If you get the awful play on words that was the title of this week's post, you have an incredibly quirky sense of humor, and I like you. (Narnia meant to be "none of your"- hey I admitted it was bad). Anyway, this week I was on vacation, so I don't have too much exciting going on to share (thank God), so this week's post isn't anywhere near as exciting as the discovery of the weenis (referring to previous post)...but here it goes anyway.
The other day, I was standing in line at the Walgreens self-service photo booth while my dad was printing some pictures. I was bored, and so was the kid next to me, so we started flirting. What started out with an innocent eyelash bat on his part evolved into a full blown poking war. He shyly poked me first, so I poked him back,and he'd poke me back a little harder, and so on. The only difference between him and I was that he was about 3 1/2 years old with a lollipop. The game ended when he started hitting me instead of poking, and I'm still unsure as to whether that means I won or lost the poking war. No hard feelings though, because he offered me his lollipop before he left, which I politely declined.
I guess , in retrospect, I could have been annoyed by the sticky fingered kid poking me. But, had I not been patient, I wouldn't have been offered a sweet reward in the end. And I would have just remained in the Walgreens line, not only bored, but mad as well. Sounds bad for the blood pressure.
The other night, I went to see a movie with my dad. I think it was the first movie I'd seen in about six months. We saw the Narnia movie, "Dawn Treader." I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but towards the end of the movie, the talking lion king dude (Aslan) has a conversation with the kids about how they ended up in Narnia to get to know him better so that they may learn to recognize him more in their own world, because he exists in both, just by different names. And then this talking mouse guy asked if he could cross over to "Aslan's country", because he'd lived his whole life to end up there, and his purpose was served, unlike the kids who had to go back to their world to finish up their purpose there. I realize this is all a bunch of fantasy nonsense if you haven't seen the movie, but clearly Aslan was representative of God and "Aslan's country" was alluding to Heaven. That's why, when watching all this go down, I sat there, mouth gaping open like a total cool kid in my 3-D glasses...unbelieving that an experience I had that was extremely personal was up on the big screen for all the world to see. I felt like CS Lewis was making fun of me, as there on the screen played out a scene extremely similar to the life-changing experience I had the night my mom died... it was like good old CS was calling me an annoying Narnia kid and my momma a mouse. (Side note: I promise at some point in the future I'll tell the full blown story, as I keep alluding to it...it's not that it's so dramatic that I can't post it; I've just got to get the cahones to fess it up to a few VIPs [ie the dad and brother] before I post it up for all the world to see.)Anyway, at the end of the movie, while the credits were rolling, some old guy next to me mumbled "That was an ok movie, I just could have done without all the talking lion stuff at the end". My first thought was, "seriously, dude,who in their right mind goes to a freaking Narnia movie if they take offense to talking lions?" But, then, as I continued to "not eavesdrop", this man continued to complain about the theater carpet, the popcorn, his bad knees, that it gets dark so early, and on and on and on. Then I realized, he was one of those chronic complainer types...you know, one of those people that doesn't know how to just enjoy something without assuming the world is out to get him or something has to be wrong. I bet if this guy had been in the Walgreen's line, that kid's sticky fingers would have ruined his week. So , oh yes, the point...there was one (kind of). The thing is, situations don't change, only our perceptions of them do. Two different people can go through the exact same situation, and come out of it with completely different perceptions and experiences. One person might view it as something really good that happened, while the other might be irritated that he even had to experience it in the first place. And, the cool thing is, you can pick your perceptions, thus choosing if you want to do life or have life do you. You are free to experience life negatively or positively, and the choice you make directly determines your life experience.
Now, I'm not saying that life is all sunshine and rainbows all the time. Its realistic to say that sometimes situations just suck. I know a few people who are obnoxiously chipper all the time to the point that people just need them to go away; the people I know like that are like a bad pair of underwear- always up my butt, wanting to get involved. Sometimes it is appropriate to take the cheerleader smile off , back away from the pom poms,and just acknowledge that a particular situation is kind of sucky. If someone had walked up to me with a cheesy smile and a "everything happens for a reason" comment at my mom's funeral, I would have sucker punched the sunshine right out of them. However, with time, even the suckiest of sucks can be used for your higher good if you let them. The suck isn't going to change...only your reaction to the suck can change. I'm not saying that the glass is half full and smelling like roses all the time. Sometimes the glass is a smidge on the empty side, and sometimes someone takes a dump in your drink, but by God, if I can help it, I'm going to try to remain thankful that I have a drink in my hand. There are people starving in Africa who don't have drinks. It is hard to do all the time, but I have to admit that the more I am thankful for the little things, and try to perceive the good in situations, the more blessings I seem to attract in my life.
So, in summation (yeeea F-cat style!), rather than bitch about the talking lions, why not enjoy them and listen to what they say? I mean, youre sitting in freaking Narnia anyway. No matter if you love them or hate them, the lions are still gonna talk. The only person you're hurting by taking offense to what is going to be anyway is yourself...and who knows, maybe next time you just try to enjoy whatever life pokes at you, you might end up with a lollipop.
Love, light, and quit your bitchin folks,
Sara
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