Week 3, Day 2

Discovering a Sense of Perspective

Yesterday I was filled with plans and not enough time to blog. The day was awesome and I wouldn't change a thing about it. I ended up out in Long Island at a Golden Globes party with a group of great friends.

Week 3 is all about learning how to look at the world. I've heard it said a million times that all you have to do is change how you se things. Everything is real, but it's the angle you use to see them. I know that my day runs smoother when I'm in a better mood and I'm much more forgiving and easier to be around. How easily can you change the way you see the world on a day to day basis? I'm starting to learn that making a long term change really entails simply making the best choices possible over and over again. Nothing longterm is ever overnight and most things are worth working for.

This chapter of the book so far has been about starting to discard the labels you place around yourself and to use your energy to create instead of getting frustrated and irritable. There have been many times in my life where I feel artistically crippled and I remember lashing out at people for reasons that didn't really matter. I would decide that someone or something in my life was making me unhappy and ignore that really it had been that I wasn't expressing myself. Sometimes being creative and allowing yourself to try new things is difficult and scary. What would someone say if they saw? What if it does't look "right"? What if I'm horrible at it? All valid feelings, but what are those unknowns stopping me from doing? Probably a lot more then I realize.

I'm Now Friends With Someone Who Barks

My building in midtown has been known to have a few less-then-centered people that live in here. I'm not including myself in that statement, but I'll understand if you chuckle just the same. There is actually a sort of halfway house across the street and a lot of the people that leave that building move into the surrounding ones so they are still near by. There is one woman who lives in my building that is constantly sitting on the front steps and whenever someone walks by, she growls. Not necessarily a threatening growl, but one none-the-less. I've never seen her bite anyone, but every one of my friends that has come over has noticed. Sometimes I walk past her on the street, or see her at the Starbucks on the corner, and we've never spoken. Until, of course, now, because I'm not wearing headphones. And, well, it's rude to look directly at someone time and time again and not say hi. Now, I can't hide behind my phone, or act like I don't see/hear her because of my music. The first time I smiled and said "Hello", it took her a moment to respond and now, every time I see her, we say hello. She asked me if I had a dog the other day. For no reason I guess. I said, "No, but I really want one. I love dogs." She said I shouldn't get one, that they are horrible. I told her to have a good afternoon and retreated to my apartment. Why does she hate dogs? And furthermore, why does she growl like one if she hates them? I'm curious if maybe she was attacked by one at some point and her growling is her way to protect herself? It certainly keeps people from talking to her, looking at her, and trying to get to know her. Well, most people.

Morning Pages:
CHECK - They've been getting harder because drama is usually easier to write about and right now, I just don't feel like I have that much going on in my life to cause me stress. But, I'm thankful for that, so I'm okay with my morning pages maybe being a little boring.