Category: Journaling

friday’s “secret” – oh, those self-sabotaging thoughts

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I have been very busy these past few weeks. My friend and client blogs about some of what I have been up to here. But now I am back and better than ever.:)

Today’s secret is about thoughts. I have found that negative thoughts are one of the leading destroyers of happiness for me. I will be feeling good about something, enjoying my life, and then I will start thinking, negatively.

Well, thanks to the friend and client above, I have discovered Marie Forleo’s website and she posted about negative, self-sabotaging thoughts this week. She said,

“Self-sabotaging thoughts are a screen saver that pops up every time you go idle.”

This is so true; most of the time, while I am busy accomplishing, doing, etc. I have no time to think that I can’t do it or that it will be bad, etc. I am too busy. It is when I have down time, when I am “idle”, that negativity rears its ugly head.

I had been thinking a lot about my thoughts and how best to deal with them; to master them, as it were. And even though I have heard this concept before, for some reason, expressed like this, I got it. So, this week, I have been trying to not let my brain go idle so long that the screen saver pops up. My mind does need to shut-down or hibernate. And when I do, that should be an intention and choice to rest and recharge. I do not need it to go idle so long (ie. mindlessly watching TV) that the screen saver of my negative thoughts pop up.

You can check out the full Marie Forleo video here. And in the mean time, tell me what you think and how you handle your negative thoughts. And don’t forget to…

enjoy life…

friday’s “secret” – “live in each season”

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“Live in each season as it passes; breath the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit and resign yourself to the influences of each.”  – Henry David Thoreau

So, I haven’t had time to post these past few days; I have been very busy and sick. And at first I was upset that I hadn’t posted. I felt like I was messing up; not doing what I was suppose to be doing. But then I read the quote above and thought that this is yet another “secret” to happiness.

To be content, to live, to attempt to enjoy, each season:  busy, sick, healthy, whatever, as I am in it.  I have been busy these past couple of weeks, which is good. I had a tremendous sense of accomplishment of getting things done. Now I am sick, which is also good.  I have time to recover, time to read, time to watch a couple of movies, and time to post to my blog – some of the things that make me very happy.

So, what do you think? I am going to “live in each season” and enjoy life…

“waxing nostalgic”

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Sunset from my parents’ back porch. Beautiful, isn’t it?

Nostalgia –noun: a wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one’s life, to one’s home or homeland, or to one’s family and friends; a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time.

I have spent the past few days at my childhood home (the home of my parents). It is not the house that I grew up in; they have moved three times since I went off to college. But wherever they are is my childhood home.

While here, I have eaten the foods I ate as a child (I absolutely, positively LOVE my mommy’s waffles), watched the old movies that I watched as a child (has anyone seen “Blast from the Past”?), and looked at photographs of days gone by.

It is while looking at those pictures that I particularly waxed nostalgic; longing for the happiness and simplicity of my former life. Which, of course, is ironic considering how I use to wish that I was a grown-up, living away from home; a chronic problem that I have which I talk about here. Am I “wasting my days”, yet again?

The trick is to consider the elements that consisted of my childhood happiness: nutritious meals, wholesome entertainment, a clean home, nature (my mommy’s plants are not artificial), and lots of peace; and try to incorporate these very same elements into my current happy life. Which I will be nostalgic about a few years from now.

What about you? When do you find yourself “waxing nostalgic”? I guess I will be pulling out the waffle iron when I get home. I have the recipe.