#340 Feeling it in your bones

Neil Pasricha

Born and blasted into the world you’re a baby brain with wide eyes, chubby legs, and cloudy thoughts. Mom lifts you and picks you, eyes open and close, and fogs rise and settle. Tears stream and faces scream as your swirling brain twists and turns into thoughts…

Nothing makes sense till it does.

Nothing feels right till it does.

Chalk raps on blackboards beside times tables, language stirs sounds into sentences, and stories send you flying into faraway worlds. Book reports and homework inspections, chemistry labs and biology dissections, all fill your spinning brain with numbers and theories and thoughts…

Nothing makes sense till it does.

Nothing feels right till it does.

Teenage sleepovers and late night walks, summertime camps and suppertime talks, keep expanding your mind and your understanding of the world. First kisses and first touches, first fights and first blushes, all fill your heart with dreams, expand your brain’s book shelf, and get you thinking about a life below the surface of yourself.

Nothing makes sense till it does.

Nothing feels right till it does.

But … sometimes challenging lectures or scattering friends, confusing debates without exams at the end, can frighten your mind and scare dreams away, can frighten your life and trade tomorrows for todays. Family pressures and social graces, broken promises from trusted faces, could suddenly swirl you upside down and scatter your mind or dim your heart…

When nothing makes sense …

… … When nothing feels right …

… … … … When it gets scary to realize…

… … … … … … There are no instructions in life…

That’s when it’s time to stop, it’s time to think, it’s time to pause, it’s time to blink. When you hit the end of the year open your eyes and look behind you. When you hit the end of the year open your eyes and look inside you.

Because today you’re right here …

… … And there’s so far to go …

… … … … And today there’s still fear …

… … … … … … But there’s only one way to know …

Feel it in your bones, feel it in your bones, feel it in your bones.

Feel your bones to move forward, feel your bones to move on, feel your bones to forget, feel your bones to carry on… just feel your bones to say you’re sorry, feel your bones to show you care, feel your bones to choose tomorrow, and feel those bones to get you there.

Because when your world sorts itself out, when your head moves aside, when your heart thumps up front, when that blood bubbles inside, well that’s when you know, that’s when you see, that’s when you finally become … what you were meant to be.

So whatever you’re thinking about today …. stop trying to choose and choose. Whatever you’re searching for today … just look inside for clues. Yes, whatever you’re thinking about … just stop and feel instead. Cause when you feel it in your bones you can smile and forget your head.

Nothing makes sense till it does.

Nothing feels right till it does.

Nothing makes sense till you feel it.

Nothing feels right till you know.

AWESOME!

Click here for last year’s final post.

Thanks sincerely for reading and happy new year!

Photos from: here, here, here, and here

101 thoughts to “#340 Feeling it in your bones”

  1. What a great chunk of beautiful words and sound advice for starting out a new year. I really like it all, but this, “stop trying to choose and choose” really stands out to me.

    Decisions made based on “feeling it in your bones” are the best ones; such a weight is lifted when you just KNOW and FEEL that something is right.

    Happy new year, Neil … thanks for all you do :)

  4. The line “there are no instructions in life” really resonated with me, it’s very true and yet so many continue to search for a manual and ignore an answer that’s within them. I adore your posts and refer to The Book of Awesome as my “happy book”. Keep up the great work, Neil!

    1. That line really ran true for me too!

      It can really throw you for a loop when you realize it, and again when you realize it again, and a third time when you didn’t apply it to enough things the second time around lol

    2. Same here. That was definitely one of my favorites, and I usually overlook and lump together the more “deep” posts. Can’t wait for another year Neil. I can’t believe there’s only 339 left.

  5. That was beautiful. Thanks for this post, it brought me to tears. It really sums up my year; I’ve realized that life really doesn’t have any instructions. Thank you. You’re really talented and keep on doing what you do!

  6. WOW, the rhymes, the truthfulness behind those words.
    Just WOW!
    Gosh , how do you come up with this all.
    Another well done!

  9. Woah. How incredibly appropriate for my own particular day! As is #601! I’m starting my new year off doing something incredibly risky, but necessary. I hope my bone feeling is right and that I am starting off my new year on a fresh start!!

  10. Pingback: And so ends another year | lifeandtimesofanna

  11. Dear mr Awsome,
    I live in a small, godforsaken country named Croatia. It is in Europe, but not quite. There are some of all the awsome things you write about I will never know, we don’t have baseball (and from the movies I cann never understand what the players have to do to score points, they hit the ball and than run in circles), we don’t have ice cream van, thanx giving day, or some other things that are familiar to all americans, together with the feelings you all share about that childhood things. But, there are some things that still connect us all, like this feeling before the fresh start. Thank you for making my life better and for describing so well those feelings that make us cry without sadness.
    And sorry for the broken english, don’t make fun of me because it means I know some other language well :D

    1. My sister in law is Serbian and I can relate 110% with what you are saying. I love that you commented on this and it gives me chills to know that even accross the world we are all connected.

      1. Thanx Paul, give my love to your sister in law. I’m so glad someone exactly knows what I’m talking about:). I don’t know how old is she, but I wonder if she remembers the times whan milk was in the plastic bags, back in comunism, it was some 25 years ago. Go and ask her, but only if she about 30 years old. I bet she will be amused :D

        1. Hey Mila! It won’t let me reply in our posts, so I’ll respond here. :) She is actually 31 years old and said she remembers yogurt coming in triangle cartons but said she doesn’t really remember milk coming in bags but does remember her mom having to boil it once they bought it. I live in Canada and we still have bags of milk believe it or not. Comes in a 4L bag and has 3 smaller bags inside of it. Her last name is Horvat which I believe is a Croation last name, but she lived in Serbia. Happy New Year from Canada!!
          Paul

  12. Neil,

    Awesome stuff. This “feel it in your bones” thing has hit on me lately. You know, something just feels right. To go with a new thing, for example, you just know it’s the right choice, because you feel it in your bones.

    You can never know for sure. That’s only thing that is sure. But if it feels right, go for it. When I started to write my list of doing some awesome things everyday, I wasn’t 100% sure, if it’d be the thing I’d like to do the most. Maybe there could be even some better thing to to? Maybe. But still, it felt the most right thing to do, so I went with it.

    And by the way, thanks for this year and see you 2011! Hope the new book is coming together greatly!

  14. Here’s to making some “bone feeling” resolutions, and actually sticking to them. Thanks Neil!!

  15. You have a way with words that make them sound beautiful and meaningful at the same time. You manage to search deep into everybody’s deep memories and you make them resurface with simple words. Thank you for being in this world­.

  16. This post is amazing! Its life and growing up summed up in one post. Thank you for another year of awesome.

  20. I got shivers reading this. You put into words what I’ve been beginning to really experience these last several months. Thank you so much for 1000 Awesome Things!

  21. Hey Mila! It won’t let me reply in our posts, so I’ll respond here. :) She is actually 31 years old and said she remembers yogurt coming in triangle cartons but said she doesn’t really remember milk coming in bags but does remember her mom having to boil it once they bought it. I live in Canada and we still have bags of milk believe it or not. Comes in a 4L bag and has 3 smaller bags inside of it. Her last name is Horvat which I believe is a Croation last name, but she lived in Serbia. Happy New Year from Canada!!
    Paul S.

  22. I’ve been reading your blog for months and this is my favorite yet. Most days give me a smile, but today you got me “in my bones”. Just what I needed to hear. Thanks, and Happy New Year.

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  26. This is such a touching post. So much has happened in my own life this past year, and discovering this blog is one of the reasons I’ve stepped up to feel my own bones, and realize what I was doing wasn’t good for me. I am so thankful for everything I have, for everything I’ve had and will have in the future. Thank you, so, so dearly Neil!! I cannot put into words the gratitude I have for what you do. I only hope that this message of positivity keeps moving forward at such an astounding rate!! And thank you to all who read this for keeping some of that light in your own bones.

  27. Oh my. That’s a beautiful poem, I read and re-read it. I think it’s just been elevated to one of my favourite along with Amy Witting’s.
    What a fabulous way to capture life.
    Then I had to read it again- aloud- and got teary.
    Happy New Year

  28. I just have to join in and say thanks! Truly a ‘divine’ message. Happy New Year, Neil, something is feeling very right, right here.

  29. “Nothing feels right until it does…thank you!”

    And I love the comment

    “getting it all wrong on the way to getting it all right.”

  31. Thanks for this, Neil! Great way to start off the new year ahead. Love your work…

  33. Thank you for this post! It made me thinking that maybe last year did made me stronger. I had to read last year’s post also and I think this year will be one ass-kicking year!

    Happy new year people!

  34. My husband making “Our very own skating rink in our back yard!”
    Jumping for joy, Breathing it in Feeling the ability to Feel it all in my bones!!
    Feeling gratitiude for you Neil, all that you are and you do…
    everyone who’s making this a brighter place to be,
    Happy New Year!

  35. “Feel your bones to move forward, feel your bones to move on, feel your bones to forget, feel your bones to carry on… just feel your bones to say you’re sorry, feel your bones to show you care, feel your bones to choose tomorrow, and feel those bones to get you there.”

    Thank you for giving me hope that maybe I can do just this. Taking it one day at a time. ..

  36. hi neil, this post was spectacular.
    for all my life i’ve been a worrier and a thinker. i ponder and wonder and question and fret and contemplate and think so much that it often hurts me. i have never been good at making decisions. this post made me cry when i read it. i’ve noticed that feeling something in your bones is the best feeling, and even sometimes when what you’re feeling in your bones conflicts with the thoughts racing through your head, it’s always nice to know there are others who think that these moments, where something is just felt, are more important in self-definition than things that need to be concrete. Thank you for all that you do.

  37. That was so beautiful. Thank you so much. It was a great reminder to go after what’s important, what felt right :)

  38. awesome post! and I hope this year is going to be awesome as well! happy new year everyone!

  39. Thanks for the wonderful post. I always check the website but for some reason it’s been a few days since I have, and I just saw this. I really needed it today, too, as it’s what would have been an anniversary and I was feeling a bit down. Reading this gave me a lot of hope. Thank you. =)

  40. This made me cry…I really enjoyed reading that :) This is one of my favorite sites to visit. Thank you. Have a wonderful New Year!

  41. I am new to this event.
    Can somebody help me please…
    is there an entry every day and is so,
    how do I locate jan.1st,2011 entry
    Thank you, Wendy

    1. They don’t update every single day, but when they do, it’s a nice treat! Look at the archives for old posts.

      1. Thank you Lisa!
        To have replied…You’re AWESOME!
        And may your new year be spectacularly awesome!
        Wendy

  42. Pingback: Feel it in your bones « Girl from the Hills Blog

  44. I’m super-grateful that posts like this exist on the ‘net. Thanks for sharing the inspiration, and allowing it to flow through you Neil. Rock on man. It’s an awesome thing :)

  48. Thank you, Neil. You are truly AWESOME. I haven’t read anything that powerful in quite some time.

  49. This is one of my favorite posts from this website! Great job and I hope for more awesome posts this new year!

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