Wednesday, odds and ends...

My very favorite "Simpsons" ever is the one where Marge tells Bart, Lisa and Maggie how she and Homer met and fell in love. Called "The Way We Was," it aired during the second season and is such a sweet episode, nicely capturing how vulnerable (and stupid) love can make us. 

No matter how many times I see it, I always sigh a little. 

Throughout the episode Homer does some dumb things, but his heart is always in the right place and when he fears he's lost Marge to someone else, he becomes despondent. I think I've always liked the episode not only for its romanticism, but for how easy it is to relate to someone doing silly things because they like someone so much...



Speaking of  "silly" and "love," I read this great article.

(I think it's okay to always like the person you have feelings for, as long as you keep things in perspective and focus more on the genuine admiration and caring you have for them and less on the romantic side and the ridiculously impossible.)

http://www.elephantjournal.com/2014/04/my-5-tricks-for-coping-with-unrequited-love-leslie-vos/

Some of the best advice from it:

-"Sitting and crying at home will not give us anything good anyway, so why not spend some time with interesting people? Just try to live life in full. Ask a friend for a dinner, or drink some coffee with a colleague you want to know better. If you are in love now, there will be no risks to crush on someone new. Just relax and get pleasure from conversation with interesting people. They may become your very good friends in the future."

- "I open my heart and mind to real love which will definitely be mutual this time." (Real, in the sense it could actually happen, not as in the opposite of fake. I think it's actually harder to get over your feelings when others tell you they're not real. Unrequited love has no chance of ever becoming a relationship, obviously, but knowing and fully accepting that doesn't make it go away immediately. Opening your heart and mind to other people and things is, thankfully, not the same thing as jumping right into a relationship with a new person just to get over someone else. As a single person who has learned to make peace with being single, I'm not sure relationships are always the answer for finding happiness nor necessarily right for everyone. Sometimes the best way to get through pain is to make peace with yourself first and then with the things that are hurting you...)

...just some Wednesday ramblings. :)

Elephant Journal is a terrific website, not just for matters of the heart:

http://elephantjournal.com