Love It.

Darling you send me...

Honest you do...

I don't know what it is about those old songs that make me feel all dreamy and romantical.  Suddenly I am innocent and naive and easy to please.  All things that society will have us believe make us "simple" or "old fashioned".  Well so what? Isn't happiness simple?  Its pretty old fashioned as well.  NO one writes songs about simple happiness and bliss of being in love.  There is always something that has gone wrong or complicated it, and now the song is about the angst rather than the joy...

Its now or never, come hold me tight...Be mine tonight

Why do we have to make everything so crazy and complicated.  Who decided that made life BETTER?  Don't get me wrong, I am eternally grateful for electricity and the internet and the invention of the iPhone, but they didn't really make me any happier...well....maybe they did, but I think mostly they just over-stimulated me to the point where if I'm not doing 200 things I feel bored.

Put your head on my shoulder, hold me in your arms baby...Maybe you and I will fall in love.

Remember that feeling?  The first time you held hands with him, the first time you finally let him steal that kiss...The secret kisses you had in the kitchen before your friends knew you were together...what about the time you finally spit out "I love you" after trying to hold it in for days because you know it but are afraid to say it too soon...  Simple joy.  Why can't life be full of that all the time?

At last my love has come along, my lonely days are over...and life is like a song

So my message to you all tonight: life IS like a song sometimes, just make sure you're listening to the right station.  I'm gonna try harder to stay out of my own way,  to not limit my own happiness because I think I don't deserve it because I haven't done A, B, or C.  You don't need A, B and C before you can be happy, being happy fuels your path to A, B, and C.  I'm gonna enjoy it. You should all try it too :)

My romance doesn't need a castle rising in Spain

Nor a dance to a constantly surprising refrain

Wide awake I can make my most fantastic dreams come true

My romance doesn't need a thing but you...

Happiness is...

People are strange...Just ask Jim Morrison, he knew it all too well.  What I am starting to realize is that, for the most part, people are a lot alike.  We have different ideas about what happiness is and therefore our motivations to get that happiness vary, but I think in studying our differences we have forgotten the thing that ties us all together: Everyone just wants to be happy.

Now I'm not going to go into the deep philosophical things that make people happy, because I believe that deep down the same things create true lasting happiness.  However, it seems that most people want to put roadblocks in front of their happiness; As if it is some sacred treasure or Grandma's fancy china that you can only use for VERY special occasions...then the whole time you use it you're having a panic attack about breaking it because you know, statistically, fancy china doesn't last forever.  Happiness has become this elusive, abstract word with a long lost meaning that no one fully understands anymore.  "When I'm 30 pounds lighter, I can be happy", "When I graduate, I can be happy",  "When I get married, I can be happy", "When I buy a house, I can be happy"....It goes on and on until you are suddenly on your death bed and realize that YOU are the only thing that has kept yourself from being happy.

We chain up our spirits and refuse to allow ourselves to experience joy because we somehow believe we don't deserve it.  The truth is that everyone deserves to be happy the way they are, without caveats or conditions.  Happiness that is contingent upon specifics and delicately balanced atop achievements and unattainable goals will never sustain itself.  Yet we do it.  All of us to some extent or another.  What is it about being happy that so terrifies the human race?  When did "Happiness" become yet another thing we impose upon ourselves as a chore, something that we have to work for and toil to get?  Yet another thing for us to fall short and feel bad about not having?  I'm not sure that is the point. I'm pretty sure that sometimes, happiness really is "finding a pencil" not "practically perfect in every way"...Though that WOULD be pretty awesome.

Love This Song

Hello, my name is Hope

I've lived forever

And I have made many smile

Now they have tried

To keep me silent

They've sent rain and they've sent fire

But I am strong and enduring

I am eternal

They'll never stop me from singing

I know it's hard

to believe in something

when it cannot be seen

But my name is hope

And if you're listening

Then you will hear me singing

I've held the hands of children

I give them reason to survive

I can heal the wounds of affliction

Just open your heart, let me come in

Hello, my name is Hope

I spring eternal

Hello my name is Hope

I'll help you move mountains

If you'll only believe

For with your prayers,

And Father willing,

Then we will keep on singing