Expectations

Growing up I always thought I would do something great, be someone amazing.  Here I am on the brink of my twenty-fifth year of life and feel as though I am not meeting these expectations.  Getting older is a humbling experience.  The thing is is that I don't want to die to these expectations.  I've decided that I am going to be a do-er.  

Evil Tongue

I find myself having difficulty loving people well--without getting too personal or ranty (yes this is a word, because I just made it up) I've been confronted with some interesting ideas lately--thanks God.  

First, I get this weekly e-mail from GOOP (a.k.a Gwyneth Paltrow, www.goop.com), which is kind of amazing.  I thought this was a cool article about gossip and talking evil about others--I don't agree with everything but there are some good thought provoking nuggets in here so I had to share.  I especially liked what Cynthia Bourgeault and the Zen Master had to say.   Read on.  http://www.goop.com/newsletter/30/

Also, I've been going through Romans and came across this verse 12:9-21, along the same thread. Things Lauren will be contemplating: how does God want me to love people?  how can I love people better?, how can I love people well?, how do I love the people I find difficult to love?

thoughts?

Room #1

I'm going to dive into this blog beginning with a bit of self discovery...I've been waiting to be inspired and it finally hit me--yea!  Recently a friend was over at my house and asked me if I had just moved in.  Perplexed, I said no and informed them that I had lived there for about a year.  Then my friend commented on how sparse and disheveled my room was.  I had never really thought of my room as disheveled, but then I began looking around making mental notes: pile of clothes on desk-thing, bags upon bags in the "bag corner", stacks of books along side of bed, papers/bills/magazines on top of dresser, paintings/etc. to be hung on walls.....hmmm....

Once I really began to take in the disarray that is my room it was overwhelming.  Maybe I had just gotten used to the piles and the the messes here and there.  What I really need is storage for this stuff.  If all of the stuff had somewhere to go, my room would actually look clean!  My bags for sure need a home.

Goal #1:  Bag management (ikea, T.J. Maxx???)

Also, my room feels kinda barren, sterile, not really me, just a bunch of stuff and blank walls.

Goal #2:  Create a space that is more me.  

Before Pictures: coming soon!