I is an IDIOT

Once upon a time, there was an idiot (that's me) who was doing something with the mailing list and deleted it ALL. Yes, I is an idiot!  If you wish to continue to receive the Daily Positive Thought via email, please sign up again please click on this link and resubscribe!

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Just a Little Message

I just wanted to share a little message with you. Last week and this week, the Daily Positive Thought emails have been positive thoughts that I sent out before.  Next week's probably will too because I'm recovering from surgery.  Here is what I said: I just want to update you.  I had my surgery this past Tuesday.  I came through with flying colors, and short two breasts, so technically I know longer have breast cancer I guess.  I hurt.... a lot, and this summer when I have the reconstructive surgery, I'll hurt more.  But that's okay because I am going to win this war. I want to tell you something that every single nurse I have dealt with has said to me.  "You really have a positive attitude!"  In fact, I've had visits from two different visiting nurses here at the house and they both said they have never laughed or had so much fun at a visit before.  Thinking positive does help.  Is it making the hurt go away?  No, but I have to wonder, would I be feeling more pain if I had a negative outlook?  I don't intend to find out. Positive thinking does so much.  But…

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Positive Thinking in Action

Where you been? Hi everybody - long time no post.  Here's the deal.  My life has been not great.  Last year I settled into a huge deep giant funk so I did what all smart people in a funk should do, and I went to my doctor. I was diagnosed with depression and provided with an antidepressant. Life got a little bit better, but not spectacular. I was plugging along, living my life, but I was not living my best life, and worse, I wasn't doing anything about that. Talk About a Kick in the Pants Amazingly, something happened that kicked me in the proverbial buttocks and got me thinking in a more positive manner, and you will never believe what it was. I was diagnosed with breast cancer.  I know, how could that make someone think more positively?  It's a honest question, and as you know, I've never been one to pull my punches, so I'm going to give you an honest answer.  If you want the full breast cancer story, you can read about it in The Breast Cancer Diaries. So I was due for my mammogram in August, 2022, but the building that houses the place were…

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Pick Yourself Up, Dust Yourself Off: What to Do After a Relapse

  You feel like you’ve failed, let everybody—including yourself—down. You were doing so well, attending meetings, staying away from your trigger areas, and exercising and eating well. Then, you suddenly, for whatever reason, take that one drink or drug and everything you’ve worked so hard for has vanished in an instant.   Relapse can happen during recovery. It’s a risk you take for choosing to be sober, but it is not a sign of failure. According to Dr. David Sack in Psychology Today, “Studies suggest that nearly half of all individuals who try to get sober return to heavy use,” with “70 to 90 percent experiencing at least one mild to moderate slip.”   If you’ve had that moderate slip, or if you returned to heavy usage, Think Positive 30 encourages you to do these three things.   Try to Avoid Additional Stressful Situations   As if relapsing from sobriety isn’t stressful enough, additional stressors in your life can trigger you. If you’re returning to work after some time in rehabilitation, or for any other reason, consider how you will handle any sudden increase in stress levels. There is a strong connection between workplace stress and alcohol and drug abuse,…

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Garfield,Thinking Positive and Toxic Positivity

    (Davis, Jim "Garfield" 10/19/21 ArcaMax https://www.arcamax.com/)   First off full disclosure, I actually started this on October 19th of this week but I was running late for school.  My plan was to finish it that night but it has just been a crazy week year and I am kind of drowning.  That being said, when I read this comic that morning, I LOVED it, because I am all about finding the bright side, but sometimes in the moment, there is no bright side.  Garfield, my furry feline friend, when the damn bursts, that's the time to evacuate!  There are no ifs, ands or buts about that.  You get out and you get out now. As an educator, I am no stranger to toxic positivity.  It abounds in educational settings, and it is slowly sucking the life out of every teacher I know.  We're supposed to look on the bright side and push through in untenable circumstances. Toxic positivity is an obsession with positive thinking.  The belief that we should deny or invalidate any negativity or negative thoughts. Well that is NOT what I, or Think Positive 30 is about.  If you lose your job, that sucks.  You get…

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Who Are You?

You are only destined to become one person – the person you decide to be. - Ralph Waldo Emerson I've been thinking a lot about what I want to be when I grow up, which is odd, considering the fact that I'm older than dirt.  But it's something that actually requires a lot of thought.  See, I've always wanted to be a teacher.  I absolutely love being a teacher.  I don't love all the crap I have to deal with, but I love being a teacher.  But the other day I was thinking about growing up and wanting to be a teacher. I was born in the mid sixties, and did a lot of my growing up in the 70's.  The era of woman's lib, and hearing that a woman could do anything she wanted.  But in school, they didn't push girls to do anything other than what girls had been doing in school for years.  Sure I could have taken a shop class if I wanted, but I didn't want.  I just played barbies, and rode bikes like all the other kids that I knew, and in high school, I just took all the classes everybody else was taking. …

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True Friends

No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow. - Alice Walker Do you remember when you were a kid, some adult in your life telling you that you are judged by the company you keep?  Well, that was true, and it is also true that people tend to take on the characteristics of the people with whom they spend the most time. I am blessed to have a plethora of wonderful people in my life, and these people all have different characteristics.  Some are incredibly happy-go-lucky, others are extremely driven, some are very athletic and physical, and some are more relaxed.  I have friends who are focused on money, and friends who barely get by, friends that are very analytical and friends who are more creative.  I also have friends who are incredibly happy and enjoy life, and friends who are angry at the world. I’m sure when you look at your friends, you’ll find that the characteristics that make up your friends are equally as varied as the character traits that make up the wonderful person that is you!  It’s funny, when I spend time with my outdoorsy athletic friends, we usually…

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Once Upon a Time, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away

Well not Once Upon a Time, but Once Before Covid, and not in a Galaxy Far, Far Away, but in my own personal galaxy, I came up with an idea.  I had been working, kind of sort of, on a young adult novel, when I was struck by an idea.  I wanted to write a companion book to my book Thinking Positive: Take the Journey into Positivity.  Then covid struck and my life was turned upside down.  I foolishly thought, as a teacher who was now working from home, that I would have PLENTY of time to write.  I was wrong, so, so wrong.   I worked more hours than I could ever imagine recreating curriculum, and reaching out to kids trying to help, begging them to do work and just making sure they were okay.  Summer brought more of the same.  Things changed a little bit in the fall.  We were still remote, but it was more structured, and I found that I did have more time, but something had happened.  It was a not good something.  I started listening to the voices in my head.  You know those voices, the ones that tell you your too fat, or stupid,…

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How to Make Your Wellness a Priority 

  After a grueling year finding our way through the pandemic, things are slowly but surely returning to some sense of normalcy. But with all the stress that we experienced from COVID-19, you may have found it tough to keep up with your normal healthy habits and routines. If you feel like your wellness has taken a seat on the back burner, you aren’t alone—and it’s never too late to pick up where you left off!   If the thought of returning to your pre-pandemic habits and routines makes you want to crawl into bed and hide, don’t fret. With the help of the right tools and strategies, you can remove the overwhelm and ease your way back into the process. Assess Your Wellbeing Before you can make any concrete goals, it’s important to take some time to assess where you are now and what areas of life you’d most like to focus on. Maybe your sleep hygiene flew out the window, or you stopped taking your daily walks. Wherever you currently stand, what matters is you analyze what parts of your life matter most to you.   You might find that your list of goals is miles long and…

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Gratitude Rocks – Help Spread the Message

Have you ever seen the cute, hand painted rocks with inspirational messages outside?  People are encouraged to pick up a rock that speaks to them.  Well those rocks have to come from somewhere, right?  They do, people make them and leave them in places for other people to find. I'm here to ask a favor if you are a crafty individual who paints rocks like this.  On the ones I make, I add the url to Think Positive 30 - www.thinkpositive30.com.  Why?  My goal is to spread positivity wherever I can - to share the message that I deliver here daily.  If you do decorate rocks like this and leave them out and about for others to find, would you consider adding the url to Think Positive 30 every once in a while.  With your help, we can spread the message of positivity and positive thinking farther than ever!

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