Things To Live By

______________________________

 

When I first heard this song, I realized it was a love song. But, I felt as though it were a song more appropriate for myself.

Our lives are built around a conception we have of our Selves. And I am afraid, sometimes, to step outside that conception of my Self, and outside those walls I have built around my Self. Time tells me to be bolder now.

And I know, I am just a child at heart – but I’m getting older too..

There is a line from a movie that I’ve always loved.. It is a moment she has least confidence in herself, and She tells him: “I’m going back to LA. No more trying to be something I’m not”. He replies, “What if you’re trying to be something you are?”.. The concept of becoming what someone is: to Be always Becoming.

The song asks, “can I handle the seasons of my life?”. Cliché would dictate that yes, yes you can handle anything. But as the song answers honestly, “I don’t know”. And while that isn’t the most optimistic answer, it is the most authentic.

In a way, there is almost something exciting about not knowing. It’s a challenge. You don’t know what you can handle, till you come right up to the edge of it. You don’t know the seasons of your life, till you brave right through them.

.. Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?
I don’t know..

But I’ve been afraid of changing
‘Cause I’ve built my life around you (you: my Self)
But time makes you bolder
Even children get older
And I’m getting older too ..

______________________________

I’ve moved to the East Coast, it’s very different from the suburbia I was living in Southern California. I’m in a studio apartment, whereas I’d previously been living in a family home. I didn’t bring my car with me, so I’m now experiencing the world of public transportation.

My university campus is open, with a city-feel. Streets run through it, as do a few rats, I noticed. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve gotten lost! In California I’d been attending a closed-campus, where the only thing that ran through it were bike lanes and fluffy bunnies and squirrels.

But, I love the Metro entrance to my university here. You stand at the bottom, and the escalator takes you up, and up. Sometimes, if you’re lucky, a pianist is playing right by it. So as you walk to class, you do it with a little swirl in your walk, to go along with the melodies.

I have utility bills now, and rent too. Two things I didn’t have to worry about in the family home. Ah, money management – the dreaded mark of adulthood.

I also have neighbors. One of them stole a package of mine, I have yet to get it back. And some days, when they make enough noise that you’d think they owned a trampoline, I fantasize about killing them all off.

Other than that, I’m mostly preoccupied with obsessively keeping my apartment clean, and figuring out graduate school. So far, it basically feels like a giant book club. You read, discuss what you read, and that’s about it. Occasionally you give presentations on readings as well.. Cue the horror music. Discussion and public speaking are the one things I avoided like the plague in college, so it’s quite a surprise to realize they form absolutely everything graduate school is.. But, I’ll figure it out.

I remember a guy in one of my classes, after just introducing himself, told me I had a “scared bunny look” that I needed to get rid of. The comment has stuck with me because, secretly, I do feel like a scared bunny. He was a douche for saying it, but part of me fears he was right. I’m trying to look anything other than novice, I don’t know if it’s working…

My second class was far more memorable, though..

I was late, or, let’s say “right on time” instead – sounds better, doesn’t it?

I walked in the door and sat in the closest chair I could find. I didn’t want to make a sound, I didn’t want to cause a disturbance. The chair hugged the wall, and frankly part of me wanted to fade right into it.

I knelt down to my bag, pulled out my notebook, and looked up.. And there he was. Sitting alone. In the front row, center.

He didn’t know it, but I stared at his neck, his broad shoulders, countless times during lecture. I’d watch him laugh at the professor’s attempts at jokes. I’d see his cheeks rise up from his smile, and felt my own naturally do the same at the sight of his. I listened when he’d make discussion contributions that the professor found hard to dismiss. He’s different, I could feel it. He’s caught my attention, and I like it. I could almost hear Frank Sinatra in the background singing his, “The Best Is Yet To Come”..

Anyway..

I’ve been reflective lately. I began thinking of a few core things that, thus far in my life, I believe in and trying to live by, and I thought that I’d share them. Because, why not?

______________________________

❖ Live your morals, don’t just preach them to yourself and others. Be as consistent with your self as possible, else how could you live with yourself?

❖ Acknowledge that you’re not perfect. Sometimes you will fall short of consistency, of expectations, of goals. It’s okay, that’s what fallible humans do.

❖ Never let being so happy cause you to forget to thank God for that happiness.

❖ Karma is real. Release into the world only what you’re willing to get back.

❖ Avoid wearing so much makeup that you barely recognize yourself when you take it off. Where’s the delight in getting compliments on a face that doesn’t even resemble your own?

❖ Try to remember, in fact repeat this to yourself: if you have to repeat an outfit.. the world will NOT end.

❖ Imagine the world as a bowl, swirling around in it is peoples’ inner lives – all of their fears, joys, pains, desires, etc. Before you act towards another, ask if you want to add to the total amount of pain in that bowl, or to the total joy? Watch the bowl’s swirl, see all that pain? Try not to be just another person causing it for someone else.

❖ Don’t use “I love you” casually. It’s such a special phrase, and saying it to everyone, all the time degrades its power to a mundane status.

❖ If you’re going to own an animal, know that is a responsibility and treat it with the care you’d give a child – or may God bestow his wrath on you.

❖ As my great aunt taught me when I was younger: “Never Give Up”.

❖ Don’t ask for favors unless you absolutely have to. No one likes a heavy person.

❖ Sometimes there’s a little voice in your head that tells you things. Not your conscience, more like your instinct. Take it seriously, it’s usually right. Sometimes you just know more than you think.

❖ Not everything has to have a reason or make logical sense. Allow for randomness.

❖ This may seem obvious, but with all the social media sometimes its easy to forget: Real life is far better than virtual life. Put your phone away more often.

❖ Trust can be beaten. But if you’re trusting someone who is trustworthy, don’t let it be broken. Everyone makes mistakes.

❖ Don’t lie. Even white lies can hurt, so don’t try to rationalize your own lying. People will always eventually respect your truth and appreciate hearing it, not your hidden acts and deceitful words.

❖ Respect your elders, but give them no pedestals. In fact, give no one a pedestal. It’ll always be too high, and they’ll always fall off it.

❖ Give worthy people the benefit of the doubt. Be careful who you consider worthy.

❖ If you have an idea for an article you’re writing, always write things down as they come, even if it’s just to organize them all later.

❖ Love isn’t for cowards. Do it boldly and bravely.

❖ Never say things that hit below the belt to those you love. They will hear enough of that from those that don’t love them, they don’t need to hear it from you too. Keep that sacred level of softness with them, even in the hardest of moments.

❖ Don’t shy away from telling people you love them. There are enough families, friends, and lovers in the world that never say they love each other, that never hug or kiss each other. Simply because “it’s not something we express”. It’s such a shame. Life is too short to hold love in. Someday those you love will die, and someday you will die. Show all you can before that time.

❖ Appreciate kindness from people. It’s not common, it’s not ordinary. They chose to be kind to you, they didn’t have to. It’s only appropriate that you don’t take it for granted.

❖ “It’s all about association”. So question every assumption there is, because more often than not it is a product of things associated with other things. Connections imbedded within our minds as self-evident givens.

❖ Avoid being thoughtless. Think about what you do, review your decisions. Apologize for your wrongs, continue with your rights.

❖ There are types of people that have what I call “dot of sadness”. They’ve experienced or felt things in their lives, and they were left with a dot. They carry it around, you can feel it in their aura. They’re typically deeper, enjoy them. Also, be a force of comfort for them.

❖ It’s okay to cry sometimes. But other times it’s not.

❖ Alone time is the core of your self, don’t neglect it. You can only rejuvenate, re-create, by going back to that center.

❖ If you don’t like your body, do everything you can to improve it. Namely, exercise. It’s healthier than complaining about it. But be realistic, know that you were born with a general, unchangeable body type, but you can still strive to be in the best shape of that body type.

❖ Avoid borrowing or lending money as much as possible.

❖ Embrace color. The colors you choose, is a reflection of your Self, a signifier of your space in the world. Be that one Red coat in a sea of Black.

❖ Smile at strangers, they may be having a bad day. And be generous with your “please” and “thank you” ‘s, manners may be old fashioned, but they’re a nice tradition to keep around.

❖ Unlike most, I don’t view what is divine about children as being their innocence. A child will lie to you, and steal from you, if it means getting that candy bar. What is divine about children, actually, is their curiosity and their excitement, or in arabic: “دهشة”. That, right there, is how you find laughter and smiles in a regular day. Find something exciting about the boring, find something interesting in the routine. Stop and listen to the violinist by the Metro, or watch that bird formation in the sky by your apartment.. It’s those little things – let them catch your attention, admire them.. the world can wait a few moments.

❖ Before judging, try to understand. Practice a few thought experiments where you’re in someone else’s shoes. Of course.. if that still doesn’t explain it, then by all means, judge away! :p

❖ Don’t pity those less fortunate than you. Don’t join philanthropy or any other help-focused field just because you feel sorry for others. Dismissing someone’s dignity is repulsively righteous.

❖ If you’re a moron, admit it to yourself. And then go read a book.

❖ Watch your anger.

❖ Patience.

❖ Sometimes, it’s best to just get a good night’s sleep. You’d be amazed how many problems are solved by simply getting proper rest.

❖ Do what you’re afraid of. Not when you’re completely ready, because you will never be. Instead, pick a general stage in your life and decide that’s when you’ll make yourself ready, then do it. And it’s okay to move at your own pace in doing so, rather than someone else’s.

❖ Vanity is a virtue, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to look your best. There’s a saying my mother used to tell me: “if you look good, you feel good. If you feel good, you do good”. Simple and true.

❖ “Nothing is solid; Everything is fluid”. As Scarlett O’Hara in ‘Gone With The Wind’ said: “After all, tomorrow, is another day..”.

❖ If it’s a Man’s World, then that’s all the more reason to remain a female in it. Don’t hide it to look “serious” or “professional (polite code for masculine) that’s inauthentic conformity. As the Rodgers and Hammerstein song goes, “I am proud that my silhouette is curvy, that I walk with a sweet and girlish gait, with my hips kind of swivelly and swervy.. When I have a brand new hairdo, with my eyelashes all in curl, I float as the clouds on air do.. I enjoy, being, a girl!..”

❖  Make time to Dance, always.

❖  Cherish the angels God puts in your life. Try to make them happy.

❖ Don’t be afraid to kiss at an airport. The world is cold, so warm it up with your Public Display of Affection…

______________________________

_____________________________________________