Quotes for Intentional Living – 5/14/12

Quote for Intentional Living

 

“Abundance is, in large part, an attitude.”

     Sue Patton Thoele

Forgive yourself; but not so fast!

It’s important to forgive oneself for the inevitable transgressions, failings and faulting of life.  In fact, holding on to unyielding self-blame can be not only demoralizing but also incapacitating, preventing you from achieving even small successes.

BUT don’t rush it either!  Too often someone will simply say to themselves “Oh well.  Too bad.  I wish it hadn’t happened but there’s no point in dwelling on it.”

On the contrary, it’s much more helpful – and mature – to dwell long enough to review your behavior and seriously think about how to avoid it in the  future.   In this time of reflection you may discover underlying issues that helped propel you to regretful conduct, and thereby have a chance to not only avoid similar circumstance, but to heal yourself and reconcile with others in a more meaningful way.

So although it is painful, and perhaps laden with sadness, take time to move THROUGH rather than move on, and build strength within yourself rather than just image for others to mistakenly admire.

Of course this process is sometimes difficult to do on your own.  You may fool yourself again, as you did the first time!  Contact a qualified therapist to help you find your way through and then past your grief and guilt.

Call today for an appointment, and begin the process of self-forgiveness.

It’s about time!

Imagine that you had won the following prize in a
contest:
Each morning your bank would deposit $86,400.00 in your private account for your use.

However, this prize has rules, just as any game has rules.

   The first set of rules would be:

1) Everything that you didn’t spend during each day would be taken away from you.
2) You may not transfer money into some other account.   You may only spend it.          3) Each morning upon awakening, the bank opens your account with another $86,400.00 for that day.

      The second set of  rules – there’s only one!:

     The bank can end the game without warning; at any time it can say “It’s over, the game is over!” and you will not be invited to play again.  Your account is permanently closed!
What would you do?

You would buy anything and everything you wanted, right?  Not only for yourself, but also for people you love, right?  And you would do as many “good” things as you could for everyone everywhere.  You would try to spend as much of it as you possibly could doing good things for the planet, its people, and the creatures we share it with.

     ACTUALLY This  GAME is  REALITY!

Each of us is in possession of such a magical  bank. We just can’t seem to see it.

             
The MAGICAL BANK is  TIME!

Each morning we awaken to receive 86,400
seconds as a gift of life, and when we go to sleep at night, any remaining time is  NOT credited to us.

What we haven’t lived up that day is forever  
lost.

Yesterday is forever gone.

Each morning the account is refilled, but the bank  can dissolve your account at any
time….WITHOUT  WARNING.

SO, what will YOU do with your 86,400  seconds?

Those seconds are worth so much more than the
same amount in dollars.

Think about that, and always think of this:

Enjoy every second of your life, because time races by so much quicker than you  think.

So take care of yourself, be Happy, Love Deeply and enjoy life!

Start spending!

Quotes for Intentional Living – 8/28/10

Quote for Intentional Living

 Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Quotes for Intentional Living – 8/21/10

Quote for Intentional Living

A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes.

 

Hugh Downs

Quotes for Intentional Living- 8/14/10

Quote for Intentional Living

You will never be happier than you expect. To change your happiness, change your expectation.

Bette Davis

Quotes for Intentional Living-8/07/10

Quote for Intentional Living

 

Happiness… is not a destination: it is a manner of traveling.

Happiness is not an end in itself. It is a by-product of working, playing, loving and living.

 Haim Ginott.

 

Z-z-z-z-z

My client, describing herself, told me “There’s an angry girl sleeping inside me, and I’d just as well not wake her up!”

She described herself as “always trying to make other people happy”, and sadly acknowledged that she seldom thought about her own happiness.  She had, for as long as she could remember, focused her considerable energy and imagination on her family, friends and lovers.  Now having ended the last romantic relationship with more conflict than she’d expected, she wanted to learn how to end a life of resentment and anger, and to be happy for herself.  She definitely did not look or sound happy now, with her eyes downcast and clouded with inner pain.

During the initial sessions I came to understand how she’d learned her selflessness:  her mom and her dad, separated when she was young, had vied for her attention and affection.   She had tried her best to make both of them happy- and neither of them made it easy.  It became increasingly difficult when her dad began to experience serious emotional distress and expected even more, and more intensive support from her, and her mother responded with quiet withdrawal. It was never enough, but she tried beyond her capacity and beyond her years to make them happy.

Then had come the lovers, some incessantly demanding and others distracted and neglectful.  She heard herself being described with many hurtful words when she fell short, but she’d tried her best to make them happy.

She often softly cried as we talked about how one learns, and can unlearn, long-held beliefs and behaviors by finding and illuminating their anchors and antecedents, and then painfully developing new ways of thinking and acting.   She said that she couldn’t believe it was really her we were talking about.  It all made her feel silly and weak.

Slowly, as the months passed, she began to sit more comfortably, to relax into the couch, to notice more about my office.  I saw her smile as she looked on a side table with a jumble of tulips cascading down from their vase.   She asked about a painting that hangs on the wall.  Several weeks later she’d had her eyebrows threaded, and she wore a little blush on her cheeks, declaring “I used to know how to be pretty.”  And so she was beginning to look at the world around her, to regain awareness of her capacities, to reclaim her emotional strength, and yes, to feel pretty.   The growth continued, as did the unfolding of her self-confidence.   By the time treatment was ending, she laughed about her inital statement to me and said “cock-a-doodle-doo!”  as she looked at me with clear and shining eyes.

If you are experiencing  a loss of confidence, a loss of direction, and a growing resentment toward some of the people in your life, consider calling today to make an appointment.

It may be long past time for “someone special” to wake up!