Call me Lighthouse Girl

For years I've had a dream. A dream I am quite sure will never be reality. The kind of dream that is more enjoyable as just a dream. My dream is to buy a lighthouse on the ocean. In a place where it storms everyday. A place where the stars shine so brilliantly, that I would be content living up in that tower forever. I've realized that it isn't our day to day lives that stop us from living our dreams. It's the other way around as well. Not that I regret my daydreaming about stargazing in my lighthouse with my prince charming after a thunderstorm. I don't regret anything, but I do think it's important for me to remember that my day to day life...can be the ultimate dream. Because we can choose almost everything about our lives. I can choose to think that if I can just buy my lighthouse, I'll be living the dream. Or I can choose to think that my extraordinary life will include marvelous adventures, perhaps including a tower by the sea. The difference is huge. But first you have to be extraordinary. I don't think extraordinary events just happen to people. You climb mount Everest once you get yourself there. We can't change what other people do to affect our lives. We can't always choose our situation, but we can always, ALWAYS choose to live an extraordinary life, and that's a choice I hope to make every single day.

For a Wise and Glorious Purpose....

Proposed in the lyrics of "Oh My Father," written by Eliza R Snow, is the idea that for a "wise and glorious purpose," we were placed here on earth. I think the word "placed," is a key word in this idea. We were not dropped down to earth, not thrust down to earth with a faint "good luck finding your way back up here!" yelled at us as we fell. So if we were placed here for a purpose (a wise and glorious one at that) what's the purpose? WHO KNOWS! Not me. Probably not you(but kudos to you if you do) and you probably think my next sentence will say something along the lines of "well go out and find your purpose!" Not quite. I'm not saying you shouldn't be putting yourself out there and searching for a way to positively impact this planet, but if you were sent here for a purpose, I'm entirely convinced that if we can just try our best to be be the best that WE can be, that IS our purpose. Side effects may include huge accomplishments, or small achievements. In fact, I really think few, if any will "find our purpose." I do think, however, that every single person will be able to look back on our existence on earth and realize that we were here to ____. Fill in the blank. Whether your purpose in this life, (or more accurately your placement in your exact life) is to cure cancer, or simply to be a friend to someone who has none, it is the same. We are where we are because only we can do what we can do. I don't think you can "find" your purpose, but rather you can realize that your purpose is everything you're doing today, and everything you've done in the past and everything that you ever will do... and believe that it's wise and glorious.

If everyone's ordinary...no one is.

I realize the title of this post is dramatic, and really I just take every opportunity I can to make references similar to lines from The Incredible's, but think about it. You don't live an ordinary life. They say that in 7ish billion people on planet earth there are about 6 people who look very similar to you. Your doppelgangers. But the thing with these physically similar humans is...that that's all they are. Physically similar. No one thinks like you. Even close identical twins are entirely different. Even though they look the same, and are in the same classes, and live in the same household, those attributes don't mean they will have the same opinions, or the same idea's or beliefs. Where am I going with this? Good question. I am just thinking out loud. I guess all I'm saying that when we classify ourselves as "normal," or "ordinary," we absentmindedly make it harder for ourselves to believe that our specific minds and brains and hearts can be unique enough to think thoughts never thought by anyone else. Idea's that only we can think. Problems only we can solve. Remember that even the slightest events in our lives can separate our way of thinking and feeling from everyone on earth. Don't discard your dreams and ideas. Because even if you think you're "nothing special," you are entirely you, and not anyone in the world can do exactly what you can do. Even your doppelgangers.