Meaning of Life?

Well what is the meaning of life?? Why are we here? What is this thing called life all about? Well, there may be no specific meaning to life, other than what we put into it. Here is a short video that you may enjoy. It seems like an easy thing, but it can be hard to stay in the moment and not project into the future or drag up the past. Doing either of these things often results in pain and does nothing productive for you. So be in the moment and the more you can do this the more you will find that you can be connected to a deeper part of yourself and the more you will enjoy others as well.

Stressful Times

Ugh!! We all have stressful times. You can probably recall a time where you were thinking that a situation was unbearable. Yet, is it? Are we often wrong in our habitual ways of thinking? You may recall a time where you were sure you were right about the outcome of a situation, and yet it turned out completely different from what you had imagined. This is often a double- edged sword where things may turn out good or bad, but your imagining of how the situation would turn out seemed to be completely off base to what really happened. So how much can we trust our thinking particularly during stressful times?

Below are some articles that you may find helpful.

Habits

Happy (interactive site)

You are Awesome!!

Conquering Depression and Anxiety

I write about depression and anxiety a lot as they are two very debilitating factors for many people. Depression is about the past and what you feel you coulda, woulda, shoulda done and anxiety is about the future and what you are afraid you will not be able to face. So, in cognitive therapy, it is taught that if you change the stinking thinking then you can feel better. If our thoughts are limitless then we should be able to make changes so that we feel better. Begin by thinking about something that you do every day. You make sure that you do this everyday and you don't question it, you just do it. It may be eating, smoking, having coffee, or calling someone, or something else, but you just do it. So when you are caught up in stinking thinking, you may be over thinking things and you find yourself "stuck" in a place that is dark or overwhelming. Try just doing for the next couple days rather than over thinking and check this out

Happiness

What is your idea of happiness? Here are somethings I find helpful.

Your Past

“It took 48 years of my life for me to come up with the idea of instant noodles. Each and every event in the past is connected to the present by invisible threads.”

– Momofuku Ando

Do you think about how your past is connected to what is going on in your life right now? You may have doubts and fears about yourself because of it, but each movement is related to another,so be mindful of your actions.

Overcoming Fear

Fear is one of the most debilitating emotions that one can have. It stifles you from moving forward by robbing you of faith in yourself. Here is a Video on overcoming fear.
Almost every day you face challenges that you must overcome and grow from. One person’s burden may seem light compared to another’s. In each challenge, there is room for growth. Imagine what you would be like having overcome the challenges. Living in faith will keep you strong. What does it mean to live in faith? Faith in what? If you are religious or spiritual, then having faith in the higher power can give you strength during burdensome times. Maybe you have faith when you are out in nature, or faith in the strength and power in the life force itself. Perhaps you find faith in the deep, quiet, place in yourself. Also, look for “links” in your life where one challenge led you to more knowledge and strength within yourself.
So, consider the joy and peace that you can feel with the burden lifted, and work towards keeping yourself there, even when faced with great adversity. Keep yourself in peace and allow life to work things out. That doesn’t mean do nothing, it means, live in faith so fear does not rob you of moving forward in a productive manner. It also means not to act irrationally out of fear, rather feel yourself in the moment and feel the sense of faith moving you in a positive direction.

Depression Again

What does depression feel like to you? Helpless, hopeless, stuck, frustrated, fearful, anger? Depressed people are sensitive beings, but they also get stuck when they feel they have been wronged by someone. The event is like a gut punch and it sends the depressed person into a type of "Traumatic coma" where the person is feeling only negative emotions. Self-doubt may set in and the person finds that he or she is unable to move forward with anything productive.
http://psychcentral.com/news/2015/02/28/rejection-seems-to-hurt-depressed-people-longer/81758.html?utm_source=PsychCentral&utm_medium=twitter

read more here

Now, you may be feeling better or worse, but it is only a feeling. What can you do to make some changes without hurting yourself or someone else?

Here are some more thoughts

What traits do you have that indicate that you ARE a mentally strong person?

Homework: Do something to celebrate yourself today. You are a person on this earth doing the best you can with this thing called life. Loving yourself for all the good and the bad you are. Accept the fact that humans are not and will not ever be perfect. Listen to the side of yourself that is caring and loving.

Imagine you are someone else helping this person that is you. What would you tell that person? Would you encourage him or her to stay in the negative? Or would you encourage that person toward a positive direction? How would you gently and kindly pull the person up? How can you get up and show up today? When you make a physical change, the brain also makes changes.

Are You Allowing Yourself To Be Abused?

This week is about love and caring and acceptance. Valentine's Day of course.
But do you do that for yourself as well? Do you think it is wrong to stand up for yourself? Do you tend to put others before you? If you do, you may have been taught to do that since you were a child, and consequently you now find yourself depressed and wonder why is the world so cruel.

If you think this is not fair, you would be correct, however, look at life in general and particularly in nature you can see how it is survival of the fittest. So now what are you going to do? You have lived your whole life wanting to believe in altruism and now find that people do not treat you the same. Crappy isn’t it? Still you persevere and make the best of things, always wanting to be good and do good. But one must demonstrate caution in caring or else the sells person will use your good nature against you and pick your pocket clean. Life is balance and you must be mindful in your actions. It does not mean you stop caring or being helpful.

I think one of the best examples of this is the Yin and Yang
It demonstrates how life is balance, and in life there is good and bad and it exists within all of us. Conflictual as it seems, it is what makes us grow. Sunshine all the time would be burn the earth. Think about how some of the nasty people in your life have made you grow.

So keep up the good work and generating that goodness from within, but at the same time don’t give it all away at once, be careful in your dealings with people, as stated in the poem: Desiderata: Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery.
So today, please take some time to honor yourself. It does not mean you need to really go anywhere, or do anything special. It does mean that you take a few minutes, go within, and honor that place within yourself that is full of love, caring, concern, and consideration. A blessing that you feel deeply within your being. Be there for a little while, and I will do the same. I Honor all of you that I meet and those that I don’t. Be a peace for a few minutes, and think, “Peace, Be Still.
When you come back things will look the same, but don’t stop trying, don’t stop believing, but don't be careless.
May you find a blessing in your day and peace in your heart.
Now go do something good and honor you for being you.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Questions to ask yourself

Are you where you want to be? Can you make some changes so that you feel you have a better handle on things?

The links below will help you and your family (if you have one) ask questions that will help to clarify some things for you.

Enjoy the questions. They will help you think about things a little differently.


Family Link



Questions to ask yourself and others

25 questions for you

Bipolar Free Course

If you would like to take an excellent course on bipolar and take it for FREE, please check out http://www.bipolaradvantage.com/tufts.php

Blame and Shame

I call it BS, better known as Blame and Shame. It can be good to understand, you can you can read more about it here.

So, if you understand that the BS is holding you back, then you can begin to let go, I mean really let go of the judgement of yourself and others and trust in life. Yes, this is hard to do, because for years we have been blasted with goals and meeting goals and being somebody and having stuff and on and on. So now you may want to read this

Maybe not what you expected. It was not for me either. I wanted to get, have, BE, just like everybody else. Most of the time we are trying to GET something, show off what we HAVE, or trying to BE someone, all in the name of attention from others. But when do we get to know ourselves when we are caught up in what is going to happen NEXT? And when are we going to get there? And On and ON, always living for the NEXT moment and unable to be in THIS moment. Our minds racing toward the next thing that is going to happen.

I have been in that place, caught up in the whirlwind of racing toward the next goal. I thought maybe I was just lazy. But I found the race was getting the best of me and I was not able to compete with myself anymore. I felt a loser for awhile, as I had not lived up to what I thought I was "supposed" to do, but now I am more inclined to believe that we all have our place in this world and if we let go of trying to control things we will be able to be at peace with ourselves, the world, and find our true selves. That is a hard one, because it sounds like giving up, but is is more letting go.

This year I want to work toward being me and not striving to live up to some ideal. I will let you know how it goes, and you may want to try it as well. In later blogs we will discuss who we are and who we feel we should be. Wishing you a peaceful New Year. Be your best by being you.