The things that make me happy- Introduction

I have come to realize that we spend an inmense amount of energy in thinking how to further our careers, setting a bunch of new years goals that are way too big to accomplish, and finding the true meaning of being happy. At the end of every year, we say, “this is going to be my year”. And i just come to realize that if you have a home, family, friends, and enjoy the mere fact that you can breathe… Hec! Every year is your year!

True towards the end of this particular year, my life was not particuly easy, some may call it a rollercoaster of mixed emotions, but i still manage to say that all in all 2014 was a good year. Maybe its because it left me with the sensation my life is shifting to a new path, not a better one, my life is pretty awsome, just a different path that will lead me to new adventures….

So for my next blogs i will try to post simple daily thing that make me happy, that make me appreciate life no mater what year it is. Here are two simple ones…

Things that make me happy.
01. A simple roadtrip
What is there not to be happy about hitting the road, with your favorite songs piled up in a mixed cd and just drive to cool destination. A good roadtrip could be easily enjoyed by yourself or with good company.

02. Life is so much better at the beach.
There is nothing more relaxing than reading a good book or taking a long walk or listening to fun happy music while staring at the most amazing beach. Im lucky i get to go to paradise quiet often given the fact that i live in DR. Las Terrenas and Playa Cosón are two wonderful magestic places that give me an inmense amount of freedom and a sense of relaxation an content with the fact that yes life can suck at time but bottom line, im one of the luckiest girl int the world…

I will keep my eye open to the little things that make my every day life a happy one, and i will try and share them more often…

The perfect Dear Santa Gift

So I’m almost certain I’m not getting any presents for Christmas this year. My friends don’t to the typical Angelito (a traditional Christmas gift exchange). Were are not doing anything particular on Christmas day, hec my mom didn’t even put a tree, with her desire to move my mom’s house looks like a tornado just hit it. Plus a part of my friends are travelling and I will be touring my paradise island with a very special visitor from Lima. But just for the hell of it, let’s say I can write Santa a letter, what would I say? What could I possibly want that is real enough for Santa to give me?

I don’t think my presents can be wrapped. There is nothing more that I would want than the eradication of world hunger and peace on earth, but Santa can’t give me that. He cannot change the fact that the human species is so moronically stupid that it doesn’t see what it’s doing to the planet and everyone in it. So I might as well ask for something that Santa could actually get for me.

Travelling, I would love to travel, anywhere actually. Just the feeling of disconnecting from the world, seeing new things, trying new foods (gluten and dairy free food), waking up with the sole purpose of taking a stroll, enjoy a good sightseeing walk in a random park, street or market, that right there would be the perfect gift. But I think that can’t be wrapped, so here we go with gift number two. I would love to know what I want in life. I have some idea, I run a successful business, but I would love to have something that I can feel passionate about. One could say that the perfect gift would be passion. Passion can come in many ways. What could me more great for me than finding a cause that I’m passionate about, I love helping people, but I haven’t yet discovered how to do that in a regular basis. Having someone that you can openly be passionate about and who felt the same way is kind of cool, but I can’t give Santa that much of a responsibility. Languages can be sort of passionate, it would be so exotic if I found a language that I was so passionate about that I learned to speak it and decide to travel and practice it a bit. Having to learn a foreign language would be the perfect excuse to travel. Although Santa can’t go with me to the institute and hold my hand while I study. And speaking about learning, studying something other than education and finding it to be so passionate that I truly have the discipline to finish it and make a plan to apply it in real life, would be just awesome. Although now that I think about it, studying and discipline are very boring presents to ask on a Christmas list.

Ok so I can’t ask Santa for travelling or passion, maybe I can ask him the power of decision making. I have this annoying habit of overthinking almost about everything which ultimately leads me to not being able to make a decision or second guess all of them (big or small). I should not make me responsible for people liking what I choose to do or think, true I can’t turn all James Dean rebel and do as I please all the time, but Santa could give me the gift of not giving a crap that much of trying to please others first than me. Well lets me honest, the old guy can’t really give me that gift. However it would be cool just to live life in a “let’s see what happens” kind of way. Living life more loosely, not trying to make everyone happy, not overthinking everything, not trying to control what is happening next, would eventually give me the power of decision making and therefore Santa won’t freak out when I ask him for this very weird gift.

So basically I have no idea what Santa is going to get me for Christmas, if it comes beautifully wrapped even better (a good wrapping is always a plus in any gift). I will just sit tight and let Mr. Jolly decide if I’m getting anything this year, the truth is I have many many material things. The things that I want are maybe a “Gabby´s 2015 goals list” and I should just move my bum and work for them, even if it´d be so cool if Santa gave me a little push.

Christmas rocks!

Christmas rocks!.

Christmas rocks!

Since I’m a happy mood, I will keep with the Christmas theme for today’s post. I promise you I take life very seriously and I’m more than aware that the world is screwed in so many ways; I don’t even know where to start. However I find myself inspired by kindness and happiness so that is why this little simple post is going to be about Christmas. For those who want to read serious stuff, my apologies cause you’re not reading it from me today.

Today I’m going to share what I love from my Christmas. It’s a shame I don’t get to dress up for this year’s school Christmas show. I just love dressing up for Christmas, and by dressing up I mean either getting into a costume or just throwing anything that says “Hey everybody look at me, I’m in a Christmas kind of mood!” Hec why not embrace the few moments that life gives you and allow yourself to look life a goofball and do it intentionally! My favorite costume was the year I dressed up as a gift (If I’m a gift wrapping junkie, you know I’m going to love getting into that costume). I felt like a kid, the school principal got to feel like a silly little kid and my students loved seeing their principal showing her goofy side.

Another thing I love about Christmas is the carol singing. This time a year is the only excuse you get to let loose, sing your lungs out and not need to be either drunk or in a karaoke, to do that. My favorite carol without a doubt is the 12 days of Christmas. I’m sharing with you the Madagascar version, so you don’t complain that this post is too mushy, cheesy or sweet.

In Dominican Republic, as soon as you listen to the radio anchor yell “Cima Sabor Navideño”  you know is Christmas, which automatically means that people are happier, have an excuse to make sancocho (popular Dominican dish) get together and have the most wonderful Dominican parties. Whenever Christmas comes, we rarely sing carols, we just dance merengue. There is nothing that makes me happier than dancing an 80s Christmas merengue. When that happens, trust me you’re in a good party.

Ohh and how can you not like getting presents. Life has given us a time of the year besides your birthday that you get presents! How cool is that! My favorite presents are the simple and unexpected ones. That moment when someone gives a present that is exactly what you  wanted, or a present that you know the person put a huge amount of effort on getting you something that you’d like, or just the moment when you get a present from someone that you didn’t think was getting you one, that right there is just awesome. And if it’s beautifully wrapped (this is now the gift wrapping junkie speaking) well that just makes the moment even more perfect.

So what is not to love about the time of the year where you get to dress up (wearing a costume or just a pretty new outfit), sing your heart out, get together with family and friends over a delicious plate of sancocho, get all exited in your car while when you first listen to “cima sabor navideño”, dance merengue until your feet hurt and on top of it get some presents. I don’t care what people say, Christmas rocks!

Life as the art of gift wrapping

Im really exited to get back to writting, this is an essay i submitted to thisibelieve.org…

I believe life is like gift wrapping, if you put all your positive energy, creativity, and desire to make beautiful things in it, I’m almost certain that even if you are not an artistic person you are going to wrap the hell out of that gift.

I discovered my talent for gift wrapping around ten years ago. When my mom and dad got divorced we used to spend Christmas Eve with my Dad and have a big lunch with my Mom on Christmas Day. The only rule for that Christmas lunch was that every guest, no matter why he or she was there, had to get a present from under the Christmas tree.  Somehow I got stuck with being in charge of wrapping everyone’s presents, which included some extra ones, in case someone came to visit unannounced or if they were someone’s plus one. Throughout all this Christmas lunches (they got very popular as years went by) I saw how people were so happy and overwhelmed with a sense of appreciation by getting a pretty wrapped gift and surprised by getting a present without having to give one back. You might say that’s when I became a gift wrapping junkie.

As years went by I started personalizing the presents I wrapped. I felt a certain rush when I went to the stationary store to buy the arts and crafts utilities I needed to personalize the gift I was about to give. It is true that some people really didn’t care about how pretty the present was wrapped, but some felt even more special that I took the time to make the present so nice-looking. That in its self, gave me the satisfaction I needed.

I’m not one to believe in horoscopes, but my Aunt Noris sends me this monthly horoscope reading that usually has something that I feel connected to. This month it had a phrase that said “The wealth in my life, are the people in my life”, which reminded me that I was immensely rich. Hec I’m wealthier than Bill Gates, no disrespect for Bill Gates, who am I to know if he has a ton of special people in his life or not. Anyway, I got my monthly horoscope reading right in the middle of my grandmother passing away, which came after my family dog being put to sleep and me having to watch it, which came after me deciding to move on my own and searching and fixing that new special place, which came after a big dramatic breakup, which came after months of being with someone who I did not love, who did not love me and who was very toxic in my life. So after all this BS that life sometimes throws at you, I still believe I’m one of the luckiest person in this world, because I have the most awesome people in my life, who have their own way of making my life special. I believe if they are so special, and I have to give them a present for whatever reason, why not take the time and give them something beautiful and distinct like them. And another thing, if life sometimes throws you a bunch of BS why not make something pretty out of a simple thing like gift wrapping.

To quote Forrest Gump “Life is just like a box of chocolate, you never know what youre gonna get”. I believe my life comes is the most pretty wrapped box in the whole wide world.