the silver lining in your shoes

Well, now we will see how my fantastic college experience lends itself to the blog-o-sphere, as we see whether or not I am too consistently brain dead after class to think of anything to write. You would think that I would be so mentally stimulated that I would be brimming with knowledge and ideas. For that I would probably have to sleep more. But let us wait and see what flows out anyway.

So a thing that I have been really big on is taking time to stop and try to see the beauty in things, to be grateful for what we have all around us. One thing I got to help me with this is a relatively nice camera. I have had a blast using it, and even got to try my hand at some more serious photography endeavors. One example was taking some of my sisters engagement pictures, like this one:

Aren't they so cute?

Since coming to school though, and being so caught up in the midst of things, I haven't had nearly as much opportunity to take my camera out and use it. Another problem is that I almost never leave my school's campus. I eat here, I sleep here, I go to school here, and I study here. Talk about short sighted! I guess it happens to the best of us though! I have been missing all sorts of opportunities right here in the world around me. My camera might become one of my constant companions from now on, as a trick to encourage me to look for those lovely little mysteries all around us.

It really is hard to look on the bright side of things all the time. The trick is, to have a trick! For me it is my camera. Now you might not have a camera or any inclination to take pictures, but you can always pick your own little trick. It might just be to whistle a jolly little tune as you go walking down the street, or to play a little game all of the time, like being careful not to step on the cracks in the sidewalk, or to always step on the crunchy leaves outside. Maybe you just like to wear mismatched socks, I've heard that makes your day better! You should do an experiment with that and let me know!

Here is another experiment to try, that will help make your day go better no matter what: as you go walking anywhere other people are too, try to make eye contact with and smile at as many people as you can. You will get a lot of smiles back, and you just can't help from feeling good! Sometimes I ended up laughing outright, for absolutely no real reason other than life is just a swell thing to be living. I wouldn't want to be living anything else for sure!