Article from tinybuddha.com
by Harriet Cabelly

“The human spirit is stronger than anything that can happen to it.”  ~C.C. Scott

A blueberry muffin–that’s the last thing we spoke about before she went under.

I didn’t know it then, but it was to be the final conversation my (middle) daughter and I would have for a very long time. I was trying to distract Nava by talking about food; in this case the promise of the rest of her muffin when she came back from the bronchoscopy.

We were thrown a steep curve ball out of left field when Nava went for an exploratory procedure and ended up on  a respirator in a drug-induced paralyzed coma.  Almost 3 months later, to a miraculous survival, she was slowly awakened, but not to any muffin; rather to a  life that would require a strength of spirit, body and soul unlike anything we could’ve ever imagined.

Nava was in an uphill battle to rebuild her life, muscle by muscle, limb by limb as she relearned and reclaimed each bodily function.

Her spirit,  attitude and disposition carried her through this torturous climb and that carried me through, as well.  You could say I piggybacked on my daughter’s positive, brave, fighting spirit.

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(Source: believeinrecovery)

Article from marcandangel.com

Just a few simple truths we learn on the road of life…

1. The route to our destination is never a straight one. – We take questionable turns and we get lost.  But it doesn’t always matter which road we embark on; what matters is that we embark.  Either way life will likely get a little complicated, and bring unexpected hurdles and changes.  But that’s okay.  Sometimes you have to stumble and feel weak for a little while to realize how strong you really are.
2. Real friends won’t ask you to change who you are. – The RIGHT people for you will love all the things about you that the WRONG people are intimidated by.  Don’t change so people will like you.  Be patient, keep being your awesome self, and pretty soon the RIGHT people will love the REAL you.
3. Cheating is a choice, not a mistake, and not an excuse. – If you decide to cheat, and you succeed in cheating someone out of something,don’t think that this person is a fool.  Realize that this person trusted you much more than you ever deserved, and they learned a lesson about who you really are.
4. The past can’t hurt you anymore – not unless you let it. – Forgive and move on!  Forgiveness allows you to focus on the future without combating the past.  Without forgiveness, wounds can never be healed, and moving on can never be accomplished.  What happened in the past is just one chapter.  Don’t close the book, just turn the page.  Cry when you must and push forward.  Let your tears water the seeds of your future growth and happiness.

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(Source: believeinrecovery)

Article from marcandangel.com

You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.
- Mae West

You know you’re on the right track when you can repeat each of the following headlines to yourself, honestly. (And if you can’t, this list gives you something positive to work on.)

1.  I am following my heart and intuition.

Don’t be pushed by your problems.  Be led by your dreams.  Live the life you want to live.  Be the person you want to remember years from now.  Make decisions and act on them.  Make mistakes, fall and try again.  Even if you fall a thousand times, at least you won’t have to wonder what could have been.  At least you will know in your heart that you gave your dreams your best shot.

Each of us has a fire in our hearts burning for something.  It’s our responsibility in life to find it and keep it lit.  This is your life, and it’s a short one.  Don’t let others extinguish your flame.  Try what you want to try.  Go where you want to go.  Follow your own intuition.  Dream with your eyes open until you know exactly what it looks like.  Then do at least one thing every day to make it a reality.

And as you strive to achieve your goals, you can count on there being some fairly substantial disappointments along the way.  Don’t get discouraged, the road to your dreams may not be an easy one.  Think of these disappointments as challenges – tests of persistence and courage.  At the end of the road, more often than not, we regret what we didn’t do far more than what we did.

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(Source: believeinrecovery)

Article from tinybuddha.com

“Criticism is something you can easily avoid by saying nothing, doing nothing, being nothing” ~Aristotle

The need for approval kills freedom.

Trust me, I know, because I spent my entire life seeking approval until I realized it was a waste of time and didn’t work anyway. The desire to get people to like me motivated the majority of my choices and actions in early life.

Queen of social chameleons, I mastered the art of telling people what they wanted to hear and being someone they would find impressive—all the while worrying incessantly about what others thought of me, fearing criticism, and holding myself back as a result.

When I first started building my coaching business, this craving for acceptance caused me to hide from opportunities where the potential for reward was high, but the possibility for criticism was equally large.

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Hey! I can give you a few tips to help you go in the right direction but it’s up to you to do the work. In all honestly, it’s a lot easier said than done. If you really want to love yourself, you can do it! 

1. Treat others with love and respect. Bringing joy to other peoples’ lives will help you find joy in your own. In addition, those that you treat well will likely repay you with the same kindness. Gradually you will start to feel your worth through the smiles of gratitude. However, don’t just be very kind to people so you can recieve royal treatment.
2. Post positive statements up someplaces where you will see them each and every day. “I am beautiful.” or “I have the courage to love.” Read them outloud, every day, at least once, ideally at least ten times each time you notice one of them. Sticky notes are fabulous for such affirmations and goals.
3. Learn to let go of past events. You deserve a fresh beginning! There are a lot of people out there that have had hard lives/bad beginnings or moments. Don’t close yourself out of grief, disappointments, or fears of future ridicule. Acknowledge your feelings, but work to put them behind you. Cherish what you have learned from your challenges, and how you have changed and grown from them.
4. Do what you love. What do you love to do? If you could find something that you love to do and spend time doing it, you will experience love, joy, and happiness in your heart. That is when you truly connect with your authentic self. As a result you become happier and more loving.
5. Trust yourself. Don’t just blindly follow other peoples suggestions. Learn to trust who you really are.
6. Forgive yourself. Don’t punish yourself for something you have done in the past. Instead, look at the mistake as a learning experience. Say to yourself now: “I forgive myself for _______.” Go look in a mirror and say it out loud to yourself, look yourself right in the eyes and speak forgiveness like you mean it. Don’t ever demean or ridicule yourself, or if you do then laugh realizing that was then and this is now. Every day is a new beginning.
7. Think of five positive words that describe you. Try not to use words like “pretty” and “nice”. Try variety.
8. DON’T Define yourself by what you’ve done or do. Celebrate your accomplishments but let go of the things you haven’t…yet? Remember that success is not a destination. Success is making progress (toward the desires of your heart). Accept yourself, and others will follow your lead. You are not your deeds, appearance, or bank balance.
9. Start working toward how and what you want to do and be. Do so with a positive attitude by working toward your higher purposes and greater appreciation of your problems as motivating your finding new and better opportunities.
10. Stop comparing yourself to others. Everyone on this earth is unique. We all have different gifts. When you compare yourself to others, it makes you feel bad about yourself. When you compare yourself to others for what they have, whether it is a car, a house, a mate, children, money, or a job, it makes you feel low self esteem, lose your confidence, and perhaps depressed, envy or jealous. A way to stop comparing yourself to others is by focusing on your own strength. Get to know yourself and discover what is your greatest gift that you are meant to share with the world. Another great way is by practicing gratitude. Be happy for what you have. Really be grateful about everything that you have; people in your life, job, relationships, material, etc. Gratitude keeps your heart open to love.

Hope some of those will be able to help you! When I truly wanted to love myself, the first thing I did was I turned off those negative messages I would tell myself. Also, I hung up a picture of myself on my mirror from when I was a little girl. She is so cute and innocent. I want her to live a happy healthy life, I do everything in my power to give her that. Give that little kid in you a good life. Small steps in the right direction is all you need to get there <33

article from stratejoy.com

Letting go of expectations is hard.  Giving up some of the control we  exert over every part of our life takes practice.  It’s a exercise in freedom.  In flying wild.  In accepting surprises and quirks and amazing gifts that land in our laps.

So how do you be free? I’m no expert.  But believe me when I say I’m practicing letting go every single day.

How to Be Free: A Beginner’s Guide.

1. Let go of expectations regarding success.

Forgive yourself if you suck at letting go of expectations.  Try again.  And again. Ponder and journal and over analyze the orgins of your expectations.  Who first told you that you had to go to college and get a job and make a lot of money to be successful?

Let go of figuring out who first told you that you had to go to college and get a job and make a lot of money to be successful.   Instead, spend your time thinking about how you want to be successful.

Ask yourself questions about what you want to contribute to the world. Questions about what you have to share.  Questions about how you want to show up each and every day.

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(Source: believeinrecovery)

article from tinybuddha.com

“If you are never scared, embarrassed, or hurt, it means you never take chances.” ~Julia Soul

The moment comes when you are on your knees.

You are filled with a knowing that there is something better. There is a life for you that you are not living and you are ready to live it.

I call this the moment of awakening—the moment when you hear your soul’s cry for the next step in its evolution. You are ready to live your fullest expression.

Anais Nin said it best, “And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”

For me this looked like a crazy dysfunctional relationship with food and the feeling that I was spiraling out of control. I was literally stuffing down my truest, most authentic self, and I felt lost and off my path. I was filled with a pain that I didn’t understand, that I realized came from the void of not living my purpose.

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(Source: believeinrecovery)

article from mindbodygreen.com

March came fast upon us, we are well into the year 2012. How many of you made New Year’s resolutions? How many of you have kept all of your resolutions? Some? None?

It’s said the drop off point for resolutions comes at the six week mark, when the initial excitement about starting something new wears off. The road seems a lot longer than we initially anticipated, or we create excuses about why we cannot continue, or we set much higher expectations for ourselves than we can realistically achieve. What went wrong, and how do we keep this from continuously happening to ourselves?

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(Source: believeinrecovery)

article from tinybuddha.com

“Excellence can be obtained if you care more than others think is wise, risk more than others think is safe, dream more than others think is practical, expect more than others think is possible.” ~Unknown

After several excruciatingly painful and profoundly frightening years of undiagnosed symptoms, I was diagnosed with a “progressive and incurable” neurological disease, Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy/Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (RSD/CRPS), which is characterized by unrelenting pain that is disproportionate to the inciting event, usually an injury or trauma.

As luck would have it, I was diagnosed and, shortly after, hospitalized for the first of three times just as I was accepted into a Master’s program for clinical social work.

I always saw myself obtaining a Master’s Degree and a Ph.D., but how would I accomplish these grueling and seemingly impossible tasks if I could barely stand up long enough to brush my teeth on a cocktail of the most potent narcotics available?

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(Source: believeinrecovery)

article from personaldevelopment123.com

Learning to accept things for how they are will help you move forward in your life and let go of things might be lingering around causing you stress and lowering your mood. When you feel like your not in control it can be depressing. In this article I am going to teach you exactly how to get past this behavior and learn to accept things in your life for how they are.

 Benefits to Help You Learn To Accept Things For How They Are

• Less Stress
• Less Lingering Problems
• Letting Go Of Past Traumas
• Better Love For Yourself & Others
• Improved Mood
• Better Sleep
• More Overall Happiness
• Reduce or Cure Depression
• Higher Self-Confidence
• More Control of Your Life

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(Source: believeinrecovery)

This post is an entry in the 1st Annual Stratejoy Essay Contest.
essay written by finalist Monica McCarthy.

I’ll start by saying you’re not going to like my answer. At least not at first glance.

Because my experience with living life on my own terms has meant three things: Leaning into fear, Wanting more, and Being uncomfortable.

But I’d be grateful if you’d hear me out.

Because this story is heading towards a happy ending.

The Gift Of Fear

I’m not a particularly brave person. There are moments in Finding Nemo when I have to hide my head behind a pillow. But I’ve learned that leaning into fear is like breaking in a new pair of shiny shoes. At first it’s incredibly painful. But the more steps we take in them, the better they feel.

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(Source: believeinrecovery)