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Welcome back Vibrant Fam! Today I start my travels back home to good ole Louisiana for a nice visit with family, I am both elated and nervous. The last time I went back to my home town was for my grandmother's funeral. This time I am going back to celebrate my mom's birthday and to celebrate my grandparents wedding anniversary with all of our family! Life throws some crazy things at you sometimes, you could be living the best life with so much to celebrate one moment and then feel like everything comes crashing down the next. The experience of emotion is one we all, I am sure, have come to
both love and hate. Today I want to talk about that -- that beauty of life in both the bad and the good. While striving for a positive outlook on life and positive overall well-being, it begs the question of what to do when something not so positive comes and pokes its head in. In those circumstances we could let the situation rule us, our actions and our mental state or we could persevere and push through while also feeling and experiencing the moment in real time. I stress the last part because it is important to truly feel what you are going through whether bad or good, I firmly believe part of living with a positive outlook requires us to be present in the good, the bad and the gray areas. It requires us to do some self-reflection, some emotional healing and overall learning. Instead of shutting down, pushing away and trying to fly away -- sit down, be present and allow the moment to wash over you and reflect on each piece. While this is most definitely going to be the exact opposite of what you want to do in some situations, I assure you that this is something that will grant you peace and knowledge in the grander scheme of things. As I write about this today I cannot help but be plagued with thoughts and memories of a book I read in High School that has stuck with me for years: Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. While most people remembered this book due to a test question about the eels (shout out Ruston High AP English fam) I just remember the imagery and how the author painted the beauty of life in both the positive light but also in what we may consider the dark areas: shark frenzies, decomposition, death and so on. Annie Dillard, the author, illustrated so eloquently and strangely how beautiful life was in ways that we typically regard as dark and ugly parts of the life cycle. I feel this book plays a perfect example into what I am writing about today because it illustrates how even in moments we typically portray as a negative and awful aspect still hold some sort of beauty, or for my purposes a place of growth and knowledge. Life is a classroom and we are all the students and instead of trying to fly away and out of the lesson, we need to begin to get comfortable in learning the lessons we are being taught and grasping that knowledge. Eventually we will have something else occur and we will be grateful that we learned a similar lesson at a prior time in our lives. All this to say, allow yourself to be comfortable in areas that typically may be an uncomfortable moment emotionally. It is not the end of the world, it is only a temporary experience but working through it and listening to it will give you a greater insight to yourself and your overall being. You are so incredibly intricate, beautiful and astounding. Study yourself and allow yourself to grow and prosper because whether you believe it now or not -- you deserve to shine as bright as possible in this class, I mean life. Much love to you all Vibrant Fam and as always, Spread Love, Spread Light and Stay Vibrant.