Sustainable and Successful.

This is a picture of me 3 years ago on my first visit to Seattle. I post it here because I have been thinking of visiting Seattle again real soon and I encourage myself by looking at this picture and I remember the little park in Pioneer Square where this picture was taken. The man-made water fall behind me was such a refreshing addition to the Square. I am so glad that I took this picture because looking at it evokes the same beautiful, refreshing feelings I had that day.

Your homework this week is to set aside a couple of hours, get out that old box of photos of yourself, meander through them and look deeply into the eyes, the smiles, the moods, the thoughts and the feelings in the hearts of the beautiful woman that you were then and still are. Remember how much you looked forward to the event and experience you were having the day the picture was taken. Think about how precious that moment was..... and when you feel the fullness of that experience flash forward and think about how precious this very moment is also. Sometimes, the best way to appreciate the moment is to linger awhile in past memories and wallow in the warmth of who you were then in younger days. My life has been very greatly enriched by allowing myself to linger in old memories of a younger me. A lot of healing has come by seeing how tender and yet how strong I was; how eager and yet how trepidations I was. How awesome and yet how ordinary my experience of myself and other people was. And the list goes on and on.

Be tender, be strong, recognize that you are huge banquet of abilities and possibilities. Let yourself feel some of the feelings you have blocked. If it is uninhibited joy, feel that. If it is sorrow, feel some or all of that.If it is too scary make an agreement with yourself to "feel" a super feeling immediately after feeling the "difficult" feeling for precisely 2 minutes or 3 minutes. By all means don't scare yourself into a freaky attack! And yes, remember always: You do do do have control over your feelings!!! You are the boss. Whenever you feel it is safe to spend a whole day exploring the feelings of sorrow, or anger let yourself do so. But by all means call a halt to it well, well, well before bedtime. Have a warm cup of tea, read or listen to something inspirational. snuggle up with your favorite blankie and pillow and bask in your love for yourself for awhile.

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Old Age can be grand, or it can be pitiful. It all depends upon how you feed your mind, 

body and soul throughout your younger years. 

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Some people seem to be in a mad rush to deplete the world's resources, people constantly in search mode. And in our search we use up our life juices only to end up alienated from our neighbors and everyone else including ourselves ... and in stress.

Our Neighbors

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Our stressed out self.