Get high with me!!

Everybody needs a real great feel-good-moment every now and again.

So we all have a favorite song, movie, television program, magazine or just a pretty perfect place to go (some people just have to look into the mirror, ha-ha!) , anything to feel the warmth those little endorphine bubbles blanket through our veins. The ladies will know exactly what I'm talking about here, right?

Guess what, I've found my endorphine growing jungle too!!

It's the most powerful drug that I've found on the planet so far and it's called the BEFORE picture.... da, da, daaaaaaa!!! (The sound they play in a scary movie, just before the revelation of the big s-c-a-r-y shark, monster or whatever.)

Now for a before picture to be a before picture, there has to be an after picture to equal out this chemistry equation of letting loose those wild endorphin 'thangs'. And it is when you put the two together that the lights goes into strobe mode and you want to really let your hair down and share this high with everyone around you!!

That is how my pair of pictures makes me feel! I want to share this 'drug' (this is a metaphor for any police person reading my 'get high' blog...;)) with everybody around me, because I've tasted the dream AND the reality of finding the perfect balance of this for every action there's a reaction - science stuff! Oh, and I know if someone (you and me included) really, badly wants to achieve their goal, they will give everything they can to make that possible and the results will follow!

Then after the choir in the heavens has ended their Hallelujahs, you will bask in the afterglow of achievement and nothing will stop you of going higher and higher!

Back to my before and after picture!

You can see for yourself now, that I did not always look fit and healthy. I had my fat and flabby moments too and I felt pretty low at times, but man does it feel great to look at this now:

The question is... Do you want to get high with me?

The Short Cut to Joy!

Seriously, I think I've found the very secret short cut to joy!

The more I think about it, the more I see the symbolism and direct correlation that this little route to happiness has on our or specifically, my real life! Before I get ahead of myself and loose you completely, let me tell you how I've found this pathway to where the sun shine and the birds sing all day long.

Earlier this evening I was walking back from a friend's home that lives nearby and as it is winter here in Dubai, it gets quite uncomfortably fresh at night (for me, others may not agree), so I was really in a hurry to get to our cozy little home.

I took a short cut through a neighbor's drive way, who's gates are always open and I always walk this way, but I guess he got tired of all the short-cut-takers. As I got closer I saw that the gate was not wide open like the picture I had in my head, but it was closed, so I thought I'll just slide it open and make my way home.

But oh no, giving the gate a good hard yank to try and slide it open and by the shock that went through my arm and elbow joint I discovered a huge chain with an even bigger lock on it that kept my way to coffee and cozy solidly blocked! For a moment or two I experienced emotions ranging from irritation to despair as I visualized how I have to walk all the way around the street block in the cold to reach our warm and inviting home.

I was seconds from throwing in the towel and dragging myself around the block, but then I thought; "I can get over this gate, I've done things like this when I was a kid" and without another blink I started climbing over that gate. Interesting fact, it was dark which kind of camouflages the black gate and all it's nooks and crannies, I've made a considerable amount of noise by trying to yank open the gate, so I had visions of a very angry man running at me with a baseball bat, not to mention the cold that makes every joint in my body move in slow, arthritic motion. So obviously I'm experiencing a moment of panic while I'm on top of this gate, no, not good for the nerves.

But the moment my feet hit the drive way on the other side of the gate, I experienced a feeling of elation and I even felt like giggling (which is so unlike me when I'm alone) for some reason I felt like hopping and skipping the rest of the way home.

I started thinking about how a little act like this - my short cut that almost ended up in frustration, but went over to an impulsive act which created a state of semi panic - could end up in a happy, fun loving skipping-home- Nadine.

And by my amateur analysis of happened in that little incident, I came to the following conclusion:

• I faced an obstacle, fear (not fear in the sense, but that's the basis of the little emotion that I experienced), doubt.
• I had a positive thought process of I can do this.
• I made a decision.
• I got active and did something I did as a child, climb over fences!
• I was successful and experienced a feeling of achievement and fun!

I tell my self that this should not be such a huge revelation, but I think in life we need reminders every now and again what it takes to make us happy.

If I could pinpoint the short cut to joy to one thing, it would be to get ACTIVE! When I look at children and see how happy and joyful they always are just to be able to have some space in which they can run and play, it seems so very simple.

When I think of how great and energized I feel after a workout or playing sport, it just seem so fantastically simple again!

The shortcut to joy is to get active!!!

No matter what your definition of action is, I think it obviously have to include a little bit of risk taking and an elevated heart rate, for us to experience more positive emotions we have to mobilize our bodies and start doing, moving, living!

So tonight I'm going to bed with this crazy grin on my face and I'll start my day tomorrow by taking my own little short cut to joy for the day and hopefully spend the rest of my day in that happy way...

What about you, do you want to take the short cut too?

The Ghost Dream

How do you eat an elephant?...

... You start by taking one bite at a time.

A cliche, I know, but it fits so snuggly into this part where it's so hard to find the right amount, weight and quality of words. This part of defining a dream, your dream, the big, crazy, sparkly dream that scares even the chocolate cravings that you had just before bed time right out of your mind!

THAT dream, the one which you choose to ignore, the dream that haunts you every time you celebrate a new year and when you think of it or witness someone enjoying your dream, you experience a twinge of sadness and regret.

THAT dream that catches a glimmer of light and a touch of hope when you watch a great movie that stirs your heart or when you read an inspirational article or email of someone who DID it, who reached and enjoy the part where they achieved. Then when you walk out of the cinema or press delete on the keyboard you just pack it back underneath the cobwebs of "normal" and "important" stuff of life, go on with your everyday walk and try to avoid the hurt that goes along with this unfulfilled ghost of a dream...

To come back to the elephant on the page..

I don't want to have a ghost dream anymore. I want my dream to have life and I want to live in my dream that's not a dream anymore, but my reality, my now, my present and ever growing future.

How do I... How do we start?

By taking one bite, one step at a time.

For the coming days, weeks and months I'm risking my heart and my social credibility to step out on this quest to explore, reach for and achieve my dream. Allow me (and forgive me) to be dead honest and make myself vulnerable about what goes on in my mind, body and heart (spirit) about what goes into the process of making my dream my reality.

I hope and believe that by spending time researching, pondering and wondering I will be able to eventually define my dream for you.

Do you have a ghost dream? Where will you start?