I went to Kindergarten with Pema Chodron's nephew.....

No...seriously...I really did! How cool is that??? I did not know it until this year and of course kindergarten was a few years back but I just found it amazing that I could know someone for so long and then find something out that was always true but I never knew it. I think about that in terms of things that are good and true about myself that I don't really know or accept fully. All the things that friends or family compliment me on but I can't really take it in. Does that come from being told 'don't let your head get too big' or 'nobody likes a braggart'.....It's funny, because I feel like I am at a point in my life where if I don't let in what it is that others are saying....and finally, finally, finally realize that it is inside of me and always has been then why even bother to get out of bed anymore.

I stumbled upon this little tidbit from Pema tonight and I think it's time to eat my own strawberry. How about you? Can you just let the tigers do their thing and eat the damn strawberry anyway?

“There is a story of a woman running away from tigers. She runs and runs and the tigers are getting closer and closer. When she comes to the edge of a cliff, she sees some vines there, so she climbs down and holds on to the vines. Looking down, she sees that there are tigers below her as well. She then notices that a mouse is gnawing away at the vine to which she is clinging. She also sees a beautiful little bunch of strawberries close to her, growing out of a clump of grass. She looks up and she looks down. She looks at the mouse. Then she just takes a strawberry, puts it in her mouth, and enjoys it thoroughly. Tigers above, tigers below. This is actually the predicament that we are always in, in terms of our birth and death. Each moment is just what it is. It might be the only moment of our life; it might be the only strawberry we’ll ever eat. We could get depressed about it, or we could finally appreciate it and delight in the preciousness of every single moment of our life.”
― Pema Chödrön, The Wisdom of No Escape: How to love yourself and your world