An Update from Across the World...Finally!!

Wow, just wow.  What a long time has passed since my last post, and oh, so much has occurred in my life...I mean, I'm on a different continent and have been for over a month and a half!

I will share my stories with you and give the full update...in time. The reason for the major lack of communication is that I have often been leaving my computer at the houses of friends while traveling so that I do not have to lug its wonderful heaviness around, and also, when traveling, internet is a gift...not a guarantee.

There is a sense of immense freedom in being disconnected from the technological world, and I have been disconnected to some extent.  However, now, I owe you, my readers an official update on my whereabouts and my adventures.  So for now, I will simply share the whereabouts, and later, I will post about the adventures (with pictures and exciting stories galore!)...

I officially begin work as an au pair tomorrow for a family with three children in a town near Munich, Germany.  The kids are Girl 14, Boy 12, and Girl 5...and all have exceptionally intelligent, unique, funny, fun, and sweet personalities that I am only just getting to know!  I work with them everyday after school and cook dinner, sometimes babysit on evenings and weekends, and I will also occasionally travel with the family.  Their home (where I will reside for the next YEAR!!!) is modern, filled with modern art, and is beautifully situated right beside a huge forest filled with trails and the river Izar that runs through Munich.  I AM learning German, so everyday I try and practice a little bit more as I encounter people in public!  I must, however, always speak English with the children.  That is a requirement of the job.

My mind is exploding with stories to share, but I need to get back to the family...so for now, "tschuss!" and please know that I am happy, healthy, and living life on my curvy path, and observing this world and its endless beauty at each and every possible moment.  Much love.

Environmental Change...In Your Life

This will be a more personal blog entry...

Much has changed in my life this week.  One of my best friends is heartbroken, that same heartbroken friend told me it was too hard for her to be in contact with me, leaving me broken.  Another friend has had their heart broken and one of their dreams torn apart.  I feel and sense the pain of others and carry it in my heart, for I know pain, as I have been to the darkest of dark places. Having just returned from the great freedom that was Guatemala, I now live in a place with such dark memories that I feel a weight in my heart and a longing to tear free and fly away from this place.  To change my environment.

The power to change our emotive state is not always a possibility.  For some it is a chemical matter, while for others it is situational.  However, what we can do in these darkest moments when we are heartbroken, mourning loss, fearful of the future, or just deeply and darkly sad, is change our environment.

This does not necessarily mean moving to a new destination, it can simply mean changing one's routine, introducing a new activity (such as art, a sport, volunteering, etc.) that will ignite a change in your emotive state.  One will never feel free from the darkness until one acts to ignite the flame of change in one's life.

For me, I actually will be changing my physical environment.  More to come on that!  However, when deciding how to live your life, always choose what makes you happy.  Too many I have spoken with have shared stories of what they "could have done."  Whatever your age, you may still live life not regreting what you "could have done"  Yes, we have obligations, but we can maintain these obligations, whilst keeping ourselves happy.  It is my choice, and your choice to live each day to its fullest potential and see life for what it is right in front of our eyes.  This way of looking at the the world will make you smile until your face hurts!

The power to change your environment is in your hands.  Follow your own curvy path; I'm certainly learning everyday how to follow mine.  Much love.

Our Challenge

Too often, as humans we assume an opinion of another before we really know them.  We've heard the saying "don't judge a book by it's cover," yet everyday our eyes scan crowds making millisecond judgements based on clothing, hair color, skin color, height, weight, accent, language, or attitude.  We look at the outside as the whole of a person and we forget to look inside at the soul of the human being.
Maybe it is that we don't want to burden ourselves with another person's emotional baggage (if they even have any!), that we are comfortable in our own social clicks, or that our snap-judgements based on what we see on the outside have made us jaded against those whom we hardly even know.  Or maybe you have met this person, and you have "decided" you do not "like" them.  Then please ask yourself, do you know their whole story?  Why they act the way that they do?  Their background could be littered with experiences that contribute to their actions at present, and you turning your back on them simply adds to that list of negative experiences.  Let's not be that person.

As humans, our patience wanes. Thus, often there comes along that person with whom you have absolutely no patience.
This week, mis amigos, challenge yourself to love someone you have difficulty loving. Show them you care. Act kindly and gently towards them. Simply smile at them. Maybe this is what they need to feel loved, and you are just the right person to give them that gift. Love can do wonders.

The Hole

It is my belief that in the core of most human beings there is a hole.  I am not speaking of a space between organs, or anything so literal.  Rather,  I refer to that sensation that is felt somewhere in the core of your being when you feel something.  It isn't our hearts as Valentine's Day as made it out to be, but rather an emptiness in a soul that has deepened due to a person's unknown or hidden struggles.  The difficulty with the hole is that many cover this part of themselves, never talking about what created this gaping void inside them.  Many put a smile on their face, yet cry into their pillow at night.  Others unleash untamed anger upon innocent people in the privacy of their own homes.  Young people let their thoughts fester until they actually believe they are not beautiful, worthy, strong, independent, and confident.  The hole is there.  It may be tiny, it may be gargantuan, but it lives on and on, growing and morphing, and taking each of your doubts and magnifying them until you are no longer the human being you were born to be, but a void of self-doubt, worry, fear, hatred, anger, guilt, and shame.

Each human being on this earth has the opportunity to heal themselves and others.  It is not easy to come back from dark places, however, you have to remember that that "hole" isn't real.  Your life is real.  Your beauty is real.  Your strength is real.  Your kind words are real.

I do not know your pain.  I do not know what lies in the dark and secret depths of your hole.  Just know that when in doubt...do something you forgot made that hole a bit smaller as a kid and go ahead, begin healing yourself a tiny, tiny, bit at a time

• Go roll down a grass hill as you did as a child.
• Buy a cheap bubbles, and blow them in public to notice other peoples' smiles.
• LAUGH OUT LOUD.  Until your whole body shakes haha!
• Hug someone, but hold on tight, and longer than you really would.  Human touch works wonders.
• Help someone!....kindness is infectious.

Humankind are meant to heal one anothers holes.  Do not just think of your own painful hole, but that of those you encounter.  Make our earth stronger with your generosity and compassion.

Much love.

There's No Place Like "Home"

Having just returned from a 3 month journey to Guatemala where I blogged about my experiences on www.marybethvolunteers.blogspot.com, I am curiously pushing the limits of my idea of "home."  Yes, there are sayings such as "home is where is the heart is" and Dorothy's famous one-liner: "there's no place like home," but when I think about the family and friends that I now have all over the world, and the culture and wonder yet to be experienced in my curvy-life-path, I cannot help but imagine home as something completely opposite than the tiny comfort of the four walls in which I was raised.  Here is my observation on "home":

Home is when you are in a foreign culture full of wonder and open to interpretation. There is always a sense of mild discomfort in not knowing what lies ahead in your next adventure. My home is the world. Here I am always on the cusp of a new realization or revelation and am given the fortune of a new perspective from every member of humankind. That’s where the heart of home lies…in the world…and in humankind. My family is humankind; those whom I encounter. I look like them. We stand up straight and have legs and arms, fingers, teeth, and hair. We are all shades of brown. We have the same basic needs, and at our core, we express sadness and joy in some way. We lament, desire, feel pain, desperation, hunger, fear, and wonder. These are my family members. Our neighborhoods are large and look quite different, but I would be thrilled to spend a day of my life in each house of each of my family members of the world just to know them…I mean, really know them. Home is not a house. Home is not one location, one group, one nuclear unit, one idea, one place of safety. Embrace culture. Embrace humanity. Embrace our world. Embrace your home.