If the shoe fits...

...You don't always have to wear it. 

 I am 50 days into my 100 days of happiness challenge...half way through to an improved outlook on life! I find am doing better at accepting and embracing my emotions. Finding happiness every day, in the extraordinary and the ordinary.The problem you ask? I have been embracing ALL of them, and I have noticed that some of my emotions are SO not worth embracing. 

The self-doubt and negative self talk should not be embraced as easily as the positive and loving emotions. However, ignoring them is just as harmful as feeding them. When ignored they are like weeds, that slowly take over slowly until they are hard to get a handle on. 

 There is nothing wrong with having these thoughts, they are a natural part of the human process. Acknowledge them and let them go, don't embrace...Don't feed or ignore the weeds of your mind. They are  like a pair of shoes shoved in the back of your closet. It's okay to pull it out put it on, so long as you don't wear it...take it off and toss towards the back again...this is my goal for the next quarter of the challenge..

I am Naishipai.

"Each Day is a choice, not a chore...Each sunrise I witness a blessing, not a burden..." 

I started doing the #100HappyDays Challenge (here is their website: http://100happydays.com/) on June 8th. Today is Day 25, I am a quarter of the way through it and I have learned some very important lessons...or rather have understood lessons already taught that I was not brave enough to put into practice. 

Now I am, or rather now I am willing to try...

Looking through #MyHappy100 so far I've noticed a pattern, almost all of my posts are of my family or of a time where I've taken care to spend time on me. A powerful realization. Too often I putt others needs before my own. Some days putting my "happy mask" on so others will not know I'm tired, or need some TLC. No one can be happy all the time...so why do I try!?!? 

As I continue my 100 Days of Happiness challenge I have added another level. I will embrace all of me-happy, sad, angry, bitchy- I am who I am and I love me. I will honor my emotions, my time, and my needs. 

My happiness is important. My happiness shines through to affect my children, my family, my friends, the world around me. My Maasai name is NAISHIPAI- meaning the happy one, and I now intend to live up to it fully...it's time to throw away the mask. 

It is with this new frame of mind I have decided to "clean off my plate"...one item at a time until I feel that I can balance my needs with my family's, while allowing myself to focus time towards my goals, hopes, and dreams. Not an easy feat, especially since I hate disappointing people-including myself, but I'm up for the challenge...

I am happy, I am Naishipai.

I choose...Happiness, Gratitude, Love.

The blessing, burning, and naming ceremony