What LIFE is!

LIFE is whatever you make it. There is nothing in any of the many books, magazines, pamphlets, or any other publication that i have read that says that your life is supposed to be this exacting THING. It really isn't exacting at all. If you are old enough to, say, feed yourself, you have had to overcome an obstacle of some sort. Be it learning how to walk or deciding whether to use your last $10 for food or gas to get to work, you have in many ways experienced LIFE. Living In Full Enjoyment is not just a catchy acronym - though it is indeed that - but it is also ,like, the motto of what life really is. Henry Ford has a famous quote: “Whether you think you can or think you can't, either way you are right.” Life is a series of only 2 options - Yes or No. Either you do what you want to do to feel and be fulfilled in your current existence or you don't. Them's your options!

i learned recently that all we have within our control is ourselves. The reactions and feelings of others are of no consequence to our own happiness. Entertain this for a moment; it is absolutely within the purview of possibility to be happy with who you are. Acai berry diets be damned. Botox and collagen unconsidered. Hair extensions and coloring are a non-issue. If the good Lord wanted you to have those forehead wrinkles, who are we mere mortal beings to tell Him that His design of us is wrong. i can just imagine the conversation now: "You know God, you didn't design Jennifer Aniston with wrinkles? Why didn't you design her with wrinkles? You gave me like a kagillion wrinkles and these stretch marks and liver spots but you made Ms. Jennifer without spot or wrinkle. Why you do that, God? Why didn't you design me more like Jennifer? I wanna look like Jennifer!" Then God replies, "Look here! I didn't design you like Jennifer Aniston because Jennifer Aniston is Jennifer Aniston. You are you. Besides, Jennifer only looks like that because modern technology makes her look like that. She altered my original design, but I got a few things in store for her in a few years." Then 10 years will pass and you will come across an un-PhotoShopped picture of Jennifer with those forehead wrinkles and jowls and an ever evident belly pooch and you will say to yourself, "Oh my God! That's what Jennifer really looks like! I can't believe I wanted to look just like her! Thank goodness I had that conversation with God 10 years ago and stayed the way I was." When have you ever known God to be wrong?

One of my favorite sayings is: "Do you, Boo!" Really, do your you unabashedly. Do you like you have never done you before. i took a cruise to the Bahamas with some girlfriends once and at first i didn't want to overdo the whole experience. i just wanted to take in the sights, maybe get a little too drunk on Coco Locos and get a little too dark from frying in the sun. Once on board the ship, the annoying activities director was coming around asking people if they were signed up for their excursions before getting to the island. At first i ignored her and told my friend, Sandy that i was just going to walk around after the lunch feast. During our sojourn around the island, i spotted a speed boat with some people getting on board. I asked Sandy what they were doing. She told me they were going para sailing. There was no way in God's green earth i was going to do that - at first. While standing there on the dock, i watched the speed boat go out into the ocean and hoist the people up into the air. i couldn't see their faces or hear their voices. i just stared at the stillness. So, when the speed boat came back, i informed Sandy that i was going para sailing. She looked at me like i had lost the last little bit of mind i brought with me. She grabbed her video camera and called the other ladies we traveled with over to the dock and told them of my daring feat. i boarded the speed boat, they gave us the safety schpill and off we went into the sea. i mentally chickened out! i lost my nerve. i didn't want to do it anymore. The ladies were right, i didn't do things like para sailing! What was i thinking? The boat operators were pairing people up to be hoisted onto the glider. i declined 3 times. Then it hit me, i did not give these people my 70 hard earned dollars to take a ride on a speed boat. So i told the boat associate that i was ready to get in the glider. i was paired with a lady in her mid-fifties. We got strapped in and up we went. They told us that we would have three minutes of hang time. We ascended to the sky and my eyes were closed the whole time. i took a deep breath and eased them open. OH MY GOD! The scenery was breathtaking. We could see the island of Nassau from up there. i looked down into the water which was the clearest color of blue i had ever seen. Two stingrays were circling each other as if they were thrust into some type of mating ritual. The coral underneath the water was so vivid. It was as if i could just reach into the water and pluck it out. i commented to my gliding companion, "i can die now!" She asked me if i was sick or something. I told her that i had been sick for a long time and that moment was just the elixir i needed.

In that moment, i knew what living in full enjoyment really was. Had i allowed the moment to flee, i would have missed one of the most majestic experiences of my life thus far. Don't permit the ideas and ideals of others dictate your you. Do you, Boo!

Weekly affirmation: "I am alive to the moment. Seeing past any-thing, means i missed some-thing."