Monday, April 5, 2010

Funny Story Keeping it fun!

Funny story but there is a point. I was at my brother's house yesterday celebrating Easter and a few family member's birthday. My brother recently had a birthday and waited too long to get his drivers license renewed. Thus, he had to get a new picture taken, eye test etc. No problem.

He got his new picture taken and looked at it.... looked at his old drivers license paper clipped to his paperwork, then back to his new picture. Took another look at both and his jaw dropped. He mentioned to the woman working at the DMV that he had the EXACT same shirt on when he took his drivers license picture 4 years ago. He was joking that he had not been shopping for clothes in 4 years ( which is not true), and all the wonderful woman would say is " hey, if you can fit in the same shirt after 4 years, its got to be good!"

Again, looking at it from the positive side!

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Counting Your Blessings

Sometimes it seems like nothing is going your way and you can not always see the light at the end of the tunnel. Believe me....this too shall pass. My father once told me when I would call him after a fantastic day.."Remember this day and how you feel. Remember it when things are not going your way and it will hold you over until things are better again." Truer words have not been spoken. Life is a series of cycles of ups and downs. With out one, we would not appreciate the other. Although no one wants to feel bad or out of control, it helps us appreciate the good times.

This morning I got up, had my coffee and got this sinking feeling that things were not okay. I worried about upcoming bills, my job situation, the future..oh my gosh the future. I can't control that one completely (I can a little to the best of my ability), but I was overwhelmed. Just as timing would have it, I received a message from someone telling me her cat just died, her daughter was on her second back surgery in 6 months and some other unpleasant news. I then thought about my circumstances and was immediately grateful. I have my health, a roof over my head, food on my table, 4 dogs who love me, family, friends..... alas I am okay. I sat, began to breath slowly (this is really good to relax and center you) and realized everything will be okay in time. Actually it is okay, just not the okay I was hoping for.

In short, realizing what you have versus what you don't have will help you remain positive while the forces of nature and the economy rights itself again. Perhaps today we can all do something kind for someone else and put a little blessing in their day.

C

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Taking Control of How You Feel

This is a gentle reminder of something I thought about this morning while cooking breakfast. Nothing can make us upset unless we allow it to. It does absolutely no good to get upset or angry when things happen to us. I believe its okay to feel the feeling but let it go and realize why you felt the way you did and what can you do to change your circumstances or thoughts to make yourself feel better. Its all up to us on how we want to feel about issues and circumstances. Something to remember is that we don't always have the story on what is going on on the other side of the situation.

There is a good example of this in Steven Covey's book 7 Habits for Highly Effective People. I'll paraphrase: There was a man with two children who got on the subway. The folks on the subway were quietly reading their papers, reading their books, and relaxing while waiting for their stop. The man's children were very rambunctious, loud and basically disrupting everyone on the subway. Many of the riders were getting very irritated that this man is doing nothing to manage his children, until finally someone said "Excuse me, but your children are disrupting all of us. Can you please do something about this". The man looks up with slowly and apologizes by saying, "I am very sorry, you see we just left the hospital where my wife and their mother just died, I guess we don't know how to handle it yet".

If you have that book, its a good re-read and if you don't, you might want to pick it up.

There is always another side. I find, if I concentrate on my own life and not on what others are doing wrong (in my opinion) I have the power to move myself to where I want to go. This is your life and you ultimately have the control over how you want to feel. Once again, just a gentle reminder.....

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Its Tough Out There

Its a hot topic right now...Its tough out there. I mean it really is. It seemed like only yesterday I had a fantastic job, money in the bank, traveling...you get the picture. Did I take my eyes off the road or did the circumstances in my life switch paths? I am not complaining though, I am learning a lot though this journey. There are a lot of experts talking about this subject but I want to express my journey both past and current on how to hold on and know that all will be okay. I believe we are a collective group of souls on this planet and we are all in this together regardless of your status today. Things change for the better and sometimes for the worse.

This is my first blog so please be patient with me. I would like to share stories of hope and progress even when things seem difficult because they are beyond our control. But there are things that are within your control that can help in my opinion.

Peace,

Christine