Quote of the Week

Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art . . . it has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival. 

~ C.S. Lewis

True friends are one of the most magical things in life.  You never know where and when they will appear but, when they do, it is hard to know how you ever lived without them.  When I start forgetting who I am or wonder if I will ever "really" connect with anyone again, it only takes a phone call or lunch date with an old friend to make everything better.  After a good chat, I am always left knowing that if I love my friends and they love me, I must lovable.  And then, everything is OK again.  Magic.

Quote of the Week

I know that there is no way to happiness.  Happiness is the way.  

~ The Tao

I've always had a very strong work ethic and grew up with the attitude of "no pain, no gain".  However, I recently had an epiphany about all this.  While visiting my physiotherapist (epiphanies happen in the weirdest places), I told her that I was trying my best to keep my irritable shoulder in it's proper position.  I thought that this would be a good thing, but, instead, she told me not to force my shoulder and that relaxation would be the key to recovery.  Seriously?  The idea that something that felt good was actually good for me was too much to comprehend.  

After thinking about all of this for a couple of days, I realized how often I've done things that I didn't like or didn't want or that hurt simply because I thought I had to struggle or go through difficulty in order to accomplish my goals.  While I would never want to live a life without a few challenges here and there, it seems that following what feels good might be just as valuable as taking that road less traveled.  My new goal: don't try to pursue happiness, just go with it.