Carrying a heavy heart

Credit

The events of this past weekend were truly horrifying and have placed a very sombre feeling over the whole nation. Especially right before Christmas. Unfortunately it takes such a tragic event to remind you to count your blessings every day and not to sweat the small stuff. I mean everyone complains. Daily. In the grand scheme of things, most of our complaints just don't matter. Standing in long lines, paying bills, we don't want to make dinner, or clean our rooms, etc, etc. All of these things are fixable. What took place on Friday is most certainly not fixable and my heart goes out to all the victims' families and anyone who was affected.

A lot of people may disagree, but I think the problem lies not with gun control laws or security of public places, but within ourselves. We love to place the blame on anyone but ourselves. It is so normal for people to throw around the words "hate" or "kill" anymore that if anyone means it, it just goes unnoticed. We need to work together to notice problems before they happen. Most of all, we need to stop hating and realize that the way we treat other people can have a larger impact than we think. Small acts of kindness are so much more powerful than we give credit.

Sometimes when I'm in a hurry at the grocery store and the person in front of me is taking just a little too long, I need to remind myself not to give an angry glare (which, I admit, occasionally does slip out). I take a deep breath, remind myself "Don't sweat the small stuff!", and realize that it is not the end of the world.

That being said, I'm keeping those who were affected in my prayers and so proud of the teachers that sacrificed their safety for others.

Love is a song that we've sung

My last post got me thinking about qualities that I really admire in other people and things that I want to improve in myself. Especially with the new year coming up, I need to keep these in mind. It's never too late to make a change in your life.

Here's what I came up with in no particular order.

1. Generosity
I need to try to be more generous and think about others instead of getting so caught up in my own problems. Small acts of kindness mean so much more than we even realize. I try to make an effort to do something nice for strangers or someone I love every day, but it's easy to get caught up in my own sorrows or frustrations that I don't always stick to it.

2. Genuinity
There's nothing that I appreciate more than when someone is truly genuine. Sometimes I will hold back something I want to say for fear of sounding fake.

3.Open-mindedness
 I can't stand when people are so closed-minded that they won't even listen to what others have to say. I've definitely improved on this aspect of my life since high school and feel like I am very open-minded. Open mind, open heart.

4. Free-spiritedness
This is something I struggle with. I am generally a carefree person, but occasionallly I tend to overthink, over-analyze, and worry, worry, worry. Hmm...not that worrying runs in my family or anything (wink, wink), but I am constantly trying to simplify my life and just be the best I can be. Worrying does nothing to solve the problem anyway.

5. Dreamers
This kind of goes along the lines of free-spirits, but I admire anyone who stays true to their dreams and doesn't let voices tell them they can't. I used to be a dreamer and believed that anything was possible, but as we gain more experience, reality makes it that much harder to do. I kind of have a love-hate relationship with this one. Most days I am such a dreamer and keep my head in the clouds, but other days reality knocks me down and I find it almost impossible that I was able to think such things. I'm making more of an effort to keep to the former.

What are qualities you admire and what do you want to improve?

It happened upon a midnight clear

Now that it's already the middle of December (crazy, I know!) I've been trying to really enjoy the holidays and not just the stress of it all. I've always been an overly obnoxious holiday person, but since most of my life I've had finals, homework, assignments up until the week before Christmas, I found it hard to take in the beauty of the season and enjoy every minute of it. I think it's important to stay true to the real meaning of Christmas. So...I have been taking time to find meaningful gifts, putting up decorations, watching classic movies, baking cookies, and most importantly: spending time with the ones I love. Once you remember to slow it down, this time of the year is just that much more special.

What do you love about this time of year?