Personal Update Time!

 

Sorry guys! I was going to do the second video but ended up getting a huge headache. It will happen, I may end up doing it in a written post.

What IS it about?

 

I would like to first say Happy Holiday's to everyone! I was thinking about the topic of this blog as I was driving to Tennessee to spend Christmas with my family here. I started to wonder how many people still really know what this time of the year is about. Many different religions have many different traditions but it all boils down to one concept, giving. 

There is always the stress of running around and shopping. Fighting the other car for the one last parking spot at the store. Trying to arrange whose house you will go to at what time. Making sure the food is bought for the family. Then wondering for the rest of the month until whatever tradition you practice begins if others will be content with what they received. In 2 hours (depending if you have kids then about 10 minutes ha ha) everything you stressed over for months is gone for another year. Is that worth it? Is that much stress worth 2 hours? Believe it or not, I'm not saying to alter your traditions. This time next year everybody will be out doing everything they did this year, but what can make things different next year? Reduced stress still doing all the same things? How is that possible! Remembering that one concept, it's about giving.

Giving is not about materialistic items. You can give love. You can give hope. You can give faith. You can give courage. All from your heart. Giving your time to family and enjoying it will help you create love, hope, faith, and courage in your life. What you put out comes back to you, yes it is Karma but there are also many other theory behind why you get back what you give. If you focus on what matters in your life, focus on what you have, and then focus on what you can give from what you have it will give you the opportunity to offer it to others as well.

Being able to spend time with family, friends, loved ones is a huge part of feeling the Holiday Spirit, however so is giving to those who are less fortunate. The appreciation that most of those that are less fortunate is enough to create a pay-it-forward effect. 

The Holiday's is not a "designated time" for giving, it's something we do everyday, so if you keep in mind what it truly is about it will help you every day become a better person, everybody has room to grow as a person. 

It is your choice to embrace your life, and nobody can make that choice for you.

Life Lessons

I have read a book titled How to be HAPPY, dammit: A cynic's guide to spiritual happiness. The book is written by Karen Salmansohn and designed by zinzell. If you have a chance to buy this book, don't pass it up! It's well worth it. I am going to insert the first part of this book here, it leads into what I want to share today.

Decision Making

 

We've all been there. Being somewhere with other people but our mind is focused on a decision that needs to be made. Sometimes that decision can be life changing, while other times it may be as simple as whether or not we should buy something we don't particularly need at the store. These thoughts get the best of us, and it creates stress in our mind, body, and soul. That stress which carries over into our day to day lives causing a domino effect of reactions in our lives. What if that one decision could be put into a theory? What if that choice we need to make could be analyzed before it even slightly raises our blood pressure? Believe it not, it is possible. It's referred to as the 10-10-10 theory. The theory was coined by Suzy Welch which helped her decide if she should finalize her divorce or not. Big or small this theory can decrease agony and stress simply by putting the facts on paper in front of us.

First thing to do. Grab a piece of paper and create it just like the template I created below.

 

 

Now that you have this written.. it's time to analyze the decision you are making. On the left side of the paper you have the decision. As you know I just moved to Washington so we are going to use that as an example. The first thing you look at is If you decide to go through with the decision. "If I Move to Washington" in my case. I look at how this decision will effect my life in 10 minutes. How will I feel about this decision 10 minutes from now? 10 minutes from now I will be thrilled about the decision I just made. My mind will race with all of the new adventures and endeavors I have ahead of me. Next, I look at how this decision will effect my in life 10 month? How will I feel about this decision 10 months from now? In 10 months I will adjust to the change of moving. I will miss family and I will miss friends. I will also learn about myself in that span of time. I will encounter new and unfamiliar hardships that will test my strength in a Higher Power. I will be struggling to make ends meet because relocating is not inexpensive and I will still be giving up things that I was accustomed to so I can make ends meet now. Finally  I look at: How will this decision effect my life in 10 years? How will I feel about this decision 10 years from now? In 10 years I will have my life established. I may not have all of my hearts desires but I will have a solid foundation to continue to create those desires in my life. Money will not be such a struggle because I will have a career and will be comfortable with I'm at in my life I will have met new people 

made new friends that will teach me more about myself.

What was done on the first half of the paper is exactly what will be done on the second half of the paper, if you choose not to go through with the decision. I'm not going to finish the second half because it is just like the first half only look at it from a different perspective. This tool will allow you to look at your life in the bigger picture instead of just focusing on the moment, by looking at the long-term and the short-term effects you will be able to see what will be best for you and those you love now and in the long run. Having the facts in front of you is a very solid way of keeping your mind from thinking of the what-if's and the coulda woulda shoulda's if the decision was already finalized. Take the time before making a life altering decision or even a simple decision and see the potential effects for the rest of your life.

Remember: What you think could be such a small thing may ripple out to being one of the biggest changes you have ever had in your life this far. Every choice has a consequence regardless if it is positive or negative. Take control of your life and your decisions.

It is your choice to embrace your life, and nobody can make that choice for you.

Being Blessed

It's been awhile since I have posted anything here. Oh what a busy month it has been! I moved from Missouri to Washington about a week and a half ago to live with my best friend, that's the quick tidbit about where I have been. That however is not what today's blog entry is about.

This morning I was walking to the apartment mailbox to see if a package I am waiting on has arrived. There was a woman carrying a bag of trash out of her apartment who I don't know anything about, this was the first time that I had ever seen her before. She looked at me smiled and said, "Hi ma'am how are you this morning?" I replied, "I'm good, how are you?" It's a normal conversation between two perfect strangers but her answer was what made me realize all that I have. "I'm blessed, have a good day!" She responded.

Like I said I know nothing about her life what-so-ever she could have all the riches in the land or she may have just enough to get by. Either way when she responded, "I'm blessed" I knew that she appreciates what is in her life and she doesn't focus on what she doesn't have. I will say this a lot, everybody has that something that causes frustration and heartache but if you can focus on what you do have and how truly blessed you are to have it, it will add more love to this world, and it will begin to demolish the hatred between others of different beliefs, morals, and backgrounds.

I'm leaving you with this. Take a look at what you have in your life. If you have a place to sleep. It doesn't have to be a bed, anywhere at all, you are blessed. If you have food to eat, it doesn't have to be chef made, you are blessed. If you know that you are loved by at least one person in this world, you are blessed. Last but definitely not least, if you were able to wake up this morning and take a breath of air and look outside to see any kind of weather, you are blessed. 

 

It is your choice to embrace your life, and nobody can make that choice for you.

If you do what you love and love what you do you eliminate stress!

In this video there are subtitles that I added because it is hard to understand me if you aren't used to hearing me talk with a stutter. I added them so you didn't get frustrated and wonder what is she saying?! The stutter started September 7, 2010. After many tests at the hospital I came up empty handed and frustrated because once again I had no answers and a doctor who didn't believe me. I finally was able to get a hold of my neurologist who said that if the Myoclonic Seizures started and the stuttering is coinciding then stress triggered the stuttering. Trying to communicate became frustrating, but I had to learn how to communicate in a different way. Frustration is just an opportunity for learning and growing. After tossing many ideas around in my head about why something else could possibly be going wrong I came to the conclusion that nothing went wrong. Everything went exactly as planned and it turned out to be a blessing. How many people have a physical symptom that can be so easily recognized to let them know they are stressed? Many do not know they are stressed because they are so well adapted to it. I now have a tool to gauge my stress levels and I know when I need to pause and take some time out for me to release stress! I am now going to attempt to load this video that was recorded in the middle of September (hence the tank top and me being tan!)

Ending of Chapter 1 - The beginning of Chapter 2

I made this blog in the middle of September, but just now had a time to pull it together. For right now I'm not going to password protect it like I had planned, but I might in the future. So what is this about? Jumping back into the days when Xanga was so popular? In a way yes. This is different though. I created this blog after doing a lot of thinking and pondering on how I can reach a lot of people, be open about my journey so I can help others, learn to take my own advice, and keep family and friends updated on my life. This is the answer I found! Some of the updates will be like this and others will be videos like the one that I will be posting after I finish this. Just depends on what I'm up to that day. It took me awhile to realize that what I go through most people aren't used to so unconsciously when I explain something extremely serious I will always explain it in a positive, optimistic, and very honest way. I have wanted to reach out and help others with how I get through the windy roads in my life because you can never be sure if what you have to say will help somebody else. That's about it! I'll post the video right after this. (If I can figure it out!)