Sunday, March 7, 2010
Simplifying life
The older I get, the more I like simplifying my life. At first, I fought this concept as a way of allowing more peace in my life. Today, whenever I am having a grouchy day or I am out of sorts, it is the days that I remember to see the beauty in simple things that I return to a feeling of grace and ease. Simple things, hearing children laugh, reading a great book or watching an intriguing movie, trying a new food, and just relaxing. Most likely I am a type A personality and love having many things going at one time, but yet, in the quiet simple breaths of my life is when I feel the most connected with my strengths. Simple strength, it is what takes me through each of my challenges in my life. I just have to take a quiet breath and remember it is there.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Awe-full or Awful?
Are you around very many people that find the awful in everything, or dramatize things worse than they really are? I know I have caught myself many times making things sound worse than I know them to be, and I ask myself, why did I just do that? I ponder if I needed more drama or more action in my life and if something is worse than it really is, if this awful event makes me feel better in that the awful doesn't apply to me.
I have heard it said many times that we are the sum of the five people we hang with. I don't like hanging with people that awfulize life. I see people that find the awe and joy in their daily lives - this helps me to find more awe and joy in my life every day. I have recognized that people, including me, that when we awfulize that it is something we do almost in an unconscious way. I know when I catch myself awfulizing, I stop and reflect what is the marvel in the situation that I am refusing to see, and I look again at the situation. I look again to see the good in the awful thing, and this habit of being a pollyanna in seeing more good in the world is serving me well.
I find I am so much happier when I am awe-full and when I see the beauty in life that is always present for me, than when I see to dramatize and be more awful.
Yes, there IS awe in the diagnosis of breast cancer. When I was diagnosed 17 years ago, I didn't know how to find it or how to see it, but with time, my ability and my vision to see the awe in my life started changing. I started seeing people differently, and I started seeing my life differently.
I became less cynical, more joyful.
I started a conscious choice to see the AWE every day. I made it a practice. I probably drive my friends crazy, but I see more of who they are also. I see our strengths that lie in each of us. Breast cancer will certainly test our strengths, many times they will be tested over and over. But until we recognize we are a strong being, the testing remain, until we get it that we are stronger than we saw and realized before.
It is a choice, to see the awful in our daily lives, or to seek the awe that life holds for us every day.
Life is full of awe-- can you see it?
I have heard it said many times that we are the sum of the five people we hang with. I don't like hanging with people that awfulize life. I see people that find the awe and joy in their daily lives - this helps me to find more awe and joy in my life every day. I have recognized that people, including me, that when we awfulize that it is something we do almost in an unconscious way. I know when I catch myself awfulizing, I stop and reflect what is the marvel in the situation that I am refusing to see, and I look again at the situation. I look again to see the good in the awful thing, and this habit of being a pollyanna in seeing more good in the world is serving me well.
I find I am so much happier when I am awe-full and when I see the beauty in life that is always present for me, than when I see to dramatize and be more awful.
Yes, there IS awe in the diagnosis of breast cancer. When I was diagnosed 17 years ago, I didn't know how to find it or how to see it, but with time, my ability and my vision to see the awe in my life started changing. I started seeing people differently, and I started seeing my life differently.
I became less cynical, more joyful.
I started a conscious choice to see the AWE every day. I made it a practice. I probably drive my friends crazy, but I see more of who they are also. I see our strengths that lie in each of us. Breast cancer will certainly test our strengths, many times they will be tested over and over. But until we recognize we are a strong being, the testing remain, until we get it that we are stronger than we saw and realized before.
It is a choice, to see the awful in our daily lives, or to seek the awe that life holds for us every day.
Life is full of awe-- can you see it?
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Looking foward to the cruise
Just finished talking with Shelly Williams, our travel agent for the 4th Annual Breast Cancer Survivors and Thrivers Cruise. We've added another group shore excursion for the cruise - on Grand Caymen, we are headed to Senor Frogs for lunch and fun. The servers will be decked out in pink just for us, and ready with pink drinks to quench our thirst.
We are also going to Hell that day - that's right! Hell, and you thought you had already been to Hell when diagnosed with breast cancer. We can mail our loved ones our postcards from Hell before boarding back on the shuttle. Let's take some group shots while there so we can show everyone we have been to Hell and back.
P.S. I hope to find real vanilla while out n bout doing some shopping. I love the real vanilla that I bought last year and haven't found anything like it in the states.
We are also going to Hell that day - that's right! Hell, and you thought you had already been to Hell when diagnosed with breast cancer. We can mail our loved ones our postcards from Hell before boarding back on the shuttle. Let's take some group shots while there so we can show everyone we have been to Hell and back.
P.S. I hope to find real vanilla while out n bout doing some shopping. I love the real vanilla that I bought last year and haven't found anything like it in the states.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
I learned the value of permission
What do I do on the days that I don't want to take ANY steps on my journey? The days that I just want to curl up and sip on tea, veg out, and remove myself from my responsibilities. The days that I don't want to deal with the daily struggle of anything.
In the past when I have experienced this need to withdraw, I learned to give myself permission not to push myself that day, and to reflect if it was a day to rest and reflect, or to rest and relax with nothing in mind except to just hang out with myself and allow my inner quietness to catch up with my busy daily life. I give myself permission for the opportunity to have a change of scenery, or a change of routine.
I also learned that the more I fight the need to rest and withdraw from my responsibilities, the less effective I am at connecting with my responsibilities effectively, plus I resent what is before me. Yet in the past when I have given myself permission to take the day off or the hour off and do something differently, my so called tasks are not as heavy or troubling when I bring myself back to them. The key for me has been 'permission'.
This power of permission allows me to think about if I am afraid of the work that I am doing, or is my body or my intuition just trying to tell me that I need to reconnect quietly with my inner strength and my inner solitude.
When it feels like that I am resisting my work because of fear, I let that fear speak to me in my quiet moments. I ask myself what am I afraid of? Am I over dramatizing the issue, making the unknown experience worse than it is. I also reflect that perhaps I just need to withdraw from the task so until I can connect with my strength and look at the responsibilities differently.
When I don't wish to take ANY steps on my healing journey, when I don't want to consider what is best for my health, I call my family or one of my friends. I tell them I just want to connect with them, hear their voice, see how they are, have a laugh or cry with them. Many times this is my daughter or my son or grand daughters. There are hundreds of days when I call my husband just to talk for a couple of moments in the day, to feel his love, and after one or two of these phone calls, I am good to go back to my quiet solititude. I remind myself I don't have to make every step every day, and that permission to reflect about what I am feeling and what I am needing is VERY important to me, because it helps me clarify what works for me when I feel stuck on my journey, and when I feel I can't take one more step.
Praying, connecting with nature, and connecting with my loved ones, a change of scenery, or a spontaneous whim all have served me well for reconnecting back to my wellness needs. When I take a deep breath, and say 'hey, I needed this," and give thanks, I feel whole again, and
I can get so much done after taking this time to reconnect to what is best for me.
I practice the power of permission on a regular basis. It makes my prayers even more effective and sacred.
and today, I give myself permission to laugh and to be grateful for my life.
In the past when I have experienced this need to withdraw, I learned to give myself permission not to push myself that day, and to reflect if it was a day to rest and reflect, or to rest and relax with nothing in mind except to just hang out with myself and allow my inner quietness to catch up with my busy daily life. I give myself permission for the opportunity to have a change of scenery, or a change of routine.
I also learned that the more I fight the need to rest and withdraw from my responsibilities, the less effective I am at connecting with my responsibilities effectively, plus I resent what is before me. Yet in the past when I have given myself permission to take the day off or the hour off and do something differently, my so called tasks are not as heavy or troubling when I bring myself back to them. The key for me has been 'permission'.
This power of permission allows me to think about if I am afraid of the work that I am doing, or is my body or my intuition just trying to tell me that I need to reconnect quietly with my inner strength and my inner solitude.
When it feels like that I am resisting my work because of fear, I let that fear speak to me in my quiet moments. I ask myself what am I afraid of? Am I over dramatizing the issue, making the unknown experience worse than it is. I also reflect that perhaps I just need to withdraw from the task so until I can connect with my strength and look at the responsibilities differently.
When I don't wish to take ANY steps on my healing journey, when I don't want to consider what is best for my health, I call my family or one of my friends. I tell them I just want to connect with them, hear their voice, see how they are, have a laugh or cry with them. Many times this is my daughter or my son or grand daughters. There are hundreds of days when I call my husband just to talk for a couple of moments in the day, to feel his love, and after one or two of these phone calls, I am good to go back to my quiet solititude. I remind myself I don't have to make every step every day, and that permission to reflect about what I am feeling and what I am needing is VERY important to me, because it helps me clarify what works for me when I feel stuck on my journey, and when I feel I can't take one more step.
Praying, connecting with nature, and connecting with my loved ones, a change of scenery, or a spontaneous whim all have served me well for reconnecting back to my wellness needs. When I take a deep breath, and say 'hey, I needed this," and give thanks, I feel whole again, and
I can get so much done after taking this time to reconnect to what is best for me.
I practice the power of permission on a regular basis. It makes my prayers even more effective and sacred.
and today, I give myself permission to laugh and to be grateful for my life.
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