My best laugh

Last night, my husband and I were sitting on the couch watching something on TV as our youngest boys sat playing near us. I say that like they are 2 & 3, but really they are more like almost 15 and 16. The youngest one had surgery on his knee, so he was recuperating on the couch and the older one decided to join him playing a video game. Mike and I just sat as we figured out what to watch. As I was eating a piece of licorice (stupid leftover Halloween candy - just saying), he reached for my hand, but I had candy in it. He did not know it, so he felt something he did not expect and I had to laugh. My best laugh, as he calls it. He told me he has not heard it in awhile, but he was glad he did. I don't really recall not trying to laugh or reserving my laugh in any way. I guess it just wasn't warranted recently. I am not sure why or why not. Some things make me giggle in a store because I see something and my sense of humor gets the better or me. Other times, a smile is what I end up showing people. Then, there are those times that my best laugh comes out. Now, my laugh is nothing like I mentioned about my friend SB who I could never lose in Disneyland. I have been told that I can be funny, and that is part of my sense of humor. In fact, I hope people laugh at the parts that are funny in my speech that I have to give next week. (yes, I said NEXT week.) Do you laugh at least once a day? Do you smile and giggle at things that are funny? Even if they are just funny to you? Some people I know laugh so hard, they snort but they cannot help it. But those are my favorite kinds of laughs - the ones that are truly felt and given, with no barriers to hold them back. They just are. Laugh today. Watch something funny. Look at pictures from your past where you remember good times, good times. And when you feel it, your best laugh will just happen. It just works that way.

Your "BEST" self

This has come up in recent conversations in the morning when Rocky and I are out and it got me thinking. Why are we afraid to show the world our "best" self? Why is putting up walls and protecting more of our focus? Shouldn't we be willing to live our lives first and foremost, for us? Yet, we don't. We still believe other people's opinions before we believe our own. Why is it that we can totally be our "best" selves around some people and not others? The answer is very simple and one we probably would not like to admit - we are afraid and have been hurt before. Then, I started thinking about forgiveness and if these same people have hurt us, why don't we forgive them? Why is it easier to forgive some people and not others, even though the pain might have been just as grueling? I believe that I serve you and those around me and I am being my "best" self when I truly am just me. My heart sings (because I can't), my step is lighter (ok - maybe borderline skipping), and I am joyful. Truly joyful. I appreciate all that has been given to me and look forward to each new day as a gift. There are some people that I can just be my "best" me around and I don't think about it or label it. It just happens. I have visited more recently with women about where we are in our lives and why we think the way we do. We are so entrapped into our own web of shrugging off our dreams that we become complacent. We feel like we cannot stray too far and any slight movement in a totally opposite direction will be worse than if we had just stayed still. But that is no way to live. I existed that way for a very long time and although it is difficult to explain to my husband, I have to follow what my heart tells me to do. I have to always be my "best" self and be willing to take a lump here or there and fall because I will be better for it in the long run. Make this your goal today - be your "best" self in everything you do and everyone you see. It is not that hard because you know all the answers already and you have to trust them. Your attitude carries you through everything. Then, when the day is done, take a few minutes and look back and remember how you felt and how other people reacted to you. Why would you choose anything but that? I know you will smile when you give someone a compliment or a couple dollars to a complete stranger or you let someone use your phone because they are lost. You are your "best" self - but don't I deserve that? I deserve all that you are and will love it because it is what makes you you. BEST = Believe Everyone Stands True.