Dance In The Rain

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass... it's about learning to dance in the rain."

All I Really Need To Know...

I stumbled across Robert Fulghum's poem, All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten. I have read this poem countless times... but today's reading was different. I read it with a bit more life experience under my belt... much more than I had the last time my eyes met his words. And, it is for this reason that I am posting it: so that someone else might stumble across it and be reminded of the simple truths in life, the ones that can genuinely be adapted to any situation we might be facing. So, take a second look with fresh eyes and a fresh mind and remember a simpler time in your life and, of course, take something positive away from this.

All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten

by Robert Fulghum

- an excerpt from the book, All I Really Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten

ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate-school mountain, but there in the sandpile at Sunday School.

These are the things I learned:

Share everything.

Play fair.

Don't hit people.

Put things back where you found them.

Clean up your own mess.

Don't take things that aren't yours.

Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.

Wash your hands before you eat.

Flush.

Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.

Live a balanced life - learn some and think someand draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.

Take a nap every afternoon.

When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.

Be aware of wonder.

Remember the little seed in the styrofoam cup: The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that. Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.

And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.

Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living. Take any of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or your government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm. Think what a better world it would be if all - the whole world - had cookies and milk about three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments had a basic policy to always put thing back where they found them and to clean up their own mess. And it is still true, no matter how old you are - when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

Reasons To Smile

When you reflect on the journeys you have gone through in life up to this point, I hope that the ones that have made you smile the biggest, in turn, ring the loudest! All too often I cross paths with people, whether complete strangers, acquaintences, friends or family members, and there is no smile to be found. In good fashion, I enjoy taking advantage of this moment! A refreshing joke, a nod of my head or even a simple smile across my face tends to reciprocate to me a dancing smile from the once somber person across from me. Now, don't get me wrong... I, too, have those moments where a smile cannot be found. But, somehow, my subconscious generally knows to guide my synapses to a place of happiness, where I am enveloped in all of the delicate thoughts of peace and love and the occassional trip and fall that I witness (yes, I typically smile/laugh hysterically at the unfortunate tumbles I am privy to). Smiling is addictive and, whether you know it or not, may be just the thing that the people you come in contact with need the most. While one of the easiest things to give, it can often be one of the most overlooked. So, in an effort to convince people of the benefits of smiling AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, I will share with you 10 reasons why "I love smiling! Smiling's my favorite!". (list cited from Gillian Fisher, 6/19/09)

1. Health
Smiling changes the chemistry in your body and not just puts a smile on your face, but it sends a smile through your whole body. All the cells in your body plump up and become more resilient, because of positive hormones that flow through.

2. Mental Well being
Smiling is contagious, usually if you see one person smiling other people are smiling around them. Strangely enough as an onlooker you may just start smiling yourself.

3. Psychologically
Smiling can change your mood. One day you may be in a real slump of a mood and all you have to do is smile and your day creeps slowly out of it's mote and starts to shine.

4. Social Life
Smiling is fresh to look at and more people are attracted to you. If you are usually a smiling person, you are like a breath of fresh air that walks into a room.

5. Family Life
If you are a parent or sibling in a family, you can really warm up your family life and take tension away by just casting a smile to your family members. Being conscious of how many times you don't smile will make you conscious to smile. Why not smile?

6. Builds Self Esteem
When you smile you take away negative thoughts, hence are more apt to do things that you might normally be afraid to do. Bringing you closer to your life path.

7. Teaches Forgiveness
Sometimes it is very difficult to smile when you see a person you are angry with. When you think about what a smile does...and you just smile, the other person reflects your smile. It may take a few minutes, but a laugh may ensue...Forgiveness has already happened.

8. Emotion
If you are depressed and are having difficulty getting out of you're downing life. A conscious smile done daily, more often enough will eventually shine a light on depression. Life will start to unfold in good ways that you never thought possible.

9. Faith
Smiling is real and can awaken ideas, thoughts and faith.

10. Free
Smiling won't cost you a dime, nickel or penny. It is free for the taking and the giving. It is not only for just some people, but also for all people. It is our unique innate way of healing us in our daily life!

If you don't think these 10 reasons are reasons enough to smile, just look at this picture! Sometimes, this is the only reason anyone needs!

Have a great day and don't forget to smile!