, The awkwardness, The shock, The joy, The calm, The peacefulness, The sadness, The love……

There are many emotions associated with silence, in a room, in the woods, in the car….there is always a time and place for silence.  Maybe you’re just simply enjoying being with the love of your life….maybe you’re scared to the point that there isn’t anything left to say…maybe you just feel at peace with yourself and the world around you and are enjoying the calm that has come over you….

Sometimes I love just sitting in the silence, sometimes in the dark…sometimes I can’t stand the silence and have to have some kind of noise…the radio, tv, talking on the phone…something to fill the void of silence. 

Silence is like a smile, there is something hidden in them both; they are both hard to distinguish; they can lie without saying a word, they can bring comfort and love, they can mean any slew of things…it’s all on how you take them….

Things feel right when we’re together

Worries and concerns pause in thought

Everything drifts away into the background where it can’t be heard

I smile, knowing we’re together for the moment

Knowing I have your love and that I couldn’t love anyone more than you

This feeling of peace comes when we’re together

The world feels right, like we will make it through

I never want to let that feeling go…..

Confident, Beautiful, Joyful, Attractive, Intelligent….

Things to strive for in our personal life…

How can we always know what is important?

We have goals, aspirations…

But what holds importance when building our character, our outward image, and our lives….

What should a person focus on…if you don’t care about society at all,  you will be swimming against it all your life…you’ll be struggling, gasping for breath as the waves of people, commercialism, and accepted behavior wash over you each day.

If you care too much about society you’ll end up in your middle age, not really sure how you got to where you are, if you’re happy, or really anything about yourself…

Life is a balancing act…we all wobble a little up on the beam, but as long as you keep your arms out you can stay up.

Albert Einstein said…

“Life is like riding a bicycle.
To keep your balance you must keep moving.”

I think Einstein had a good point…we can’t give up on life, we have to keep moving through it, if we never take off the training wheels and fall a time or two we will never find the balance that we are looking for.  If we simply stop we will never see what is down the road, we will never discover what is in the world or in ourselves.

I heard a wonderful quote today, “we measure a man’s greatness by how much it takes to discourage him.”  I really like what this quote has to say, and I think that it says a lot in a few words.  How do we measure the greatness of a man?  Our society has many different views on this, it depends on who you ask I’m sure.  I think that a man is great if he has realistic goals and doesn’t stop trying to meet them.

I think that too many people give up on life too easily….too many people settle for what is available to them, many never try to go beyond what is expected of them by their family.  If their parents made it in poverty..why struggle to get beyond that, why not just give up and accept that this is your place in life…..

I really admire people who do not settle, who go after what they want.  I consider myself lucky to have a supportive family and group of friends, but I know not everyone is so lucky.  As stated in a previous post, many people are lied to with the thoughts of the American Dream, it’s not as easy as the legends make it out to be.  There are a lot of forces in society working against people rising above what they were raised in; however, some people are lucky enough and stubborn enough to do just that.  I consider those people great, no matter if they are knocked down a hundred times, they never give up.

Greatness is making up your own mind about things.  Greatness is living your own life, despite everything around you.  Greatness is being your own person, with your own goals, your own expectations, and your own dreams.

What is Hope?  Why do we hold onto a thought that has no guarentee what so ever?  Why do we create things to believe in?

I think that it is built into people to hope in something; whether that’s a person, greater being, religion, idol, routine, or event. 

Do you need faith to have hope?  What should we hope and believe in?  Does hope only lead to heartache or do we simply need something to believe in at times, even if there is no logical reason to keep hoping?

Hope is an odd thing, although it can cause a lot of pain when things don’t pan out the way we want them to, I don’t know many people who want to give up hope.

Who should decide our expectations????  I think something that is very important to remember in this life and this world is that you are the only one who has to live with you 24 hours a day 7 days a week.  If you define yourself by anyone else’s standards there will always be a short coming because you wont really be you.  Husbands, wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, children, grandparents, coworkers, all of these people are important in different ways but they do not have to live with you all the time… they don’t see you when you’re alone with your thoughts…they have no idea what is truly in your heart unless you are confident enough to live your life according to you. 

I hope that everyone can have the confidence and support around them to live their life according to their life dreams and expectations.  Sometimes our dreams are unrealistic, but I suppose that’s what makes them dreams.  I think that we should set goals (realistic goals) for ourselves and strive towards them and keep our dreams as our inspiration.

There are so many things in life that cannot be undone once they are done.  Just as there are so many things that cannot be done once the choice is made not to do them.  We make choices every day and we don’t know what the consequences will be, for better or for worse, we can only guess at how things will turn out…many people do not consider the consequences of their actions at all.

The words that we speak can never be brought back to stay only in our mind.  Once you say it, it is out in the world, which prevents a lot of people from ever confronting issues, but those who do chance it sometimes pay the price by ruining priceless relationships.  But if you don’t risk it you’re stuck with the stress and pain of wondering what would have happened.  It’s hard to make some choices in life:  what to say, how to say it, when to say it, if you should say it……What to do, who to do it with…..where to live, who to live with……

There are so many decisions we are expected to make and they are hard because there is absolutely no way to know the outcome of the decisions.  Some choices make us cry, even when we know we are doing the right thing, other choices we may regret for the rest of our lives….it’s hard to say if anyone’s life ever turns out right.  There are so many choices that affect everyone around you, not just you, but every person you come in contact with, are related to, even the people you choose to ignore affects that person, you, anyone you are connected to, and anyone they are connected to.  It’s a never ending chain of events that goes from one person to the next and we never know if it will come back around to us, or keep circling us. 

Choices….

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” -Maryanne Williamson

I think that there is a lot to this quote.  I first heard this quote on the movie, Coach Carter and I heard it on the movie, Akeelah and the Beejust last night.  There must be some purpose to this quote becoming mainstream in our culture right now.  I think that it is a very powerful statement to where our culture is heading.  I think that a lot of our younger generation does not want to stand out from the crowd.  In my experience the teenage generation of today wants to be given things and don’t know much about earning what they have or what they want.  Kids blaming parents; students blaming teachers; when do we begin to hold the individual responsible, or better yet, when do we begin to hold ourselves responsible.  I think that responsibility is a thing that is dwindling in our society. 

Why aren’t we encouraging everyone to do the best they can instead of just enough to get by?  Why can’t we be happy for those around us that are better at something?  In my opinion, we should be embracing ourselves as well as those around us:  similarities, differences, perks, and flaws.  What is wrong with standing out?  Why does that mean you cannot still belong? 

I think it’s wrong that we are teaching our younger generations not to do all that they can do to improve themselves…we are teaching them to go with the way things are and do enough to get by….why????  What is a person entitled to if they don’t work for it just as they are???  If you can’t be yourself, and let yourself shine, you will never really know yourself or be happy….

However, I’m sure that some people would argue that you have to do what you have to do in order to make a life for yourself….and I guess that is where you either find a balance where you can do what you need to do as yourself…or you have to decide which is more important to you…being yourself or moving further in life as a member of the crowd. 

I think the quote is a wise one, I don’t think there is anything wrong with intimidating the people around you…I think that the people around you should then take it as a challenge to shine brighter themselves instead of knocking you down to their level.  Don’t be afraid to be yourself……and certainly don’t be afraid to be great.