part I:
why aren't we ever happy in the present? when we're in the present, we're either thinking of the past or future. at least that's true of me. when we're not happy one day, we go to sleep with the hope that there is a better tomorrow awaiting us. when we have a bad day, we try to recall memories of better days. we always want what we have lost and what we will have some day but never what we actually have. we can't and must not let discontentment fill up the days, hours, and minutes of our lives. i know it's easier said than done but the first step to change is realization. the next step is changing our attitudes and that step is a process that may last a lifetime.

part II:
there are only so many times you can analyze that past--what you did wrong, how someone else wronged you, how things could have been different. what you could have said, what they could have done. all of that just doesn't matter. there is only what has happened, what is happening, and what will happen and what has happened is out of your hands now. there's no sense of dwelling on it unless it will change what is to come. we can't change the path we've taken but we can change the direction we're going.

part III:
living in the body of a person that is constantly re-analyzing and even over-analyzing herself and the world within her mind is quite exhausting. but sometimes you're so inside yourself that you lose track of what is really going on in the world around you--the world outside of you. but i enjoy, from time to time, to open myself up to advising others and sharing of myself. i spent the weekend giving relationship advice to a person near and dear to me and what i realized was this (and there are a couple of things): first, that i enjoy giving advice and am very good at it. second, that there are people who exist that like to avoid problems and do not spend time thinking about themselves or their own personal lives. they are in 2.5 year relationships that have gone south and they just remain in them because it's easier to stay there than to make a change. i don't blame them; change is never easy or comfortable, especially when it might hurt you or another person deeply but sometimes, you have to do what IS right over what you FEEL is right. you may feel, as this person did, that it is okay to cheat on someone (because they irritate you sometimes or because you're not in love with the person you're cheating on them with) but it doesn't mean that it is right at all. it is, in fact, wrong. but of course we make up all these excuses for ourselves when we're doing something we know is wrong (that's how we cope, that's how we can sleep at night). there isn't much else i can say other than "what you're doing is wrong." it may be a slap in the face by a dear friend and i may have caused them to cry and feel bad about themselves for a moment but if i don't slap them in the face, they certainly won't slap themselves.