Category Archives: Finding Me

Anything related to the discovery of the inner me

We can be brighter than the sun!

12 Thursday Jul 2012

Posted by in Daily Life, Dating, Finding Me, Poetry

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Because I am duality personified: One day I cry over a lost love, the next I smile dreaming and welcoming a new one.  Because fear of getting hurt again doesn’t scare me!

So, this is to you, brand new, dare I say it? yes I dare, LOVE!

Because I dare to dream I dare to want you

I dare to want you because I dare to dream

In this sacred space that is called heart

I have made room for you, and yet it is not a prison – you can always get out

But if you choose to leave some remnants of what never was will always be

Because the dark crying days makes me want you more

The magic of what it is to come is too tempting to pass up

I wished I had waited for you and be yours to discover for the first time

I hoped and pursued, and in each failed one I hoped for you

But your arrival is still doubtful, your fears are consuming, almost paralyzing

And in the pieces of my broken heart I see the future even more bright

I am in love with the now, with all the promises that it holds

Nothing better than to wonder when we will meet, to dream about the details

Who needs reality? All my dreams awake and asleep are you

Will you be as hungry for me as I am for you?

Turning my bedroom into a battle zone, messing up my hair and my mind in the end

I want all that intimacy again, but I want more and I want better

I want to be taken and savored and fall sleep exhausted in your arms

In the meantime I wait, for you to come and take what is yours

And yet there is no pressure, nothing will change, because in all this I am just being me

Simply loving, without fully knowing, completely giving without reservations

Taking huge leaps of faiths, willing to fall and get hurt again

My mind tries, but the heart is always in control, so there is no choice but to offer myself completely

**

Because sometimes a song illustrates so well what I want to say.  This song is for you because I think our love can be brighter than the sun

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KU5o6M7S5nQ

“Brighter Than The Sun” – Colbie Caillat

Stop me on the corner
I swear you hit me like a vision
I, I, I wasn’t expecting
But who am I to tell fate where it’s supposed to go with it
Don’t you blink you might miss it
See we got a right to just love it or leave it
You find it and keep it
Cause it ain’t every day you get the chance to say

Oh, this is how it starts, lightning strikes the heart
It goes off like a gun, brighter than the sun
Oh, we could be the stars, falling from the sky
Shining how we want, brighter than the sun

I’ve never seen it, I found this love, I’m gonna feed it
You better believe, I’m gonna treat it better than anything I’ve ever had
Cause you’re so damn beautiful
Read it, it’s signed and delivered let’s seal it
Boy we go together like peanuts and paydays and Marley and reggae
And everybody needs to get a chance to say

Oh, this is how it starts, lightning strikes the heart
It goes off like a gun, brighter than the sun
Oh, we could be the stars, falling from the sky
Shining how we want, brighter than the sun

Everything is like a white out, cause we shika-shika a shine down
Even when the, when the light’s out but I can see you glow
Got my head up in the rafters, got me happy ever after
Never felt this way before, ain’t felt this way before

I swear you hit me like a vision
I, I, I wasn’t expecting
But who am I to tell fate where it’s supposed to go?

Oh, this is how it starts, lightning strikes the heart
It goes off like a gun, brighter than the sun
Oh, we could be the stars, falling from the sky
Shining how we want, brighter than the sun, yeah
Oho, yeah, oho

Oh, this is how it starts, lightning strikes the heart
It goes off like a gun, brighter than the sun
Oh, we could be the stars, falling from the sky
Shining how we want, brighter than the sun, yeah
Brighter than the sun.
Brighter than the sun.
Brighter than the sun.
Oho, yeah, oho

Oh, this is how it starts, lightning strikes the heart
It goes off like a gun, brighter than the sun
Oh, this is how it starts, lightning strikes the heart
It goes off like a gun, brighter than the sun
Oh, this is how it starts, lightning strikes the heart
It goes off like a gun, brighter than the sun
Oh, this is how it starts, lightning strikes the heart
It goes off like a gun, brighter than the sun

Hanging on for dear life!

10 Tuesday Jul 2012

Posted by in EX Files, Finding Me

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Yesterday was a days of ups and downs. One minute laughing, the next crying.

UP. I woke up happier than usual, for the first time in several months I have slept 6 hours straight!

DOWN. I was walking to the station and all of a sudden next to me there is this man with a huge snake around his neck. All snake lovers out there please forgive me but I am terrified of snakes.  It is more than that, to me they are always an omen of an impeding catastrophe.

UP. When returning the rental car the bill was $100 less than it was quoted. (by the way I rented a car to drive to Atlantic City to see Kanye West, I will write a post about at some point)

DOWN. We fired an employee.  I am sad and scared for him.  His life was already a mess, I am afraid that he may spiral out of control.  On the other hand this could be the best thing that ever happened to him.  Sometimes a person doesnt see a way out until they hit rock bottom.

UP. The books I ordered for a friend arrived and I was so excited to mail it to them. I truly enjoy giving gifts better than receiving. I can’t wait for him to get them!

MAJOR DOWN. Ex e-mails me to confirm that I am not going away with him to an event this weekend and letting me know there are still tickets left.  He also added that he hoped we could remain in touch.

It brought back a whole host of happy memories of the same event last year.  Was it all lies? Was I alone in my happiness and didn’t know it?

I replied thank you for the information and all the best, that is all I said.  Of course that was a green light for him to e-mail again. I ignored the following e-mail. But the damage was already done I was already a pile of tears.

I e-mailed my friend, or perhaps I should call him “my rock”. He pointed out some things to me:

1) I am not really completely over Ex, and perhaps there will always be something there.

2) If I really want to get over him I need to be tough and take a stand on any contact.

3) He is really not respecting my wishes about invitations.

4) He thinks that I will give in and have a relationship on his terms (booty call, vacation buddy)

5) I have to give up the idea of being friends with him.  If he was at least honest about his wrongdoing but he refuses to acknowledge and talk about it.  I cannot be friends with somebody I don’t respect.

5) I was being a bit of a masochist in trying to continue a relationship with him.

And he is right on all counts! So I once again resolve not to ever reply to any contact again.

Thank God the work day is coming to an end.

UP. I got to the lobby of my building and one of the doormen calls me aside and says that it is his last day working here, and I am one person that he wanted to make sure to say good bye because as he puts it: “you are always smiling and so happy, so pleasant, a joy to be around”. It is rewarding to hear that. No matter what is going on inside I try to always have a smile on my face and spread joy to those around me.

UP. I went to my Zumba class, actually the instructor corrected me, her class is not Zumba, it is Cuban Fusion – same difference if you ask me, fun all the same. It was amazing.  I love to dance.  I felt so happy and high as a kite after the class.

MAJOR DOWN.  Another email from Ex waiting for me at home.  Once again he is talking about the event.  I realized that by replying some times and silence others I was sending him mixed signals and still leaving the door open. So I wrote him a final e-mail.  This e-mail came straight from the pain in my heart. I said it all over again, but this time I asked him not to contact me in any way, shape or form.  Up to now I had asked him not to invite me to trips and dinners, but I dont think I ever said do not contact me at all.

It is hard to explain, but how can I close the door on a part of me? He, I realize, still has my heart in his hands.

***

How do I feel now? I am not sure. It feels over.  It feels I am missing part of my body and I will never get it back.  While I absolutely don’t want him back, I guess I still liked the idea of having him in my life. I still liked to hear from him.  It is hard to imagine that I will have no contact with someone that I shared everything for 3 years, someone that I thought I would be with for the rest of my life.  It is hard to write this, to face this.

Now it is in writing, it is in black and white.  And I am making myself a promise not to reply to any contact, if ever he tries again.

it feels final! and sad, and painful all over again!

****

I just received an e-mail from him saying that he is not happy but he will comply with my wishes.  He also added all the same bs, that he loves me, that he misses me and cries about me, but we can’t be together now, he is just too busy with business, etc. That he hopes that if I cannot be his lover, that I choose to be his friend and keep in touch.

cry me a river!

***

I am fine, some would say I am thriving.  My life hasn’t stopped because my heart is in pieces and my insides in shambles.

Lately the good days have been outnumbering the bad days.

Moments of never wanting to fall in love again are rare.  Moments of excitement of a new somebody are constant.

I am enjoying discovering feelings for somebody new.  Somebody, who is just a friend now. Actually he is not “just” a friend. He is a FRIEND!  Having feelings for somebody else makes me feel that life is not over.  Still, days such as yesterday makes me aware that the pain is still fresh, that Ex still means something, that I should go slow and not use one person to try to forget another.

So, I fall, I get up, I fall again and I get up again! I know I will always get up, thanks to God and all the angels he puts in my path!

(all images from google images)

Heart, heart… what are you saying?

08 Sunday Jul 2012

Posted by in Dating, Finding Me

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I am sitting here trying to finish a post about my finances, but my mind is some place else.  I am thinking of how I have been in dealing with my emotions and expectations lately.  Expectations is, by the way, a word that I would like to remove from my vocabulary.

So the post about finances will have to wait (along with the check to the IRS)

I have been taking baby steps in the right direction in dealing with my emotions and expectations.  I have a long, long way to go, but these small improvements have me believing that I can get there.  There being a place where I can freely love without a single expectation.  Love for the sake of love alone!! There being a place that I know that what I feel is love for the other person, not lust, not wanting and needing to be touched only.

This has been a very hard post to write. It is hard for me admit that perhaps I shouldn’t completely and blindly listen to my heart.

I pride myself in being honest and telling it like it is. So the moment that I have feelings for someone, and for the sake of this post I am only talking about romantic relationships, I put it all out there.  I never learned how to play the dating game. I never learned how to be coy, how to play hard to get, how to go slow.  There are no mysteries with me, no guessing games. If I like someone I tell them. I bare myself and my soul.

… and then it is up to the other person to deal with me and my bluntness and all my expectations.

I will never say honesty is a problem, honesty to me is always the solution.  But there is such a thing as too much too soon and it comes with a price.  That price is rejection and pain, with perhaps the highest price being the never blossoming of a lasting love. There is also the issue of not knowing if my feelings are real or just an illusion of the love I want so bad in my life.

Problem 1: Recognizing feelings for what they are. Is it love or something else?

Baby step solution: Admitting I have a problem distinguishing my feelings. Admitting the possibility that not all my loving feelings are real love. 

So until I learn how to tell my feelings apart  (which I cannot begin to guess how to do that) I am going to deal with my impulsive actions in regards to those feelings. I have been speaking and acting with haste and without a conscious thought my entire life.   It is not only okay, but wise, to slow down and wait to see if the feelings I am feeling will remain and grow or just go away.  I can still be honest with myself and my feelings, but I just need to exercise a little caution. I should err on the side of slowness.

“Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.”  ― Thich Nhat Hanh

Admitting I may have a problem happened with the help of, not only, pain and reflection, but also of a friend.  He has been helping me to see that blindly following my heart and emotions may feel amazing in the beginning but it can lead to heartache.  The irony is that he is my current object of affection, attention and constant daydreaming. While I have been trying to convince him to just act on impulse he has been trying to reign me in,  trying to get me to slow down.

It is not easy for me to accept people’s help and guidance. It is not easy for me to admit that I cannot figure it all out alone.  This friend has been a blessing.  He has put up with tears and bad jokes.  He has been standing his ground as I try to, time and time again, seduce him.  In the past I would have moved on from him, but this time I want to stick around and see what the future holds. This time I am able to see the value in the friendship and not think of the romance alone.  Perhaps I am stronger and wiser, perhaps I see in him the teachings I need.  Perhaps I am ready to admit my shortcomings and make changes. Perhaps I see that his heart is in as much pain as mine. Perhaps I am just old and tired! 🙂

Problem # 2: Impulsiveness.  Reacting on every feeling, real or not.

Baby step solution: Trying to sit with the feeling before reacting. Trying do engage my mind into the equation.  Trying being the key word here.

My impulsiveness has caused me to just blurt out what my heart is thinking as soon as I think it.  I say whatever comes to mind to anyone, at any time, in any circumstance.  Some times people think I am funny, sometimes they think I am a breath of fresh air, but most times I am just too straightforward to some, too shocking. I jump in head first in a relationship just because it feels right.  Just because my heart told me so.

There is no thought in my actions.  There is impulse and reaction.  There is really no time for anything else.  So the key has been trying to slow things down enough to have my mind in the mix.

“Let the first impulse pass, wait for the second.” Baltasar Gracian

Text and e-mails were sent out of the blue just because.  That modus operandi lead to disappointment and unnecessary grief many many times and lead to relationships ending before they started. I think I have scared men.

In the past an example of my pattern would go something like this: I hear my heart talking about some feeling for someone and if I felt reciprocated I would go in overdrive mode. I would sent texts and emails and not be shy about talking about my feelings.  I would feel amazing about it… for about a second. Then reality would set in and I would be maniacally waiting for a reply that sometimes never came.

My impulsiveness is never alone, it is always accompanied by its sister expectations.

Problem #3: Controlling my expectations. Always expecting acceptance and love in return.

Baby step solution: Considering the consequences of each action and the potential result.  Trying to understand my expectations and letting them go.  Enjoying the feeling of an action without an expectation and building on that feeling.

When I didn’t get a response to my e-mails or text, or when the person somehow didn’t live up to my expectations, I would blame and admonish myself for my haste and I would blame the other person for giving me those feelings and then backing away.  I never understood why wasn’t the person seeing the genuineness of my words and actions.  Why wasn’t the person honored by my attention and affection?

In the past everything I did had expectations attached to them.  Everything! No one could win with so much expected from them.  It was like I was always setting the other person up to fail, and they eventually did.

In the last couple of weeks I have come up with and have put in a practice a 1 minute rule to deal with my e-mailing and texting. When I write a text or an e-mail I force myself to go away from it for 1 minute.  In that minute I answer the following question: Will I be okay if I don’t get a reply, or if the reply is not positive?  If my answer is yes then I hit send, if the answer is no or maybe than I save it and revisit it later or just go ahead and deleted it.

It has been amazing what this one little change has done.  It has freed me.  I continue to send emails and texts that are perhaps a little too forward, but they go off into the sunset on their own, with no expectations attached. I hit send and forget it.  I no longer keep checking my phone looking for a reply.  The truth is I still over share, but I no longer put any burden on the other person to reciprocate.  Some times I get responses back and some times I get silences and I am okay with both because my goal has changed. The goal is to honor that feeling at that moment and not to get anything back.

Now, phone calls and in-person are another story.  As far as those I am trying to speak slow and to actually hear the other person out. Slowing down seems to be the way to go for me in all senses.

“When you stop expecting people to be perfect, you can like them for who they are.”  ― Donald Miller

I have faith that I am going in the right direction.  I know I am not betraying my heart, even though it feels a little like that, but I am helping my heart make informed decisions. Impulsiveness is me, but it doesn’t have to be the whole me, it doesn’t have to define me. Expectations is a fact of life for me but I can learn to co-exist with it in peace.

Lastly, I know I have used the  word “change”, but I actually like the word “improving” better.  I don’t want to change myself, I want to improve myself! God has made me this way for a reason and I don’t want to change me. He also gave me tools, sometimes in the form of people, to guide me and help me to grow.  God has given me wisdom to see that I don’t have to cause myself unnecessary pain.   He has opened my eyes to see that I am no alone.

my friend is a cookie in a cookie jar that is way beyond my reach. If I go up on the counter to try to reach it I may fall and hurt myself. But sometimes all I want is a cookie and nothing else will do! sometimes scraped knees don’t seem too bad! 🙂

Allowing my brown eyes to scream

04 Wednesday Jul 2012

Posted by in Daily Life, Finding Me

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Happy Independence Day USA!

And to celebrate it I am declaring my Independence today, independence from thinking that I am not allowed to cry. Today I declare myself free to cry if I want to! and even if I don’t want to but it just happens. I am free to cry anywhere, anytime and about anyone or anything.

ok, ok, in all fairness I am writing this at pms time and specially at this time I am a cry baby.  I cry for no reason. I cry for fiction, I cry for reality.

Just now I cried watching Drop Dead Diva, it was the scene where Owen takes Jane on a horse drawn carriage ride. I guess it was tears of happiness for her. Yes I am happy for a TV character, do you have a problem with that? and sad, sad to wonder when will I have a guy do romantic stuff like that for me? Am I not worth or deserving?

I cry if someone looks at me the wrong way, says the wrong thing, makes me feel inferior, makes me feel powerless. I cry because I am overwhelmed and all of a sudden my happy attitude and easy smile is a little forced.  All of a sudden the strong me is this weakling person I don’t recognize.

I cry for the past, for all that is gone that I am still trying to hold onto. I cry because the more I try to hold onto the less of a hold I have.  I cry even more when I realize that what I was trying to hold onto was not worth having in the first place. It is impossible to try to save something that never existed.

I cry for what it could have been, but for some reason or another never became! I cry because sometimes the pain in my heart is so intense that if I don’t cry I feel I will burst.  I cry because, just because, no special motive or reason is necessary.

So here is the a-ha moment, the moment that I realized that I was being too hard on myself, that I was not treating myself fairly:

I was with a friend on the phone and he made the comment that I couldn’t possibly understand how he felt about his kids because I didn’t have any kids.  At once I got this lump in my throat.  I tried holding it in, but tears immediately welled up in my eyes, and when he asked I couldn’t deny that I was crying.

You, the readers that don’t have any children, don’t you love when people say that? When people point out that you have no children, and therefore couldn’t understand the joys and hardships of parenthood.  I don’t need to put my hand in the fire to know that it burns. I don’t need to be a mother to know that there is an indescribable bond between parent and child, and to know that parenthood comes with a long list of sacrifices – that they tell me is all well worth.   I am not a parent but I have had experience in the subject.  I have had my hands in raising a few, first as a nanny raising 2 kids, one from when he was 2 days old until 6 years of age, and later being stepmom to 2 pre-teens. I did spend sleepless nights with a baby, take a toddler to get stitches, I did have to deal with a pre-teen wanting to have sleepovers and had the talks about sex and drugs, among a myriad of parenting moments.

But now I getting off the subject of this post.  This post is not about things people say that hurt us, it is not about pms, it is not about wanting or not to have kids, all of those will be subject for future post or have already been.  This post is about tears, about being comfortable with crying, about allowing oneself to have their feelings shown.

In all fairness if it was not for the mighty pms I probably wouldnt have cried about hearing that. It is not the first time I am being presented with the astounding revelation that I don’t have kids.  It burns and hurts but it doesn’t normally make me cry.

When I started crying on the phone, I tried to hide it, but it is impossible to talk with a lump on the throat.

My friend felt bad!  I felt embarrassed and weak! I don’t want anyone to be afraid to talk to me honestly because I may cry.   I proceeded to explain to him how I hated crying because I thought it was a sign of weakness and I considered myself a strong person.

He said: I cry, do you think I am weak?

I said: NO, when a man cries I think it is a sign of strenght, of manliness, he is man enough to be okay with showing his emotions.  I like men that cries. And I was being completely honest! Nothing more beautiful than someone having feelings and demonstrating and not being afraid to show them.  And for that matter I feel that way about not only men, but anyone crying except myself.

Why am I setting myself apart as this one being that is not allowed to have emotions? And when having emotions why can’t I allow myself to show them?  I realized I have double standards when it comes to myself and my emotions.  I expect so much from myself.  I expect myself to be cool, calm and collected at all times.  I expect myself to be a pillar of strength.  I pride myself for being in control of everything and most important my emotions.

I guess this is one of those moments where the light bulb goes on in your head. A moment of learning and growing. A moment to make a conscious effort to be good to myself. I need to stop being so hard on myself. I need to be kind to myself and realize I am only an extra emotional human being.

so I cry, big deal! Who cares, move on. That is my new winning attitude!

I came across the following beautiful quotes:

“There is a sacredness in tears. They are not a mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition and of unspeakable love.”
― Washington Irving

“Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts. I was better after I had cried, than before–more sorry, more aware of my own ingratitude, more gentle.”
― Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

“Beauty of whatever kind, in its supreme development, invariably excites the sensitive soul to tears.”
― Edgar Allan Poe

“Tears are the noble language of eyes, and when true love of words is destitute. The eye by tears speak, while the tongue is mute.”
― Robert Herrick

Who am I to argue with those amazing writers?

Let us all allow the tears to flow freely as they will. Let people feel bad if they hurt our feelings and lets us use that moment to talk about why the words hurt. Lets use the tears to open the doors to deeper and more meaningful conversations.  Lets use tears to bond us as human beings who have emotions and are strong enough to show them.  (I do know that the last thing my friend would want to do was to hurt me, he instead has been the source of smiles and laughter)

Let the tears speak when the feeling is too overwhelming for words. Let the world see you are sad or happy, let the world see you are alive and only human. Don’t make your feelings invisible!

So I will continue crying because it is in my nature, but I will feel less ashamed, less weak.  Next time I cry I will open a bottle of champagne to celebrate the moment!

So today, in this beautiful freeing day, what are you declaring independence from?

Foolish Heart

02 Monday Jul 2012

Posted by in Dating, Finding Me

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The other day I felt I needed to have a heart to heart with my heart, so I sat down to start to write it a note.  Then I realized that Steve Perry already wrote what I wanted to say:

“Foolish Heart”

I need a love that grows
I don’t want it unless I know
With each passing hour
Someone somehow
Will be there, ready to share

I need a love that’s strong
I’m so tired of being alone
But will my lonely heart play the part
Of the fool again
Before I begin

Foolish heart, hear me calling
Stop before you start falling
Foolish heart, heed my warning
You’ve been wrong before
Don’t be wrong any more

I’m feeling that feeling again
I’m playing a game I can’t win
Love’s knocking on the door
Of my heart once more
Think I’ll let him in
Before I begin

Foolish heart, hear me calling
Stop before you start falling
Foolish heart, heed my warning
You’ve been wrong before
Don’t be wrong any more

Foolish heart
Foolish, foolish heart
You’ve been wrong before

Foolish heart, hear me calling
Stop before you start falling
Foolish heart, heed my warning
You’ve been wrong before
Don’t be wrong any more

Foolish heart
Oh, foolish, foolish heart
You’ve been wrong before
Foolish, foolish heart

Why run?

01 Sunday Jul 2012

Posted by in Daily Life, Finding Me

≈ 48 Comments

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(pic google images)

Last Friday at Grand Central Station as I am stepping on the escalator, the woman ahead of me stepped aside and asked me if I wanted to go ahead of her.

I replied: No, thank you, that is ok, I am not in a hurry.

Her: I thought I saw you running

Me: I guess I was running, but I don’t even know why

Her: Well, it is because you are a New Yorker!

Me: I guess you are right

I wished her a good day and continued my rush to get to work.

This quick exchange left me with all kinds of thoughts.

1) I thought I didn’t care to belong.  When she called me a New Yorker I couldn’t help but feel happy and smile to myself.  I felt proud to be called a New Yorker.  That happy feeling was really eye opening.  Why am I happy to be called a New Yorker?  I happen to love New York and I feel lucky and grateful to work there.  Everyday as the train makes its way into Manhattan I thank God for the opportunity.  But I think the happiness I felt goes a little deeper than that.  I guess her comment made me feel I belonged.  I thought I didn’t care about being like an average New Yorker.  I often prided myself on not trying to fit, not wanting to be a cookie cutter.  I am proud of everything that makes me unique, my accent, the color of my skin, my curly hair, my curves, my easy smile, my carefree attitude. But I guess deep down inside I never lost that immigrant’s thirst to fit in.

Homework: Work on those hidden, buried feelings of not belonging.

2) Why run?  Why was I running, going very fast when I didn’t need to.  I happen to work in a place that has a very laid back attitude.  I don’t have a schedule, whenever I get there, I get there, so there is really no reason for me to rush to get there.   Why do I do it?  Do I only know one speed? the busy New Yorker speed?

I often thought that I ran and did things fast because I didn’t want to waste time and miss anything in life.  I want to get everything done and done fast.  I can see it clearly now that I am accomplishing the total opposite.  I am running through life, instead of living life. I am getting a lot done, I am getting quantity, but am I getting quality?

In the hurry not to miss a thing I am missing everything!  I am missing the details! And the beauty of life is made of the little details.

The irony is that I am always the one to point out to everyone that they should live in the moment, in the now.  In the meantime I am always living in the next moment.

Homework: Stop and smell the flowers!  Make a conscious effort to take smaller steps through life starting with literally taking smaller steps.

2) Is this running another symptom of ADD (Atenttion Deficit Disorder). I am slowly beginning to realize that I probably have ADD/ADHD.  I am often mentioned in the same sentence as ADD by people that know me.  It is often meant as a joke and to point out another one of my quirks.  But I am thinking it is probably not a joking matter.

Homework: Research ADD symptoms and treatments

What a blessing that woman was to me.  She may as well have been an angel sent to shake me up gently but deeply.

What about you? Are you running through life too?

Love is a Battle I am willing to fight!

26 Tuesday Jun 2012

Posted by in Dating, Finding Me

≈ 76 Comments

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I am looking at the search for love as a battle.  The prize is finding my true soul-mate (and I accept no imitations!)

After losing a war, when do you get back in the battlefield? I am probably going against the majority when I say you have to get back as soon as possible!  Before you allow the task to seem too daunting!

I have lost a lot of wars and perhaps I will lose a few more, but with each one I gain more knowledge about what kind of warrior I am.  With each loss I don’t lose faith, I gain assurance that I am one step closer.   Each war lost is a step towards the goal; it is one road block removed.  It is an impostor gone, making room for the real thing.

I may retreat for a moment to regain my energy and equilibrium.  I cry, I pray, I make adjustments, I improve and I get back on the horse.

With such high stake on the line I cannot afford to be too scared or too tired to fight.  Taking too long to re-start the battle makes the task seem insurmountable.  If I stay away too long I may become intimidated, I may think my enemy is stronger than I am.  I may develop self defeating thoughts.  If I allow such thoughts to populate my mind I have lost the battle before I even started.

The search for a partner does not mean unhappiness.  I am happy alone.  The search for a partner means that I believe in romance and fairy tale and I am not willing to let that go no matter how difficult the battle proves to be.  I want someone to be my refuge and fortress and I want to be his.  I want to slow dance this long song called Life with someone special!

I don’t need a partner, I want one! Is it my right? No! Is it my obligation? No! It is a pleasure and a dream that I am willing to go after and fight for! Well, in a way I guess it is a need, since my heart needs love to survive!

So I show up ready for a fight! And I use all weapons that God gave me.

I don’t spend any energy thinking about what went wrong in the past.  So perhaps I could have done things different, not revealed my game so soon, noticed the signs,  but why stay there in the past?  The past losses are not the center of my memories.  I look at how well I fought even when I lost.  I look at how I fought with integrity and not taking shots below the belt. I take the good moments in the battlefield, I count my losses and I move on.

And I spend even less time worrying about what can go wrong in the future.  All around us are people and things trying to defeat us, so I make a point of being in my own corner, of being my own cheerleader!  I am positive and think I can win until I the last bell has sounded.  I look at the bottom line, I think at what I am about to gain!  Above all I enjoy the battle itself, that maneuvering and outmaneuvering that goes on like an intricate dance!   For a warrior battle is life!

I also like to think that by not staying away from the fight I am honoring God and Life.  God gave me a heart full of love to give.  God made passion my essence.  I am not going to negate my true self to appease the ones that think it is too soon or it is too much of a long shot! I like challenges, the harder I have to fight the sweeter will be the taste of victory!

Hey Universe, hear me loud and clear:  I still believe! I don’t doubt love for a moment. I am ready, willing and able!  I will be in my deathbed believing my true soul-mate is somewhere out there and he will eventually, not only find me, but fight for me!

shhh! Do you hear that? oh, it is just the Universe conspiring to give me what I want!

Of prayers, expectations, love and hope!

23 Saturday Jun 2012

Posted by in Daily Life, Dating, Finding Me

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(pic courtesy of google images)

My favorite voice on the phone got me thinking about God’s answer to our prayers. Well, he got me thinking about a whole lot of other stuff too but we don’t want to go there!  We want to keep this blog PG13.

We are both at a stage in our lives that we are thinking about spiritual growth and we are doing that while mending a broken heart or perhaps as a result of it.  We are both trying to look past our wants and focus on our needs – we want to feed our starving soul!  We want to be more grateful, we don’t want to take a single breath for granted.  We want to give more than we receive and yet we want to make sure that we don’t forget ourselves.  Above all we want love in our lives.

While my friend is very focused and working hard,  I am more laid back and not trying so hard.   I am doing the work, but not as much as I should or could, and certainly not with the same intensity. I fear getting fanatical, specially since I know my own tendencies.  I will attack something with all might only for a few months later to be exhausted and give up.  I decided to get off of that cycle.  I just want to live the best that I can.  Yes I am changing and growing but at my own pace. I want to give my body and mind a chance to adjust to each change before moving on to the next. So it will take me longer to be physically and mentally fit but when I get there it will feel like home. It will be natural and not forced.

We don’t want to be hurt again, so we try hard not to repeat past patterns and mistakes.  Unfortunately sometimes I think we over do it.  We analyze and rationalize everything to the point of paralysis. To be questioning every single step and feelings and consequences is exhausting.  I certainly don’t want to make the same mistakes of the past.  If anything, I want to make new ones.  But I am allowing for my human condition of being flawed and of sometimes having to learn the same lesson twice, or three times.  And if the teacher happens to be a sexy handsome man, then I plan on learning the lesson with a smile on my lips and a twinkle in my eyes!

What I don’t want above all is to let my fear stop me from living!

I am allowing for myself to fall down and continue getting up as many times as necessary. Perhaps life lies somewhere in between the falling down and getting up.

Prayers. We talked about praying to God to put our soul-mates in our paths.  And a thought came to me, so I said: what if God has already answered your prayer!  What if the answer is staring you in the face (or is a voice on the other end of the line 🙂 ) and you are just not seeing it because it didn’t come in the packaging you were expecting? it didn’t come in a neat little box with a neat little bow.

That got me thinking about our expectations when we pray.  We want a certain answer and that sometimes blind us to the real answer. We pray with expectations!  Can we pray and have complete trust in God to give us, not what we want, but what we need?  Are we ready for that? Are we ready for an answer that we didn’t expect?

Are we asking or are we telling God what to do? How do we know when He has or has not answered us yet? I say the answer is in the heart – our lifeline to God. Our heart will help us see the answer – if we are open to it and listening with an open heart!

Is He going to get sick of listening to my asking for a love over and over again that he will send me just anybody to shut me up and prove to me that I was not ready for it? Be careful what you pray too much for!

God’s guidance.  So, instead I pray for guidance, wisdom and strength.  I pray that I will be able to make the right choice at the right time. I pray that I will choose the right path, not the shortest or easiest. I pray for clarity in determining my next step. And once that path has been chosen I pray for strength to handle what may come. I pray for the right teachers on my path at the right time.  And I make God a promise that if He chooses to send me love I will cherish it and work on it day and night.

Expectations.   We try to live with none, but I venture a guess that most of us fail miserably. We may think we have none, but when we look closely at our actions and reactions, all we see is the expectation of a certain result. We work out to be healthy, but aren’t we deep down inside expecting to be great looking to attract the opposite sex? We go to work and do our best and we get a paycheck, but aren’t we also expecting recognition and praise? My ultimate goal is to remove all expectations but I realize that is the Mount Everest of tall orders.

Divine Timing. It is not when I want and when I think I am ready for it.  I have to respect the Universe’s timing.  I am a good person, I do good, I do no harm, I pray with faith, I have hope, but what if I am not done learning yet?  What if I am meant to kiss a lot more frogs, before I am ready for the one.  And I mean frogs with the utmost respect for the amphibians.

While we wait for the one,  life is happening.  Life waits for no one. I cannot put life on hold until the time is right. I cannot tell life to come back in 6 months.  Life is here and now, and I say embrace it!

And what if the one is right here? You prayed for it, you receive it, and now you are complaining about timing and other minor details? Sounds a bit ungrateful – lol

and, if better still, what if there is not a “one”. What if there is a series of ones? or what if there is just myself? I dare say I am ok with it!! More of the reason to enjoy the now and the one right now!

God’s Will. My God is not mean, and He doesn’t play cruel jokes, but he does have a sense of humor!   God’s will will  triumph, so why do we have to fight it sometimes? There is a reason for you to be put in my path! There is a reason we were drawn to each other.   Can we just relax long enough to see what that reason is? Why do we need to have a label for this? Why do we need to know from the get go what this will become? Why do we need to have a plan? (and at that word God is laughing, because our plans are nothing but our trying to control fate!)

Free Will.  ah the contradictions, His will will triumph in the end, and yet he gives us free will to pursue life. We can choose the little details that beautify life.  We can choose to love willing, we can choose right from wrong.  And we can choose to make this a passing cloud or a lingering thunderstorm. Our choice!

We are a clear canvas that we get to paint any way we see fit.  It doesn’t have to make sense to anybody else. Real or abstract it is ours, and all the potential in that is not lost on me.

We must not forget the consequences, because with Free Will comes consequences! Well, Miss Optimistic here think that consequences are rewards, validation, blue skies.

Relinquishing Control.  We spend so much time trying to mold things our way, trying to control the uncontrollable.  Perhaps we should just relax, give ourselves license to just be and let nature take its course. Stop trying to swim against the current. The more we try to control the less control we have, truer words have never been spoken!

I have to learn to let God sometimes to take the wheel, sometimes it is okay for me to just close my eyes and enjoy the ride.

Possibilities. You came into my life to show me possibilities. You came to wake me up.  I am wide awake, now what? Now the question is how long are you staying?  While I see the potential, possibilities, the all good, you see the problems, the logistical issues, the timing issue, the all bad. How ironic that the one that awoke in me possibilities cannot see them?

Daily gifts. I am going to see people coming into my life as gifts, and I will treat them as such! How they feel about me should not matter. People are gifts to my soul. They will teach me, make me smile, make me wonder, they will test my patient, but above all they will make me feel alive. You are my gift! and I am not returning it!

Blessings in disguise.  Perhaps we are not exactly what we each had in mind, but perhaps we are just what the doctor ordered at this moment in time.  Perhaps what you see as problems are the reasons why it is so perfect. Perhaps you need to broaden your view. How many times we look back and realize we failed to see a blessing and wish we could do it over?

Until our next conversation…

Thank you God for the beauty of unexpected friends. Thank you for helping me leave the door open so that the unexpected can come in.  May I have the grace to continue leaving the door open so that the unexpected does not feel trapped!

**

My wish for us: Moments of silence to listen to our hearts and courage to acknowledge the screaming of our souls!

… letting my heart be my guide…

19 Tuesday Jun 2012

Posted by in Daily Life, Dating, Finding Me

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To the one that moves me:

Yesterday I didn’t know you existed.  Today I would miss you if you were gone!  I would miss your words, your voice and your laughter.  I would miss what you do to my mind, heart and body. I would miss the possibilities and the anticipation.

And yet our bodies never touched.

Your words slowly moved in. With each word I saw you, with each word I knew you.  My heart and my mind began slow dancing to “what ifs”.

You have all the things I appreciate in a man: you see the humor in life, you have a honest heart, you have been hurt in your past,  you are happy in your present, and you have hope for your future.  You take being a father seriously and you are a grateful son!

You took the first step and my heart sang the beginning notes of a love affair! I welcomed you with open arms.

While I throw caution to the wind and jump in head first (not taking time to check if this is perhaps another shallow pool), you are afraid of getting wet.

You are conflicted.  You wrestle with thoughts such as: Too soon?  Too fast?  Too far? You fear getting hurt again.  We both have been hurt before, more times than we care to count.  You contemplate not trying again. To me not trying is a sin!

I cannot deny that it is indeed too soon, it is too fast and it is too far.  But who gets to decide when the time is right, at what pace to go and what is the correct distance?    I don’t know what this is either.  I just know it feels too good to not try!

I cannot say it is going to work, I cannot say it will last. But not matter if it is a day or a year I plan on showing 100% and giving my all. If my heart gets broken again, so be it! I am not afraid! Never was, never will be!  I don’t know how to pace myself; I don’t know how to lower the speed.  Perhaps time to learn and change? I can’t!  I don’t know how! I don’t want to! I rather live and die being me! Showing up in full and hurting completely!

I see beauty and opportunity in the different, the unexpected, the not so safe, and the not so sure.  I enjoy proving people wrong or getting hurt in the process.  My ego wears armor.   I enjoy honoring my feelings.  I enjoy love affairs with the unlovable!  What is the virtue in loving the easy, pretty, safe right across the street?

I don’t want safe and proper! I want to take chances.  I don’t regret failing, I regret not trying!

You gave my mind flight, you gave my heart fancy, and you give my body feelings that still linger in the next morning.

What if this is all it is? What if there is not forever? What if this never gets out of the gate, what if never leaves the starting line? Still I would think it was all worth, for you pulled me out of the dead calm, out of the pained soul, out of just being and brought me back to life.  Out of arid land you made me flourish once again. You were necessary to me; you were a wakeup call! You repaired my heart, you melted my soul, and you made my juices flow. So take a moment now and take a bow!

I plan on no holds barred fun. I plan on being the ride of your life!

For the duration I plan on showing up in full, bare body and soul.  I promise complete honesty, even if it hurts.   I plan on transparency.  I plan on placing my heart in your hands!

BUT,

Ignore all I wrote up to now! I didn’t come here to try to make up your mind! I didn’t come here to plead my case!

Don’t worry about hurting me. I realize that I am the only that can do that.  I am stronger and taking full control and responsability for my feelings and how I react to other’s role in my life.

I am here to say that whatever you do, whatever you choose you have my blessing.  If you follow your heart or your mind, that is completely up to you.  As a friend I am supporting whatever path you take!

What is important is that you look in the mirror and is proud of the person you see! What is important is that you make a choice based on your convictions and your God.

At the end of the day you have to make sure that you honored your feelings and that you were true to yourself!

Just don’t be afraid of living! Because that would be a real shame!

… And if we never meet I plan on treasuring all the images and possibilities my mind created and move on feeling better than ever before!

The Burial

18 Monday Jun 2012

Posted by in Daily Life, EX Files, Finding Me

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This is about my final (I hope) meeting with Ex. I know in my heart that I will eventually be friends with him, but for now I just need and want distance and peace!

Before the meeting:

I am anxious and scared! Am I scared that I will end up in bed with him like every meeting before? ABSOLUTELY NOT!

I am scared that I will get emotional looking at him and thinking about what we had.

I am scared that  I will bombard him with questions about things that no longer matter, such as the new girl in his life. It doesn’t really matter if the new girl is tall or short, young or old.   What is the point of wanting to know those details?

I don’t want to list all he has done wrong.    He knows what he did! And having him, once again not acknowledging my pain and his role in it it will just hurt me further.  (and yet I know that I am responsible for my feelings and reactions and that he cannot cause me pain if I don’t let him)

One thing is for sure, it does feels amazing though to be over him!  It feels powerful to not care what he thinks of me anymore.  It feels incredible that he doesn’t hold my heart in his hands anymore!

So today there are no preparations for his arrival.  There is no hair done, nails, waxing.  There is no incense burning, there is not special dress or lingerie.

I can’t wait until this is over.  This is similar to the feeling I feel right before I need to go in for another dental surgery.  I am sitting in the waiting room listening to the sound of the drill coming from another room knowing that I am next. Feeling the pain before the pain.

***

After

I am an emotional wreck! Amazing that I am here writing, but thanks to divine intervention I didn’t curl up and die, I washed my face and snapped out of it!

The moment that I closed the door on him leaving, the moment that I closed the door to my past, the phone beeps.  It is a friend texting and in a way it is future calling.  It is God telling me to look forward and stop looking back!  And I hear it loud and clear.

But let me back up and give you a summary of the evening.

I met Ex in the front of my building and he hugged me hello.  It was awkward and I felt absolutely nothing!  I thought I would cringe at his touch, but I didn’t, but at the same time I didn’t feel like staying in his arms.  I am grateful that he didn’t go for a kiss hello.

We went to one of the Mexican Restaurants in the neighborhood.

I am already crying.  I am  crying from the second I saw him! I am one of those people that cry at any funeral, even if I don’t know the deceased. And in a way this is a funeral. I am attending the funeral of a fairy tale that has died a long time ago but it never got a proper burial until today.

We sit at the restaurant and I realize that I don’t know how to act. I can’t speak, I stutter.  I play with the napkin and utensils.  I am grateful he sat next to me and not accross from me so that I don’t have to look at him.

But love is a beautiful thing! I still think about his feelings, and I don’t feel like hurting him, and I know that my silence would. So, summing up a strength that I didn’t think I had, I start talking like I would talk to a friend. I tell him about my tennis lessons and my Pilates sessions.  He tells me about his businesses and volunteer work.  We manage to get through dinner and even have a few laughs.

We walk to my place because we have to finalize some paperwork, after all that is the reason he came here in the first place.  In 30 minutes we are done with the paperwork. But of course it would be too simple if that was the end of it!

He makes the mistake of inviting me to a couple of big events that are coming up that we used to attend together, and also another one that is an once in a lifetime thing that I have been dying to attend.  And that is when I can no longer hold it in.

I let it all flow, tears and words. I say all that I have inside. I talk about the hurt, the betrayal, I talk about the things I know for a fact he did, I talk about my disbelief that  he would throw a beautiful story away.

Everything that I didn’t want to ask about, I ask. Everything I didn’t want to mention, I do.

Through it all he remains mostly quiet, speaking up a few times to defend himself and to say that he didn’t know where I was getting my information from.  He mentions loving more than I would ever know. He once again says that timing for us is not right, he has to focus on his business and children.  He says he is not really dating, but seeing the girl once in awhile and spending most of his time alone, as if that somehow is supposed to makes things ok, as if that makes any sense.

I tell him not to invite me to anything and stop pretending that we are still a couple. I tell him to stop playing with my feelings and hurting me.

I was not planning on falling apart, but we all know that things don’t normally go according to plan. I don’t regret anything I said.  I also know that he didn’t really hear all I said.  He is not ready to hear and understand and acknowledge what he has done.

At the end he cried also, but I cannot tell you if there was any truth in those tears.  I would like to believe that he did have feelings for me and that he also mourns the end of our story. But I just don’t know. And I am happy to say I don’t care!

At one point he hugged me and kissed me on top of my head.  And I let him.  We stayed like that for a couple of minutes.  And then it was done.  I was ready to bury the pain, the hurt, the love, the good times, everything.

He says good night, I silently close the door! I am still crying, not from missing him or seeing him leave.  I am crying from exhaustion, from hurt, from anger, from love. My whole body aches. I think that is the feeling a marathon runner feels at the end of a race:  happy exhaustion!

At this point I am standing against the door that I just closed, unable to move. My phone beeps. It is text from a friend asking how I am. That is the beauty of life, the realization that I didn’t need to stay in that pain.  The beautiful feeling of having someone care and wonder how I was feeling.

His text and subsequent phone call were a sign from God.  His voice comes through the phone and into my ears as a hand passing over my hurt and slowly removing the dark pain.  Hearing his voice soothes me.  Hearing his voice brings me back to reality and out of the “poor me” state I was ready to drown myself in.

I realized that this perfectly timed text and phone call was God working in His mysterious way.   This person unknowingly provided me with the bridge from my past to my future.

I have learned what I needed to learn and I grateful for Ex for everything he has taught me – good and bad.  I am better than before I met him and for that I am thankful.  I am also thankful for him for helping me become the person I am today.

I have put the love and care that I have for him in a special place. I worry about him and pray that he finds contentment.

So now the past is buried and I am eager for my future, alone or with someone special.  I know God has a plan, so I have no need to worry or have any doubts.  I have always known that no matter what I am always going to be ok! And that knowledge is priceless!

Now as far as my heart goes, you can just call it Timex!

***

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UbWTBoh7G4

Thank you for reading and supporting me and sending me your love!