Burning Bridges

As a counselor I have hope in almost everything and everyone. It is also who I am as a person. Some would argue I have too much hope and see life with rose colored glasses despite all that I have personally experienced and all that I have heard about the grief of others, "la vie en rose." (Listen to this song if you ever have a chance.) All I know is that I have always had the presence of the "Divine" in my life. Even in my loneliest, I have truly never been or felt alone. However, having said this, I have learned a lot in the last few years about having hope in everything and everyone. 

Lesson 1:

Everything and everyone has the potential of change but not everything and everyone will reach that potential in a timeline that we are able to witness.

Lesson 2:

When we choose to leave certain people and things in the time and space they belong, we are not forgetting them and their time with us. We are operating with the virtue of justice by letting people occupy their space and time and allowing ourselves to move on and occupy our own space and time. 

Lesson 3:

We need energy and fuel to power our way through our new and possibly different journey. We cannot exist simultaneously in two or more dimensions of time without severe exhaustion and lack of motivation. We have to choose and sadly, sometimes our fuel and guidance comes from the light provided by the bridges we burn to our past. 

Lesson 4:

While you may choose to return to an older period of time, you have to remember that you return as a changed person and therefore will possibly, and in all likelihood, have different reactions and behaviors. Don't be surprised if you realize something or someone from your past isn't as interesting or is more interesting than you thought originally. 

Lesson 5:

There is a lesson in everything. Find it, especially when you have the least amount of understanding of what's going on. It will always shed light on a situation. 

Lesson 6:

Hope applies to everyone. It's an equal opportunity concept. If you have hope in everything and everyone else, that means there is also hope for you and your situation. You are not the exception to the rule. 

Lesson 7: 

There are connections between every act, person, thing, and situation. Find what the connections are. They are the yellow brick road that will lead you to the treasure at the end of the rainbow. 

Once again, I'm not saying anything you can't think of or haven't possibly thought of yourself. I just happen to be trained to look for these things as part of my job and therefore in my own life. You can become this aware as well. You might already be. 

And this kind of awareness, once again, is one of the perks of being a counselor. 

Nostalgia

Sooo...

I'm back in Texas for my niece and nephews high school graduation. Never mind that it feels like they were just born yesterday. Now I have to watch them walk across a stage and transition into adulthood and college. To say that time goes by quickly is a gross understatement. 

So in order to celebrate them, we have to celebrate the almost 18 years that have gone by. And to look back 18 years means to look back at what my life used to look like as well because our lives are all a tangled web of interactions and love. 

The counselor in me wants to point out the moments I missed that led me to this new life. However, the aunt and mom in me is fighting hard to stick to the love and good times we have all had. 

Who will win? I'll have to let you know in a few days. 

Meanwhile, I'm going to thoroughly enjoy kissing and hugging my nieces and nephews because if there is one thing that I have learned, it's that time is short and there is no time to be wasted not loving the crap out of each other!

Didn't know I lost that...

Today I had to make a very quick run to Home Depot for some light bulbs. When I was "happily" married, Home Depot used to be a place I visited often. I loved painting the walls, looking for new throw rugs, looking at plants and mulch, looking at how to make my home prettier and more a reflection of myself. 

Today I realized the last time I was at Home Depot was almost a year ago and even then I made a quick run. As I walked up and down a couple of aisles today, a sinking feeling of nostalgia came over me and I felt this complete emptiness and sadness that divorce and infidelity had left me stripped of my desire to be a homemaker and create a loving and warm environment at home. I used to love to think of things I could do to furniture and my home, but today I realized that my divorce didn't just take away my security of feeling loved and accepted for who I am but also took away my desire to paint, plant, carve, refinish, restyle, redo anything and everything. 

I didn't realize how much of who I was I have lost. As I walked down the aisle  of paint colors, I even had a super sarcastic thought run across my mind, "As if paint color makes people happy."

Wow! I have lost the ability to think altruistically and optimistically.

Can people be that innocent and naive to be shopping together in Home Depot looking for water softener salt? Is this right? A couple looking at light bulbs together. Am I living in the twilight zone or do those two people actually look happy shopping for their new lawn furniture together? "Wow!" I think in amazement! I used to belong that world. And now all I can see is right through everything. Home Depot and all the people in it might as well be a mirage. 

Is there is a happy ending to all of this?

Probably not. There are certainly happy moments and times. But the fairy tale that some people live has vanished forever, at least for me. You can't go back to believing in magic once you've looked behind the curtain. 

Soooo....here's to happier days in Home Depot and even happier moments spent with loved ones. Thankfully I still believe in myself and often I say to myself, "If you exist, then there's a chance that there is someone else like you in this world." And this gives me hope. Not too much. But a little bit. And sometimes that's all we need, a little bit of hope.

V-Day (aka Valentines Day)

This post was originally started on February 14th, 2015 and finished today, May 16th, 2015. 

So here we are. 2015. Valentine's Day coming right up. A big part of me wants to be cynical. An even bigger part of me wants to be angry. Why?

Because it's just a ridiculous idea that people spend one day out of the year attempting to show their love for their loved ones. Why not do it every day? What about the other 364 days? We could all certainly use more love and have it spread more evenly throughout the year. 

And then there is the part of me that wishes and hopes for that love to be shown to me and so believes in cupids, fairies, and pixie dust. I mean I am human after all. Haha!

But in reality, this day can be extremely isolating for many. Loneliness is a disease that has overtaken the world and many of our newest and best modern day amenities create an even more isolating society and promote loneliness even further. 

So let's stop and take a moment to make sure we do something to show our love to those we love on a more consistent basis and continue to show it throughout the year. And let's make a collective effort to show love to those we do not know as well. Who knows what would happen if people started feeling loved. The world might change and become a more beautiful place. 

Happy Valentine's Day today and every day! ❤️❤️❤️

Anger isn't always bad...

Anger gets a bad rep. Counselors, psychologists and just people in general have a hard time addressing anger at its core. Often times anger is dismissed and "underlying emotions" are addressed as the core emotions. 

Sometimes it's true that other core emotions such as fear, sadness, anxiety, and such are actually the root of the anger displayed. But this is not universally and always true. Sometimes anger is just anger. Pure, raw, powerful and full of energy.

Can we try to accept anger for what it is and instead of dismissing it, channel it into something productive and life changing? This is a challenge I want to put out there to you. Instead of dismissing the anger you feel, channel its awesome energy and power into something useful in your life and try to make a positive change using your anger as fuel for your transformation. Empower yourself by telling yourself it's okay to feel anger as long as you use it for good instead of destroying yourself and your relationships with others. Stop believing you don't have control over your ability to take charge of your feelings. Feel your feelings, all of them. Don't label them as good or bad. Just feel. And take the energy each feeling produces and channel it in a meaningful way so that you can make a positive difference in your own life as well as the life of the community in which you live.

There is no such thing as a "bad" feeling. All feelings are valid and equal in their ability to be useful or destructive. You get to choose how you will use your feelings. YOU are the one in charge. Breathe. Observe. Think and reflect. And then...Carry on. 

Lesson: Anger can be used as fuel to get you to where you want to be. It's not about being destructive. It's about being constructive with whatever you have and whatever you're feeling at the moment. Believe me, I'm a counselor. I get angry and it pisses me off when my anger is negated or villianized. Being pissed off is life's way of giving you a little shot of caffeine so you can get off your ass and do something different. Don't be calm. Rage on and conquer your life! 

The lies we tell ourselves...

We lie to ourselves. It's the truth. We tell ourselves if only we had this or that, if only we could be here or there, then our life would be better. We pick out specifics about what we think we need and want in order to live more happily. We rarely look into ourselves to see why we feel we are missing so much in our life. 

The truth is that under the same exact conditions, we are completely accepting of what is when we feel good about ourselves. When we see the glass as half full, the beverage in the glass doesn't matter. This is because we see ourselves as complete. However, when we are feeling low, no matter how full our glass is, it's just never full enough.

This condition is one that can never be remedied. No amount of "stuff" will fill that void. We are not taught to dig deep within ourselves, pull out the rot and then replace it on our own, although we are perfectly capable of it. We are always directed to something out there, out in the world, out in society, in someone else to look at to try to fill the void or fix the void. 

I don't blame you. It's the only way today's society and the economy can function. If people actually realize that no "thing" or "person" can fill the void, and that it's a never-ending job of working on yourself, then we would stop spending so much money and time looking outside ourselves for peace. 

Peace is a state of mind. It's not a "thing" easily achieved through purchases and material goods. It's not a location either nor is it who you're with. It's a state of being and it's demonstrated through your actions towards yourself and others. 

Now that you know, though truly I'm thinking you already knew this in your inner core, I expect you to tell yourself the truth and instead of looking outside yourself for the "fix," look within, know your broken pieces are what makes you beautiful and complete as only you can be. Only your broken pieces fit together perfectly like a jigsaw puzzle which eventually allows others to see you as whole.

Lesson: The truth is so much more beautiful and empowering than the lies we tell ourselves. Believe me, I see you. :)

2014 is coming to a close...

I wrote this letter to 2014 on December 31, 2013. I thought I would re-visit it once again now that it's almost 2015 and see how far I have come...

Dear 2014,

Welcome! I remember when I was welcoming the year 2000 and never imagined I would live to welcome 2014. You see all sorts of crazy things were supposed to happen. The world was supposed to end in coming of the year 2000. Something about the computers not knowing how to switch from 1999 to 2000. LOL! So obviously we are still here but the world not coming to an end is debatable. 

In the last fourteen years, we have seen the world end in ways not even the writers of fiction could dream up. There were the tragedies all over the world caused by many different factors such as: massive atmospheric and climate changes which have caused floods and earthquakes more devastating than those described in our Holy Books; children dying due to illness, ignorance, murder, war, starvation and prejudice; new diseases spreading, the likes of which have never existed before; millions perishing in meaningless wars in which the sole purpose is to prevent the integration of humanity across invisible lines and boundaries; and other tragedies, too numerous to share, have devastated  the earth and its peoples. 

So you can see the world has indeed come to an end. However, depending on how you look at it, it could be a good thing. 

Dear 2014, you have the opportunity to be the beginning of a new, more aware and awake world! The world can begin again with you! 

While all those horrible things were happening, there were some good things happening too.  People started caring about the planet they live on and the food they eat. They started to look for similarities amongst each other and celebrated the differences. They were excited to learn from each other and about each other. They started to see the planet as ONE and people as ONE. In the darkness of war, disease, hatred and ignorance, they had no choice but to reach for a hand they couldn't see. People started to see their interconnectedness and interdependence on each other and now science is confirming all of this. They realized that once you hold the hand of a stranger in the dark, it's hard to hate them in the light.

2014...I am so excited for you! I can't wait to start you off with lots of love for all my family and friends. I know we are each going to make a difference this new year! Fourteen years after the world began to end, it is now beginning to begin again!!! 

May each one of us know how much power we have individually and that if we make a mistake tomorrow, on January 1st, may we remember that each moment thereafter is a new year, a new opportunity to begin again and so may we not wait for 2015 to begin again. May we strive to forgive ourselves every single moment we don't get it "right" so as to propel ourselves into an ever advanced and an ever more compassionately evolved humankind!!!

With all my love and gratitude to all of you for a most blessed, most empowered, healthy, happy and most compassionate 2014! 

Remember every moment is your moment to begin again! :) <3

Most Sincerely,

Yasi Nafisi