Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance. Those are the five stages of, well, everything seriously bad that happens to us– grief, lost relationships, addiction, job dislocation and death– to name a few (as if one can bargain with grief and death).
Nothing in life seems quite so orderly, however. Some people never get past their own feelings of anger and bitterness. Others seem to live in a perpetual state of grace and total acceptance (though in the interest of disclosure, I haven’t yet met anyone that fits that description). Life is an ongoing process, and I feel blessed– even in spite of it all.

Romeo: Lady, by yonder blessed moon I swear…
Juliet: O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon,
That monthly changes in her circled orb,
Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.
Quotation from William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

Blessed are the forgetful: for they get the better even of their blunders.
Quotation from Friedrich Nietzsche

Eleanor Roosevelt said “Life is what you make it. Always has been, always will be.” But wow, if things end badly, does that mean I’m a failure?

It turns out that rumors — or, more precisely, those rumors that continue to be passed along office grapevines — tend to be substantially true.
Quotation from Joel Lovell, Workplace Rumors Are True (The New York Times)

But for most Ugandans, word of doomsday cults brings bitter memories of the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments, which burnt hundreds of members alive in a church in Kanungu, near the Congolese border, in March 2000. Police believe leaders systematically killed hundreds more followers after their judgment day forecast failed to happen, and corpses were found in mass graves across the country.
Quotation from Daniel Wallis, Police raid doomsday cult born from floods (Reuters)

I want to be bubbly like Sarah Clark or Reese Witherspoon, fresh and full of energy. I can “act” bubbly, but unfortunately, I feel silly when doing so. I can’t even be a convincing perky when i feel really good. I would love to have been born with a bubbly personality.

You know, a girl in my sorority, Tracy Marcinco got a perm once. We all tried to talk her out of it. Curls weren’t a good look for her. She didn’t have your bone structure, but thankfully that same day she entered the Pheta Delta Phi wet t-shirt contest where she was completely hosed to down from head to toe.
Quotation from Elle Woods, Legally Blonde

Nuclei can decay by positron emission; they may also decay by electron capture, so I’ll try to be positive for you. A life in equilebrium is a happy life.

Gravitation naturally does not exist for this observer. She must fasten herself with strings to the floor, otherwise the slightest impact against the floor will cause her to rise slowly towards the ceiling of the room.
Quotation from Albert Einstein, The Equality of Inertial and Gravitational Mass as an Argument for the General Postulate of Relativity

The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances; if there is any reaction, both are transformed.
Quotation from Carl Jung

I’m not afraid of growing old; I’m afraid of *being* old. But I’m not aged yet– and tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day– so I’m thankful for having the opportunity to grow a bit older.
I’m also thankful for having love in my life, and I’m thankful for YOU, dear readers.

Worried you will die alone,
You expect the crucifix
Around your neck to save your soul.
A hint of growing old, and losing beauty.
Fear of impaired mobility.
Your face deteriorates
as your insides decompose.
Lyrics from Burning the Masses, Gerascophobia (Gerascophobia is the fear of growing old)

Trust involves risk, and is always dangerous. Depending on others leaves you vulnerable. But defensively assuming the worst in people will only bring out the worst in them. You have to be an optimist to trust someone.

I think my problem is this
I’m dreaming away
I wonder if heroes truly exist
I cry, watching the day
I’m a fool in so many ways
But to lose all my senses
That ‘s just so typically me
Lyric from Britney Spears, Oops! I Did It Again
(Vocalist Laura Tsaggaris offers a great cover of this song as a free download on her website.)

I have great faith in fools- my friends call it self-confidence.
Quotation from Edgar Allan Poe