Commitments...

So, I probably still haven't snapped out of my rut. This is taking forever.
I was talking to a good friend of mine the other day and explaining that with my personality, I've never experienced real depression. I know that it can be crippling, and I know that I have never been that bad off (thank the universe). But what I'm going through now is as close as I seem to get. He pointed out the fact that I seem to feel things very intensely when I do feel them. Right now I just don't.
I'm just majorly blah.
I hate being blah.
I've been trying to break out of this by switching up my music, my wardrobe, my routine; I've been making conscious efforts to meet new people and go new places; I accepted a promotion at work and am going to training for that. Hell, I've even tried revisiting the people that helped put me in this rut. 
NOTHING has worked so far.
Extreme times=extreme measures.
New game plan: Until the end of the year I will
-create something every day. I know that I am letting my talents sit idly by as I watch trash TV. No more.
-not eat out. Unless it's a family dining experience or a date situation (ew, dates...)
and
-study one new subject every week. I don't care what the subject is, whatever I'm feeling at the time.

Here's hoping that this has some effect....

AROHA y'all

I will try and keep this in mind.

Buddha

 

Amen Buddha.

Aroha

PLATEAU

Sometimes life just seems like this:

I think that they call this a plateau. (Actually, I think that they call it being in a funk, but I don't like that saying at all really.) We've all been in this place, where nothing is working out.

I know that it passes.

I just sure wish it would hurry!

AROHA

Cranes Dancing...

I find that my life tends to be on the same cycle as the seasons.

During the summer I'm eager to experience life and completely immerse myself in relationships and everything that is happening in that moment. It's fantastic really. But summer only lasts for so long, as does my "live in this moment and don't worry about anything" mentality.

Don't get me wrong, I like to try and live my life in the present moment all of the time. But summer is for no schedules, late nights, bon fires and beer, not for worrying about the future, taking care of your spirit and rejuvenating your soul.

Then fall hits.

As the last remnants of summer slipped away a few weeks ago, I took a step back to evaluate where I am in my life; I came to the conclusion that I am completely out of balance.

I have not meditated once this summer.
I haven't thought about cultivating any sort of spirituality in the last 6 months.
I haven't cleaned out my space at all since spring cleaning. (If you know me, you know that I don't keep things around for memory sake, I toss anything that I don't need or that I don't find beautiful.)

It's clearly time to re-center.

The fact that it's the first day of October is a happy coincidence.

The next 31 days of my life will be dedicated to putting myself back on a path of inner acceptance and tranquility, because I fully believe that the chaos that I'm experiencing in my life is a direct result of not taking care of my spirit and letting my ego take over for the last 6 months.

I like to think that I'm starting the month off on the right foot by visiting the Dancing Crane with my sister and one of my very closest friends today. In case you've never been to the Crane, GO! It's my go to stop to stock up on everything soul enriching, spirit awakening, or third eye opening.

October is going to be awesome.

Aroha

Summer...

"But summer had a way of making her smile and feel happier. It was sort of amazing how for those months of summer she always believed in herself and all that she could be."

-Unknown-

Eureka!!

This time of year suddenly makes such perfect sense...

AROHA



Be Heard

I'm fully aware of the fact that there are people out there who criticize this group and the movement that they're creating.

Get over it.

These people are doing more for human rights than any of us have in our lifetime. I say we step up and help out. Whether you believe in the actual organization or not. Stop thinking of yourself and finding fault with everyone, get out and let your voice be heard.

After all, we are just one big family. We have a responsibility to look out for each other.

AROHA

(See you all April 20, 2012-8 pm at the Utah state capitol. Bring your fliers!)

Heaven On Earth

"Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads."

Henry David Thoreau

Animals

They still love you even if you forget to fill up their water for a minute or two...

"Until one has loved an animal, a part of ones soul remains unawakened."

Anatole France



Getting Involved

I had one of those "life changing" experiences recently. It all started with Ellen. (Seriously though.) On my lunch break at work I was watching her show in the break room and she had Ted Danson on as a guest. Now, I've never been a Cheers fan really, so I zoned out slightly, lucky for me I zoned back in at the perfect moment!! Ted apparently has been an ocean activist for the last 30 years or something and he recently wrote a book called Oceana: Our Endangered Oceans and What We Can Do To Save Them. I was intrigued-then he mentioned that he recently went vegan and I was captivated.

I went to Barnes and Nobel that very night to find the book and purchase it.

Best. Investment. Ever. Truly, I've never spent $32.50 more wisely in my entire life.

I had no idea what is going on in our oceans!! That's probably due partially to the fact that I live in Utah. We're not super close to the coast here. This book is fantastic in multiple ways: first, there are pictures all over the place-it's a very reader friendly book, second at the end of the "chapters" there are suggestions of ways that you can help and third, even complex issues (like the molecular breakdown of oil vs water) is put in a way that even a blond girl in her early 20's can understand.

Bravo Ted Danson.

As I was reading I discovered a series of articles in the Los Angeles Times from 2006 by Kenneth Weiss called Altered Oceans. Of course, I had to google them. It turns out that the articles spawned an awesome website which I just happened to have linked to my blog here -----> http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-oceans-series,0,7783938.special

As I've been discovering all of this new information and all of these very real problems facing us on a daily basis I began defaulting to signing online petitions to my senators, joining Greenpeace online and studying as much as I could. But I still wasn't feeling very active in making the world a better place.



Dead sea floor.

Now-I did consider up and moving to the coast somewhere so I could hop right on board with ocean conservation agencies-believe me, that was considered. However, with my ripe old age comes knowledge and wisdom and the understanding that an undertaking of that magnitude takes some planning. So instead I signed up to start volunteering at an elementary school in SL this month and to start helping refugee families settle here in Utah next month. I figure at the very least, it's a step in the right direction!
If you do anything because of this blog just go to this website http://act.oceana.org/cms/letter/l-turtles-comprehensiveprotections/ and sign your name. Sea turtles are my favorites.

Here are some other interesting websites if you're interested

http://www.oceana.org/


http://www.savethehighseas.org/


http://www.mcbi.org/shining_sea/s2ss_globe.htm

AROHA

Improve or Enjoy?

"I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day."

E. B. White

Sometimes I feel like this. Actually, quite a bit I feel like this. Maybe I should be focusing on finding a way to do both...

Aroha

...

"We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals. Remote from universal nature, and living by complicated artifice, man in civilization surveys the creature through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in a distortions. We patronize them for the incompleteness, for their tragic fate of having taken form so far below ourselves. And  therein we err, and greatly err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings; the are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth."

 Henry Beston 1928

This is my new dream. I'm adding it to my 30 before 30 list as we speak.

Diving with humpback whales.

Hell yeah.

AROHA

Here's to Friends...

Here's to watching Friends on a Saturday night in sweats and eating ice cream.

You know you're friends forever when this is bliss.

Sunny Sunday...

I don't know if you heard, but it snowed on Saturday. No bueno. I decided to meet the winter blues head on.

Welcome to our indoor greenhouse.

There's almost not enough room for me anymore.

Take that winter!

Winter 0

Jamie 1

Aroha :)