CFC Blog #112: Lessons from 2018, Anti-Pet Peeves, and this Circle of Joy

More anti-pet peeves! Happy Friday :) 

Maria - your constant sincerity, mindfulness, and passion that you put in all that you do truly inspires me.. and you even infuse it all with a GREAT sense of humor! Thank you for contributing to the unbounded circulation of joy and positivity in this community. I'm so so thankful to know you, and look forward to knowing much more. 

-Amanda

Lessons from 2018, Anti-Pet Peeves, and this Circle of Joy

Sometimes I still stop, and I think about all the problems and mistakes of 2018, trying to see them, to learn from them, and to give them their proper magnitude – the size correction is needed in my case because I’m Brazilian, and hyperboles (large, exaggerated statements) are a way of living!

 And then, I immediately follow up with opposite thoughts, about all the victories (big and small), all the understanding that happened, all that felt good-ish, in a conscious effort to attain balance, and to also learn from love, and feel the certainty that there is always something to be grateful for.

Meeting you and being part of this beautiful community is definitely part of the loving thoughts during these ‘sometimes’, so, thank you all - may you bring peace to your minds and hearts when you think about all that makes sense to you now, and makes you grateful, with presence. 

2018 was also the year when I was taught about anti-pet peeves and I have been hearing so many funny ones that it became a challenge to come up with more.

 But I dared myself (it is a lot of fun to do this) and let my mind stream to the mode of 'hunting them down', listing the result afterwards.

So here you are, as a contribution to, as Amanda puts it so well, "keep the spirit of anti-pet peeves flowing":

·        'Running' home after a long day and finding out that the last piece of pie you've been craving since the morning is still in the fridge and it is all yours;

·        Taking care of a baby for an hour (or more) and not having to change its diapers before you hand it over back to its parents;

·        Meeting someone who you don't remember the name of at all, again, and having their name pop up into your mind in the second you needed to say it, and not make a fool of yourself;

·        Creating an effortless new recipe, on the fly, which turns out to be delicious and your go-to dish to impress loved ones;

·        Being absolutely happy (and cool) with what would be an 'awkward' silence, but actually 'having a moment' with someone you like;

·        Opening the mail box and finding a postcard or a letter and taking the time to 'be' with the sender;

·        Carrying said postcard or letter in your bag all around for days and peeking at it frequently just to 'be' with the sender again and again;

·        When you sit down to write a postcard, or a letter, and your thinking just flows to your hand and all you want to write is expressed and you can't stop smiling throughout the writing;

·        Bursting into a song and dance with a friend and pretend to sing it (exaggeratedly) just to laugh even more and have no regards whatsoever about where you are and how silly you look, just being absolutely free and blissful;

·        Finding an old picture that you haven't seen in years which brings back a fun memory and it making you laugh;

·        When the rain, which seemed never-ending during the entire afternoon, stops minutes before you had to leave work on a day that you hadn't checked the weather forecast and would have been completely soaked otherwise;

·        Living a moment when a favorite movie line fits perfectly, you say it out loud, and the person with you gets it, and knows exactly what it is;

·        Being invited last minute to an event that you really want to go and finding out you still have an amazing great-hair-day;

·        During intermissions in the Koch Theater, seeing if you can spot the NYC Ballet dancers walking around the foyer 'in real life', and from time to time, actually meeting them - I make a point to at least do a gracious bow, since I become utterly speechless and all intelligent thought vanishes from my mind;

·        Finding out that a shower-beer is even more awesome than it sounds!!