Unfixable—David Sloan
It happened again last week standing on Monhegan’s headlands,
alongside other sweat-soaked first-timers with trail-maps,
cameras, sloshing water bottles. They shushed their children
and we all looked down on wheeling gulls, slope-browed
eiders, gannets gliding inches above the rumpled-shirt
surface of the waves. A little girl in red shorts
clambered up a boulder, flapped her arms, cried
out, I’m flying! and had to be gathered in mid-
leap by her father. On those cliffs, sky-spill
and sea-tilt blending blues, wings everywhere,
even the yellow fans of clicking grasshoppers,
I felt this familiar, spreading sense of seepage,
as if I were bleeding but unable to locate
the source, the day all leaking away
before filling up; no way to fix it,
to yoke me to the moment, no container
sound enough to prevent sky
from sliding down lopsided
like broken blinds, waves
from scattering into feathers,
or birds from whirling
into children who slip
over an edge,
unnoticed and
uncatch-
able.
The Reward
The sun blasts through the foggy grey coat
on our long wintered windows
dispelling the chill blue haze
of winter.
I am embraced
by the golden orange rays that warm my soul
from a long darkened winter to a bountiful, joyous
spring.
No longer is my sight filtered
through the long endured darkness
the heavy hours and suffocating tick
of a frozen world.
Today, the sky reflects my heart
a wave of heat is a beat of life-blood;
today, the long tried endurance
is repaid.
30 Day Happiness Challenge
- Day One: Make a list of 10 things you are grateful for. Label it “Gratitued List.” Add three things to the list every day. Put it in your phone or a notebook you can take around with you. You’ll need it! (Example: I’m grateful for my dog, my parents, that there’s no school today, mayonaise, that I live in America, that Margot gave me a cookie today, etc.)
- Day Two: Start paying attention to how much you complain. If you catch yourself complaining, stop and add someting to your gratitude list. Continue doing this for the rest of the challenge. [Remember to add three things to your gratitude list as part of the Day One challenge, too!]
- Day Three: Pay particular attention to the problems of people around you. if you find other people’s problems that you don’t have to deal with, add them to your Gratitude List. (Example: I’m grateful that I’m not a starving child in Africa.) [Don’t forget that the Day One and Day Two challenges are still in force!]
- Day Four: Smile as much as possible today. Smile at everyone you see or talk to. Smile even if you’re by yourself. Find things to smile about.
- Day Five: If you don’t normally, engage in some form of exercise today. Take a walk, go on a bike ride, play soccer or try a yoga class, etc.
- Day Six: Tell your family how much you love them. Tell your friends how much you appreciate them. Even if you think they “already know,” tell them anyway.
- Day Seven: Watch a happy or inspirational film or video OR Watch or listen to a film, standup comedy routine or something else that really makes you laugh.
- Day Eight: Instead of just not complaining (Day Two), every time you catch yourself complaining, or starting to, say something positive about the situation instead. If you forget, add the positive comment to your Gratitude List. (Example: I’m grateful that, even though the pancakes were burnt, everyone still enjoyed the muffins we had for breakfast.)
- Day Nine: Do something that you’ve been wanting or meaning to get around to for ages.
- Day Ten: Make a list of your good qualities. Do not make a list of your bad qualities.
- Day Eleven: Find something nice to do for someone today. Help someone in need.
- Day Twelve: Find someone who is normally really mean or annoying and be particularly nice to them all day. (Even if it’s hard, this one can be really fun.)
- Day Thirteen: If you find youself gossiping, or just talking about other people in general, try to change the subject or find only good things to say.
- Day Fourteen: Pay attention to how pessimistic you are. Any time you say something negative, change it to something positive. If you find yourself only expecting the worst, chang it to hoping for the best. Continue working on this for the rest of the challenge. [And I hope you haven’t forgotten your Day One and Day Eight challenges.]
- Day Fifteen: Make a list of ten things that went wrong today, or ten problems in your life. Then make a list of why you’re grateful for these problems. (Example: “I got a flat tire. I met a cute guy who pulled over and showed me how to change tires.” “I got an F on my test. I’m now motivated to study for Calculus tests.”)
- Day Sixteen: Make a list of ten good things/qualities about someone else and give it to them. Pick someone who may not be able to see these things in his or herself.
- Day Seventeen: Find someone that you particularly value, or think is underappreciated and write them a sincere note or letter about how grateful you are for them.
- Day Eighteen: Help everyone you can today, in the little ways. (Examples: Open doors for people, help carry things, smile, be a good listener, etc.)
- Day Nineteen: Every time something goes wrong today, think about the good that might come from it. (Example: “My boyfriend broke up with me.” -> “I’ll be free to meet someone else who’s even better.”)
- Day Twenty: Think about your spending habits. If you don’t have one, make a budget. OR Don’t buy something today that you might normally buy, but don’t actually need. Put the money in savings instead.
- Day Twenty-one: Say a prayer and thank God for all of the blessings in your life. Be specific.
- Day Twenty-two: Try something new today. (Example: a new food, game, sport, hobby, etc.) OR Work on developing the talents that you already have.
- Day Twenty-three: From now on, whenever you catch yourself complaining, add that very thing to your Gratitude List and why. (Example: “I hate my math teacher! She’s so mean!” -> “I’m grateful for my math teacher because she explains things really well.”)
- Day Twenty-four: If you can, do something a little bigger for someone today. (Example: Take someone dinner, help them clean house, offer to babysit for free, so frazzled parents can have a date night, etc.)
- Day Twenty-five: Music has a powerful influence in your life. Today, try to only listen to happy, uplifting music; music that makes you feel really good. Don’t listen to anything sad, angry, pessimistic or containing complaint.
- Day Twenty-six: Thank your parents, spouce, room mate or or someone else your do/have lived with for everything they’ve done for you.
- Day Twenty-seven: Look at your list from Day Fifteen. Think about how those problems were resolved or how important they are in your life now. think about how much relative importance your current problems will have in the future. Make a list of the good that has come from your Day Fifteen troubles.
- Day Twenty-eight: Any time you catch yourself being critical of someone else today, compliment them on something aloud.
- Day Twenty-nine: Make an extra effort today to smile, be kind and generous, and always have a positive attitude. Don’t allow yourself to not be happy.
- Day Thirty: Share your Gratitude List and pass this challenge on to someone else! If you want, keep adding to your List every day.
Link reblogged from forever young with 45,515 notes
Since the start of 2011 I've: →
Cross off what you haven’t done:
Gotten a new piercing. Altered my hair colour.Ended a relationship
Started a new relationship.
Been on a long car/bus journey.
Passed an exam.
Met someone who’s now an important part of my life.
Cried on someone’s shoulder
Had a massive fight with a boy/girl.
Received flowers.
had a Valentine.
Written a letter using pen & paper.Gone to see a therapist. Been prescribed medication by a doctor.
Read a really good book.
Gone to the zoo.
Spent too much money on unnecessary things. Traveled by train.
Cried over a member of the opposite sex.
Spent the day out in the sun getting a tan.
Slammed a door out of frustration.
Had an anxiety attack. Babysat for a friend’s child.
Had a BBQ.
Gone to the fair
Seen a film at the cinema in 3D.
Gone on a date.Been the only sober one on a night out.Helped someone home after they had been drinking.
Stayed up all night.
Talked on the phone for over two hours.
Supported someone who’d received bad news.
Watched some kind of live sporting event.
Read an entire book in one day.Bought a DVD the day it was released.Eaten McDonald’s more than four times in a single week.Cried as a result of exam stress.
Met some incredible new people.
Gone to great parties.
Fallen backwards off a chair.Broken my glasses.
Worn a watch for the first time in years.Cried over someone in the past.
Spent hours aimlessly browsing the internet. Thrown up.
Cried over a film.Gone out of my way to avoid an ex-boy/girlfriend.
Fought with someone in public.
Been in a relationship for a year or longer.
Cried in front of someone I adore.Lost one of my closest friends.
Now bring on 2012!
I’m ready.
Source: vilecreature
Post reblogged from forever young with 44,017 notes
So Funny I Just Had To Repost It
Source: thesulfurandthesea
Mexico
A country I don’t know
Except for the bright festival dresses
And spicy flavors and creamy faces
And voices that it has brought here.
I can’t pretend to see
What you see, or hear
What you hear. But I know
What you know: this gospel
Is true and real and bright.
And it doesn’t matter
In what country you are,
Or what language you speak,
Or what you see
When you awaken into the chill air
Of a Mexico morning, with the sun
Just so long as you also have
the Son.
For I know not but that thy voice is sweet,
And in it there are bells and lutes;
Thusly I shall be the brass and bass to thee.
Quote reblogged from forever young with 8,231 notes
Sometimes you just have to jump out the window and grow wings on the way down.
Source: danceabletragedy
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