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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New Year New You? No Way!

Facebook is full of all the New Year New you posts and to that I say NO WAY!  I like who I am.  I'm not perfect, not by any stretch of the imagination.  Are there things I can improve upon in my life?  Absolutely.  I need to lose weight, I need to stop procrastinating and a myriad of of things.  But those are habits that I need to change.  I don't need to change who I am at my core and neither do you -unless you WANT to.  It's a choice you need to make for you, and nobody else can make it for you and they shouldn't talk you in to making changes you don't want to make. Don't get caught up in the you have to weigh this much, or wear these clothes or belong to this group.  You do you because you are wonderful.  Another super important thing to remember is if you do want to do something different in your life, you can start right now.  You don't have to wait until next Monday or next month, or in the case of tomorrow, next year.  You start when you are ready. I'm not making resolutions this…

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Gratitude

So I have this awesome little app on my phone called a gratitude journal, and every day a little reminder pops up to remind me to write down that for which I am grateful.  It also has a nice little quote or saying, and today, it said this: Before you begin to write anything, silently say "Thank you" twenty times.  Feel the feelings of gratitude as you repeat the words. I'm really happy it had this today for a variety of reasons.  Usually when I fill out my little journal, the things I post are pretty simple.  I'm grateful it's the weekend, or that I'm snuggled under warm covers on a cold winter day, or I'm grateful that the Patriots won (that would be today's gratitude.)  But for a large part of today, I wasn't grateful, in fact, I was feeling downright sorry for myself.  I wasn't dwelling on it, but the down in the dumps mood did happen  more than once today.  You all know how I feel about those moods - I think they are inevitable, and we need them to help us appreciate the good moods even more.  But this little quote today really hit me hard. …

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It’s all Part of the Learning Curve

I've learned a LOT about people and human nature lately.  Sadly, a lot of it is very disappointing, and I am disturbed by the nature of people who profess to be caring individuals.  They pay lip service to doing the right thing and their desire to help, but then turn around and do things that are so contrary to their statements.  It saddens me, but I'm trying to put the lessons I've learned to good use.  Again it's a case of realizing that while I can't control the actions of others,  I can certainly control how I REact to their actions. I was prepared to write a scathing post, and publicly call people out on what I consider atrocious behavior, but at what cost?  It's NOT going to change them, or impact them in any way, and it's only going to serve to fuel my anger.  So instead,  took some time and thought about their actions, and how they made me feel, and how they impacted me.  Now, I want to thank them, because I have had a life lesson reinforced and I am growing into a better person because of it.   P.S.  I will be getting out a…

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Gratitude Rocks

I've been thinking a LOT about gratitude.  Gratitude ROCKS, and I want to continue to cultivate an attitude of gratitude.  I have a lot of fantastic, great and amazing things in my life, and I want to remember not just to acknowledge them, but to REVEL in them!  I want to get excited about all the good in my life and I want you to do the same.  "Why should I be grateful?" someone asked me when I was talking about this the other day.  "My life sucks, this is going wrong, and that is bad and blah blah blah"....their list went on and on.  I let them go on for a bit about all their woes, because sometimes, venting is good thing.  Finally when they were done, I asked them to tell me 1 good thing in their life.  And what do you know they were able to come up with something good in their life, and then another, and another, and another.  It was amazing.  When they put forth a little effort, they found there were a lot of good things in their life - it's all a matter of perspective, really.  Then I asked why they simply…

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You get what you give

The other day, I read this blog post called You Give What you Get and Get What You Give at mommythisandthat.com  and it really resonated with me.  Because I work with kids, I see a lot of selfish attitudes all day long.  This is in part because their teenagers, but also, the kids I work with have such challenging lives that they tend to hold on to whatever and whomever they can and never let go.  They very rarely, if ever do something nice for somebody else, and if they do, it's with because they're thinking "What's in it for me?" Now I'll be the first to admit that my students take this attitude to the extreme, but the I started thinking about myself and other people.  There aren't too many people out there who do things for people strictly for the sake of doing it.  It's kind of a shame really, because the feeling you get when you do something for somebody "just because" is the most amazing feeling. I don't have a lot in my life.  We don't have a lot of money, or a lot of things, and God knows being a single parent of two teenagers,…

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Gearing up for a new week

I had an incredibly insanely busy weekend.  I'm a single parent and as such, all the to-ing and fro-ing of my kids falls to me.  And let me say, they are very busy kids.  I was sitting down a little while ago, queuing up the daily positive thoughts for the week and to be honest, I was feeling a little bit sorry for myself.  We spent yesterday at a college fair and today, I don't think I was out of my car for more than 15 minutes at a time.  I was mopey and sulky and wondering when I was going to get some time to myself to relax and kick back (and maybe play some Angry Birds). Then I gave myself the proverbial Gibbs slap to the back of the head (yes I watch way too much NCIS) and I started looking at all the sulky things and turning them around. Yes, I spent all day yesterday at a college fair with my kids, but hey, that means I have two great, smart kids who are planning for their future.  Today, I had to drop my kids at school for a parade, do the grocery shopping, pick up the…

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It’s an Awesome Circle

Every morning, on my way to work, I list out all the things that I'm grateful for as well as my daily affirmations.  It's a part of my daily ritual, and it's a great way to start my day.  One day, I was thinking about the things I wanted to attract into my life and said, "I'm a magnet for luck, a magnet for love and a magnet for money, and I attract these things into my life.  The more I attract, the more I have.  The more I have, the happier I am.  The happier I am, the more I attract.  The more I attract the more I have, the more I have the happier I am.  It's an AWESOME CIRCLE - it's a CIRCLE OF AWESOMENESS! This has become the favorite part of my daily affirmations....thinking about the circle of awesomeness that is my life.   I hear other people talk about how their trapped in a vicious circle, but not me...I live in an AWESOME CIRCLE!

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Count Your Blessings

You've heard the expression "Count your blessings?" Do it. I bet you'll be totally surprised at how many great things there are in your life. From 3/18/09 This was originally sent out as a Daily Positive Thought back in March of 2009, and can I just say it's just as true today as it was the day I first sent it out. I have been sitting here this morning feeling very sorry for myself and thinking about how MISERABLE my existence is right now. I needed this proverbial Gibbs slap upside the back of my head (yes I watch way too much NCIS). My existence is NOT miserable. I have a job that I fought to get, I have two simply amazing and wonderful kids, I have a car that's paid off, and I have a place to live. I am so fortunate that it's not even funny. Is everything going exactly the way I want? No, because this is real life. Everything is not going to 100 percent perfect 100 percent of the time. But I'm learning to view the road blocks, bumps and even mistakes as detours to a better experience. I am an incredibly fortunate person and…

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