Keep smiling

“Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.”

-       Dr. Seuss

Did you know that Dr. Seuss wasn’t actually a doctor? Yet he’s still quoted around the world for his great and simple insight into human beings and relationships through his children’s stories and artwork. Dr. Seuss was just a pen name he came up with incorporating his middle name. Officially he was Theodor Seuss Geisel. But not having a doctorate on a paper did not make him any less of a genius than he was.

He was known for his positivity and optimism and his inspiration to look for the good in all things and people. It wasn’t like Dr. Seuss didn’t know what it was to suffer. He’d made mistakes in his life, big ones and very grown-up, adulterated ones. But he got one of his greatest life lessons from them that he imparted to the world through his literature, which was to simply smile and move forward. Life might not be great, we might not be where we really want to be or who we want to be; but maybe if we just smile and push through, we’ll get through it alright.

In its entirety, life is too beautiful – albeit, too unpredictable – to cry over what could have, should have, or would have been. Our smile often stems from our joy, but every once in a while maybe we should just smile for the hell of it and let our joy stem from the miracle that it is to be alive (and able to smile).

The Doorway

“What are the events in life? 

It’s like you see a door. 

The first time you come to it you say ‘Oh, what’s on the other side of the door?’ 

Then you open a few doors, then you say ‘I think I want to go over that bridge this time, I’m tired of doors.’ 

Finally, you go through one of these things and you come out the other side and you realize that’s all there are. 

Doors and windows and bridges and gates and they all open the same way and they all close behind you. 

Look, life is supposed to be a path and you go along and these things happen to you and they’re supposed to change you, change your direction. 

But it turns out that’s not true. It turns out the experiences are nothing. They’re just some cents that you pick up off the floor, stick in your pocket. 

You’re just going in a straight line to you know where.”

What is Happiness?

"You're happy with fifty percent? 

You're on top and you don't have enough. 

You're happy because you're successful, for now.

But what is happiness, it's a moment before you need more happiness.

I won't settle for fifty percent of anything. I want one hundred percent."

Moments

There's a moment in everybody's life when you're hopeless, just helpless with hope and trust. 

And then something happens, something too big to understand, and then everything changes forever. 

If you ask me, you start out with goodness so pure and clear you won't even know it's there, because that's the way it is when you don't know anything. 

And then the news begins to arrive. 

That Holiday Sadness

You know that feeling you get on a Sunday afternoon? Its not just that the weekend is over and you have to go back to school or work the next day, but a feeling like the dream is over and you have to get out of bed.

There’s a bit of that feeling every holiday too. It’s the best and worst time of the year. There’s a reason to be happy when you have people to share the time with and there’s an excuse to listen to lame music and not roll your eyes at soppy things anymore.

But for those who are alone, it is the worst. Even for those who are lucky enough to have love around them, it will end and you have to go back to work and school once the holiday is over and start a new year all over again.

It is true; all good things must come to an end. But that is no reason to not enjoy it while it lasts.

If Only...

“Of all the words of mice and men, the saddest are, “It might have been.””

-       Kurt Vonnegut

One of the worst things to have to live with is regret. There is no baggage quite as heavy as the weight that comes with opportunities not grabbed and chances not taken; as moments that have passed you by.

It’s a simple thought, a simple to solution, which can save you a lifetime of “What if’s?” and a lifetime of living in a time that could have been. You see, sometimes we have to earn our futures. Anything worth having has to be earned, and if there is a good and happy future to be had, it must be earned. And to earn it, you have to make choices that you can look back on years later and not wish that you would have done things differently. If you do not earn your future, you risk the fate of living in your present for all your life – or worse yet, living in your past.

Do something because you want to, not because you have to. Grab the moment, seize the day, kiss on the first date. Don’t let the noose of regrets wrap itself around your neck, robbing you of the sweet air found in living the life of your dreams.