Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment. (Buddha)

Got my four pages yesterday, yey! Even if they were just notes. I started out the series by not planning or plotting and found myself in a bit of a pickle later. So I started plotting out the major events, character development, all that happy horseshit, all the how-do-we-get-there-from-here stuff. That all kind of feeds into my reading lately, Chakras for Beginners by David Pond and The Secret by Rhonda Byrne (yeah, I know, but the latter was a gift).

Some food for thought today: both of the above books deal more or less with the same ideas. But David Pond’s point inspired me the most in his essay “Vows and the Chakras.” He says that religions teach us that if we were really good, we wouldn’t be here on earth, the whole kicked out of Eden mindset. What if, Pond proposes, this earth is Eden and we’re wasting our time and energy thinking about something better? Well this place is gonna stink then, ain’t it? But, if we redirect our thoughts and energies, realizing the miraculous in the everyday, then this earth becomes a gift rather than a plague to be endured. Not only that, but if we celebrate being, likely enough “we will see a shift in policies that honor our planet rather than desecrate it.” I just thought this was all such a great idea.

So, to sum up, listen to the inner optimist and realize that life is the gift, the thing to be enjoyed, dessert, if you will, rather than merely an appetizer for what is to come. Go hug your dog and don’t just make the best of it, make it the best. No pain no gain is no attitude at all.