I got some money from my grandparents for christmas, and decided to use it to give myself a 2 years pro subscription to flickr. So go check out my Flickr account. Add me as your flickr friend... and check back often.

I love having unlimited space to upload picture :D. All my new pictures will be full res, so you can get copies if they interest you, or you're in them, or you're some kind of creepy stalker(you know who you are!).

Merry FlickrMas to all!

Whats up all you beautiful peoples?

I haven't blogged here in ages... well over a year.

I just read a nice blog on the healthy benefits of hugs, and thought hmmm, I think I'm gonna have to step up my hug assault :P. So the next time you see me, give me a hug. I'll hug you back! I promise!

A hug a day keeps the, well, umm... oh just hug somebody already! If you can't find anyone, msg me, I'll set up a hug time for ya! :P

Till then... Get happy!

So I used to have this on my home page, under about me... but I figured, if people WANT to see it, they can look under my blog. This is how I have defined who I am going to be. It has enough room in it for me to still be spontaneous, but when it comes to the important decisions in life, I evaluate them against this and choose whichever is more in line with my values. Ok Enough... here it is

My Mission:
To follow where God leads and bless people in the process.


My Values:

God - I will worship God alone and follow where he leads

Integrity - I will do what I say I will do, and will resist duality

Savor - I will enjoy every moment, and look for the silver lining in everything

Humanity - I will put peoples well being above all else.

Beauty - I will appreciate the beauty of life around me

Ingenuity - I will use God given intelligence in myself and those around me toward the greater good

Liberty - I will promote liberty in allowing everyone to have the freedom to be who they are

Synergy - I will appreciate the differences in people and work with them

Abundance - I will view the world as having an abundance of everything, therefore sharing not hording

So I was reading a friends blog, and it got me thinking. How do you react to adversity. Do you have a game plan that you have thought through? When something doesn't go your way, what is your first thought? This is something I believe is important to address. If we live our lives simply reacting to whatever adversity is thrown our way, what does that say about our character? How can I be defined as a person? Do I expect people to not be afraid of who I "might" be or how I might react if they do something that I don't like?

One of the principles that I try to live my life by is "Integrity." Which for me means I don't lead people astray, and I live my life in a consistent manner, not being one person around some people and another person around others. I define who I am, based upon what I value. Then I know who I am, because I have defined it. At this point I am able to internalize adversity and run it through the filter of "who am I?" and, "what do I value?" Then I can process what my gut reaction is and ask whether it is in line with my values, and adjust my actual response, if any, accordingly.

So I had something bad happen to me today, or I should say, I became aware of something that made me upset. My first internal gut reaction is to think of all the ways I could make the responsible party suffer. But when I run it through my filters, which are defined by the personal mission I have for myself, I change drastically. First, I regain the power. By deciding that I am not just going to react, I take back the power to run my own life, not allowing others to dictate when or how I will act. Second, I am able to choose to bless people. So while I may till follow a course that leads to a response to this issue, it will be done without mallace, and hopefully in a manner that diffuses the issue.

Well if you got this far, congraduations! :) I hope this helps someone as much as it has helped me. A little over a year ago, I had a conversation with someone about my desire to write down what I value and live by that(create a mission). They said that it was impossible to do and basically inferred that everything was out of ones control. I feel that for myself I have shown this to be wrong. Adversity still strikes, but my response is within my control.

Decide who you are!

Write it down!

Live it!

Live!