September 9, 2012

Happy Sunday!


Happy Sunday Everyone! 

My Quote for this week... 

"Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well to think." 

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

...Coffee on the plains with hand picked flowers from my own back yard! #happymoment


...Coffee on the plains with hand picked flowers from my own back yard! #happymoment

June 3, 2012

100 things to do in 1000 days


Conversations with myself…

You know those nights…normally late ones when you have to be up early & you’re laying in bed, knowing you should be asleep but thinking of this great life plan you have for yourself, and all the things you’re going to do and this amazing person you are going to become…and then, you eventually fall asleep, wake up and you’re the same person as you went to sleep and either totally forgot about what you were thinking the night before, or pushed it back into your head because you have a “real life” to deal with??? Yeah-I know , me too!

I’ve made many failed attempts at “making a change”. Sometimes I can’t even get up the courage to start the change. And then I was watching “The Conversation” on lifetime…I know, it’s lifetime-but I promise, it’s a great show! It’s a talk show that interviews successful women from all around the world about real life issues. When answering a question about her success, one interviewee responded saying “I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I knew what kind of woman I wanted to be, I just took it from there”

This, along with my late night self conversations got me thinking about human natures way of always thinking you have to do something huge to make a change in yourself or your surroundings, and then being intimidated by that idea and in turn doing nothing at all. After this thought, I had a thought about doing an experiment and documenting it on my blog to stay accountable…

The experiment is to make a list of 100 things to do in 1000 days. Please join me J

This can include tiny things like “Watch The Gladiator” ß(that’s on my list) or bigger goals like “Start my own business” ßalso on my list ;) The list does not have to be descriptive, but just enough so that you know what you are talking about. When documenting your progress (which I am going to do on my blog, but you can do this privately) be specific of what you wanted to accomplish when you set out this goal, and what you ended up accomplishing…or you can simply just cross it off the list as done! Whatever you prefer.

So here goes… not necessarily in this order…but in the timeframe. My list is in progress…

1.     Complete my list of 100 things
2.     Inspire someone else to write 100 things in 1000 days
3.     Make a piece of my own furniture
4.     Learn how to kite board
5.     Send 50 handwritten notes
6.     Buy a new racing bike
7.     Complete 5 triathlons (Including the conchman in Freeport)
8.     Compete in Marathon Bahamas
9.     Paint a mural
10.  Sell my artwork
11.  Start my own business
12.  Clean out my closet of all the things I haven’t worn in the past year
13.  Create my ‘new look’ and redefine my wardrobe
14.  Finish my thesis
15.  Graduate with my Ph.D
16.  Publish my first article
17.  Do research for the Ministry of Tourism
18.  Watch The Gladiator
19.  Read “Roots”
20.  Watch “Roots” (After you read it)
21.  Buy my parents a new TV
22.  See a Broadway show
23.  Visit all the Family Islands of The Bahamas
24.  Visit Cuba
25.  Learn Spanish
26.  Find good shampoo & conditioner
27.  Trim my hair at least every 3 months
28.  Find my favorite wine
29.  Compete in a salsa dancing competition
30.  Subscribe to Oprah (since I always buy it at full price anyway)
31.  Create a pin board
32.  Buy a meditation chair
33.  Meditate every day for one month
34.  Make homemade croissants
35.  Make homemade patties
36.  Make lemon meringue pie (successfully)
37.  Buy a nice camera
38.  Frame all of my artwork
39.  Grow my toenails
40.  Visit Katie in LA
41.  Paint a picture for Lionel
42.  Be a vegetarian for one month
43.  Eat less meat
44.  Be technology free for one week
45.  Help someone cross the road
46.  Organize Swim to Empower
47.  Run a volunteer tourism Swim to Empower camp in 2 family islands
48.  Organize swimming lessons for minorities in Auburn

49. Complete a swim safety clinic in Long Island
50. Do a Clinic with young Bahamian swimmers (doing one this summer! :) 
51. Make Yoga a part of your daily life! 







April 29, 2012

Let it be...

You know those times in life when you just feel sort of 'mellow'... well that is me right now. I've been on the go , pretty much since August when I started the second year of my masters in the fall and i really haven't had a chance to stop yet. from pan ams to the world and back...and the off to the world again, france, montreal, home...auburn, and in between trying to finish what seems to be a never ending thesis.
Anyways, my point is that every weekend i've had in Auburn I always hope that i'll find some inspiration to do all the things that i've been wanting to do when i was away...painting, scrapbooking, blogging, spring cleaning etc...but every weekend comes around and all i want to do is sit around, watch tv, chill with friends and eat good food lol.

So i've decided, to take my own advice and just let it be...and in the mean time, make a list of things you want to do so that when you do find inspiration, you can start chipping away at your list...

because life is not a speed race, but a process...slow and steady wins the race right?  

April 24, 2012

The Happiness Hypothesis


I’m reading a book right now called the Happiness Hypothesis and below is an excerpt I came across the other day that made me think…

“Happiness comes from between. Happiness is not something that you can find, acquire or achieve directly. You have to get the conditions right and then wait. Some of those conditions are within you, such as coherence among the parts and levels of your personality. Other conditions require relationships to things beyond you: Just as plants need sun, water and good soil to thrive, people need love, work and a connection to something larger. It is worth striving to get the right relationships between yourself and others, between yourself and your work, and between yourself and something larger than yourself. If you get these relationships right, a sense of meaning and purpose will emerge.”

http://www.happinesshypothesis.com/

Lately, I’ve been working a lot on trying to put things into perspective in my life, on trying to see the ‘silver lining’ in things and just “LET IT BE”. For the most part-it’s working, and I have been able to feel my spirit become more relaxed in situations where I would normally become tense. I feel good about that.

However, one thing I’ve been battling a lot with is the concept of taking this life journey alone. Recently, I’ve had more than one person say to me that if I loved myself enough-losing important people in my life would make no difference to the level of my happiness, because at the end of the day-I’m the only one who can truly determine whether or not I’m happy, or how happy I am. Frankly, I’m just not sure I agree with that. While I agree that self love is extremely important and necessary, I think we are built to have relationships with others, short, long and everlasting. I think we are meant to lean on people during difficult times, and are to be leaned on in the same respect by others. I have always tried to be the person to never shut a door on someone who needs my ear to listen, no matter who or what it is. And I’m a strong believer in the power of human interactions being central to our life on this earth. I mean, how fun would it be to laugh alone, cry alone, dance alone, celebrate alone, sing alone (well that is kinda fun)-but you get my point.

I’ve even been told that I care too much! Is that even possible? I didn’t know it was. But I guess we are meant to love and lose, and love again and keep loving, because to me that’s what makes my world. It isn’t loving myself, but being able to share my love with others that brings me the most happiness.

Just a thought… Comments welcome ;)