in love with the world

it's nice to walk into a room where people were just saying good things about you.

it's nice to notice that someone's eyes light up every time they see you, and have other people notice it too.

it's nice to be introduced to someone new who says they've heard great things about you.

it's nice to have the absence of your presence noticed and missed.

i've been riding on a "life is great" wave for the past 2 weeks or so, and every interaction i've had with people on and off campus has been so meaningful in the most glorious way.

good day, good life

i've been having such a good day, starting with last night where the stress culture of the library was mitigated by having some of my favorite people around me, and one who held my hand through it all. i went to bed early and woke up early, went on a run, took an awesome shower, did my ling reading. went to ling class and felt pumped and inspired about what we were discussing and the fact that this is an actual area of study.

it feels like i've had these thoughts on language for as long as i can remember and now i know some linguistic jargon that makes it scientific and shit. how cool is that?!

then i went to psych and despite not having done the reading (a girl can only do so much in one day), i could completely contribute the conversation because hey!, human behavior is like animal behavior. and i learned all about umwelts and ontogeny last year, yeahh!

afterwards i went to lunch with my new boss. she is the best! and i'm not just saying this because she looks like me, has the same shoes and interests as me, oh, and did i mention i think she's me from the future?! she's so great! no awkward lulls in our conversation at all, it rocked. and we went shopping for binders after, she's a blessing, srsly.

ok, then, my perfect day was interrupted by twenty or so minutes of panicking over an upcoming test. BUT i ran into the best person at the best possible time, and she put an end to my worries and we laughed and had a heart to heart in the grass, in the sun.

i went to my neuro class, and definitely rocked that test on identifying structures and functions of a sheep brain. and i'm feeling sooo good about it!

now i'm going to tackle chemistry and i'm gonna get it and it's gonna be great!

yeah yeah YEAH!

mindfulness

i've been taking a meditation class sunday nights and so far, it's made a difference in how i approach my week, my day, my circumstances, my mind.

the type of meditation i've been doing is based on focusing on the present moment, noticing breathing patterns and the senses, and essentially just letting thoughts drift in your mind.

i usually have terrible mind noise, in that i'm always thinking of what i should do next, or what i should said that time, and in doing that i don't live in the present as fully as i should be.

basically: i'm a fan of this meditation business, it puts me a positive mind set.

we have homework assignments each week, and i thought it'd be fun to post them here:

week 1: what is this mind up to? upon what does it dwell, what is its shape, its color. Angry? Judgmental? Anxious? Drowsy? Daydreamy? To the past? To the future? How often are we truly present with what we are doing?

week 2: to pay attention to voices (description to come)

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