PEBBLE
In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. Trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways, and they’re still beautiful.
~Alice Walker, shared by Alex in Ohio
BOULDER
Life comes with highs and lows.
Don’t break your own heart by
expecting things to be good all the time.
Invite and embrace happy moments.
Allow the bad to come and go.
Move with the flow of life.
~Ash Alves, shared by Bethany in Florida
PONDER
I’ve lately noticed a couple things that impact my ability to enjoy my days and weeks:
1. the specific way I want/need them to unfold, and
2. my high expectations of how fun and/or productive they need to be in order to count them as a success.
I’m pretty sure the hard-working, goal-oriented planning and sky-high optimism I mustered in the first part of my life helped fuel lots of the good stuff that has come my way over the years.
It’s just that lately I seem to be transitioning into a somewhat different phase of my life, one that benefits from a little less “lean forward and go get it” and a little more “lean back and keep your eyes and ears open to savor all that’s happening around you.”
If I’m right about this transition, it is far from complete. I know this because my GO GO GO habits still pop up regularly, and I sometimes pop out of really chill moments with a panic of, “OMG What did I miss out on during this reckless abandonment of all my priorities and plans!”
Relax, Paulie. We got this. I’m pretty sure there’s a bunch of good stuff we’ll get to enjoy, and enough hard stuff to keep us humble and growing. And I’m equally sure we need to expand our capacity for going with the Flow of Life.
Peace,
Paul
P.S. I love it when people let me know how a particular issue resonates; I promise I read every single response even when I’m unable to respond!
