I Promise

I know that I am especially guilty of saying, “I promise” without even looking at what other things I have going on. What happens when you realize that you actually can’t keep your promises?

Photo from liveitdoit.com

For me, I get overly anxious and cannot believe I have to back down on my word… but maybe it shouldn’t get me too worked up – the worst-case scenario is that the promisee will be upset for a while... but at least you were honest. Let’s be honest, most times the person is COMPLETELY FINE with you rescheduling or "letting them down". So why is it in our nature to over worry about things like this? Most times this causes us to lie without merit! We should never lie about something that was out of our control; it would only make things worse.

Recently I was told that my blood type (A) makes me into this worry-wart… “While outwardly calm, they have such high standards (perfectionists) that they tend to be balls of nerves on the inside.” (Waking Times) I don’t know how much astrology, biology, and whatever else people believe in, factor into our personalities but I just know that I need to learn how to loosen up!

What has helped me to remain calm and be open with people is remembering that people are not in control of every situation. Sometimes things will happen; most times they are random acts of nature that we cannot help whatsoever! People are loving and accepting by nature just trust that breaking one promise is not going to be the end of the world, nor your relationship with that person.

Mantra: Just breathe. Don't lie and accept your situation.

What does your blood type say about you?

STOP and smell the rain! Or the roses... whatever

Things that make me happy (in no particular order):

1. Watching squirrels eat (their chubby cheeks are too adorable)

Adorable photo from Hudo.com

2. Listening to music while I do absolutely nothing

3. Walking on luscious green grass barefooted (my nickname was bear for awhile because I loved to roll around in grass)

4. The smell of rain

5. Admiring beautiful nature sights

6. Walking at night while looking at the stars

7. Cuddling in bed when it is cold

8. Petting my cat (she has taken the habit of wanting to be pet 24/7!)

9. Drinking a glass of wine

10. Talking on the phone with my friends and family

There is a purpose to my seemingly random list of benign vices and that is to ask… How often do you do something that makes you happy on a daily basis? I know that my sister constantly has to remind me to take time to smell the roses because I am a workaholic and will work day and night if it weren’t for my basic human needs getting in the way! But it is so simple!

Today I was forced to sit outside until the rain calmed down because I forgot my umbrella. As I sat there I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths. It was so invigorating and peaceful! I cannot believe that all day I had not felt the beauty of nature – especially something so simple as sitting outside and smelling the rain (although one of my new favorite people recently told me that he does not know what rain smells like! I thought everyone loved the smell of rain!). You get the point though – I think as human beings we tend to be selfish about many things EXCEPT daily little pleasure moments for ourselves. Imagine if you do several things on your little list of things that make you happy how much better off we would be as human beings? I drove home road rage free after that. It was just so peaceful that it put me in a good mood.

Don’t ignore your happiness especially if you can do small things like smell the rain, or for people that don’t specifically like that, the roses.