caricature girl

...we have left our thumb prints in the thick, moist clay of each other's lives.
~Hugh Elliott, Standing Room Only weblog, May 6, 2003

I always have SO many thoughts..to chew on, to digest and to express. I guess its because I have always been fascinated by the psychological side of life. Every single day I see and understand something that I did not know the day before and I am constantly surprised and excited about it. My husband Mark and I often joke that the epitaph on my tombstone should probably read "You know I was thinking..."

The main quest of my 20's was to be "enlightened". However in retrospect, I think it was more to "appear enlightened" not really be enlightened....regardless, I was very passionate about the search. I remember barging excitedly into my parents house one evening and announcing to them that I had truly figured out life (I think I was about 23 at the time). My theory was that from then on ...I was just going to "BE"...(whatever the hell that meant.) They said..."Oh good, we're really happy for you", and then they went back to sleep.

Now 21 years later, I'm starting to think that learning to just "Be", at least in regards to "Being yourself", is probably one of the most important things that we can actually learn to do in our lives. But its not the easiest thing to do.

Not only is it challenging to discover our own voice —what it is that we have to offer the world, but to then have the courage to express it, is an even greater challenge. Allowing ourselves to really open up and reveal what we have inside is not easy, comfortable or always approved of, and it requires a huge amount of courage and trust.

The people around us and the circumstances in our lives often have a huge influence on how open we let ourselves be and the parts of ourselves that we feel comfortable expressing. Sometimes you don't even realize that you have been keeping a part of yourself hidden until you find someone who recognizes it, validates it and then reflects that part back to you thus encouraging you to open up more.

Those are the people that leave lasting impressions on our life. Perhaps even inspiring us to learn how to eventually live continually in a state of aliveness, openness, confidence and trust.

That must be where the saying "you impress me" comes from...