The Secret of Life

I read a very inspiring blog post on Xanga a few weeks ago. It talked about recognizing the obvious, but then it also spoke of the secret of life. It simplified it so beautifully that it has become the banner on my cell phone. What is the secret of life according to this person? Two things. Learning and Love. The writer also said that the secret was so obvious that most often failed to recognize, let alone realize (he also goes into the difference between recognition and realization in this post) it. The whole thing ties together nicely, teaching three important lessons. I suggest you take a look at it.

Why do I agree so whole-heartedly that these two simple things are indeed the secret of life? 1) Like the author of that post said, it's so damn obvious I can't believe I didn't see it before 2) It feels right 3) I already knew half of it

I knew the learning half of the secret a while ago. I've often said that the purpose in my life was to learn as much as possible. I still agree that I should be absorbing knowledge like a sponge, but the second part of the secret falls into it so perfectly and feels so right that I just know it was waiting to be realized. And I have.

I've realized that you should never be afraid to give love. This link will take you to a page with animation and music, it is a project titled "Love and Fear". It's very moving. It accurately defines both love and fear, and shows how they are connected. Love is the absence of fear. Fear is the absence of love. Nicely put, no?

I think maybe the love half of the secret can get confusing sometimes. I am going to write a post closer to (maybe on) Valentine's Day where I go deeper into what I believe about love.

Time to Re-Evaluate

After Suzie's 'pity party' (Honestly it was more of a liberating rant-fest for women to realize what they want to change in their lives! I urge you to read what people wrote. It's amazing.) and getting some wonderful advice I realized something. I have changed so much lately that I need to re-evaluate who I am and what I want out of life. I don't know anymore! That seems insane to me. This time last year I was so sure of myself and what I wanted.

Now I know that I never knew what I wanted. I knew what other people wanted for me. I was identifying too much with everyone around me, and I was lost. And for the first five months of being here at college I was trying desperately to hang onto that connection I felt because I was afraid. I'm done letting that fear overcome me! I'm going to spend the next two weeks finding myself. I am going to start with who I was trying to be before, then move on to who I am trying to be now.

The reason I'm squashing it all into two weeks? 1) I like deadlines, they help me get things done 2) In two weeks my cousin is going to be leaving for her internship so I'll really be here on my own 3) My third term here will be starting and I will need to start seriously looking for internships

I know that this is a long process and it will never really be over, but I'm making the next two weeks intense! I'll update my progress here on my blog.