THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Life is too short to waste it being negative

BRAVE IN THE GRIEF

http://www.legacy.com/news/advice-and-support/article/grief-after-a-long-goodbye

Twas the night before Thanksgiving

and all through the house, not a creature was stirring

not even our cat, but I could not sleep.

Then the news came via Facebook posts

one more friend had passed away

one more loss

one more heartache

one more wave of pain and sadness.

Grieving is not easy

it hurts

it angers

it is never the same

it goes away

when it is ready

Grieving is not easy.

You have to be brave

to feel the pain

to feel the emotions

to not stuff it or

try to medicate it, but

just to stand brave

as the waves of grief

wash over and through you.

When we are lucky, it is that one loss

but sometimes the losses are many

and the pain feels crippling,

but even then we put on our armor

and be brave, as we

fight through the emotions,

letting them crash on us and over us

and know that we are stronger then

all the waves of grief

Then one day we are standing

and there is a calm

and the waves are gone

and we are not quite sure

how we made it through

But we did because

We are brave

And then we give thanks

for bringing us through

for having the strength

to be brave in the grief.

CERAMIC EGG COOKER

Sometimes it is the simplest things in life that can inspire you and motivate you to do and see things differently. Take for example, the Pampered Chef Ceramic Egg Cooker. It is simply a ceramic vessel that allows you to cook up a healthy breakfast in just a few minutes. Put eggs in it, shake them up, and your favorite ingredients and put in the microwave. That’s it right?

Honestly, though I have come to realize there are some powerful lessons in this egg cooker. The lid has a vent hole which lets steam escape as you cook and includes a silicone gasket, which keeps the lid secure. We can easily understand why this is important when microwaving, as we do not want things boiling over and making a mess. In our own lives, we so often have moments or situations which make us want to blow a gasket, and thus we create messes, or contribute to messy situations in our lives. The vent hole reminds me that I need to ensure that I have people, places, and things I do which allow me to vent without losing my temper. One of the things which allows me to let off steam is cooking. I will pull out my manual food processor and chop up lots of onions, and other vegetables. I also meditate, sit in my rocking chair, go for a roll around the block, have a need to keep it real with the Ultimate Consciousness and go sit in my meditation and prayer garden and surrender it to the Universe.

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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Peace appears in the absence of fear, anger, and impatience.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

COMPASSION AND ANGER

Have you ever found yourself getting angry or irritated at someone? One of the things I learned about anger, and any emotion, is that it can only stay alive for so long on its own. So when we stay angry or irritated for a long period, it is because at some level we have made a commitment to keeping it alive. Did you know an emotion has a natural life of about 30 seconds? If it lasts longer than that, it is because we are choosing to keep it alive. So when we stay angry all day, or for years, it is because we are choosing to stay angry. There is nothing wrong with a feeling, however, it is important for a feeling not to control us or become our identity.

The other night someone asked me if I ever got angry.

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SHARE THE PEACE

As we move closer to the holiday season, people’s lives tend to become increasingly hectic. We love the holidays because they are a time filled with presents, food, and time with friends and family and for some people even time off from work. However, sometimes this time with family is not always filled with peace. I was reminded of this recently as an associate shared with me how the holidays are her house quickly turn into a time for arguments and sometimes have been so stressful that she has left and come home. We cannot enjoy the peace of the holiday season when we are arguing with each other and pressing each other’s buttons.

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TRUST ME

When I was intentionally beginning my personal healing work, the writer my therapist was using and encouraging all clients to read was the work of John Bradshaw, author of Home Coming: Reclaiming and Championing Your Inner Child. This book discusses how the process of healing your wounded inner child is one of grief, and it involves these six steps. The first of these six steps is trust.

The person we most need to trust in our lives is ourselves. In order for us to begin our own healing process (emotionally, mentally, physically, or spiritually); we must begin by trusting ourselves. For many people, our wounded inner child is in hiding. That wounded part does not trust others and to some extent does not even trust the older version of who we are. To keep themselves safe, they learned to hide until they could find someone who would be a supportive and non-shaming ally.

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