Just More “Transit Discourse” (as taken from the voice of a young man sitting behind me)

Phew… opera sure makes me exhausted (and is the reason why I haven’t written anything in the past 10 days!). But anyway… ANOTHER BUS STORY! Seriously, I hear and see the best things on the bus:

Today there was a voice behind me that caught my attention. It was a young man’s voice, and the reason why it was so distinct is because it would not stop talking. I think this man talked to about four different people, just alternating between them all. He also had quite a knack for asking question after question. Now, the reason why I bring up this voice is not because of how many people he spoke with or his tone of voice. When we were getting closer to the bus station, I heard him say to his friend across the aisle (who is looking to make it big in music–hey, they were talking pretty loudly so I couldn’t help but overhear–), “You have something special and it’s worth sharing.”

Ah.

I have one thing to say to this young man (who’s face I did not even see): Thank you.

Have a blessed day and share your “something special” too!

Joyanne 😀

Enter the Clowns!

“Circus life under the big top world/We all need the clowns to make us smile.”

I just finished adding this excerpt from Journey’s song “Faithfully” to my “One Thought A Day” page, and as the page loaded its updated self, this thought immediately came to mind: maybe we should be the clowns.

I finally finished reading The Gifts of Imperfection by Dr. Brené Brown for the second time, and what really stuck out for me this time is her section on “Cultivating Laughter, Song, and Dance: Letting Go of Being Cool and ‘Always in Control’.” We have all tried to be cool at some point in our lives, whether at school, work, when we’re out with friends, the list goes on and on. And what is being ‘cool’ anyway? “[I]t’s about minimizing vulnerability in order to reduce the risk of being ridiculed or made fun of” (Brown, p. 121). It’s totally true. How many times have I stopped singing or dancing when someone else walks into a room because I was embarrassed? Too many times to count; I do it all the time. And I love doing both of those things.

But just think, if we all just gave into that clownish part of ourselves, the part of us that loves to be silly and laugh, well, then we’d all have a reason to smile. All the time!

Have a supercalafragalisticexpealidocious day! (Who cares about spelling anyway?)

Much love and peace,

Joyanne 😀

Mama Gena, You Were Right!

I’ve got another bus story:

On my way home from work, I sat down in between two young men, with another young man sitting across from the guy on my right. The bus was pretty packed (rush hour), so a few people were left standing. Standing in front of us was a middle-aged lady with a couple of bags. After about a minute, the guy on my left tapped her on the arm and asked, “Would you like to have my seat?” She said, “No, thank you,” and on we went. I remember thinking, “Wow, that was really nice of him.” A few more minutes into our ride, we pulled up at the next stop where a couple more ladies got on the bus. One of the ladies looked pretty tired and this time the guy across the aisle asked, “Would you like to have my seat?” which she graciously accepted; “I get dizzy.” At the next stop the two ladies got off, and the guy who was now standing asked the original lady if she would like his seat; she didn’t. So, he sat down once again, only to get to the next stop where one more lady got on, an older lady with 2-3 grocery bags. The guy who’d just sat down now asked this lady if she’d like his seat, but she wasn’t facing him, so the guy on my right asked the lady if she’d like his seat; she remained standing.

Well, at this point, I couldn’t help but let a tiny giggle escape. Earlier in the day, I had read a post by Mama Gena where she says, “Men live to serve women.”

Mama Gena was right!

Have a great day!

Peace,

Joyanne 😀