I cannot understand how it has only been 10 days since we launched, I’ve already grown stronger physically and mentally. Of course, there have been growing pains, but my teammates have always been there for support and guidance.
I cannot praise my team enough for their mental strength and perseverance. We have a daily wakeup call around 5:30am so that the first ride group can roll out at 7am. While this has served us well on long, hot days, it is extremely challenging to speak to people about the realities of sex trafficking with people before their first cup of coffee or tea. Today, this happened; Emily, Jasmine, and I started our ride with a steep three-mile climb and as we stopped for a break, we met a woman camping and enjoying her first tea of the morning and the view. Emily luckily had the energy to talk to her about our organization and cause. After catching my breath, we were able to have a great conversation.
It has been magical to meet so many people from different backgrounds be interested and invested in the cause. I’ve started to collect nuggets of wisdom specifically from businesses or people who donate to our cause in some shape or form. It’s fitting that these generous people have something to teach us, so I thought I’d leave you all with some of them that I’ve taken note of:
Rules for Being Human
You will receive a body. You may love it or hate it, but it will be yours for the duration of your life on Earth.
You will be presented with lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called 'life.' Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or hate them, but you have designed them as part of your curriculum.
There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of experimentation, a series of trials, errors, and occasional victories. The failed experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that work.
A lesson is repeated until learned. Lessons will be repeated to you in various forms until you have learned them. When you have learned them, you can then go on to the next lesson.
Learning does not end. There is no part of life that does not contain lessons.
If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned.
'There' is no better than "here'. When your 'there' has become a 'here,' you will simply obtain a 'there' that will look better to you than your present 'here'
Others are only mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects something you love or hate about yourself.
What you make of your life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you.
Your answers lie inside of you. All you need to do is look, listen, and trust.
In the most essential things of life, you will always get what you asked for.
This happens because of your thoughts, choices, and attitudes. You may not get what you wanted, but it will be what you asked for.
- Seen at Pho Mekha in Astoria, WA
"One Day at a Time"
"There are two days in every week about which we should not worry; Two days which should be kept free from fear and apprehension.
One of these days is Yesterday, with its mistakes and cares, its faults and blunders, its aches and pains. Yesterday has passed forever beyond our control. All the money in the world cannot bring back yesterday. We cannot undo a single act we performed; we cannot erase a single word said... Yesterday is Gone!
The other day we should not worry about is Tomorrow with its possible burdens, its large promise and poor performance. Tomorrow is also beyond our immediate control. Tomorrow's sun will rise, either in splendor or behind a mask of clouds... but it will rise. Until it does, we have no stake in tomorrow, for it is yet unborn.
This leaves only one day... Today! Any man can fight the battle of just one day. It is only when you and I have the burdens in those two awful eternities... Yesterday and Tomorrow... that we break down.
It is not the experience of Today that drives men mad. It is the remorses or bitterness for something which happened yesterday and the dread of what tomorrow may bring.
Let us, therefore, live one day at a time."
Author Unknown
- Seen at Ruth Doumit Designs in Cathlamet, WA
Meditation - GRATITUDE
I am grateful for the pure air I breathe.
I am grateful for the beauty of the earth.
I am grateful for the wonderful chicken dinner recently, for my cat, and for my church.
I am grateful for the dogs that look after me and another great dinner.
I am grateful for an abundance of friends.
I am grateful for the encouragement to grow and expand.
I am grateful for great health.
I am grateful for tasty ice cream.
- Seen at a random church on the PCH
