Go inside

Those are words I don't think I've ever said.  "Go inside".  In fact, once when I told my sons to "Come inside"- it was raining, it was 40 degrees and I had already let them stay OUTSIDE for an hour in that mess (as a 40 year old woman it was a mess - as a 9/10 year old boy - it was heaven) when I finally made them "come inside".  I was greeted with "doesn't our happiness mean ANYTHING to you?".  :-)  I remember the moment very clearly.  They were drenched.  Their lips were blue. And they were shaking from the cold.  Yes, it made me smile.  It still makes me smile.

"Come inside." Be safe.  Stay warm.  It is an invitation.

"Go inside".  Demand.  Harsh.  Abrasive words.  You are in trouble.

What if  we make "go inside" a personal thing.  A HAPPY thing. 

I just wrote a blog on the fact that I need to be OUTSIDE.  Not inside.  What if this "inside" is just within ourselves.  Not within a physical place?  Just that physical place in our head and heart?

I read a good quote today and it referenced both Hawaii and Denver.  " a person can only take so much beauty and inspiration before they have to get back to the grocery list".  We take for granted what we see on the way to the store. And it's funny - coming out of the grocery store I noticed the sun over the ocean.  Will I stop noticing this?



Margaret King, director of a think tank in Philadelphia that analyzes the importance of place in determining how lives get lived, puts it this way: "The place we live becomes invisible after a short while because we get so used to how it operates."

So place matters, but less than we think.

If we are not fulfilled inside, yes we will be drawn to a new place.  It is not the place that will make us happy.  Eventually, the novelty wears off.  As a society, we get caught up in the fact that THINGS, PLACES and PEOPLE make us happy.  However, if we fail to look at what truly (and I mean INSIDE) makes us happy, those THINGS and PLACES and PEOPLE will never make us happy.  We weren't happy inside. 

When does THERE become HERE?

We all search.  Some of us for different things.  Security, Health, Adventure, Safety, Family.  When OUT there looking.  "Did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there?" We know what makes us happy. And by ME, I mean the voice you don't answer in your head/heart.

Be TRUE to yourself. It's okay if you change your mind.  You've been wrong before.  So have I.  And I will be again.

Look for what makes you secure. And healthy.  And loved.  Just go inside - it's there.  It doesn't mean you have to stay there.  Grab what you need and go back outside....  You can always COME back in........