It’s easy to get caught up in all the things that are going “wrong” in your life. It’s equally easy to focus only on those things that are difficult and/not going the way that you want them to. I fall into that pattern pretty easily. Then, when people around me, or things I read on-line or other places try to remind me to “think positively” or “look at the bright side”, or even “be grateful for what you have” I tend to look at those reminders with a sense of disbelief.
“How can I look at all these good things when this one horrible thing is happening?” That’s pretty much my thought process. A few weeks ago I even had a conversation with myself that went kind of like this:
“I can’t be happy about X because Y is still going on.”
“Sure you can. It’s okay feel happy even though Y is happening.”
“No, it’s not. I have to be totally and completely focused on Y. If I take my focus from Y in order to be happy about X, then I’m not giving the people involved in Y the proper respect for the situation.”
Sounds just a tad nuts, doesn’t it– to think that I had to be unhappy and afraid, and couldn’t/shouldn’t celebrate and appreciate something wonderful because there was something “bad” happening in the lives of my family.
But.. that internal conversation was part of my path back to being thankful, It highlighted for me how far into negativity I had dropped because as I was having this conversation with myself, there was a small voice in the background telling me “NO. This is not right, you know better. You need to focus on what you WANT, not what you don’t.” The voice was small, and barely audible, but it was loud enough.
I listened. It took me a few days, and a lot of journal writing to figure out/admit to myself that I had been allowing the pressures, stresses, and opinions of “the world” to color my Spiritual life. I had turned away from Spiritual Truths that I believe in favor of believing what “the world” was telling me. In doing so I was becoming hesitant and fearful. I was giving this negative situation more power and control over my life than it deserved. It was effecting my marriage, my writing, my healing work, my personal health, and my children. I decided that I needed to take steps to change my focus.
See, I believe that you attract to your life those things which you focus on. When you focus on and think about good things, then you attract good things to your life, but when you get caught up in the negative, then you attract more negative things. It goes back to the idea that “Attitude is EVERYTHING.”
Even before I finally got the diagnosis of SPMS, I felt helpless and hopeless. I had this mystery disease going on that nobody could diagnose. “The weird neuro thing” as I called it, interfered with my ability to work to support my kids, it interfered with my ability to enjoy life because I was often in severe pain, and my body randomly gave out on me. It interfered in my ability to maintain friendships because I was often unable to follow through on things, and go out with friends. Working and raising my kids took all of my energy and mental control. I was often too fatigued do do much of anything else.
But, early on in my experiences with what I now know to be MS I was exposed to the idea that our attitude and actions help create our reality– that you get what you focus on. I was able to use those ideas to help myself get on the road to recovery.
First thing every morning, I told myself that my body was healthy and strong. It certainly did not LOOK like my body was healthy and strong. In fact it looked like I was slowly and certainly losing the ability to talk, walk, and control my body. But, nevertheless, I forced myself to focus on what I COULD do instead of what I couldn’t.
Slowly I started doing things that helped me regain my health. This is many years before I was diagnosed, and a few years before the Internet was a big thing where you could find just about any information you need. I told myself that my body was healthy, and strong and I started to intuitively understand that certain things were making me worse. Whether I started noticing subtle body signs like increased pain or increased difficulty in movement when I ate a food or whether I “just knew, ” I can’t say. But the fact is I started to slowly feel better, to slowly be able to do more, I slowly regained my life.
I remarried and life was good. I gave birth to my youngest daughter, and shortly afterward I had a major relapse. In the space of an hour or so I lost the ability to see, to walk, and to dress myself without help. After significant tests, my doctors said Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis and told my husband and I to start shopping for a nursing home. They believed I’d need total assistance within about 6 months.
I started to fall back into the feelings of helplessness and hopelessness that I’d experienced before with this illness. Something one of my kids said pulled me out of it and reminded me that even THIS could be overcome through practicing Spiritual Truths… that God/Spirit really WAS that big.
My husband and I found mscured on Yahoogroups, and we found other people who had overcome various forms of MS with natural methods. I hung on to their experiences– if THEY could do it, then so could I. That was my saving thought… if Them, why not ME?
I focused on the positive.. what I could do at THAT moment. Some days the best I could do was sit in a chair without falling over. Other days I was able to cook for my kids, or read them a book. But I did what I was able to do in the absolute fullest way I was able. I learned to appreciate the sweetness of simply wrapping my arm around my children as I read to them. The simple act of making dinner for the kids became something to be treasured. Sometimes simply walking upstairs on my own power was an act to be celebrated.
I focused on and celebrated what I COULD do. And it allowed me to see what I might be able to do to help my body heal. I didn’t focus on what “might” happen or the idea that I “would probably” need a nursing home in a few months. I put my attention on healing.
And ideas and methods, and protocols for healing dropped in my lap. A random person would mention a protocol they’d heard about, or someone mentioned an herb or supplement that might help. Many of these suggestions didn’t help, but I paid attention and was thankful for the ones that did. And, slowly, but surely I started to regain my health. The changes were small at first.. one day I was able to read my computer screen, one day I could walk down the stairs without having to slide down on my rump.. or I was able to navigate the grocery store on my feet while using the grocery cart for balance instead of having to use an electric cart. The changes were small and simple, but eventually they added up.
As my physical and mental abilities improved, so did my attitude. I started to really, truly believe that I could beat this thing the doctors called SPMS. I started to have faith that I would be able do do things, just like I have faith the sun will rise each morning. Improving became my reality.
n those things that are difficult and/not going the way that you want them to. I fall into that pattern pretty easily. Then, when people around me, or things I read on-line or other places try to remind me to “think positively” or “look at the bright side”, or even “be grateful for what you have” I tend to look at those reminders with a sense of disbelieve.
“How can I look at all these good things when this one horrible thing is happening?” That’s pretty much my thought process. A few weeks ago I even had a conversation with myself that went kind of like this:
“I can’t be happy about X because Y is still going on.”
“Sure you can. It’s okay feel happy even though Y is happening.”
“No, it’s not. I have to be totally and completely focused on Y. If I take my focus from Y in order to be happy about X, then I’m not giving the people involved in Y the proper respect for the situation.”
Sounds just a tad nuts, doesn’t it– to think that I had to be unhappy and afraid, and couldn’t/shouldn’t celebrate and appreciate something wonderful because there was something “bad” happening in the lives of my family.
But.. that internal conversation was part of my path back to being thankful, It highlighted for me how far into negativity I had dropped because as I was having this conversation with myself, there was a small voice in the background telling me “NO. This is not right, you know better. You need to focus on what you WANT, not what you don’t.” The voice was small, and barely audible, but it was loud enough.
I listened. It took me a few days, and a lot of journal writing to figure out/admit to myself that I had been allowing the pressures, stresses, and opinions of “the world” to color my Spiritual life. I had turned away from Spiritual Truths that I believe in favor of believing what “the world” was telling me. In doing so I was becoming hesitant and fearful. I was giving this negative situation more power and control over my life than it deserved. It was effecting my marriage, my writing, my healing work, my personal health, and my children. I decided that I needed to take steps to change my focus.
See, I believe that you attract to your life those things which you focus on. When you focus on and think about good things, then you attract good things to your life, but when you get caught up in the negative, then you attract more negative things. It goes back to the idea that “Attitude is EVERYTHING.”
Even before I finally got the diagnose of SPMS, I felt helpless and hopeless. I had this mystery disease going that nobody could diagnose. “The weird neuro thing” as I called it, interfered with my ability to work to support my kids, it interfered with my ability to enjoy life because I was often in severe pain, and my body randomly gave out on me. It interfered in my ability to maintain friendships because I was often unable to follow through on things, and go out with friends. Working and raising my kids took all of my energy and mental control. I was often too fatigued do do much of anything else.
But, early on in my experiences with what I now know to be MS I was exposed to the idea that our attitude and actions help create our reality– that you get what you focus on. I was able to use those ideas to help myself get on the road to recovery.
First thing every morning, I told myself that my body was healthy and strong. It certainly did not LOOK like my body was healthy and strong. In fact it looked like I was slowly and certainly losing the ability to talk, walk, and control my body. But, nevertheless, I forced myself to focus on what I COULD do instead of what I couldn’t.
Slowly I started doing things that helped me regain my health. This is many years before I was diagnosed, and a few years before the Internet was a big thing where you could find just about any information you need. I told myself that my body was healthy, and strong and I started to intuitively understand that certain things were making me worse. Whether I started noticing subtle body signs like increased pain or increased difficulty in movement when I ate a food or whether I “just knew, ” I can’t say. But the fact is I started to slowly feel better, to slowly be able to do more, I slowly regained my life.
I remarried and life was good. I gave birth to my youngest daughter, and shortly afterward I had a major relapse. In the space of an hour or so I lost the ability to see, to walk, and to dress myself without help. After significant tests, my doctors said Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis and told my husband and I to start shopping for a nursing home. They believed I’d need total assistance within about 6 months.
I started to fall back into the feelings of helplessness and hopelessness that I’d experienced before with this illness. Something one of my kids said pulled me out of it and reminded me that even THIS could be overcome through practicing Spiritual Truths… that God/Spirit really WAS that big.
My husband and I found mscured on Yahoogroups, and we found other people who had overcome various forms of MS with natural methods. I hung on to their experiences– if THEY could do it, then so could I. That was my saving thought… if They, why not ME?
I focused on the positive.. what I could do at THAT moment. Some days the best I could do was sit in a chair without falling over. Other days I was able to cook for my kids, or read them a book. But I did what I was able to do in the absolute fullest way I was able. I learned to appreciate the sweetness of simply wrapping my arm around my children as I read to them. The simple act of making dinner for the kids became something to be treasured. Sometimes simply walking upstairs on my own power was an act to be celebrated.
I focused on what I COULD do. And it allowed me to see what I might be able to do to help my body heal. I didn’t focus on what “might” happen or the idea that I “would probably” need a nursing home in a few months. I put my attention on healing.
And ideas and methods, and protocols for healing dropped in my lap. A random person would mention a protocol they’d heard about, or someone mentioned an herb or supplement that might help. Many of these suggestions didn’t help, but I paid attention and was thankful for the ones that did. And, slowly, but surely I started to regain my health. The changes were small at first.. one day I was able to read my computer screen, one day I could walk down the stairs without having to slide down on my rump.. or I was able to navigate the grocery store on my feet while using the grocery cart for balance instead of having to use an electric cart. The changes were small and simple, but eventually they added up.
As my physical and mental abilities improved, so did my attitude. I started to really, truly believe that I could beat this thing the doctors called SPMS. I started to have faith that I would be able do do things, just like I have faith the sun will rise each morning. Improving became my reality.
What’s my point in sharing this story again?
Focus on what you CAN do.. focus on the good things in your life. Do things that make you happy. Yes, there are bad things going on in your life. You have struggles. I understand that. I have struggles, too. But, don’t allow those struggles to be your focus. Focus on what you HAVE and what you CAN do. Maybe today the best you can do is hold yourself upright in a chair without falling over. I’ve been there. Celebrate the fact that you CAN hold yourself up in that chair. Do things that motivate you and make you happy. The photo attached to this post is a sebastopol goose. Why did I attach that photo to this post? It has nothing to do with geese. I did so because I ran across this breed of goos last night while looking at pictures of ducks with my kids yesterday afternoon. The sebastopol goose pictures we found made all three of us laugh. It’s a darned cute goose, and it’s unique. The funky looking goose made us happy.
Do the things that make you happy. Share your happiness with others. Remember to celebrate. More importantly, give yourself permission to celebrate the good things, even when there are challenges elsewhere in your life.
What’s my point in sharing this story again?
Focus on what you CAN do.. focus on the good things in your life. Do things that make you happy. Yes, there are bad things going on in your life. You have struggles. I understand that. I have struggles, too. But, don’t allow those struggles to be your focus. Focus on what you HAVE and what you CAN do. Maybe today the best you can do is hold yourself upright in a chair without falling over. I’ve been there. Celebrate the fact that you CAN hold yourself up in that chair. Do things that motivate you and make you happy. The photo attached to this post is a sebastopol goose. Why did I attach that photo to this post? It has nothing to do with geese. I did so because I ran across this breed of goos last night while looking at pictures of ducks with my kids yesterday afternoon. The sebastopol goose pictures we found made all three of us laugh. It’s a darned cute goose, and it’s unique. The funky looking goose made us happy.
Do the things that make you happy. Share your happiness with others. Remember to celebrate. More importantly, give yourself permission to celebrate the good things, even when there are challenges elsewhere in your life.
