31 January, 2012

Nothing's Bigger than a Dream

Well, I woke up this morning with an interesting change of pace: I had a mash-up going in my head. Both "Nothing's Bigger than Love" and "I Dreamed a Dream" were alternating back and forth in my mind as I got up and showered. These are two of my favorite songs, but I'm going to focus on "Nothing's Bigger than Love" today and leave "I Dreamed a Dream" for another day (let's face it- it's Les Mis. I'll wake up with it stuck in my head again before long).
In case you don't know me, let me start out by explaining that I am very much a people-pleaser. Have been for as long as I can remember. Not sure why. It could be the cries of a middle child for attention and affirmation. It could just be an innate desire for everyone around me to be happy. It could be a portion of my inner introvert finding ways to make others happy without having to be in the spotlight all of the time. In any case, that is a part of who I am.
And you know what? It works. People always seem genuinely surprised when I do something nice, just because. Every time that I have tried to explain that there is no hidden agenda and that I do simply like making the people around me that I care about happy, I get a look that I can best describe as boy, you crazy. A couple of consequences have followed from this:
  • People like to have me around. It's kind of a self-perpetuating cycle: I do something nice for someone and they get happy. Their happiness fulfills that inner people-pleaser, and I'm more apt to look for other ways to make them happy. Win-win, right?
  • I have gotten lousy at accepting compliments. They say that practice makes perfect, but it all depends on what it is you're practicing. Too often, I've practiced deflecting or rejecting a compliment, and that has become the only skill that I've developed. If I've ever awkwardly been unable to accept a compliment, I'm sorry. I promise that I am working on it, but I don't often catch myself in time.

What does that boil down to? I really do believe that "nothing's bigger than love". That love is the driving force behind all that is good in the world, and that the best way to benefit from it is to simple embrace love in any form as it enters your life.
We had a guest lecturer in my nanobiotechnology class last week. She started out by talking about forces, and I loved how she began.
Over 2000 years ago, the Greeks had established that there really are only two forces at play in the universe, and everything is a manifestation of one of the two. She asked us to guess what they were after she wrote this on the board:
_ _ _ _
_ _ _ _

We all stared at it for a while, and I finally threw out there "Love?" (I know, right? What kind of an engineer throws out something as vague a concept as love?) Well, it turns out that was right. Greeks said that everything was powered by either love or hate. Fun concept right? Well, she then proceeded to take the next 75 minutes to show us how the Greeks were correct. We call it attraction and repulsion now (ionic, gravitational, magnetic etc.), but it fundamentally comes back to love and hate.
So, I firmly believe that there is nothing bigger than love, and that is where I am going to continue to focus my energy.

17 January, 2012

We R Who We R

Not proud of my subconscious on this one.
I blame my sister, Sami. She loves Ke-dollar sign-ha. The worst part is how easy it is to get her music stuck in your head. I'll admit it:

This isn't the first time I've had Ke$ha stuck in my head.

I only had two lines stuck on repeat in my head, but (like most of her songs) that accounts for about 40% of the lyrics. In case you were wondering, the two lines on repeat in my head were:
"Let's go-o-o, let's go!...
We are who we are."

This may be a bit of a stretch, but I'm going to connect it to a philosophy of mine that I've used for quite a while and found to be wildly successful. I call it "Just Show Up".
What does that mean and how do it connect to Miss Ke-dollar sign-ha? Glad you asked. I'm pretty creative with coming up with names for things, so it might be a bit difficult to deduce. Basically, when there's an opportunity to do something or go somewhere and I have any possibility of doing so, I just show up. One of my favorite web sites ShowUp seems to have caught on to my philosophy and is one of the best tools for assisting in accomplishing it. But even more than just cultural events (which I LOVE), "Just Show Up" applies to everything. When there is a birthday celebration, a service project, a church event, an information session on campus, a study group, a friend hiking a mountain, or going to the movies, I make it if I can.
Does that mean I never miss anything? Heck no! There are things all the time that I think to myself If I only had an extra two hours in the day... I can't even begin to list all of the times, though, where "Just Show Up" has changed my life. Some times, it has been a life-altering event, and other times, it has been nothing more than a quick smile and lift to my day. On the other hand, I can think of very few times when "Just Show Up" has been a negative. I don't think I can ever once remember hearing someone say "UGH, Matt. Can you just please stop showing up? You are too helpful or involved. etc"
So how does Miss Dollar Sign's latest party anthem relate to "Just Show Up"? Well, as far as I can tell, she lives life to the utmost that she can. While her perspective on the world and what is worthwhile is vastly different than mine, she is just as dedicated to pursuing it as I am mine. When she sings "Let's go-o-o-o-o-o, let's go!", she's referring to a rave in an underground tunnel (I'm not going to post the link to her video. If you really feel the need to see it, it isn't tough to find). While that is not how I use "Just Show Up", it does encapsulate the idea behind the philosophy.
So, if you hear me humming "We R Who We R", 1) I apologize and 2) Know that, for me, I choose to say "let's go!" because I am who I am.

15 January, 2012

Wouldn't It Be Loverly?

I had an idea (it has been known to happen on occasion). I wake up with a song stuck in my head on a semi-irregular basis. It usually has no rhyme or reason to why the song is there, but often, for the first 20 or 30 minutes as I'm getting ready for the day, one song will be stuck on repeat in my head. After that, things get busy, the song fades, and I usually forget about it.
Well, I'm going to see if I can assign it meaning and blog about it! Random? Yes, yes it is. But maybe that is what I need. I don't really feel like I'm a consistent blogger anyway (see my history for verification), and so maybe this will be just semi-sporadic enough to give me the excuse to use my blog. We'll see.
So, as you can see in the title, yesterday I woke up with "Wouldn't it be loverly" stuck in my head. I haven't listened to My Fair Lady in a LONG time, but there you go, my subconscious pulled it out. Why? Well, let me paste in a few of the lyrics:

All I want is a room somewhere,
Far away from the cold night air.
With one enormous chair,
Aow, wouldn't it be loverly?
Lots of choc'lates for me to eat,
Lots of coal makin' lots of 'eat.
Warm face, warm 'ands, warm feet,
Aow, wouldn't it be loverly?

If I were to ask people around me to make a list of what they would like most right now, I have a feeling I'd find out some pretty interesting things. Feel free to comment on this post with your list :)
I have some things on my list right now, but I think Eliza has a pretty good handle on things with hers. To me, her list boils down to being able to slow down and enjoy a few moments of peace. I can definitely see why my subconscious would be SCREAMING for just that. I have had a whirlwind wonderful week. I have averaged about 14 hour days all week. But it's not just school or work or things which would drag me down. It's also been wonderful things like Family Home Evening (FINALLY back again for the semester!), my first ever opera experience, voice lessons and serving in the temple. I even checked an item off of my bucket list this week. I can honestly say that I wouldn't go back and cancel any of those things. They were fabulous, but I am drained. MLK Day is going to be a wonderful day for me to catch up (though it looks like I'm probably going to fall even further behind tomorrow, lol). It looks like, for right now, I get to keep being a full-time Liver, as Rebekah would say, and I'll have to just dream of the loverly life.

Someone's 'ead restin' on my knee,
Warm an' tender as (sh)e can be...









Julie Andrews as Eliza Doolitttle