Epic #LakeUnionAuthors Twitter Party
Join 30 authors for an epic Twitter party on March 7th! Prizes and interactive fun.
Mama Gena's Five Day Receiving Challenge
As women, we struggle with receiving praise, love, and acknowledgment.
Whether we...
Avert our eyes and deflect the praise...
Respond with self-deprecation...
Or sabotage our own happiness because we don’t feel worthy of it...
...We don’t seem to know how to graciously accept the good that comes our way.
Chronic Shock and What You Can Do About It
Who is most at risk for shock?
People who tend to be "care giver" types are at high risk. First responders, including therapists, counselors, and medical personnel, are continually inundated with intense emotions and life and death situations. They are often too busy caring for others to take care of themselves. Individuals who have had personal tragedies, been diagnosed with a serious illness, or had to deal with a financial crisis, may move from stress into shock.
When life comes at us too hard and fast, we move into a fight or flight mode, (sympathetic shock) and/or a freeze mode (parasympathetic shock) and some of us get stuck there.
A Thought for Friday, Thanks to Lao Tzu
“Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill. Keep sharpening your knife and it will be blunt. Chase after money and security and your heart will never unclench. Care about people’s approval and you will be their prisoner. Dor your work, then step back. The only path to serenity.” Lao Tzu
Chronic Shock and How it Affects Your Life
Divided attention, crazy schedules, overflowing to do lists - these are all symptoms of shock. Who knew?
Certainly not me. When our teacher asked us to turn to the shock questionnaire you'll see below, I took one look and burst out laughing.
"What?" she said.
"You're telling me people have less than three things on their To Do List? Like, for real?" said I.
She smiled at me, very kindly. "Yes," she said.
I probably rolled my eyes. I think I might have. What sort of functional person doesn't have an overflowing, insane list of stuff to do?
So I did the little screening test you'll see below, and guess what? I'm insanely high on the sympathetic shock scale, and I flip over into parasympathetic on a regular basis.
Natural Food Mood Boosters That Actually Taste Fantastic
As it turns out, not all foods that are good for you taste bad!
Last week I ran across this fantastic list of ingredients to boost and brighten your mood. You know what's on there?
Chocolate.
Maybe you already knew about the chocolate. But also cinnamon. Cardamom. Vanilla.
Just writing these words makes me feel warm and fuzzy.
Ten Thankful Things - by Virginia Franken
Today's guest is a brilliantly funny and insightful author friend who has the sort of attitude toward life I am always seeking and falling short of. Seriously. As you'll read below, she has the capacity to be thankful for dental pain. Yes, you read that correctly. DENTAL PAIN. GRATEFUL FOR. Maybe she'll inspire you to make a daily gratitude list of your own. (You might also want to read her delightful novel, Life After Coffee, which is written in the same delightful vein as this post.)
Surviving and Thriving During a Kerfuffle
Unless you stay home, turn off all of the electronics, avoid all of the people, and stay curled into a ball in fetal position it's pretty much impossible to avoid the splatter. Even then, there's a problem, because chances are good that you too are having some messy emotions right about now.
So what are we to do?
Sleeping Better
Sleep heals us, body, mind and soul. Unfortunately, insomnia is a wide spread problem. All sorts of things can interrupt sleep:
Pain, kids, cats, worry, stress, noise, electronics, light.
Cats. I mentioned the cats, right? Jumping on your head. Attacking your feet. Running insanely through the house at 3 am howling and knocking glassware off the counter...
Just Start Somewhere
Decision making is not my strong suite.
I can hear my Viking snorting as I write these words, even though he's not even in the house at the moment. He's all about making decisions, and they are generally good ones. For him, the world usually flows in direct lines from cause to consequence. He's boggled by my difficulty.
My Meyer's Briggs temperament type is INFP. Some of you will know what that means. If you don't, let's suffice it to say that my brain prefers to ponder the whys and wherefores of the universe rather than the common sense realities of the world around me.
Making decisions? I'm like a kid in the proverbial candy store. So many choices, and I'm never allowed to choose them all. Making a decision is like closing a door on possibility.
Big door. POSSIBILITY in all caps.