Acceptance, tolerance, patience, and probably many other words than end in -nce

Before I start this entry, I want to say that I remembered a few more instances when I found money:

- I found $5 in the little chute thing at the self-checkout at a Safeway once.
- I found another $5 at the counter at the science center... >.>

Anyway... now back to our scheduled blogging broadcast.

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I'll start off today's entry with happy news. Last week, I officially got my letter of acceptance to Ghana. Happy days lay ahead! ... And trying times, I'm sure, when it comes to saving up for the trip. Thankfully for me, many things are beginning to fall into place in terms of earning money and collecting donations. Another huge thank you to everyone who has showed their support in their own ways! You have no idea how grateful and humbled I am to have amazing friends, family, and supporters like you guys... =)

Today I would like to write about the other words ending in -nce mentioned above. December kind of crept up on me, I have to admit. While that's not an entirely bad thing, I am finding that I didn't really need a calendar to hint at what month it was because I find that once December hits (here, at least), people tend to get grumpier, moodier, more impatient, and whatnot without fail. I may have nudged this topic in my previous entry when I talked about the weather turning sour. Peoples' moods do a complete 180 (kind of like some peoples' cars here, har har), and in turn, it ruins other peoples' days. I was noticing yesterday at school that a lot of people are walking by with very rude, miserable looks. Of course, I did notice this at about 5pm, so maybe that had a little bit to do with it.

Which, in all honesty, is too bad. And... I think I'm going to put my foot down about it and take some sort of stand. Starting... well... a few days ago (sorry, I have been quite busy with school lately to make this "stand" more current). I want to approach life with a new outlook, especially life in the cold, lame, unpredictable winters of Calgary. An acquaintance of mine had mentioned something that really turned me onto this whole new outlook. He had made the comment, "You know... some people go through their entire days without smiling." This acquaintance is a huge advocate for trying to cheer people up, too. Working at Starbucks, he probably gets all sorts, especially first thing in the morning, but that doesn't stray him from his quest of trying to make peoples' lives a little happier, and I really admire him for that.

I've been thinking a lot about what he said since the day he said it. I've made an effort everyday to smile and to try to cheer someone else up. If you have never seen the movie, "Pay It Forward," I suggest you do. This is the movement I would like to try to get snowballing this season (ohh, I am getting good at this word play thing) that branches off of this movie. As a person who spent many of her winters as a pessimist and a grouch, I know first-hand how hard this can be. But... you can try to think of things that you are thankful and grateful for to try to make you feel better.

For example, waiting outside for a bus really sucked that one day it was -40C. So instead of dwelling on that, I was thinking about how thankful I was to at least have layers of clothing to wear, a roof over my head, people who care about me and want me to succeed, etc. I thought of how I should maybe volunteer more of my time to those less fortunate (I volunteer from time to time, but not a lot, and I would like to!) or how I should try to start up a Random Acts of Kindness club at the University (we did this in high school and it was a huge success!), things like that. When someone engages in these positive thoughts and behaviours, believe it or not, they are slowly changing how they think in the future and how to better perceive situations. It's a little thing psychologists call Cognitive Behavioural Theory, or CBT. Click here for more information.

John is such an optimistic person... He always encourages me and tells me positive things, and while I wasn't receptive to it at first, I'm beginning to actually believe some of the stuff he tells me, and I engage in CBT frequently nowadays. It has probably been the most effective sort of self-therapy I've administered on myself. And... that's pretty much all I'm suggesting people do. I understand that sometimes, people have bad days... crappy days... unbearable days... but... I think that if you try to look at a situation with a more positive perspective and outlook, you may be able to see the good in any situation

Before mum passed away, I kept thinking about how much I regretted not spending more time with her when I had the chance to, I wish we talked more, I wish I did all of these things more. I kept wishing for things that I couldn't change anymore... and I asked myself, "What's the point?" I could change the here and now instead of dwelling on past mistakes and falling deeper and deeper into a pit of despair... I saw the entire ordeal as an opportunity to learn from my mistakes and experiences and to grow into a stronger person. I would like to believe that's what I did.

I learned all about how important the here and now is, and how dwelling on the past can interfere with the precious few moments you may have on a person. I learned to seize the day ("carpe diem

Everyday, I'm learning new things. Everyday, I'm faced with new challenges. I'm currently dealing with a very big challenge... something frustrating and hurtful, that I won't go into much detail about. Even with that challenge, I'm trying to see the good in it (it's very difficult to, though, admittedly).


I suppose, long story short, I am saying that it couldn't hurt to practice some of those -nce words in your day-to-day life: tolerance, patience, perseverance, acceptance, but to name a few.


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Now I will devote myself to exam stuffs for the next 2 weeks. I will probably write after the first 3 exams are done, because I don't feel I need to study too much for my Spanish exam. So... thanks, as always, for reading, and hopefully I'll be seeing happier people in my immediate surroundings!


Until next time... =)

PS: ...and I remembered a time where I found a $10 bill on the floor close to where the old Cookie's By George was in Chinook mall... eheh... ^^;