Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Like a kid

If there's one thing I hear from a lot of people it's that they wish they could be a kid again. Everyone misses their child hood in some way shape or form, they miss the lightheartedness of it, the lack of worry, stress, and heaviness of the responsibility that adulthood brings. Everything is just so simple when you're a kid. Life is imagination, make believe, cartoons, running around, playing princess/cops and robbers, getting dirty and not caring, climbing trees, the list could go on....you can be anything, do anything, pretend everything. The world is HUGE and amazing and new. The possibilities are literally endless. You could change your mind everyday on the subject of "what you want to be when you grow up". A fire fighter? A princess? A pilot? Maybe a mom or a dad? The president of the united states? SURE! And at that age NO ONE can stop you. You have your whole life ahead of you.


Kids are amazing, and if you take the time to watch them, you'll realize how much you really have to learn from a kid. You might be reading this and thinking to yourself, "What could I possibly learn from a kid? I've been there, I've lived my life." Truth is there is SO much. I feel like as adults we loose the ability to be excited over the frivolous things, or to look at something in complete and utter wonder, to make decisions based solely on what WE want, to live completely in the moment...we loose the ability to be FREE. I know, I know....Life is stressful. There are bills to pay, jobs to work, deadlines to meet, people to please... you know, big important "adult things" to do. But whens the last time you got legitimately HAPPY over candy? Or rolled down a grass hill and didn't give a rats rear about grass stains? Or actually kind of wanted to admit that you wish you could believe in Santa again....or maybe even admit that there's a little piece of your heart that still does.....


Try seeing things from the eyes of a child....get excited....maybe let out a little squeal over ice cream...jump up and down when your excited....slide down a slide....climb a tree....walk up to someone and ask them to be your friend, you might get shut down because society teaches you to watch out for people, but shooooot who cares! If you have a child, make believe with them....the black squares are lava and the white ones are safe! I know you know what I'm talking about....it's really amazing how much of a kid you STILL are, and how much you work to repress it. God forbid you NOT be what you're expected to be at the age you're expected to be it. I have a secret for you....it doesn't matter. When it all comes down to it, your job, your money, your car, your bills, NONE of it REALLY matters. I'm not by any means telling you to quit your job, stop paying your bills, drive your car off a cliff or throw away your money, but what I am telling you to do is treat it like a kid. Stop worrying and putting more lines on your face, stop obsessing over making that phone call, writing that email, impressing that boss, making that meeting, and start getting excited over life. 


It's funny how we spend our whole lives trying to and being told to GROW UP.... it's all you can do to just GET BIGGER. Puberty hits and If your a guy you want muscles and facial hair...for a girl you want boobs and curves. You want to be an adult, treated like and adult, to do adult things. You get to middle school, then high school, and at that point all you can think about its being 16 so you can drive, then being 18 so you can buy porn or cigarettes and vote. Then it's all about being 21 so you can drink, party and go to clubs. Then it's college and getting that perfect job, so you can make perfect money and be perfectly stressed out about doing more perfectly adult things. And then....you wish you could have a time machine to go back and do it all over again. 


Unfortunately that's not possible, BUT, You can still take the time to run, play, tickle, laugh uncontrollably over a fart or a burp, put holes in your jeans, lick ice cream so slowly that it melts, pour an entire bag of pop rocks in your mouth and giggle while they tickle your tongue, poke the brown sugar at the store, stick a quarter in a gumball machine, ride a bike with out hands, play tag/hide and seek/heads up 7 up, run through the sprinklers, play super Nintendo til your fingers go numb...and this is just to name a few. And the next time you meet a kid, remember to act like him or her a little bit. Let your inner kiddo out. Life is to short not to.



Sunday, October 30, 2011

Do what inspires you and be happy.

If there's one thing I'm not short on it's ways to be inspired. Those moments when I see or hear something, or meet someone that gives me that heart pounding, idea creating, smile inducing, want to shout from the roof tops moment. A lot of the time I feel as though I live off of these moments. You know the ones... when you see that something somewhere and you're like "Holy Crap, it all makes sense!" The moments where something clicks in your head and you just HAVE to do something with your new found inspiration, And If you don't have inspiration, it's a must do to to find it. For me, it could be anything from a song, a quote, a smile from a stranger, God, my son, a beautiful ocean scene or a sunset, the list could go on.  


Find your happy thought(s) and think them daily. Keep adding to your "happy thought repertoire" everyday. Meditate on them, live them and believe them. You owe it to yourself to feel nothing but stunning everyday. After a while with all these happy thoughts and inspirational moments, the negativity in your life begins to disappear. Positive thoughts are just so wonderfully, deliciously huge and powerful that they beat negative thoughts up like Chuck Norris would beat a bad guy (and we all know how much of a bad a** Chuck Norris is) But you really have to focus on it. Wake up EVERY morning being thankful you have a new day to live, and that right there folks should be your very first inspiring happy thought for the day! After that it's really up to you to be aware of the thoughts you're thinking and stop those negative thoughts dead in their tracks and send 'em packin'. Those inspiration killers have no place to be setting up camp on your dome.


Next step is to act upon your inspirations. Say for example you meet someone who's amazingly in shape, you see them happy, healthy and lookin' good. You're inspired suddenly to go to the gym. DO IT. Don't let your inspiration slip through your fingers. (this was a poor example, but your get the idea) It could be anything, but the one thing that's EVERYTHING is acting upon your inspiration. It's a GIFT, not a coincidence. There are NO coincidences. God puts these moments directly into your path, wrapped up in glittery paper and bows, perfectly catered to you and your soul. Soon, you'll start to realize how inspiration leads you to your happy place. And keeps you there.


 I started to realize quickly how inspirational could be to to people, and how through being legitimately happy every minute I possible can, rubs off on every person I come across, whether they like it or not. I get asked "WHY are you so happy!? It's a new guy isn't it!?" (ha! I wish. But even still there's no person but myself that can give me the happiness I want) No. "I just AM. I CHOSE IT. Every day." Is my usual response. And thus, the seed is planted. They want in on the happiness, and good thing there's plenty to go around. (Infinite amounts to be specific)  People who know me, know that "bad days" are few and far between, and if my entire day is going badly, my "choice-o-meter" is broken. Because it's absolutely a choice to have a bad day. I know it's a hard thing to swallow, but I speak the truth. You have a choice as to how you react to the happenings in your day, and how your react will have an effect on how your day continues. 


One way I started to continue inspiring myself and help me create amazing days for myself was inspiring though trying to help others be inspired. I started an "inspiration board" at work. Just a small coffee cup shaped black board that I write little messages on for my customers to read. There's a new one, carefully and lovingly picked each and every week. After a while I had people taking pictures of them, asking who put them there, telling me they were going text/email it to a loved one, or hollering to their friend "Hey come check this out!". My regulars  all know where to look for their weekly inspiration and they look forward to it. Such a simple concept, and so amazingly effective for both sides.  Who knows how many hearts have been inspired for people who might have walked into the store in a slump or a bad mood... maybe feeling brokenhearted or hopeless...read my sign, felt like it was meant for them and then in turn left in a different and inspired mood. Then, they go and spread their happiness with just ONE person, and that person goes and shares it with another, so on and so forth. 


It's a domino effect that makes my heart explode with joy... literally has the tendency to almost bring me to tears sometimes.... And that my friends is what inspiration is made of.