Valentine's Day Message

     I have been reading articles and posts and tweets and blogs about the praises and woes of the Valentines holiday all day long. Please allow me to step upon my soapbox and weigh in on the situation.
     Men: Like it or hate it the vast majority of women are looking for a certain set of things on this occasion. If she's a keeper, and your serious about her please consider my input. A woman that loves you wants a thoughtful genuine expression of your love. That's all! If your broke and she's with you anyway, she's most likely not looking for you to break the bank on her. Be creative, use the information that you know and love about her, and do something meaningful. Honestly, that's it. She will love it. If she doesn't drop her because she is not the girl for you.
     That being said. If you have a girl in your life that you're not that into, you should have dumped her after Christmas. Man that sounds rough but it is true. Since you didn't and your still dealing with her, you have to do something nice for her. Don't do anything that's going to keep her too attached. You still need to let her go. Start preparing her for it. Deep down she already knows it. But it's your duty to treat her with some respect and do something nice. I'd go for a card that's not too romantic, take the funny route, and some candy. And for goodness sakes get things shut down before Easter!
     Your lady knows what YOU want. You are the first to admit that you are fairly simple creatures. Think on my suggestions. If things aren't going your way, give them a try, I'll bet it will help.



    

About Love

So I started out this Valentine's weekend at a funeral. Then came home to settle down to a gut wrenching movie about how true love can basically KILL you. I gotta admit it's having a tremendous effect on my psyche (not to mention my libido). I'm doing my best to open my mind, find the positives, and look at the big picture. But, quite frankly, I'm in a bit of a funk. I know this post is the exact opposite of my last one on happiness *shrugs* but that's where I'm at at this particular moment. Today I feel like life no matter how hard you plan and try is just difficult. Is love worth the pain we go through to experience it? Where should we set the boundaries of how far is far enough to go for love? Does the equal portion of how much you hurt because of love compared to the love you feel for someone have a limit? That kind of makes makes the whole I love you to death cliche less theoretical and more realistic doesn't it. As frustrated as I feel about all of this right now, my experiences with loved ones leads me to one frustrating but overwhelming conclusion as to whether or not love is worthwhile .....YES. *deep sigh*

Happily Ever After

     I am in the midst of a total paradigm shift concerning my thoughts on happiness. Growing up anymore is a complicated process. Earlier than ever there are so many pressures put on us. Kids are distracted about how they look. Schools start to apply pressure about the importance of grades and how they affect you long into the future. The materialistic society teaches them that if you don't have the latest, greatest biggest, and best, then life is basically not worth living. I recognize all of these things when I think rationally. However, my current revelation is that they were all in effect during my formative years. I guess on some level I realized it then. But I am just now stepping back and seeing how that effected who I am today.
         Throughout the years I have been very reflective on removing unhappiness from my life. I have always agreed with the cliche that life is too short. I certainly think it's too short to live unhappy. Therefore, I have routinely identified things and people in my life that have been a source of displeasure and tried to remedy the situation. If there was no viable solution to the problem then at that point I felt it was best to move on.  I guess that my most recent revelation is that avoiding unhappiness does not mean that you are going to be happy. For a long time I had settled for not being unhappy, and now I realize that's a lower standard of living. It's not good enough anymore.
     Happiness, like love is multi-faceted. There is work involved to get there. It's a journey. But just like in love when you stand back and look at it. When you think of all that you had to go through to obtain it. It's worth it. From now on I choose happiness.