forgiveness & the like

it's funny you should bring up the harboring of negative thoughts, because i've been thinking about that, too. not just thanks to elizabeth gilbert, but also to npr. the other day they had this guy on who travels around the world encouraging people to forgive each other. he actually holds a title, like "chairperson of forgiveness" or something. anyway, a listener called in with a comment to the tune of the utter uselessness of forgiveness because regardless of what you do other people will always be negative. this chair of forgiveness (that almost sounds like a mythical character) responded by noting that if people took the time - even on the smallest scale - to convert their negative thoughts to positive ones, everything would change. i started thinking about negativity in general, and more specifically in my life. it seems this negativity is a truism of human nature; after all, my greatest ability to connect with my co-workers exists in our mutual complaints of other people. in my relationships with other, more important people in my life i find myself doing the same thing: tearing them apart for every little fault instead of celebrating their strengths. i don't think it's possible to never have a negative thought, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth fighting them with all you got.

a little part of that battle, at least for me, is finding the beautiful in the ordinary. like this, just a laundry room in back of my old apartment building.

or this

or what about this, the heart and soul of a little peruvian man who started an art gallery and art school smack dab in the middle of the amazon forest:

.....or this little boy's first stab at releasing some creativity:

INSPIRING.