Tuesday, July 17, 2012

A New Day!

It is amazing how much can change in a day. The last couple days I was honestly starting to feel a little bored and lonely. Sushma had gone home to visit her family, and I finished the last book I brought with me...leaving with me with a lot of free time to think.
I let my mind wander through past memories and future plans, thinking about everything but the present. I knew that at moments my time here would be challenging, but the most challenging part is honestly the time alone. I am a really social person, and being away from everyone I love can be hard after a while. But yesterday I found this quote by Budda, "Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment."

This struck me for some reason, and I began to think about what this present moment means for me...It means a chance to learn how to be alone, an opportunity to notice the small things in life (like the plumerias outside of my room which I stop to pick up and smell as I walk to my office), to do yoga daily and focus on my physical health, and most importantly to learn about a different culture.

The only thing we can really control in our life is our attitude...Every day might not be beautiful, but we can definitely find something beautiful in every day. So today, I changed my attitude and went to work with a flower in my hand and a new sense of determination in my heart. And today turned out to be a great day. I had a wonderfully successful meeting with the director of the non-profit "Friends of the Environment", and the training we are collaborating on is now set to happen within the next month. I went to the store and bought four new books. Then I got invited to a friends house for a delicious home cooked meal tomorrow.

So lesson for today: a positive outlook is everything.

"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty"~Winston Churchill

Today I re-found the wonderful opportunity I have been given here and it only took a change in outlook. 

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