Tag Archives: positive thinking

Don’t Let Them Into Your Head

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“As you get older you really just want to be surrounded by good people. People that are good for you, good to you and good for your soul.”

Facebook has this great page called “Higher Perspective.” The purpose of the page is “to bring together like-minded individuals focused on personal growth and expanding their consciousness.” Now to some, this may sound a little crazy, but they do offer some really good advice for many different situations. I especially like the fact that they say “through the sharing of pictures, art, music, ideas, stories, history, and other information, we can help the population gain a higher perspective on life and improve our global situation. We can be better to our planet, better to our brothers and sisters and better to ourselves.”

That is where I found the quote for today’s post. Every day people watch the news and all you hear is negativity and hate. Is this any way to go through the one and only life we have? Those folks who know me know that I frequently say that it is a waste of mental energy to constantly engage or think about those people who really have no interest in your well being.

Even though I have said that many, many times, it has been increasingly more difficult to live by those words. It is truly a shame that people treat others the way that they do based on their beliefs.  And that last comment is meant for both sides of the political aisle.

It truly is time for folks to start treating each other with some dignity and respect. To stop the name calling and making assumptions about others based on who they follow politically and what they believe.

Regardless of what people believe, we do live in the greatest nation on earth. We live in a country where you are free to believe what you want and think what you want without the fear of retribution from the government or others.

That is why as I get older, I have less and less tolerance for the nonsense. People who treat you badly shouldn’t be a part of your life. Just because you can say something doesn’t mean you have to say something. Especially if it is mean and hurtful.

So I have made a conscious effort to distance myself from people that I only have negative interactions with. If they happen to be co-workers, I will treat them with the respect that they are due as a co-worker. After that, nothing. It isn’t worth wasting the mental energy.”

What say you? Am I crazy? Am I expecting too much? Can you at least agree that a little peace and quiet would be nice for a change?

How do you deal with the negative actions of others? For me, it has been and hopefully always will be through hiking and being outdoors.

Let me know through the comments section what you think.

Now The Healing Begins

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“Healing is a matter of time, but it is sometimes also a matter of opportunity.”

-Hippocrates

“Injuries are our best teachers.”

-Anonymous

I fractured my ankle eleven days ago and had surgery to repair it a week ago. In those eleven days I have been doing a lot of thinking about two things. First, how long is it really going to take to recover from the break/surgery and two, how long will it be before I can go back to hiking. I have been told that after it really starts healing, I will have to undergo a period of physical therapy. How weak will my ankle be? Should I pre condition myself by building up the lost muscle on my stationary bike before I begin hiking again?

I know that these are questions for my doctor and physical therapist, but since I have a laptop and access to the internet, of course I’m googling what I can to find answers. Maybe that isn’t such a good thing…

These next two months (at least) will be the longest that I have not exercised in my adult life. I have always been active and have been sick and injured before, but not to this extent. It has been only a week since the surgery and it is already driving me crazy!!

I know, I know. Stop whining. Stop moaning. So what am I doing to keep busy to ward off the inevitable stir craziness? Well, I’ve purchased several books on topics ranging from the USMC to hiking. I’ve also decided that I need to increase my knowledge of Spanish. Although I can understand a great deal when it is spoken, my ability to speak it is pretty much non existent. Rosetta Stone here I come! What else? Let’s see. I’ll be planning for two of the classes that I will be teaching in the fall and also planning fall hikes (I’m very optimistic!)

I believe that I will also become intimately involved with Netflix and Amazon Prime.

My goal here is to keep myself motivated and moving forward. As active as I am, and have been, this has been hard on me and it has only been a week!

I will continue to stay positive and motivated!

Happy Hiking!!!

DSTSS

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“Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts.”

-Arnold Bennett

“If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living.” 

-Gail Sheehy

Well folks, another year has come and gone. A new year has just started and that means that it’s another year of trying to achieve balance in our lives. As we all know, things change on a daily basis, every minute of every day. Life literally forces change upon us. When we are confronted with change, at home or at work, a decision has to be made in regards to whether you will accept and embrace (to the best of your ability) what is happening or will you fight it?

I have spent most of my adult life hating change. I would do every thing that I could to fight it. No matter how big or small, if it went against what I was used to doing, I was against it. It didn’t matter whether I had any control over the situation, it just seemed like the thing to do.

As I look back on it now, I have truly wasted a great deal of mental energy immediately adopting a negative and non productive attitude towards events in my life. As a matter of fact, some of the fights I have put up thinking I was making a point or sending a message were just plain stupid. What did I accomplish by just throwing up roadblocks that not only got in my way, but others as well?

The past several years have taught me that fighting the inevitable is almost harmful to your health. It is useless to sweat the small stuff (or shit if you are so inclined) every day. In order to stay balanced, you need to give some thought as to how you are going to react when you are confronted with change that may make you feel uncomfortable. Do you really have any control over the situation? How will it affect you? Is it worth your valuable time and energy (physical and mental) to fight against it?

What is my point? It’s simple. Spend more time worrying about the things that you have some control over. Take a “big picture” look at the situation and then think about how you want to respond, if at all. I guarantee that you will be experience less stress in your life as you choose not to burden yourself with fighting everything that comes your way.

My motto is, and will continue to be, DSTSS!

 

Happiness Is A Life Choice, Not A Resolution

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“Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.” 
―Abraham Lincoln

“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.” 
―Dalai Lama

“You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.” 
―Albert Camus

Every year, millions of people make New Year’s resolutions. Whether they want to lose weight, save more money or use less social media, resolutions are made and then usually broken shortly after they are made.

With that said, and this isn’t a resolution, but rather a goal or an outlook on life is just to be happy. Now I know that sounds strange, but as I was reading through another blog-“Los Angeles In The Wild,” (https://inthewildla.wordpress.com) and Julie (the author), says the following, “I believe happiness supersedes everything. For every decision, I always make sure my happiness could weigh on my decisions. All year, people have questioned and challenged me that happiness simply can’t be my root motivator — it can’t be everything. Happiness can’t pay the bills and that’s true. All year I confronted these challenges and as I am about to compromise my happiness for “something better”, I come back  to find out happiness is the only driver, my only engine life in my life.” 

These are truly words of wisdom!

When I have heard people say things like this in the past, I used to think that in order to have this type of mindset you had to be pretty selfish. As I have thought about it more, and seen the results of that type of thinking, I am now a true believer in making life choices that contribute to my happiness. In my view, to spend time making sure that every other person around me is happy (work or at home) at the expense of my own well being is not productive. Of course you have to do things that will make your life easier in a professional sense by making your boss happy, but in the end, you need to be happy. The same goes for your family.

So Julie mentions these mantras. Not resolutions, mind you. You don’t have to come out and say, “My New Year’s resolution is be happy (or happier).” These are just simple tips to put you in, and keep you in the proper frame of mind to be happy. I found them to be very helpful in developing a road map to being happy and staying sane!

Here are the mantras that Julie lists in the following post-

https://inthewildla.wordpress.com/2017/12/18/motivation-monday-happiness-wins/

  • Be happy. Be bright. Be you.
  • Always look on the bright side of life.
  • Do more of what makes you happy.
  • Find joy in the journey.
  • I am charge in choosing how I feel and I choose happiness.
  • Happiness can exist only in acceptance.
  • If you want to be happy, be

These are words to live by, not make resolutions with!

Happy Hiking!!!

What Is Your Purpose?

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“Your purpose in life is to find your purpose and give your whole heart and soul to it.” 
-Gautamma Buddha

I’ve been doing a great deal of reading lately on how having a purpose in life and how this contributes to our happiness, and in turn, to our longevity.  Having a profession where you actually feel as though you are making a contribution to society as a whole is a clear example of having a purpose. This can be well defined through just about any profession. If you are committed to what you do and have a passion for it, this will ultimately contribute to your happiness.

As teachers we know what our purpose is, and since we have chosen teaching as a profession, gone through years of schooling and have made a conscious decision that instead of enjoying early financial gain as you might see in other professions, we would instead be rewarded with nurturing the intellectual growth of our students.

I think that it would be safe to say that we all enter education because we have the desire to impart our knowledge and love of our subject matter to the kids in the communities where we teach. To not only see the intellectual growth in the year that we may have them, but also as they make their way through our colleagues classes as well. The point is that they will see our passion and maybe, just maybe, they will take with them when they leave a life long love for learning.

On the island of Okinawa, Japan, they refer to this as “ikigai”, or a reason for getting up in the morning. This reason, or purpose is what keeps us centered.

But what happens when external, or for that matter, internal factors enter into the equation and stifle the sense of purpose that we have? What happens when a profession such as teaching becomes “just another job”? I don’t know many teachers who have chosen the profession for the paycheck, and the ever present myth of having all of the time off is well, still a myth.

Where am I going with this? Recent events have shown me that although we may have a very clear sense of purpose, from time to time our resolve is tested and when a situation may set up roadblocks that cloud our purpose, or to question it, then it is up to no one but ourselves to balance things out and keep moving on a forward and productive path. Most times it isn’t our love for teaching, or our passion for what we do that comes into question, instead it is those other factors that prove to contribute to our downfall and for us to lose our focus.

So what do we need to do to regain or maintain the balance? The external factors in our life are sometimes easier to correct than those that are internal. Often times internally we do not have any say in decisions that are made that “mess with our mojo.” But we still have to keep moving.

I have some thoughts. One thing that has proven to be incredibly helpful to me is to have other things that you are equally as  passionate about and that you can share with others. If you are reading this, then you are well versed on my love for hiking and in turn, my blogging about it. You might also know about my love of building things, not so professionally, but a love none the less. These two things truly keep me grounded so I am not consumed with the daily drama associated with work.

Second, having a core group of colleagues that you can depend on is vital. Now I don’t necessarily mean people that we can just blindly bitch to one another about what we don’t like, but people who will listen and offer constructive advice and support as we meander through our daily work lives. Think about it-We sometimes spend more time interacting with our colleagues every day than we do our husbands, wives and significant others.

Teachers have a unique sense of community that in my humble opinion, can’t be matched by many other professions. We are not driven by money or other material factors, but instead the passing off to others a love of teaching and our specific subject areas. Think about the teachers that you loved the most. Why did you love them? What did they do in the classroom to convey their love for what they do?

Don’t get to a point where you don’t know why you get up in the morning.

 

 

Good morning 2017!!!

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“New Year’s Day. A fresh start. A new chapter in life waiting to be written. New questions to be asked, embraced, and loved. Answers to be discovered and then lived in this transformative year of delight and self-discovery. Today carve out a quiet interlude for yourself in which to dream, pen in hand. Only dreams give birth to change.”

-Sarah Ban Breathnach

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The sun coming up over the hill behind my house on a beautiful New Year’s Day.

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Can’t we all just get along? (at least until November)

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“I don’t have to agree with you to like you or respect you.”

-Anthony Bourdain

“A lot of lip service gets paid to being honest, but no one really wants to hear it unless what’s being said is the party line.”

― Colin Quinn

Disagreement is something normal.

-Dalai Lama

I vowed that when I started this blog that I would not discuss politics. By virtue of the fact that this is an election year, the discussions about who will be the next president have already begun. With the start of the silly season comes much discussion, debate and arguing. Unfortunately but predictably, the discourse has already turned ugly on both sides and it promises to only get worse as each side regurgitates its own set of talking points.

It is also unfortunate that I am not just talking about the candidates, I am talking about the everyday person. Yes, you and I. Your family, friends, co-workers and strangers are already robustly letting each other know what they think about each of the candidates on both the left and the right and it isn’t pretty.   

Why then am I writing about politics? I am writing about it because I want to make a plea to everyone out there today. If you are on the far left, the far right, a moderate, progressive or whatever you choose to call yourself, please read the following and join me in an attempt to make it through November without losing family or friends based on the ugly and often untrue statements or comments that are made during “friendly conversations.” Ok. With all of that said, here we go…

One of the greatest gifts we have is being able to live in a democracy and having the ability to speak our minds about where we stand on the political spectrum. In the years that we elect a new president, it seems that many more people seem to care about politics than in the off years. As spring turns to summer and summer into fall, the attempt to have our positions heard rises to disturbing levels.

With that discussion, of course, comes disagreement. Now don’t get me wrong, disagreement is a good thing as long as it is reasonable and intellectually honest. As noted above, the Dalai Lama says that “disagreement is something normal.” Let me give you some examples.

As you may or may not know, I tend to lean to the right when it comes to fiscal and military issues and to the left in regards to social issues. I like to think that I am more independent than anything else. Each and every time, however,  that I express dissatisfaction with something that President Obama has said or done, it is always insinuated that I am a racist. If I don’t support Hillary, I am then sexist. Could it be possible that I just don’t agree with you?

Sorry folks. Making fun of people (candidates and those you are debating with) and calling them a racist, sexist, homophobe, islamophobe etc. does not make you right, it instead shows your ignorance. You need to support your arguments with facts and not the usual race to blame everything on, well, race or sex. Falling prey to the name calling and the labeling makes you intellectually dishonest, thereby taking you out of the discussion.  

I am making a plea today for everyone reading this not to take the easy way out during this election cycle. Assume that you know and will meet people that have opinions that differ from yours. Let that other person be the one that makes the leap immediately to the negative. When you choose to share the lies and negative nasty comments  that you find on social media about any of the candidates, you make the choice to be part of the problem, and not the solution. You also show that your ability to to engage in a rational and productive political discussion is non existent.

Since this blog is shared on facebook, I am hoping that those of you who are reading this take what I have written to heart and join me in keeping this political cycle a decent and productive one. Electing a president of the United States is, in my opinion, is one of the most important things we can do as a citizen. Let’s not turn into savages as we do it, whichever side you are on.