the wiseman.

so today, i was talking to my coworker about his favorite topic. 

girls.

he was asking me what i like in a guy and then told me that i should be more open, so that if i am interested in a guy, he will know.

he also told me to climb a mountain with the boy i'm interested to know if he's the one to marry.

and to give him chocolate if i want him to know i am interested.

and to play with his hands when he's sitting next to me.

i laughed and told him that i didn't think i would, that it was too forward. not my style. that was too scary. he asked why, and i told him i'd been hurt pretty badly in the past and was worried that if i opened myself up again, the same thing would happen.

and this is what we said:

"jane, i'm going to tell you a story."

"ok," i laughed. we were walking through the snow to the next building and he began.

"once, there was a boy who lived in a village that felt like no one loved him. he couldn't understand why, so he went to the local wiseman to get his problem fixed.

"'wiseman, no one likes me. all the people avoid me. can you help me with my problem?'

"'yes, i can, but you in turn must help me with a problem i have.'

"'anything!' the eager young man said.

"'i have this ring that i need to sell,' the wiseman held up a simple band. 'take it to the city over there and sell if for no less than two gold coins.'

"the young man decided that sounded easy enough and went off on his journey. he approached the city and tried all day to sell the ring. people offered two silver coins, one gold coin, a bronze coin, but never two gold coins and the boy went back to the wiseman disappointed.

"'i couldn't sell it,' he handed the ring back to the wiseman.

"'that's alright. i want you to try again tomorrow, but this time go to the other town and see how much they will offer for the ring. don't sell it, just ask how much they will give you for it.'

"so, the next day, the young man headed to the other town and asked the first person he saw how much he'd give him for the ring. the young man was shocked as the man said he'd give him seventy-eight gold coins right there if he'd sell it. he decided to see what other people would offer, and was surprised as he got offers for eighty, sixty-seven, even one hundred gold coins! he returned to the wiseman and asked him which offer he would like for the ring.

"'i don't want to sell my ring,' the wiseman told the boy. 'it was merely a lesson for you. right now, you see yourself as the ring that no one will buy, but someday, someone will come along and want to buy you for the price you are really worth. don't sell yourself short to those who don't recognize the value of what they have.'"

he then asked me if i understood the story. i nodded, "i get it." i thanked him and we got back to work.

I believe.

Journal Prompt via

I believe in dresses

I believe in family

I believe in fresh air and green mountains

I believe in nail polish

I believe in naps

I believe in friends

I believe in being kind. 

I believe in tender mercies

I believe in adventures

I believe in prayer.

penelope

Real.

“What is REAL?" asked the Velveteen Rabbit one day... "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When [someone] loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't often happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. 

"Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand... once you are Real you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always.” 

―Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit 

foundations.

today is the day i realize that everything starts from a foundation, either strong or weak.
 
"I've come to believe that all my past failure and frustration were actually laying the foundation for the understandings that have created the new level of living I now enjoy."
-Tony Robbins

today is the day that i realize that time is a building block, something that can be filled with acts that makes relationships worth while and beliefs worth believing.


"Of all that is good, sublimity is supreme. Succeeding is the coming together of all that is beautiful. Furtherance is the agreement of all that is just. Perseverance is the foundation of all actions."
Lao Tzu

today is the day that tears may come, but tomorrow is the day where the waiting and building of foundations end, and the building begins to rise above it.

"Do you wish to be great? Then begin by being. Do you desire to construct a vast and lofty fabric? Think first about the foundations of humility. The higher your structure is to be, the deeper must be its foundation."
St. Augustine

today is the day that i see that foundations are invisible, something only you can begin to feel in your heart as it grows.

"And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."
Helaman 5:12

today i feel impatient, but tomorrow great things will be restored upon the foundation i am building today. things that i cannot even imagine or begin to expect.

"Hearts will never be practical until they can be made unbreakable"
The Wizard of Oz

i just need to learn to be patient for tomorrow.

let it go.

via

Brave

"We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face... we must do that which we think we cannot."
-Eleanor Roosevelt


"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear."
-Nelson Mandela 

Press On.

So there I sat. The computer screen loomed in front of me and I felt overwhelmed. How was qu’est-ce que c’est? different from qui est-ce? What in the world did c'est even mean? And how was I supposed to write sentences using these phrases when honestly all I knew how to say was Bonjour, je m'appelle Jane. Comment allez-vous? and Trés bien!

Tears started to roll down my face. The frantic "I can't do this!" call to my mom didn't help much (she can't magically fix my problems, despite all my conviction otherwise). Reading the text book again didn't help at all.

But then I saw this on my syllabus:

"'Do not pray for tasks equal to your abilities, but pray for abilities equal to your tasks. Then the performance of your tasks will be no miracle, but you will be the miracle.'
                                                                                                       --President Thomas S. Monson
This course is time-consuming and demanding. However, if you work hard and try your best, the Lord will sustain you and you will be the miracle."

I can do this.

And then I was reminded of this song. I'm convinced Fun. can be applied to every situation. (Well, not really...just most situations...haha)

But really, sometimes things seem way too overwhelming to handle. And I've learned that:

a) even when things seem down, you CAN do it.

b) emotional breakdowns are ok.

c) take a step back, take a deep breath.

d) Heavenly Father will raise you to EVERY occasion. Even if it's French 101.

-J.M Bairre (Peter Pan)

backwards

Image Via

Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.

-Soren Kierkegaard

Quoted

"Would the girl you were yesterday admire the woman you are today? If not adjust for desired results."