"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense." -Emerson
"Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing about." -Benjamin Franklin
Alma 26:30 "And we have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this, that perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul; and we supposed that our joy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some."
"Gratefulness is the key to a happy life that we hold in our hands, because if we are not grateful then no matter how much we have we will not be happy - because we will always want to have something else or something more."
- David Steindt-Rast
I suppose that this goes along the lines of "Money can't buy happiness", but there is so much truth here. There is a weight lifted off my shoulders when I take a minute or two and think about what I DO have. The relationships, the employment that pays my bills, the health, the ability to have many hobbies, ALL OF MY BOOKS.
I am usually thanking Heavenly Father, but it would also be applicable to thank whatever you wish. Whether it be a God, the universe, the Earth, or the thing itself.
I will say now that I recommend it to anyone and everyone.
Beware: The probability of catching the travel bug is high.
"The Good Girl's Guide to Getting Lost" by Rachel Friedman was a fantastic distraction from my current very sedentary life. It is the story of how Rachel found her way in the world.. while seeing the world.
(This is a video of one of her book signings)
I am a self proclaimed junkie when it comes to what I like to call "adventure travel" books. But most of the ones that I come across are written by people who are lucky enough to have made travel their careers or have had a successful career already and with a healthy nest egg in hand are emerging into the world.
What I loved about this book was that she is basically broke.. and new to everything.
I probably relate to her on some level that even I (in my gypsy ways) don't want to admit to.
Rachel Friedman has always been the consummate good girl who does well in school and plays it safe, so the college grad surprises no one more than herself when, on a whim (and in an effort to escape impending life decisions), she buys a ticket to Ireland, a place she has never visited. There she forms an unlikely bond with a free-spirited Australian girl, a born adventurer who spurs Rachel on to a yearlong odyssey that takes her to three continents, fills her life with new found friends, and gives birth to a previously unrealized passion for adventure.
As her journey takes her to Australia and South America, Rachel discovers and embraces her love of travel and unlocks more truths about herself than she ever realized she was seeking. Along the way, the erstwhile good girl finally learns to do something she's never done before: simply live for the moment.
I have been thinking of the mere existence of potential quite a bit the last few days.
It all started on Sunday. I went to church, something that is happening with more frequency and willingness in the last few weeks, and during Sacrament meeting (it's the equivallant to mass for all the non-Mormons that may stumble upon this page) and I was taking the sacrament (it's like communion - minus the wine) when I started to think about Christ. Now just in case you happen to be reading this and are not a christian... I think it will still be interesting... just bear with me.
So, the entire purpose to taking the sacrament is to remember Christ and his sacrifice to the world. Admittedly, I am generally not very good at this task. I can be seen doing everything from writing in my journal about something unrelated to staring at one of the babies that sits in front of me to entertain myself.
I, for once, was able to focus on the task at hand though. Christ and the infinite atonement that allows us to return to our Heavenly Father. I just kept thinking of all the doors that are opened up to us because of this sacrifice.
(Here is where we lapse into the gospel according to Tami and should never be taken as official LDS doctrine):
Because of this sacrifice, we are lifted from the previously insurmountable task of actually paying in full for every sin we make. All those pesky sacrifices and laws that quite frankly would have gotten very old, very quickly.
I, for one, am not quite able to imagine a world where we were bound by such things.
I also see a world limited. Thinking about it now, and most likely this is just a window into where I currently am mentally, I can not even describe how we would be limited. It is more a feeling of dread to be living under such drastic and intense rule.
it is as though this sacrifice not only opened the heavens to us, but the Earth as well. I wonder if we would still have the same cultures and divisions as we do now. Would we have the opportunities that we do now.
The world as a hole was given a second chance to become what they wished to be.. the best of what they could, would, and should be.
(Here is where any non-Christians can jump on... I promise no more talk of Christ)
POTENTIAL
No matter where you may believe we get it, or acquire it, or find it inside of ourselves - there is always that fact that we are never fully living up to it.
We can always be more, see more, love more, do more, experience more.
In my day of thinking of this I came up with an EXTREMELY LONG list of things I should be doing, that I am not. It was really kind of sad. My list of things that I already doing was pretty much narrowed down to two things: 1.I am a nice/good person 95% of the time and 2: I keep a journal.
There is so much more to this life. A continuance of learning and growth that helps us to achieve that height that we all want to be at.
The task of goal setting seemed the most appropriate sort of way to help myself achieve this potential I seek so wantonly after. The fact that I have yet to actually finish any goal ever has yet to really become important. The point is to change and become better. Maybe my penchant for falling off the wagon will change in the process.
(This is Linn. She taught me everything I know.)
So, as the good little Mormon girl that I was raised to be, I was not really ever exposed to gambling. The church itself frowns on anything having to do with gambling, even to the extent of not taking tithes from your winnings. This definitely limited my exposure to gambling to mostly things like Oreo cookies and SweetTarts. I have accidentally won the $50 pot playing some Texas Hold'em with the cowboys working at the first Guest Ranch I worked at. It was pretty much a fluke, as I had no idea what I was doing really, and none of them talked to me for a couple days. Needless to say, I was no longer welcome to play in their tournaments I was welcome to watch though... someone had to heckle and keep the mood light. Looking back I have to say that the only reason I won was because no one noticed I was winning until the last few hands. I also think I was a better liar back then.
My relatively sheltered existence has been opened up yet again, and it was opened up to the game of blackjack. My fun loving GM here at Rancho de los Caballeros had a left over beer keg.. most likely from a group... that was going bad. What does one do when you have a bunch of beer you need to get rid of? You set up a casino night for your employees of course!
What is casino night, you ask?
My GM found a company that would come and set up tables and teach everyone how to play these games. We had blackjack, craps, Texas hold'em, and roulette. My friends and I were pretty much accidentally smart enough to go directly to the black jack table.
Where Linn was waiting.
Linn taught all us new comers how to play this awesome game! Basically, It is you against the dealer and despite my youthful games of "21" the point is not always to get to 21. I learned about bust cards and that you should usually only split your hand for A's and 8's. I learned about doubling down, but never really got any real money out of doing it. I stood at that table for 2 hours straight. I have seen all of the gambling shows that show people staying at a table for an entire day, and I finally understand how that can happen.
I did briefly try my hand at roulette.... oh how I failed with a flourish at that. I was there for a total of probably five minutes and lost almost a thousand dollars. I moved back to my new favorite game for the last twenty minutes of the night and won most of it back.
You lost a thousand dollars?!?!
The best part of this evening was that none of it was real money.
We started out with a thousand dollars in chips and were supposed to go from there. The point to this other than playing and having fun was that we could "buy" some of the swag that we sell at our gift shop. I now have yet another water bottle, and traveling coffee cup, and T-shirt, and bandanna. All of which have the company logo on them.
I have to admit though... I probably won't be trying to win my yearly rent money in Vegas anytime soon.
.jpg)
