CHANGE - What does it mean to you?

I had to go to this seminar the other day about change, it seems as though all the seminars I go to lately are about change, if its not change management, its strategic change or something to that effect. I always leave these seminars feeling as though I can do much more than what I already do, I guess in a sense we can always do more! I begin to wonder that perhaps I am supposed to be elsewhere and not where I am at momentarily. The word change is only a six-letter word that can cause a tremendous difference in someone’s life or a minuet one, all because they decided to "change". Change what? Anything! How open are we to change? Do we receive it wholeheartedly or do we repudiate it? Often time’s people reject change because they have become so complacent and comfortable where they are, that they keep from growing. I know, because I have been guilty of that myself and at times, I still am. Mostly I think we are afraid of change because we are afraid to fail, but we forget that change is inevitable, and we can't always control it but sometimes we most definitely cause the change to occur. I guess what we need to remember is who we are when change does occur, and know that we are not defined by our circumstances. What does change mean to you? Is that word related to something positive or negative in your mind? My hope is that it is related to something positive, and that regardless of whatever does occur in your life that you do not see change with a selfish eye but with a selfless one. My hope is that the changes that do occur or that we cause can benefit others and not just ourselves, that we can be people that make things better for all involved, people that make some kind of difference in this world, whether large or small, a difference is a difference no matter what the size. As the Buddhist Gandhi once said be the change you wish to see in the world. The question is do you believe you can be that change?

Somewhere over the...

It was an normal day nothing unusual about it, but for some reason I felt a little down, perhaps because the weather was a little gloomy, who am I kidding the weather was very gloomy. I figured once I went spinning my somber mood would shortly depart; at least that is what I had hoped. Exercise can be a great way to relieve stress and tension, but although I had an excellent workout I still felt a little bummed out. About what? I do not know! I have no reason whatsoever to be down but for some reason I was, I guess it was just one of those days. As I drove home from my intense spinning class, I started to observe the very dark sky and noticed a bright rainbow in the midst of it all. I do not want to sound cliché in saying that after the storm there is always a rainbow, but I couldn't help but think that the sky was so gloomy and within it was something so beautiful. It was as though God was saying everything else could be falling apart but hey I am still here, there is always beauty in all the mess. In everything good or bad, happy or sad He is in it. The rainbow was proof enough for me; there is hope...

The Fantastic 4 - Rise of the Silver Surfer

I had made other plans, plans to go out dancing and to meet Ami the tattoo artist from Miami Ink on Friday night, but instead I chose to do something else. I really did not feel like doing anything, I did not want to get all dressed up only to come home late and have to be up by 6:00 am on a Saturday. Ugh!! It was a choice we made to do something that others might have thought was not so fun compared to our original plans for the evening; we chose to go to the movies. We decided to see The Fantastic 4, what can I say I love all those marvel comic movies. Who would have thought that a simple comic book would later become a major motion picture? I always tend to find these movies very insightful because they are all about sacrifices, choices and heroes. The scene that stood out to me, is the one in which the invisible girl tells the silver surfer "you always have a choice", at first you do not think much of what she says to him until the movie progresses to the point where the surfer tells her husband to be, Mr. Fantastic that "she is right, you do have a choice". The Silver Surfer then chooses to save the world from what is about to consume and destroy it. He had a choice and he chose to do something, he chose to save the world. He sacrificed himself to save everyone else; he was the ultimate sacrifice in the movie. I guess with some choices comes scarifies, and with sacrifice may come opportunities, or at least that is what I would like to think. Opportunities that can be positive and sometimes even negative, but I guess that would depend on the choices we make preceding the sacrifice. What choices are we making and are we willing to sacrifice anything for it? Is it even really worth it? Today was Relevant Church's first day at Country Club Middle School, the church made a choice to leave the small yet comfortable Courtyard Marriott where we have met every Sunday for a year and a half, or leave and step into the unknown to sacrifice our time, energy, and sleep so that an opportunity can arise. An opportunity for others to come to know God!!! Is it worth it? ABSOLUTELY!!!

White as can be...

I recently got a kitten that is absolutely adorable, shes all white with light blue eyes and looks absolutely perfect! I thought of naming her Sky because she has white fur like the clouds, and light blue eyes like the sky, but some people thought that would be a cheesy name for a kitten, so now we just call her Kitty. The thing about this kitten is that she is always scratching and biting, and it seems as though she is always trying to defend herself from us (my family & I). I don't understand why, we offer to rub her belly, feed her, give her a good home and offer her our love, but she still insists that we are trying to hurt her. I know that most of the time it is her way of playing, but at the same time I know its not just her innocently playing but really her defense. I think often times people are very similar to this kitten, on the outside they seem okay and appear to be happy but on the inside it is something completely different, they are defending themselves from people who are not out to get them. If you see Kitty, you would never think she would be as vicious as she can be, due to her sweet appearance. Sometimes in life we give the appearance that everything is okay and that we are fine but we have been hurt so many times by others in the past that is affects us in our future. So how do we move from vicious and defensive to genial? My hope is that the more I show my kitten she in not in any threat, the more likely she will become amicable. We at times tend to ignore those around us that need that kind of attention, just showing someone a simple gesture or a kind word can perhaps help them lighten up. Literally!!! We can never be as white as my kitten without blemishes or marks, we can not go backwards and erase all the things that have happened to us, but we can move foward and deal with the blemishes and marks that we have obtained from past which have shaped who we are.

Can you see a bigger picture?

Lately I feel as though I am not in control, but its not a bad thing! I am seeing things and people becoming part of something greater. I am beginning to see pieces of a puzzle coming together to create one big picture. I am still very far from seeing exactly what that picture is, but I know there is a bigger picture that I will one day see. There is a purpose for my life and even when I think some things go unnoticed and have no effect on others, to my surprise it is reviled to me that not all things go unnoticed. It is in those moments that you can see God move! It's in those moments when things come together and you don't know why or how they do, but they just do! For those of you who actually read my blog if you do not know what I am talking about, I pray that you get to experience that, because it is amazing, to see how people come together and how lives change. The smallest thing anyone can do for someone else can sometimes cause the biggest change one could have ever expected. Life is most definitely uncertain but within that uncertainty is when miracles can happen. I guess it really would boil down to what you define as a miracle, and whether or not you believe they can happen.

A different shade of brown...

Its funny how things work out in life, I met a young lady several months ago which at that point in my life, I would have never guessed would be a friend of mine today. My first impression of her was that she was snobbish girl who probably only cared about herself. Today I have a completely different view of that very same young lady. I guess that is why they say, you should not judge a book by its cover. I have always thought that things happen for a reason, and that all things work together for good even when things seem to be going down hill. Is is possible that God really has a hand in our lives? Most definitely!!! Could it possibly be that my hair getting dyed the wrong color be a reason for me to see someone in a different light? I was in a beauty salon for four hours today with a girl whom I never thought would be such an amazing friend, because the direction in which our lives where heading nearly a year ago I would have never imagined would point us in the same direction, but most likely in the opposite. Its amazing how things can change in the blink of an eye, and how God can turn any situation around. Thanks to her wanting to help me with my hair dilemma and being selfless, I now have a different shade of brown. If someone can sit in a salon for hours with you just to make sure you look fabulous, be your eyes, and actually care, than if that is not a friend I don't know what is. I guess my first impression of her was like my dyeing gone wrong experience and my new shade of brown is my new found appreciation for her. All I can say is thank you and that there are many different shades and tones to one person, we just have to figure out how to uncover them.

It's just hair dye...

So I dyed my hair yesterday and I hate it! I went to the salon to get it cut and to match my natural hair color which is medium brown, I walked out with dark, I mean really dark hair, clearly not what I wanted, or even asked the beautician to do. So I ask myself what can I do about it now? I can either stick with it or re-dye it. Wouldn't it be great if life was that easy, that if we mess up we can easily fix it just like my hair. I could slap on a different hair shade since my dyeing experience has gone wrong, but lets face it, life is not always that easy to fix when we mess up. Through this whole dyeing ordeal I was thinking about an experience I had about a month ago. I had gone to the beach one week day afternoon which is not something I usually do, I called Fernando around 4:30pm and asked him if he wanted to go to the beach once we got out of work, he was a little hesitant to my request, but quickly agreed. Once we arrived at the beach it was pretty desolate with a few stragglers here and there, but more than anything we were enjoying the peace that the beach offered. After a while of laying out and reading my magazine three teenagers arrived and sat a few feet away from us, two of them were male and the other was a female. The two young men entered the choppy waters and the young lady stayed ashore reading a book. Several minutes later one of the two young men approached us and asked us to help him look for his lost friend, Fernando automatically assumed he drowned, but I did not jump to conclusions just yet. We then began to search for help and I started to talk to the young lady who was reading her book, her name was Ashley, I will never forget her! As we waited for rescue to arrive I could see the panic in both her and the young mans face, I could only think to myself what can I do to help? The rescue team finally arrived and dove into the waters to search for this young man, after fifteen minutes of searching they finally found him. I remember Ashley's face when they announced that he was found, her eyes became really bright and her expression became hopeful. I did not leave her side and offered her the only towel I had because it was starting to get dark and the beach was getting a bit chilly. Seeing her face I realized then, that God had placed me on the beach that day for a reason or at least that is what I choose to believe. I told her that God does things for a reason and asked her if she wanted to pray, she was hesitant and stood silent, so I prayed to myself by her side. I prayed for her and her friend that was now laying on the beach lifeless surround by a rescue team trying to resuscitate him. After another fifteen minutes of working on this young man, the rescue team decided to take him to the near by hospital. Ashley and her friend left the beach that day with heavy hearts and grim faces. I watched her walk away as she returned my towel and thought to myself...that's it!!! Fernando and I decided to go to the hospital where they had taken the young man. What could we possibly do there? I felt as though there had to be more we could do to help these young people, when we arrived no one offered us any information on his condition. Finally, we left and drove home in silence from the experience we had just encountered. When we arrived at my home we waited for the evening news to see if we heard anything on that young mans status, and they announce that he had passed away. My prayer for him is that his soul was at easy and that he knew God, he was a young man who's death has impacted my life and I did not even know his name. Its amazing how we really take life for granted, those young people were only teenagers who came to the beach to have a good time, not even thinking that there lives would be forever changed. I realized then that the problems that I think are so big, really are not that big at all, and that there are much more important things in life, than having the wrong hair color, after all its just hair dye.

Spiderman 3

:Disclaimer:

If you have not seen Spiderman 3 and do not want the movie to be spoiled than I suggest you do not continue to read this blog.

Every so often, more often than not, my family and I go to the movies. I mean the entire family aunts, uncles, cousins they are all included, so we went to go see Spiderman 3, as we have always done when a new Spiderman movie comes out. So there we are just watching this movie that seemed to be much longer than the first two and also seemed to be a little more corny than any other. Throughout the whole movie Peter Parker is filled with rage and anger towards his grandfathers assassin, aside from being angry he becomes overconfident because of the public's idolization for all of his accomplishments in protecting the city. He also neglects those that he loves, and in turn causes him to have an inner turmoil. This inner turmoil forces him to invoke revenge on the man who has taken his grandfather from him. The whole movie builds up to this one scene, in which Peter is confronted with the Sandman, the accused murderer of his grandfather. In the midst of the struggle between Spiderman and the Sandman, the Sandman admits to Peter that his grandfathers death was unintentional, and an accident. Peter then realizes that things aren't always what they seem and replies to the Sandman three amazing words "I forgive you". At that point in the movie it made me realize how powerful those three words are and how we take them for granted. When he tells him I forgive you he sets himself free from all negative things such as rage, anger, revenge, hate and angst. They are just three simple words that can have a profound impact. Sometimes life is not as simple as saying I forgive you or saying I am sorry to someone, but the relief you feel when you do, and saying it with meaning is amazing, the only word I can use to describe it is freedom!

To my taponsito...

Isn't it amazing how certain people in our lives can open up our eyes to certain things, while another one could be telling us the very same thing, but yet we choose to listen to the other person instead. How one person can give us an option "c" when all we thought was option "a " and "b". How a specific person can tell us something in a strong manner or even in a sweet and loving manner and not offend us in order to get there point across, however they choose to communicate something to us we listen to that certain person for some reason. Who knows why? One of my dearest friends whom I have know since middle school called me yesterday while I was in the middle of freaking out, literally freaking out over nothing. All I can say is thank God for friends. I must say she really put me in my place, something I did not expect from her, its amazing to see how someone can change your whole perception on a certain situation, by telling you to just get over it...

Skepticism from a new blogger...

I have always considered myself a pretty assertive person, and for some time now I have felt, and have also been told that I should start a blog. To some degree the idea has struck my fancy, but at the same time makes me a little uneasy about doing so. I am a fan of stating your opinion and being honest, but writing a blog is something a bit more personal where anyone can read your thoughts and "know" you to some extent, it makes me skeptical because I am not sure I want strangers to know me without even speaking to me, to know my personal thoughts and feelings, but at the same time its as though it is some form of therapy, thoughts that are no longer in me but out there...I guess here goes nothing...sincerely the skeptical blogger!!!