Thursday, August 25, 2011

I promise

  • To be so strong that nothing can disturb my peace of mind.
  • To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person I meet.
  • To make all my friends feel that there is something in them.
  • To look at the sunny side of everything and make my optimism come true.
  • To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.
  • To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as I am about my own.
  • To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
  • To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature I meet a smile.
  • To give so much time to the improvement of myself that I have no time to criticize others.
  • To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.
I think everyone should read/try to follow the optimist creed. Thanks to Miss MAR for bringing this into my life. <3

Love & Light,
TMV

Monday, August 15, 2011

Stroll down memory lane

I have so much on my mind sometimes, I don't know how to focus. Best way to deal with that? Get out of the house and avoid studying for a while. I couldn't stare at Kaplan testing strategies any longer, so I grabbed my bike and went for a ride around good ole' Fort Collins.

I can't even begin to describe how many things I love about this town. My mother once told me that if I'm having a bad day, I should try to find all the beauty in the little things in life. She taught me to take my attention off my own struggles, worries, and concerns in order to find peace with the world around me again. I love you Mom- where would I be without you?

While on my ride around town, I thought a lot about how difficult it is to leave behind the comfort of a familiar place. I know my favorite baristas in town, places to get away for a moment of solitude, where to find beautiful gardens to gaze at, how to access miles of bike trails, the best time of day to go for a run, etc. I love that I can wave at strangers, stop to smell the flowers, pause to reflect on my life, and smile looking back at the memories I have made in this town.
Perfection & Beauty. Right beneath my nose!

I love that I finally had a summer to spend in Fort Collins. I don't know where all the days went, but somehow the peaceful summer town is bustling again with college students moving back up for the fall semester. I realized this is the first fall I will not be going back to school- and what an incredibly odd feeling it really is. My life is finally taking a turn away from what I always knew was going to happen. I knew I would finish high school and go to college. Although I am a little fearful of the unknown, it is an incredibly liberating feeling knowing that the pages in front of me are blank. Who knows what I will find to fill the pages with?

A lot of my other thoughts today were about wonder and relaxation. I have a hard time relaxing, and I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I'm always setting higher goals for myself. Although it seems silly to keep pushing myself, I am thankful for all the steps I have taken to get myself to where I am today. I hope that I never lose my curiosity and wonder about the world around me... I wonder if my education helped or inhibited me from doing that. Either way, I hope to always search for meaning and purpose in everything I do, while learning to give myself a break too.
How can you not be curious about this?

A beautiful ride through the oval at CSU.

A quote about relaxation, from one of my favorite books:
"When in doubt, relax. Be cool. Don't worry, be happy. Breathe in slowly, breathe out slowly. Think sweet thoughts. Think of your blessings. Hang loose. Melt in the presence of friends. Pray, sing, and make weird noises. Laugh for long periods of time. Hug for a long time. Get and give massages. Give up guilt, hate, duty, sacrifice, boredom, loneliness, fear, judgment, and formality. Plop down on a big pillow. Say nice things to yourself and to others."
Breathe in positivity, breathe out negativity. All is well in the world, you just have to find the time to look at it, focus on it, and let the goodness manifest in you.

Love & Light,
TMV

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

The Countdown Begins..

Well, the countdown has already begun. 31 days until my MCAT, 53 days until the Patch Adams Medical Elective, and 146 days until I leave for the Peace Corps. Although that may sound like a lot of time to some of you, it is beginning to feel like a huge time crunch to me!

As some of you may know, I am a bit OCD at times, and I often try to do too many things at once. I am currently trying to find a way to strike a balance between finding time to cross things off my to do list, visiting loved ones, studying for my test, and making enough money to allow me to do all the things I want to do. No one is kidding when they say being a grown up is hard!

I will be moving away from Fort Collins this month and I didn't realize how difficult it will actually be to leave this beautiful town. It's always a weird feeling to close a chapter in life -my time at CSU is something I will always cherish. Although, I must excitedly admit that I am so lucky to have much, much more in front of me.

Sometimes I feel as though I am wasting away studying. (I do truly hope some of it sinks in...) During my studies today, I found a rather hilarious piece of writing that I thought I might share with you.


I feel like a lot of my reading for the MCAT looks like that anyway... ! Thanks to good ole Kaplan, they taught me how to pick out the main points of the writing sample. Makes me stop to think about what's really important in my own life, and what is just filling up space.

Love & Light,
TMV