There is no path to happiness, happiness IS the path.

"There is no path to happiness, happiness is the path"-Buddha

I purchased a greeting card that said this at Trader Joes the other day, just because I loved what it represented.  No one in their right mind wakes up and says to themselves "I hope that I am not happy today".  If you do please call me right now because I would like to pick your brain a little bit, then make you laugh your butt off.

"I just want to be happy" is what a majority of us hope for throughout our lives.  Some days we have really hard, sad, and frustrating days.  The others are GREAT, quite possibly the "BEST DAY EVER!" I want you to look back on all of those days and connect the dots.  When I do that, there is not ONE hard day that can be missed for me to obtain the great days.    Along side the days of pain and saddness came the days of laughter and sunshine, and this is what makes my happiness great!

My path to Happiness is so much different than yours.

Do not compare paths.  Do not look at someone elses happiness and think "That is what I need to be happy", because it's not.  When we start to compare and judge others is when we get lost from our own path. Stay true to what makes you happy.  Smile more often, even when you don't feel like it.    I am that crazy girl cheering at mile 23 of a marathon telling people to SMILE because it makes the running easier and less painful.  I have to confess-- smiling does NOT stop your legs from going numb and your knees from aching.  Some people look at me with the expression of  "Oh yeah?? why aren't you out here running?  Shut your face happy person".  Others smile, and for a moment, they believe that the pain will fade away and it will be just as joyous of a run as it was at mile one.  If you believe hard enough, it actually does!  

Wake up and tell yourself that today is going to be the BEST DAY EVER.

Drink your tea or coffee in the sun shine, or open all of the windows to hear the rain fall outside.  Embrace the rain to appreciate the sun.

When my brothers and I were little our mother used a magic trick to make us not scared of the storms.   When the rain clouds began to roll in, my mom would look out the window and say "It looks like a great day to bake cookies".   As the rain would fall and the thunder and lightning would begin to play it's music, we would be in the kitchen making rows and rows of cookies as Elton John would be playing in the background just enough to distract us from the "scary noises" outside.  By adjusting the environment my mother took a scary situation and turned it into a memory full of laughter, love, and excitment.  There is not a rain storm that goes by where I don't smell the fresh baked cookies from my memory. To this day I still bake a fresh batch of cookies when it storms.

There is no end to happiness, which is why we need to start viewing it as the journey and not the destination. Stop worrying about what yours looks like and what others may have that you don't, you have so much in your life that others don't have as well. You are beautiful, amazing, and worth it.

Don't forget to laugh, cry, dance, sing, call your loved ones, or eat chocolate today!

Do what you need to do to have the Best Day Ever.

I am going to start mine off with a run--- I hope that those strangers are ready for my HIGH FIVES!

Marey

Happiness is Dreaming Big

This is the mantra that I tell myself before any big event in my life that I dreamt up to accomplish.  Why do I say this? Because... I am scared to death the months leading up to it.  I am quite the dreamer.  I love to challenge (and scare) myself with crazy dreams. So much that my mother and aunt came together and decided that they were going to have me watch the movie "Everest" in hopes that it would freak me out from ever doing that---don't worry, I have no desire to freeze my butt off with little oxygen :) On the other hand, Never say never right? :) 

Live the Life you dream up for yourself.

You can do anything you dream up.  Seriously.  10 years ago if you had told me I would run marathons, do a half iron man, hike 14ers, do the Rim 2 Rim 2 Rim of the Grand Canyon in 1 day, and become best friends with people around the world from working my DREAM JOB I probably would have hid in my room because of how scared I was of that fact.  I kid you not, I was an anxiety stricken lady scared of anything outside of my comfort zone.  I saw that dream that I wanted, but feared the work to accomplish it. I am not going to lie, it's a LOT of work--but the work is both hard and rewarding at the same time. Some of the hardest parts deal with changing your attitude towards life.  Even when your life seems hard, bad, "un-doable" you have to see the good. You have to believe that you can do this and that you are capable of anything you work so hard for.

Make friends with the strangers you run into

We are told many times throughout our lives to not talk to strangers.  Well, if I stuck to that as an adult... I would have very little written in my accomplishment list.  Climbing the 14ers in Colorado started with a conversation on a run with a new friend that I had just made the week before.  2 months later we are stuck at the keyhole section in a snow storm on Longs Peak.

Stairway to Heaven in Hawaii began as a researched dream before arriving in Oahu for work.  Day 2 I meet an awesome stranger who asks me "Do you like to work out"---ummmm yes. "Well in the morning we are going to do a little hike called the stairway to heaven, if you want to join you can".  The next morning  I am texting my brother at 2 am telling him what I am doing and he responds with "Isn't it 2 am there?? You are crazy!"  On that hike, the Grand Canyon Rim to Rim to Rim hike came up in conversation and I remember thinking "This guy is just nuts... I don't know how that is even possible."  5 months later, there I was, part of the Canyon Slayer crew and part of a new Family. Yesterday,I dreamt of heading back to Oahu to Finish the 3 peaks hike and swim out the "China Mans hat" to hike up to the top and swim back....Next Time :)  Had I been reserved and freaked out to meet new friends, my life would be extremely different than it is now.  Don't be scared to chat with the person behind you in the coffee line or at the grocery store. I have made some great friends and got some of the best advice from the people sitting next to me on airplanes (that is when I am not passed out with my mouth wide open).

Work Hard

Hard work truly pays off, so set yourself up for success.  Work isn't something that you should dread doing every day.  Don't get me wrong, there are the tedious tasks that you may have at your job that you don't LOVE but at the end of everyday it's a good thing to have a sense of accomplishment before you go to bed.  I tend to set small work goals every morning for the day ahead of me and cross them off mentally as I go.  If you are a list person, make that list of tiny daily goals that you can physically see crossed off, this will help so much in your daily work life. My goals for today?  CRUSH my clinic that I have tonight, make people laugh, and don't be scared to embarrass myself.


I hope that you all dream bigger than you could possibly imagine!  Write those dreams down and look at them every day.  Find ways to motivate yourself to accomplish those dreams and set aside time everyday to make sure that you are able to visualize where you want to be in your life.

 You really can do anything.


Thank you!
Marey

Be a Good Teammate

Everyday that we wake up, we are already part of a team.  Whether that team is marriage, family, friends, going to work, or simply standing in a long line for coffee.  Hell, we are all stuck together in the same traffic jam on the free way coming home from a long day of work.  In the love of team work we are caring, kind, and joyful.  In the cold of the team work, we seem to forget that we are all in this together.  

Yes, man in the red chevy weaving in and out of traffic, I am talking to you.

WHO LIKES BEING STUCK IN TRAFFIC?!  I mean.... seriously.  Okay Okay, put on a solid Bruno Mars song and I may enjoy it a LITTLE because I will enjoy a little dance break in between the stop and go pedal pushing, but in the end... I want to go home and eat that left over burrito that I made last night for dinner.  But as you look at the other drivers next to you, you realize that they are feeling that same way.  We are in this toghether.

In love, being a good teammate is crucial.  The two of you are one of the greatest teams that you will ever be a part of, and one of the most important.  The only way that you will survive, is by being a good teammate.  When my cousin got married her pastor said some awesome words that stuck with me as I watched them get ready to say their vows.

"Let it be me first."

No, he didn't mean to put your needs before the others. He meant, if there are dirty dishes in the sink that need to be done and I am the person to see it, "let it be me first".  If the Laundry hasn't been folded "let it be me first".  This is so true in sustaining a happy relationship.  If you keep brushing things off for your partner to take care of, there is going to be struggle.  It takes work from both players to make a great team.  Encourage each others dreams.  Andrew knows what my spirit is, he may not understand it fully, but he knows what I need as a person to be happy and succeed in life-- to work hard, travel, and play hard!  Supporting each others craziness is the best thing that you can do.

At work, communicate, share, and enjoy each others ideas and presentaions.  I LOVE the team that I work with in my company.  We are spread out throughout the county, yet we share ideas and communicate almost daily!  We praise each other and help each other out.  When we come together from not seeing each other in 6 months it's like a family reunion where there is no drama <3  We all sing karaoke and dance the night away.

In friendship, make time for each other.  Be there.  Be present.  That is really all that there needs to be.

Be a good Teammate.  Buy the coffee for the stranger behind you in line.  Pretend the food some one made for you is amazing, even if it's just "so-so".  Praise the good and forgive the bad.  Do the dishes and start dinner early.  Hang up your kids artwork for the world to see.  Do things with your partner that you may not enjoy, just because you know they love it. Say "Please and Thank you".

Above all: Be Kind and Love!


Thank you Guys and Gals!

Marey 

Wildflower

When I was a little girl I hated getting my hair brushed.  I remember running loops around the house as one of my family members would chase me, brush in hand, until they caught me.  Some how my hair was always nicely brushed before school.  I DID go through an aggressive "Elvis" stage where I wanted to be my oldest brother Aron and slicked my hair back... I thought I was stylin', my mother felt other wise.

 In Elementary School

We played with snakes and salamanders.  We were scared that E.T. lived in our basement so we always fought over who would be the last to run up the stairs after we turned off the lights.  We built questionable tree forts and created our very own Fern Gully in the woods next to our house.  We went door to door playing unpracticed songs for neighbors with a 3 string guitar and a drum set that was made up of an upside bucket and 2 pencils, and we were shocked that no one wanted to donate money to our band.  I remember making up an entire roller blading routine to the Spice Girls album because I had just watched the Disney movie "Brink" and I thought I could go Pro.  

In Middle School and High School

We stayed out all night in the Cul de Sac because our friends lived within the block radius, this hang out was later to be shortened to "The Sac".  We put dish soap on the trampoline and set the sprinkler underneath it because that seemed like a good idea at the time.  I jumped off of my roof after curfew to go blast the radio and dance all night at Becky's house (sorry mom).  Our lives consisted of trying to fit an entire bag of skittles into our mouths and swollowing without spitting any out.  We were the best sandwhich artists that ever lived, Subway really screwed up when they got rid of the Zesty Red Sauce. We crushed hard on boys and filmed everything we did.  We purposely woke my mom up at 3 in the morning dressed up as hill billys, Geisha's, or something else crazy.  I will always remember her face when we blackened our teeth dressed in Overalls and sang "Now gather Round my Possom pals, join the jamboree" from a Goofy Movie--I think she both wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. 

In College

We brought flash cards to the bars so that we didn't miss out on the fun just because we had a French test the next day.  We dressed up in Footie Pajamas and rocked side ponies for a night out on the town.  We fell in love.  We lived with our best friends and pulled pranks whenever possible.  We dressed up for holidays and used Lucky Charm boxes as purses and tipped with chocolate gold coins. We went sledding on lunch trays and stayed up in the hot tub all night.  We started to find out who we really are and what we wanted to do with our lives.  We started to plan for a future and check off the boxes before graduation.  We began to grow where we had planted ourselves. 

You are beautiful.  You are exceptional.  You are always growing.

Some of us are more tame, beautiful and planned.  We go with our set lives and love every minute of it!  We check off the boxes and continue to grow into what we hope to be our future.  

Then there are the ones who don't really know or plan their next step.  They are the ones that live every day as if it were their last.  They embrace fear and accept change without a blink.  They are the Wildflowers.  Just as beautiful, they grow where they are blown that day. 

We all may have started wild at one point and life brought us to grow in a planned row. However, we all still have a little of that spunk inside of us.  Don't be scared of it, don't try to hide it, and don't be shy if you want to embrace it. 

My advice today is:  Don't forget about your Wildflower. Be a Wildflower.

Marey <3

Happiness is being Grateful

"Unhappiness stems from being ungrateful for what you have"

This quote is true to so many lives out there, mine included.  There are always things that we want or (think) we need that make us a bit frustrated with our lives.  Maybe it's the Dream job that seems so far away in the distance, or we aren't living in the area or situation we want to be living in.  Maybe it's simply a new pair of shoes or even a CUP OF COFFEE (me this morning).  Whatever we want (sometimes) makes us forget about what we HAVE in our lives that really shines.

I am in Sioux Falls, SD briefly this morning with a couple of co workers putting on a clinic for the brand that we know and love (Brooks baby).  We woke up at 5:30 to do a big group run with over 80 associates and not ONE of us had a cup of coffee before the run :).  I was a little groggy-- but for those of you who know me, I was ready to dance out this run!  Between stop sign dance parties and breathing in the sunrise we crushed that 5 miles and ended up happier than we were at the beginning!  There was even coffee and BACON at the finish-- which made it a bit more exciting :)

Fast forward to the clinic and when my Co-worker Bill started to talk. Now this man is ALWAYS happy.  He is the most giving, loving, friendly person I have evern met and is ALWAYS smiling--just simply amazing.  He gave a few words of wisdom that I just had to share with the world because they were DEAD on!    One of the first topics was what I had stated previously-- his grandma used to say that "Unhappiness is just being ungrateful for what you have".  I am sure that as a little kid, that was hard to hear.  As an adult, this makes the MOST sense to me.  The idea of wanting and needing something sometimes drowns out the image of what we have in our lives that make us happy.  Friends, Family, Love, Sunshine, Music....there is so much Good in this world that is over shadowed by want.  What do you have that you are grateful for?

This morning it was Bacon, Coffee, AMAZING co-workers and a run with new friends.

Tomorrow may be different.

Another topic that was touched on was this (another one of Bill's Grandma's quotes):

"There are 2 types of people in the world-- the "IM HERE" person and the "BE THERE" person."

The IM HERE person is the one that is the life of the party-- they love being the center of attention and their presence in a room is just huge!

The BE THERE person is the one that is the listener.  The person who acknowledges the needs of others and really pays attention to what they are asking for.

Now it's really good to put on both hats but at the end of everyday my daily goal is to "Be somebody that makes every body feel like some body".  We all have our uniqueness that make us who we are, no body is the exact same, which is AWESOME!  Make it a point every morning that when you leave your house that you will make at least one person feel like they were heard, loved, and understood.

So there are your 2 little messages for the day:

-Be grateful for what you have and happiness will find you
-BE THERE for someone everyday to make them feel like an IM HERE person for a while

You are all amazing!  I hope that you smile more today than you did yesterday :)

Marey

Day 1.

Be the best version of you.

If I can give any advice out there, it is to truly be who you are.  Forget judgment for a minute.  Forget about makeup, clothing, materialistic things and just think about what defines you. Think of a moment where you are blissfully yourself.  Is it the early morning kitchen dance parties while your family is still asleep?  Maybe it's the time that you bake a new cookie recipe, or when you head out on a 2 hour bike ride.  Maybe it's when you can hold all of your children in both of your arms while you read them stories or snuggling in bed late on a Sunday morning. Whatever it is, hold that moment where ever you go.  Everyone has their own version of who they are and the moments that define happiness.  We all have to embrace what those moments are and accept who each other is.  The moments that define me?  The quietness of the early morning drinking coffee and eating breakfast.  I get to embrace the day that is heading in my direction.  I get to feel excited about my upcoming workout or run.  I get to go over my work schedule for my day.  I get to start my morning off with half a bottle of Cholula (best hot sauce out there).  I also get to visualize any stresses that I may experience that day, and this is what helps me balance my happiness.

You create your own happiness by how you respond to your surroundings.

Choose happiness.  Every time.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't get upset or that you shouldn't feel hurt.  If something is bothering you or someone isn't listening to what you need, speak up.  You deserve to be heard.  However, we cannot control the actions and words of others, but we can control how we react to it<--- this is harder than it looks, trust me! :)  But we can all start with a little practice right?

Be the kindness that you wish to see in this world.

Smile at strangers.  Try the food that you may find unappealing (who knows you may just LOVE it).  Start the dance party on the dance floor.  Do not be afraid to embarrass yourself, if it's something you want to do.... just go out and do it!  Who cares if everyone or no one is watching, you are OWNING it!

I went on a trail run with a very amazing lady who told me that I should start a blog ;).  So here it is!  I considered it for a little while...I thought "who would read this?!"  BUT-- then I realized that I would be going against my own advice.  DO THE THINGS THAT FREAK YOU OUT A LITTLE BIT! :)   From my experience, those are the things that end up defining you!

So today I leave you with this!  When you are in a stressful situation-- find the moment of happiness inside of you and mentally escape to that place until you can get there physically!  You are an amazing person, there is only ONE you!  Make sure that they are happy :D

Also-- play your favorite song and dance to it whenever you can ;)

Thank You!
Marey