Clarity

Lately I've been doing a little bit of personal soul searching, I guess that's probably the best way I can describe it. I've been working on tapping into parts of my mind that are unused.. parts of myself that I didn't know existed.

I began starting very small, simply waking up in the morning... stretching, closing my eyes and putting my mind into a state of relaxation, a state of …. Clarity. From there, I began making an effort to pay closer attention to the people around me. It's funny, you'd be really surprised at the amount you can learn by just observing people in your every day life, the people you see often as well as people in the general public. Every individual is so different, we all have different stories, passions, worries, doubts, and most of all... we all have different things to offer. I'm learning to be curios, not judgmental. I'm learning to look at people differently to a point of appreciation for them....

While on the Cruise ship I spoke about in the last blog entry, we were seated for the nightly dinner with some very special people, a huge group of Puerto Rican friends & family members. This group plans trips together, weekend themed parties, fun events, and they treat each other as if they are one big family. During the seven days on the ship we became very close with them, we were even blessed to take part in one of the couples' renewal of vows ceremony.

 Towards the end of the week it occurred to us that these people had opened their arms to us like we were their own, so we exchanged information and planned to attend one of their “crazy Puerto Rican” Christmas parties they had been planning for weeks. Seeing as how they all live in the Orlando, Florida area we knew we would have to make the 7 hour drive down to attend … but as always we were of course, DOWN for the adventure. They were generous enough to offer us up one of the guest bedrooms for the night of the party so we wouldn't have to drive back directly after....

…...When I say I am going to do something, I do everything I can to commit to that plan. So Saturday morning we drove through an insaaane rain storm to attend this Christmas party with our newly “Adopted Puerto Rican Cruise Family”.....

We arrived and were greeted with sheer excitement, these people were genuinely thankful for us. There were dozens of them, all so happy to be with each other. All I could see was dancing, singing, laughing, drinking and people truly enjoying the moment.

My point in telling you all of this is because I saw something that night.....

The woman (Yvette) that was hosting this party, was a single teacher with two children (Both 23 & 19.) When we met her on the boat, it became so abundantly clear that she was an insanely positive and happy person who loved her children very much. No matter what I noticed that this woman ALWAYS had a HUGE smile on her face, and it was crazy contagious. She had a glow about her, a light that is hard not to follow.......

…..later on we gathered that she had been divorced from the children's Dad for over 18 years and had been seeing the same man for about 4 years now. This man she was seeing began to play ridiculous games with her, saying things he didn’t mean in an efforts to get a reaction out of her. Yvette, being the strong confident Mother that she is, ended things with him.... after 4 years she felt it wasn't right, so she parted ways.... only a week prior to this party.....

… What really absolutely intrigues me about all of this, was her demeanor, it did not change. She was still that out-going, excited person we met on the ship. She was dancing, singing and enjoying herself just like nothing happened.....I had to ask her what the secret was....

….like I said before, I am making an effort to learn from the people around me...... So when I asked her how she genuinely maintained such a happy amazing personality even during rough patches... she said this...

“Sweetheart, nobody ever got anywhere by moping around. Sometimes, life throws challenges your way, and it's not the challenges that effect you, it is how you react to them. There are just some things that you can't change, and being hysterical about it will not get you anywhere. A long time ago I made a personal decision for myself, that decision was to NOT waste the time I was given on this earth by being unhappy. Cherish your moments.”

What she said stuck with me, I think it's inspiring to meet people like Yvette. I know some of you may understand why what she said was so empowering, and some of you may brush it off... but what I want to stress in this entry is the power we all have to control our own thoughts. Once we realize this, things become clearer.

… You may be wondering the same exact thing I pondered after my conversation with her, HOW does she do it... not just why.. but how does a person change their way of thinking to pure positivity....

And the answer came to me just as simply as the question did.. You. Just. Do.

I want to end this entry with a musical reference. Most recently I've been shuffling my entire 1000 song music play list and allowing the shuffle to choose the song for me. I've been focusing more and more on what the artist is actually saying, hoping to learn from it...

After this Christmas party ended, I put my head phones on and went outside for a moment to look up at the stars.

….My song-shuffle chose “Airplanes” by B.O.B, Hailey Williams & Eminem.... granted this is an older song. I decided to listen, and I mean really listen. The ending of the song makes a very powerful point, during Eminem’s portion he raps .....
”Lets pretend”......... “he never risked shit, he hoped and he wished it but it didn’t fall in his lap, so he ain’t even here, he pretends that..... 
Airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars.”

How many of us wait around for an opportunity to fall into our laps but are never really proactive on it... due to our own personal walls we put up for ourselves. Nothing ever comes easy, it really doesn't matter where you come from, you have the power to make the life you want.

Don't believe me? Try it....

Ending with that thought, just a few weeks ago, I was in a music video for the musician B.O.B., I had the chance to speak to him for a very brief moment, I asked him just one question. 

“How did you get to this amazing point that you're at in life?”
He smiled and said to me...... 

“We all have the power to create our own reality......”

Lets pretend.....

Unexpected lessons

The opportunity I was given to witness true beauty, unexpecting to see it in the ways I did.

Taking a seven day cruise through the Caribbean for a week seemed like a pretty nice way to spend a thanksgiving considering that I am unable to be with my family. On our first island stop we arrived in St. Thomas Virgin Islands. magnificent, I must say, looking around as I walk off this giant boat I'd been calling home the last couple of days. The lay outs of the island remind me of something you'd imagine when describing Greece, there were moments where you didn't know whether to be amazed or frightened by the driving, which was on the wrong side of the road!

Naturally, I was drawn to the downtown part of the city, intrigued by what they would have to offer. An array of shops and tax free things available for purchase, can't get much better then that! We met all kinds of people from all over the world, all with an amazing peace of mind about them because they were all there for the same purpose, to explore, to have adventure. As we were enjoying this amazing sun, checking out the map of the island, it randomly started raining out of nowhere. Laughing, we ran to find a restaurant in an attempt to add some alcohol to this excitement.

We sat at the bar and noticed a nice man sitting on a bar stool alone, enjoying a foreign beer. We asked him what his name was, of course curious about him! His sweet British accent was happy to talk with us, he smiled and told us his name was Andrew. He said that he was traveling on a different cruise, island hopping as well.

We asked him where his family was for this excursion, he looked at us kindly with a smile and said, “I came on this vacation alone, I've been travelling as much as possible, spending all of my money.” I thought he was absolutely hilarious. Until he explained that he had been diagnosed with cancer last year and found out that it was terminal. He said that he had never been married, nor had any children. He worked really hard for 44 straight years and decided he wanted to spend his remaining time seeing the world.

His glow truly enchanted me, even after everything he'd been through he was still incredibly positive. Many people in a position like that start to look for people to blame, and spend a majority of their time left miserable. I find it admirable that he was doing what made him happy for the time he had left.

The rain started to simmer and the sun was shining again, so we decided to make our way to the top of a mountain to get a true view of where we actually were. We made it to the top after taking an incredibly scary bus ride, and the view was absolutely beautiful. I felt blessed for even being able to witness it.

Everyone had been telling us about this incredible beach we needed to see called Megan Bay. We took a 15 minute taxi ride through crazy mountain roads and arrived at a little hidden treasure. The water was so tame and crystal blue. The surrounding islands had houses all around but no actual visuals of any roads, it looked as if the houses were popping out of the trees.

The water was so warm and comfortable enough to lay in. We played in it for over an hour, when suddenly out of no where it started pouring down rain again. I was standing in the middle of the ocean during an intense rain storm.

The ocean water actually felt warm and comforting compared to the rain coming down. I hurried to get out and cover up our stuff, as I turned back around peering at the water I noticed all of the other people rushing out to get shelter..........except this one woman.

Standing in the ocean, her arms up in the air, swaying back and forth painting a heavenly smile on her face. It seemed like I was in a dream of some sort as she stood there openly laughing in pure joy, diving into the water then out again, continuously spinning in circles, closing her eyes just enough to take it all in.

…... Her graceful bliss was so unbelievably exquisite and she looked as free as a bird, loving life for all it was giving her. You could tell that she appreciated the serenity surrounding her, and at that exact moment without knowing it, she inspired me to jump back in the water. I wanted to feel what she was feeling. Her unwillingness to give-in to what she “should” be doing made me want to do the same.

This moment for me was true and utter peace, not just because of what was around me......because I was able to allow myself to give-in and feel that INNER freedom.

… thanks to that beautiful lady in the ocean, dancing in the rain.

“Emancipate yourself from mental slavery.”-BM