My name is Catherine Morgan, I'm a writer, nurse, and mother. This is a blog about women's issues, health & wellness, inspirational thoughts, and other stuff too. If you like this blog, you will love BlogHer.com where I am also a contributing editor for Health & Wellness.
Find out all the places I blog at by going to catherine-morgan.com.
Is stress wearing you down? Are you worried about the bad economy? Your job? The mortgage? Your health? Your family? If so, you are not alone.
Life is always changing, and that can feel very stressful. But often, seemingly bad things will happen in our lives, that will actually turn out to be the catalysts to something positive. It’s very true that when one door closes another will open. Although it never feels so great when that one door closes. Recently I’ve had several doors close on me. But as hard as it’s been, I can already see that these things needed to happen to bring me closer to where I am meant to be.
There are three things we can do to help relieve the stress in our lives…
Number one is acceptance. We need to accept that life does not always go the way we perceive to be best.
Here are some great ways of dealing with the burdens of life:
Accept that some days you’re the pigeon, and some days you’re the statue.
Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.
Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.
Drive carefully. It’s not only cars that can be recalled by their maker.
If you can’t be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.
If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.
It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply be kind to others.
Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you won’t have a leg to stand on.
Nobody cares if you can’t dance well. Just get up and dance.
Since it’s the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep late.
The second mouse gets the cheese.
Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.
You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world to one person.
Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.
We could learn a lot from crayons… Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names, and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box.
A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.
Number two is gratitude. Take time to recognize all that you have to be grateful for.
One tool to help keep life in perspective is a gratitude journal where you write down a few things each day that you are thankful for. They can be big things, like I’m thankful that I have a warm, dry place to live in the midst of this crazy California rainstorm, or small things, like I had a really yummy hot chocolate the other day.
Number three is your inner game and positive affirmations.
What is your inner voice saying to you? Have you developed the habit of saying negative things to yourself? If so, this is a habit that needs to be broken.
Whether we speak out loud or we are in silence, our brain is in continuous chatter. We have thoughts about things to do, feelings, expectations, ideas, reminders, theories and conversations.
. . .
Much of our mind chatter is thoughts we have been given by others, thoughts based on past experiences we have had (as kids), things we have seen in the media and interpretations of what has happened around us. The real challenge is to switch from negative thoughts to positive ones.
Taking a wealth/prosperity affirmation as our example, it’s unlikely that a wealthy person would tell someone “I’m a very wealthy person” or “I’m a multi-millionaire,” but they might tell someone “I’m never in need of money” or “My finances are better than they’ve ever been before.” Think of a way in which you’d tell your friends and family about your wealth, and use that as your money mantra. If you use a lot of slang or colloquial phrases, fashion your affirmation that way. A person who refers to money as “dough,” for instance, would probably be better off writing her mantra as “I’m rollin’ in dough!” than as “I have a lot of money!” Keep your own speech pattern in mind when you write out your affirmations, and they’ll be much more powerful for you.
Here’s how to create your own empowering affirmations: create them from your mind tapes. Just switch the old tapes from negative statements to positive ones.
For example:
* Writing is hard, I’ve never been good at writing BECOMES: “Writing is easy and fun for me, I’ve always been great at writing”;
* I can’t write BECOMES: “I write easily and effortlessly, I’m an excellent writer.”
Try it. Affirmations enhance your creativity and your income. Why walk around with old, damaging self-talk? Start changing your self-talk today, with the power of affirmations.
Here are some videos on the topic of positive affirmations that your might find helpful…
Your thoughts create your future…
An affirmation video…
A healing affirmation video…
How do you keep your stress at bay? Let me know in comments.
A few weeks ago I was flipping through the million channels on my TV trying to find just one thing worth watching (which isn’t an easy task). Luckily I found Dr. Wayne Dyer on PBS.
I read my first book by Dr. Wayne Dyer (Real Magic) about twelve years ago, and I’ve been hooked ever since. So when I watched his seminar on PBS that was based on his latest book, of course I had to run out the next day and buy it. This one is called Change Your Thoughts – Change Your Life, and it’s his interpretation of the 81 verses of the Tao.
[The Tao Te Ching was written five hundred years before the birth of Jesus, and offers advice and guidance for living a balanced life.]
As I read, I came across aspects of this wisdom that are helpful in my quest for better health and weight loss. So, even though I’m no philosopher (obviously), I thought I would share some verses that stood out for me. They offer guidance for healthy living and even weight loss. Here are three.
[Keep in mind that I am only pulling the parts of these verses that I find most relevant to good health, this is by no means a complete look at any of these verses.]
Verse 9 – Living Humility – To keep on filling is not as good as stopping.
This verse is interesting in how it relates to healthy eating and weight loss. It’s telling us to eat, but to stop when we’re full. Eat until your hunger is satisfied, and no more. That’s pretty good advice, I wonder how many of us actually follow it?
It also tells us that we should seek joy and pleasure in the activities we are doing. In order to do this, we need to slow down and enjoy our lives (and our meals).
Here is a way you can begin to practice this idea during your next meal. Enjoy each bite of your meal. After a couple of bites take a moment to reflect on how you are feeling and determine if you are full. Once your hunger is satisfied, stop eating.
Verse 63 – Living Without Difficulties - Take on difficulties while they are still easy.
This verse can relate to how most of us see weight loss as being difficult or a struggle. It encourages us to see the simplicity in the things we perceive to be hard. You can do this by taking one day at a time, or one meal at a time, or one moment at a time. Break down your biggest challenges into smaller, more manageable ones.
It also reminds us to tackle problems in our life before they become big problems. In my case, it would have been better to begin eating healthy when I was only 10-20 pounds overweight. Rather than waiting until I was 40+ pounds overweight and my blood pressure was so high that I required medication.
You can practice this idea by taking time to recognize whether your weight or eating habits are suffering because you fear the problem is too difficult to address. If this is the case, believe in your ability to tackle the problem one day (or one meal) at a time…It need not be difficult.
Verse 71 – Living Without Sickness – Only when we are sick of our sickness shall we cease to be sick.
As someone who suffers with chronic illness, the notion of healing ourselves implies that we make a choice to be sick or to be well. And I just don’t believe that. But this verse isn’t about blame. It’s about being aware. Basically, our symptoms are our body’s way of talking to us, and we need to take the time to listen.
Could fatigue be a message to slow down and get more rest? Could high blood pressure be a message to make healthier food choices and lose some weight? Could a headache be a message that we are allowing stress and worry to steal moments of our life that we can never get back?
Possibly.
Each symptom may mean something different to each person. The goal is simply awareness.
I think with chronic illness, it’s also about how we “perceive” it. We may need to accept our illness, while still listening to our symptoms and striving to be the healthiest version of ourselves that we can be. Remember that we are not our body, so we can stop seeing ourselves as our illness.
Practice this idea by taking some time to listen to what your symptoms may be trying to tell you.
So…What do you think? Could the Tao help you find your way to better health? Can changing your thoughts change your life? Let me know in comments.
This is from a post I did on my Be The Change You Want To See In Yourself blog. I thought it would be nice here as well. Hope you like it.
FINDING PEACE AND HAPPINESS IN MOMENTS OF SILENCE — by Catherine Morgan
Where did the saying “I just want a little peace and quiet” come from? Obviously, from someone who understood that peace can only exist in silence. The noise of life is like a barrier that stands between you and peace. But, quieting the noise with silence can break down this barrier, and open the door to the peace that is within you.
I am so excited to tell everyone that I am now a contributing editor for Health and Wellness at BlogHer. What that means is; I will be surfing their BlogRoll for other women bloggers that are blogging on health and wellness issues, so I can feature them in my posts. There are contributing editors for all topics, so just register your blog…and there is a good chance you will be noticed and have your blog featured on BlogHer. It’s also a great idea to comment on topics you like….because your site link will be within the comment. Well, check it out and see what you think.
HOW WE CAN CREATE PEACE AND LOVE IN OUR LIVES – BY LETTING GO OF ANGER AND HATE – by Catherine Morgan
If we wish peace for ourselves, me must first wish peace for others. How do we do that? I think a good place to start is to take “hate” out of our thoughts and mind. It’s easy to say you’re not a hater, but to truly live a life without hating is not that easy. Here are a few suggestions….
COLORFUL MEDITATION – For meditation and stress reduction is 6 mins of continuous highly complex computer generated kaleidoscopic imagery with an original New Age ambient music soundtrack….from http://www.cinemandala.com
I found this video, and I thought it would make a good post. I hope you like it.
If you liked this video, you should also check out what I put up on my other site…..It is a video of inspirational quotes set to the song “Starry Starry Night”. It is really beautiful. You can see it at BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE IN YOURSELF
No matter how troubling life gets, no matter how much pain surrounds you; never stop expecting to find a door cracked open. And when you see the flicker of light from that door, push through it, out of your pain and into your future.
Grieving For The Loss Of The Person You Once Knew — While Learning To Be The Person You Have Become – by Catherine Morgan
There comes a time in every fight, where you have to wonder what it is you are fighting for. In the case of chronic illness, I thought I was fighting to take my life back. I thought I was fighting to find a cure for myself. I thought I was fighting for the right combination of medications to help me lead a “normal” life again. I was fighting, fighting, fighting…..until that one day when I realized, I was fighting a losing battle. No matter how much I fought, I was never going to get my life back. No matter how much I fought, I was never going to be “normal” again. I actually fought myself at this time, to not give-up the fight. I thought that if I admitted failure, I was letting the disease win. But the truth is, that as with most fights, the toll the fight takes on you emotionally is much worse than the fight itself.
I’m under another tornado Watch, and Alabama has just had a deadly tornado hit them. So, I thought I would put my post about donating to the Red Cross (or any organization that will help the tornado victims), up again for today. Many people have died today, more are still trapped, even more injured, and many homeless. They need our help and our prayers.
Balancing and Harmonizing Ourselves — by Sue Patton Thoele
Much of our pain, both physical and emotional, stems from a lack of harmony in all aspects of our being. When we are sick our immune systems are busily working to bring our bodies back into balance. When we are upset, our emotions are yearning for a sense of rightness and harmony.
IN THE END, ONLY KINDNESS MATTERS — by Catherine Morgan
Jewel has a song, and in it she sings….”In the end, only kindness matters”. Those are very profound words. I would even say, that these are words to live your life by. Because, it is so true. In the grand scheme of things, we are here on earth only a very short time. Many of us spend much of this time being angry at people, making judgments on others, and generally just not being as kind as we could be. So, the question then becomes….How can we change that? How can we live a more kind life?
FOUR STEPS TO HELP YOU SOLVE YOUR PROBLEMS — by Catherine Morgan
We all carry around stress and worries about problems in our lives, some of us more than others. If you are one of those people that can’t stop worrying about all the problems in your life, then this article is for you. Worrying about our problems only adds to our problems, and no amount of worrying about a situation is going to make it better. Letting go of negative thoughts and worries is an important step in our overall happiness. Hopefully these steps can help you get passed some of the problems that have been bothering you, and allow you to let go of the negative thoughts that block you from your true happiness.
WHAT ARE LIFE’S GREATEST LESSONS? — by Catherine Morgan
“When we begin to take our failures non-seriously, it means we are ceasing to be afraid of them. It is of immense importance to learn to laugh at ourselves” — Katherine Mansfield
What I think this quote is saying, is that the importance of failures in our lives, will only be revealed to us, once we stop looking at them as failures. What we learn from our so-called “failures”, are usually the greatest lessons in our lives, and we need to open our eyes so we can see that.
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