How To Make A Life

emphasisadded:

by Jen Pastiloff

First:

Take everything you’ve ever learned and everything
You’ve yet to discover and place it in a box labeled Thank You.

Second:

Take a picture of your face and remember
That in many years time you will be amazed at how gorgeous you were.
Be amazed now.

Third:

Find someplace to live.
Make sure it has the ability to let light fall
Across the room in such a way that every so often,
You’ll stop and mouth the words “Ah, sunlight.”
Before you finish dusting the books.
Don’t let the books get dusty.
Open them and reread your favorite sentences
Or give the books away.

Fourth:

Fall in love.
Touch. More than you think.
Have a child if you want one.
If you don’t, don’t.
Let your child out into the world
Discovering for themselves just how magical
It is. Or it isn’t.
It’s theirs to decide.
Give your child a lot of books.

Fifth:

Get a job.
Remember this job is not who you are.
You get to open the silk door of You,
And decide, over and over, as many times as your socks,
Just who you are.
You get to say your own I am.

Sixth:

Do yoga.
Let your body discover what it’s like to move
without your brain holding it’s hand.
Tell your brain to take a hike.
Let your body believe fully in it’s own powers.
Let every person you’ve stored inside your muscles out every so often,
to breathe.

Lastly:

Do things that make you feel good.
Let your joy be contagious and spread through
Your home, your job, your children.
Let it spread through the world
Like a virus so that when you forget it,
Every so often, you’ll catch it from someone else.

[via: onherway]

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enthusiasm [en-thoo-zee-az-uhm]:

(noun)

  1. absorbing or controlling possession of the mind by anyinterest or pursuit; lively interest
  2. an occupation, activity, or pursuit in which such interest is shown

One morning I woke up smack dab in the middle of an abundant enthusiasm for my life. It was such a jarring experience. I have long felt lukewarm about my life and the direction it was heading in. And then, one day, it was not that way. 


I have a wonderful job that I am passionate about. It provides for me and is investing in me and growing me into a lovely employee.
I have a beautiful apartment. It is filled with the things that I love because I have made it that way. It is large and spacious and there is always an extra bed for company, just the way I like it. It can’t always be as clean as I would like, but that is the way of the world and I am learning to accept it. 
My family lives here. Not the beautiful family I was born into, but the one that I created. Every night I pile into bed with my boyfriend and my wild beast pup and we talk about our days past and our days future, and how much love there is here. Ours is not a perfect home, we are often crippled by our humanity and brought to our knees by how difficult it can be to be vulnerable. But we are each other’s support. 
There is love here. There is beauty here. I am growing here. And perhaps that is the most beautiful thing of all.