On My Way To Namaste..

I have been an avid yogi since age ten. The feeling of holding that pose just ten seconds longer than the day before, the feeling of your mind and body so connected with each other that nothing else matters, the feeling of complete peace. When I am on my teal and baby blue mat, I am in my own world, a world which has only one inhabitant-me. I wrote a column for my University's paper about the different components of yoga: Yogalosophy.

Last semester I was unbelievably busy, being president of a club and being stuck in some hard classes and other side projects. I deluded myself into thinking I did not have time, an hour and fifteen minutes, to devote to yoga everyday and dropped it. I attempted to do yoga in my bedroom but my room is riddled with electronics so that didn't quite work.

Today I decided- I need a change. So I bought $55 worth of change- an unlimited yoga pass at The Studio in Reno. It was the best purchase I have made in a while. Although my bank account might not be feeling the zen, I already am.

I think the lesson here is, we may get busy but we need to take care of ourselves and take that extra time to nourish our bodies and our minds with good positive energy and exercise.

So while I may feel like I'm too busy with school or internships, or jobs, I will devote the hour and fifteen minutes to myself daily, because after all theres still 22.85 hours left in the day for work, school, internships and whatever other craziness I might get myself into!

My Guest Blog For Milly Jody!

The Witty PR Girl: How to make the best out of your internship: By Jade Sheldon Treat it like a job interview . If people are spending time training you, they see potential and its easier to hi...

Take Time For Positivity

People seem to have all the time in the world to complain and wish for a better situation, a better boyfriend, a better life. I'm guilty of this too at times. Sometimes it seems like negativity is all around us and its easier to fall in to it then to ignore it. 

For example, we tend to thrive on other's failures. It’s common to hear someone starting a conversation with "Did you hear X got fired and apparently things aren't good with her and her boyfriend." It’s a rarity to hear "Wow X got this amazing promotion and things are going to great for her its just awesome. It's much easier to be a friend to someone in times of failure than in times of success.

I’ve been accused of being "annoyingly upbeat" "unrealistic" "too positive" I’ve even been called "Tinkerbelle." The way I see it, the way you feel about someone else's success will not change your success. You can spend an hour thinking about how horrible life is or how lucky other people are OR you can spend an hour counting all of the good things you have going for you. You can be thankful for the lack of ailments you have compared to others.

 

 It doesn't matter if the glass is half full, half empty, cracked, ugly.... It matters who the owner of the glass is and what he or she does with it.

Sometimes in life we get dealt an awful hand. We cannot exchange those cards; we can simply develop a strategy to play them to our advantage. But if you got someone else's hand, you may decide your hand isn't so bad after all.

Anne Frank said it best "I don't think of the misery, but of the beauty that still remains." 

Life is wonderful. It’s unpredictable, unfair, awesome, and challenging, it’s the greatest adventure we get to go on. In a materialistic world, we lose sight of all the amazing things in our life. This morning I woke up and, being blind as a bat, griped about not being able to see right away. Then I remembered I have two working legs to walk to the bathroom where my contacts, that I was able to buy, were situated.  Sometimes we complain about getting dressed in the morning, while some less fortunate people cannot get dressed on their own and have to wait for daily assistance with there dressing.

Lastly, today I thought "Gee it's really unfair that my grandmother has to be alone on Mothers Day," until I remembered that she had my late grandpa with her for fifty years and some people can't even say they have had someone with them for five.

Life is good, enjoy walking in your shoes, and when you wish for someone else's shoes, remember they may be less comfortable. 

My Mother My Home

Giggling in the kitchen

Layzing eating berries, reading gossip magazines
All the secret purchases in my closet... a symbol of the adventures we've had together


Shared kleenex, my aide in torn up ex boyfriend keepsakes
My 10pm  hopeless phone calls ending with hope
The unused gifted Estee Lauder eyeshadows nestled between the sheets of my bed
The "daddy is away" lets get you a new T-Shirt becomes new wardrobe shopping trips


The homemade lettuce soup that passes through my college starved lips
My impulsive decisions become her rational explanations to my father
My blue eyes with a ring of yellow which match hers
The selfless heart which fulfills my selfish needs


A warrior in my army with every battle I fight
A cushioned punching bag, softens the blow
We are a mirror of each other
Our giggles, Our eyes, Our tone, our humor one of the same
Yet she's one of a kind,


My mother, My Anne, my friend, my solace, my home

By: Jade Gaby Sheldon

Swim

Today I felt like listening to a band I used to listen to in high school-Jack’s Mannequin and came across the song “Swim.”

I found a tidal wave

Begging to tear down the dawn

Memories like bullets

They fired at me from a gun

A crack in the armor

I swim to brighter days

Despite the absence of sun

Choking on salt water

I'm not giving in

I swim

I’ve been nostalgic and a little weepy lately, thinking back to the times when my grandfather was alive. He inspired me so much every day with his kindness and was so proud of everything I did, it didn’t matter what it was-I was his superstar. Every night I would talk to him and he would tell me how one day he will see me on CNN, I don’t think he understood what a public relations person does even though I would attempt to explain it over and over again.

I think its pretty clear I'm not a natural blonde but I did get his big blue eyes!

He passed away in November and since then despite his passing, so many amazing things have happened to me: fantastic internship, scholarships, good grades… there’s so much I want to tell him but can’t.

Anyways when I heard this song it inspired me maybe not to swim, but to GO! I am going to keep going for all my dreams and know that he is with me watching over me, probably shaking his head at my ridiculous caffeine consumption.

Sometimes we all have those days where we miss how things used to be, or we wish things were different, but we must swim because life is good. Life is an amazing journey and sometimes we may not like the pit stops, but we must remember it’s not the end of the race and only WE get to decide the attitude we have at these pit stops and when we reach the end!

Challenge Your Mind

This semester I took Eng 411 aka Linguistics aka Hell on Earth. The professor's first words were: "Now this is a challenging scientific and mathematical English class." There is one thing in this world I hate more than math and science.. ants!

Three weeks into the class and we began doing linguistic trees. Nothing made sense and i contemplated dropping the class. Due to amazing scholarships from the Reynolds School of Journalism, I decided against dropping. I was going to learn Linguistics no matter what. I emailed the professor and explained that Linguistics made as much sense to me as a message from Athens in Greek. She graciously told me to come into her office a week before every homework assignment was due and she would check my work and help me with questions. So I did that... Every Friday/Monday for four months I was in her office. 

Page one of an eleven page paper. 

As I prepare to take the final I have an 87% in the class and cannot only do trees in English, but I have learned to do them in Tagalog as well for my final project. IT FEELS DAMN GOOD!

It has been so long since I have challenged myself and taken a hard class that I wasn't comfortable with. This class taught me so much about language. More importantly, this class taught me so much about myself. It taught me that I'm 100 times more determined than I thought and a million times smarter and more capable than I could have imagined. 

It's a work in progress!

I cured my mind which was diseased with laziness when it came to math and science. It was like bootcamp for my mind.
It is so important to keep challenging ourselves and pushing ourselves in order to be the best we can possibly be!

I plan to use my Linguistic knowledge in everything I do. I now understand the scientific value of words and the importance of using some words as opposed to others. Amazing press releases here I come!

Linguistic hugs from my house to yours! 

Caffeine Is Calling

About three months ago, I decided to give up caffeine, trying to follow the Ayurveda constitution and all. All was well until I remembered: Im in 400 level classes, president of a club, about to start a PR internship, and a homosapien.

As I began planning the annual Reynolds School of Journalism Toast dinner for 50, I realized I needed energy..

I made my first cup of coffee in months this morning and the feeling is unexplainable. I have so much energy I don't know what to do with myself: Gym, running, homework, speech making, dinner planning- the possibilities are endless! It's an amazing feeling, its a gift from the caffeine gods. Bright "alien" eyed and bushy tailed, day here I come.

I learned something more than how great coffee is, this taught me that its ok to need a little help. That sometimes the workload gets a little heavy and sometimes I get tired. I would like to say I'm the yogi with a strict no caffeine herbal tea diet, but I'm not.

I'm the woman who can't wear white and not spill, the woman who gets so busy she forgets to text people back, the woman who takes on more than she can handle, and the woman who apparently needs her cup of coffee.

I get by with a little help from my friends... and a little cup of joe :)