take it as it comes

Costa Rica is going to be good for helping me take it as it comes! Even the dogs are laid back here, just roll with the flow and hang out with you if need be.
Surfing will be especially good for learning how to just relax and take what comes. If you are tense when surfing you fall off immediately, if you relax a little and just go with the wave you can stand up a little bit better.
So far everything down here has had this philosophy exemplified. Hopefully I will be able to continue to apply this when I return home!

stretch and relax

Today I found out the family I am staying with understands less Spanish than I do English! In so many ways this was just what I was looking for, however for today it proved to be challenging. We drew a lot of pictures and did awkward dances to try and figure out that yes I was hungry for breakfast and yes I like coffee. They then wanted to know what I would call a tortilla and were frustrated by the fact that I just kept repeating their word. Finally they figured out what I was trying to convey and laughed really hard at the whole situation.
I was told that just about everyone I would run into down here would speak English....not today! So I have stretched my brain, it hurts a little right now. I am also grateful to relax and enjoy the forced solitude today. The beach was amazing, I had a wonderful little black dog who sat with me while I read. I tried talking to the owner again to encounter the humors dance that happens when two people do not speak the same language. We were able to communicate that the dog was indeed very cute and sweet.
It is so exciting to be somewhere that will stretch me with people who are so willing to try and communicate with me, very relaxing!

New

The thought of everything being new usually excites me, I really like change! I am not much for planning, I think if you take life with a healthy dose of humor everything will be fine. The last few months I was ready to have some change but for the most part I did not want anything new. I didn't want to move on to a new job, new experiences, new friends, new sports, etc. Because of this I pushed myself to try a few new things and really worked on trying to connect with something new each week. However I found what I really needed was to just tie up a few loose ends.
Now I am ready for whatever comes next! I have a month to try everything new and be totally out of my realm so that I can come back to some level of comfort but also to a "new" life. I am excited to be part of what will be waiting for me when I return to Albuquerque, I am excited to meet the new friends, try a new job, continue with the new sports I took up and try a few new sports and clubs.
I am happy that I continued to push myself to try something different each week. It gave me the encouragement I needed from myself to know that now that I feel ready everything will fall into place. I met incredible people in the last three months, started new friendships that will add to my old friendships and enrich my life. I started doing different activities that will boaster my life and my experiences. I am excited to take a month to really stretch and then return to such a positive environment.

moving on

It is amazing what happens when you realize that everyone is going to focus their energy on different things and that most of the time it is pretty inconsequential to you what others focus their energy on. This is what can make moving on so difficult. Letting go of all of the energy in a relationship, job, or experience can take an exerted effort. If you are willing to put the energy into letting go and healing upfront then you get to enjoy your next experiance completely. You get to move, change, and redefine life based on the lessons that you received from the last experience, letting you truly move on and have a full and new journey.

umbilical cord

Sometime in life it feels like you just have to cut your umbilical cord and start fresh in order to really survive. Maybe you held onto a friendship a little too long, kept trying to make something in your life work that just wouldn't, or kept a job that was stable even though it never really fulfilled you. Somehow you end up frustrated with life and realizing that you just have to take control of what you want to happen. It's scary to take the risk that you need to take in order to find out if you can succeed when you challenge yourself. Yet somehow it is also relaxing at the same time. I find that I end up being nicer to other people because I am really focusing on what I need to focus on and not the silly crap.

oops!

I stink at following advice. I have received some excellent advice in my life that I just plain ignore until I have to apply it to my own lessons to learn. I am excellent at seeking out the resources that I need for good advice, I just for one reason or another feel the need to then explore my options or situations before acting on the advice.
I am especially bad at following my own advice some of the time. I'll think about what I need to do, be confident in my choice of what I should do, and then not follow through. I let others influence choices that I know are right for me and my well-being. I know what will make me happy, so I don't know why I find it so difficult some of the time to let others know that and really stand up for what I want.
Right now I'm going to work on taking my own advice. Using the resources that I have and paying attention when I ask for advice from others. There is a reason I asked for advice from that person, they usually know what they are talking about even if it does seem like difficult advice to apply. I am going to work on just being more responsible for what I do and how I do take care of my life. Then maybe the difficult stuff will seem a little bit easier to take.

beautiful

Today at church the priest had all of us pray together as part of his sermon, we sat there saying at first a common prayer and then our own individual prayers. I realized how beautiful it is when people bring there individuality together for a communal experience. The power of thinking positive thoughts together has always fascinated me. I think it is amazing that we are so powerful as a collective group to do either positive or negative work together. That without speaking people can connect and lift each other up or break each other down. The power of our thoughts never ceases to amaze me.