When Inspiration Stikes! (And some ideas on Holidays and Culture)

Often inspiration strikes at the most unexpected moment. You´re bumbling on along in the normal little life you lead when BAM! You realize your potential! You realize your power, your being, your essense, yourself! It´s an incredible experience, and it feels better than you can ever imagine.

Friday night: Me. Bawling over my seemingly stressfull and entangled existence.

Saturday morning: I feel as fresh and new as someone reborn.

And how? Let me tell you. I watched this movie called "The Secret." If you want to realize how easily attainable happness is, give this a chance. Look up www.thesecret.tv. The concepts in this movie are something that I would not have been able to accept three years ago or even three weeks or three days ago. It is the concept that your thoughts have power in and of themselves. Think about this: your thoughts have power. You create your reality through your thoughts. If you focus on the negative, the law of attraction states that that is exactly what you will attract: negativity. But, if you focus on the positive, if you focus on how beautiful that rose is, how much you love your mother´s smile, then the spilt-coffee day and the enraging arguement with your mom will all fall away and be replaced by contentedness. It is such a foreign thought that your mind might automatically reject it, but then you know that maybe now is not the time for you to receive this information. Maybe you´ll stumble upon this epiphany later in life, and everything will click. The pieces of the puzzle will all come together, and you will know that your true work, the fun work, has just begun. You are begining to change your mind, break out of old unhealthy habits, and embrace what you know is true. It´s frightening, but it´s also exhilirating! I trully hope that you will watch this documentary "The Secret" because regardless of how plausible these ideas sound now, they will be made clear by this intruging film. If nothing else, it has cool special effects! I hope it changes your life!

All right! Next order of business! Last night I went to a celebration called Carnival, which is something akin to Halloween. Walking through the downtown plaza late at night, I see children dressed as Little Red Riding Hoods, TinkerBells, and goblins, alongside multitudes of men dressed as women and women dressed as anything imaginable! My favorite part being, of course, the excess of crossdressing men - and even one in a mini skirt and glitter pushing his kid in a stroller! On TV last week there were continuous programs showing the Drag Queen competitions from Barcelona and around the country where men strut and dance in all sorts of sequiny garments - garments that are often incredibly revealing but fabulously extravagant! (Imagine 3ft platform shoes and ploomed head-dresses as tall as the men themselves!) We strolled through the crowds -crowds that would multiply as the hour got later- and smiled at little Zorros and Princesses spraying Silly String or Shaving cream at each other! All in all, Carnival consists of dressing up, parades, shows, dancing in the streets, and a jolly good time. Later at night there is general drinking and fiestas for those who enjoy that sort f thing. Carnival is one of the most important celebrations here in Alicante, and most of Spain, alongside Christmas, Mother´s Day, Father´s Day, Semana Santa (Saints´week), Dia de los Reyes (Day of the Kings, celebrated in January), and the day their Constituton was signed. And no, we did not celebrate Valentines Day (*sigh*) and they don´t pay much attention to Easter or any other holiday´s we are accustomed to.

But as a culture, they are more relaxed! They love having a good time and don´t strain over the little things. Some examples, they leave out folding chairs in some major walkways for the elderly to rest upon; they don´t care if they are stollen and nobody bothers steals them! Some people don´t pay much attention to clocks! Just have an idea of what time you want to meet the person and get there within a half hour of that time and you´re on time!

Anything you want me to elaborate on, feel free to ask! Your curiosity gives me more material to write about, and it gets me thinking, too!

In case you´re wondering, I intend to blog once or twice a week, and usually on the weekends. I know, MJ, that you´re sitting at your computer night and day just waiting for my fabulous updates! *grins* Just kidding! I love you MJ!

And remember: Carpe Diem. Live in the moment!

Love,

Jocelyn

PS More pictures later!