"Already, the show goes on all night..." Lupe

This is how I feel on the inside.

Even though I look like this on the outside. I swear if my boss calls my name just ONE MORE TIME!!!

And this my friends is how you know you have joy. Happiness is laying out on the beach finishing up my 3rd blueberry lemon drop martini and the last chapter of the lastest Sookie Stackhouse novel, all while soaking up the sun's warm caress and letting the cool sea breeze cover me in its salty spray.

Joy is staring at this damned pine tree outside my window for the 390th time and managing not to cry during daydreams of lounging on the beach with martinis, hot, semi-naked dominican men offering to check me for malignant moles and a kindle.

You see, joy is knowing that it is temporary. What IS temporary? IT is anything that makes you tired, causes you stress, brings you pain, or just plain gets on your nerves. Whenever life gets to be too much, just remember...you're going to die anyway.  Is that job too stressful? Feel like you're at the end of your rope? Well, fortunately for you, the economy sucks and the next step after furloughs are lay-offs. Do you ever get the feeling that God is not listening to you? Please refer back to my first point- you're going to die anyway. So, see? You'll get a chance to speak with him face to face! Aww, did someone break your heart? Look on the bright side, chances are that douche is going to lose their job and die. Yay! All's well that ends well, right? No?

Ok, so maybe I could've said that better...but my point remains. Life is temporary. Love is temporary. Pain is temporary. Humans were designed to build bridges and get over it. Sure, it's comforting to lick my wounds and wallow in my olympic sized pool of self-pity. But when I'm done, all I'm left with are burning, infected cuts and wet clothes. Where's the productivity in that?

OMG IF MY BOSS COMES IN HERE ONE MO GOTDA...%&$*(#!!!!!

Let me just get to the point. Peace and joy are independent of chance and cirmcumstances.  Happiness, sadness, any emotion- they happen to us. They are our natural response to life's stimuli.  Peace, joy and contentment are all states of being. You choose them. So even today, in the midst of wanting to murder ask my boss for a few moments alone to collect my thoughts, I choose to stay at peace. In the midst of going through none of yo damn business personal situations, I will keep my joy. And even while sending yet a 3rd salary request to a potential employer because they somehow seem to think I can survive in the city on the same salary I'm receiving in Naconowhere, TX, as that is just the nature of the beast, I will remain content because I know that my purpose really is just a hop, skip, and jump away. I want to go to Six Flags. I'm pretty sure Six Flags is supposed to be a hop, skip, and a jump away from anywhere right? Or is that Disney Land? Me no know.

To end on a positive note, my cousin posted something pretty profound today and I have to share it- "There are somethings you will never be prepared for, you just have to rest in the confidence that God is a keeper, protector, comforter, or whatever you need him to be. He is I AM and when things happen you are covered because God is with you."

FIN

...cause I just SWEAR if my boss asks me what I'm working on just ONE MO TIME!!!!!!!!!