Random Act of Silliness

This story is really good, but if you don’t have the patience, just skip down to the bottom two lines:

http://www.dumblittleman.com/2011/02/happiest-day-of-dying-marines-life.html

Take it easy,
-Chris

Bettering Yourself Does Not Equal Better Than Others

It’s exactly what the title says. Self Improvement is wonderful, but be careful how you think of it…

Peace,
-Chris

Math Needs To Grow Up (Funny)

Dear Math,
Please grow up and solve your own problems. I don’t have time for yours AND mine
Sincerely, Mary

Lessons From Rockclimbing

Sorry, more half-hearted posts that I DO intend to come back to when I have time, I climbed about 4 5-10′s this weekend. How? I just kept stubbornly trying. Even the routes I went into thinking: “Well, I know I won’t be able to get this, but it’s worth a shot…” and then I got it. Maybe not my first try, maybe it didn’t look pretty, but I GOT IT!

LESSON? ANYTHING you want is worth giving a shot. Don’t be afraid to give it one.

GOOD LUCK ON THE WEEK BEFORE SPRING BREAK YAL! (crazy test weeks…)
-Chris

My Wallet-less Experience

First and foremost, Praise God, I’m SO happy I found the thing. I really had given up hope, but I really just wanted to know where it had gone, and that fueled me to keep looking.

THE LESSON? Don’t Give Up!

I’ll expand on this later, but I just wanted to get the idea down
PEACE!
-Chris

The Power of Smiling

“Smiling is a powerful weapon that can cut down the hardest heart”

I just went to a Josh Ritter concert and the guy played probably over half the concert with a huge smile on his face. It’s people like him that make me realize how wonderful life is, and that maybe we should all smile a little more too…

Good night everyone!
-Chris

Pursuing Passion

I was thinking about something today. There was a group of three girls who went running by me, and they were in EXTREME shape, and their bodies showed it. Now, the reason I mentioned their bodies is because I got to thinking how they pushed themselves to that point. It wouldn’t surprise me if somewhere, early on, one of them had said, “I want to look like I’m in great shape!’ The thing is, often times with things like that, midway through your goal changes to some athletic goal.

What am I talking about? I’ll give a personal example. When I went to New Zealand in May 2009 I met three people who were living really inspired lives. I decided then and there that I needed to get my act together so I could be happy like they were. What I realized though, is that what brought them inspired lives was their closeness to God. I don’t think their main goal in life was to be inspired, I think it was to be close to God. When you are close to God, your goals tend to be more along the lines of helping people, spreading love, or just trying to show your appreciation for how wonderfully blessed you are. At least, that’s how I feel.

But the key thing to realize is that when you are close to God, you don’t need to think: “Man, I wish I was more inspired…” When you’re close to God, you ARE inspired 100% of the time.

It’d be like the girl running by me thinking: “Man, I wish I could feel fit…” Her goal of getting into even better running shape caused her to be fit. For her, wishing to be fit would just be silly.

The reason I was thinking about this is because recently I’ve become much more athletic, and I do think my body has reflected that. I feel that I have very little weight on my body that does not get utilized when I either climb or hike. But the reason I’ve been able to push myself to this extent is because I want to climb harder routes, and hike longer, faster. I’m still just as much of a wimp as I was last year when I was playing video games and watching TV. The only difference is that I’m very passionate about something, and am willing to sacrifice what it takes to achieve my goal. I still think looking better is a nice perk, but it’s all about climbing V3′s now! That goal has led me to eat almost vegan, and climb 4x a week.

To achieve any effect, be it confidence, body type, or spiritual connection, you must pursue a path related to something you care about.

LESSON OF THE DAY? You can’t achieve the effect without taking the path.

Also, I think it helps to talk to people about what inspires them and motivates them. You can get a lot of insight on ways to push yourself if you find out what makes others click. Sometimes the question is a little dumb, other times awkward, but you can learn a lot by simple questions such as, “why do you like to win?”

Hope your day is full of wonder and joy!!!
-Chris

How To Feel Better Right Now

You know that thing that’s bothering you? That assignment, that test, that family issue. Go deal with it.

I read a lot of ‘keys to happiness’ articles telling you how to act in stressful situations, when all I really needed to do was just get some work done. It’s lovely to have a positive attitude, but the best solution is just working on your issues, and trying to change your and others lives for the better.

As for the things you can’t go deal with that way, such as a dying family member, I’m sorry but I can’t offer you any help there. There are some things that an attitude change can fix, there are other times when we are meant to feel sad. But don’t forget to appreciate the little things. I personally LOVE the smell of rain on sidewalks. I am looking forward to that tomorrow! (And we get thunderstorms! I also love storms!)

And new, awesome friends! (just made a new one this weekend).
and fasting on mondays!
and going to sleep!
and weeks where I don’t have tests!
and actually knowing what’s going on in my homework! (thank you Tutoringzone…)
And awesome new songs! (Change of Time – Josh Ritter)
AND CONCERTS – Josh Ritter on Wednesday
ANNDDDDD people who actually read my blog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU guys are the BEST!

Nite all! I’ll try to come up with some story for you in the near future.
-Chris

You Can’t Gain Happiness…

Without first putting in an equal amount of work.

Now, this is another quote from Fullmetal Alchemist, and certainly there are exceptions to the rule. But the key message (to me) is to remember not to just sit around wishing to be happy. If a person wants to be happy, they need to get out into the world and make the changes so that happens.

Peace!
-Chris

Funny Joke

if I had to describe how my Media Law test just went, it would be like me going into battle equipped with a squirt gun and a whoopie cushion…against 1,000 angry ninjas.

This joke was thanks to a friend of mine, I thought this was hilarious
-Chris