I'm having a bit of a clear out.

[Bluerose]

I'm having a bit of a clear out. If you find any of this useful then help yourself.

From The Rose Files ~

Include more exercise in your life. Working out particularly outdoors is a great way to generate the ‘feel-good' factor. People who exercise regularly tend to look good and live longer.

Every thought you have, every dream, every desire, every hope and every fantasy is a thread in the great tapestry of your life. The quality of those threads will determine the quality of the final picture.

Mornings seem to be a bad time for most people, and if you start off sluggishly, this negative mood can hang around until lunchtime. Put yourself in a positive frame of mind before you even get out of bed.

If something is bothering you, whether it's a person, an incident, or something you did or didn't do, acknowledge it, learn from it and then delete it. It's taking up valuable mind space and undermining your self-esteem.

Others create their own situations for a reason. Therefore, don't be overly concerned for they have lessons to learn, too. Loved ones must be allowed to chalk up their own experiences, and learn from their own mistakes.

In Zen the bases is a return to the true spiritual religion, the kind that grows in your heart and reaches out into the universe embracing all living things. It's kindness and caring and compassion, and you can teach it to your children.

Life is too short to put up with unsatisfactory situations. Do things because you want to do them not because someone else expects you to do them. Any decision resulting in a loss of your valuable time or self respect is unacceptable.

Take full responsibility for your life and you will find peace and become happier in yourself and be able to move forward in a purposeful way of your own choosing and not buffeted this way and that by other people's desires and expectations.

You have the right to choose for yourself how you will feel at any given moment about any situation you might find yourself in. You have the right to choose not to lean on or depend on anyone for anything. You always have a choice. Even if you choose not to choose.

Making important decisions can be very difficult. Outside influences and friends or relatives with good intentions' often hinder our decision making process and confuse us. You will always make the right decision if you trust your instincts, your intuition and your heart.

There is a natural rhythm to the energy inside you, sometimes this energy is strong and outgoing and at other times it's quiet and sensitive. When strong it's time to pursue goals and take risks and get things moving. When it's quiet you need to take time out to relax and just be for a while.

If you have a serious problem and there seems no answer in sight it could be that your emotions are getting in the way and you are working against yourself, try taking a back seat for a while and see how things are in a week or maybe a month. Nothing lasts for ever - not even the bad times.

Ask yourself, what is important in my life and what is simply dragging me down? What would I change about my life? Which individuals contribute to my happiness and which do not? Tell yourself, it's my life! And if I am to remain happy and healthy I alone must decide who stays and who goes.

Occasionally it may feel like ‘this is not what I wanted' but there was a time when you thought you wanted it and it may still be for the best. But if you have changed your mind you need only acknowledge this to yourself to avoid confusion and then state precisely and clearly what it is you want now.

When you wash the dishes, vacuum the carpet, take a shower, call on a friend, flirt with a new and tantalizing person, cook food, make love, go shopping, or hit your thumb with a hammer - enlightenment is there. We are never separated from it. There is no need to look for enlightenment in any place other than where we are.

Take time to smell the roses, the coffee, the fresh cut grass, the real leather, a fine wine... Whatever rocks your boat! Play the 'When I grow up I want to be..' game with your partner. Or the 'If I were rich...' game. Or 'If I had three wishes...'. It's fun. Dream big dreams - in colour! No matter your age there's always time for more fun!

Use your sleeping time positively. If something's bothering you ask yourself some questions about it before you go to sleep. Make sure you phrase those questions positively. Avoid ask yourself ‘why am I such a failure?' Ask yourself instead, ‘how can I be more successful/confident/happy?'. Pay attention to your dreams and keep a note pad by you.

To let go is not to be in the middle arranging all the outcomes, but to allow others to effect their own destinies. To let go is not to be protective, it's to permit another to face reality. To let go is not to deny but to accept. To let go is not to adjust everything to my desires but to take each day as it comes. To let go is not to regret the past but to grow and live for the future.

How you think will depend on whether you are an optimist or a pessimist; one differs from the other as night from day and yet both are right, each is right from his own point of view, and this point of view is the determining factor in the life of each. It determines as to whether it will be a life of success or a life of failure. If you must be a pessimist, be an optimistic pessimist!

Attitude is a reflection of the person inside. Having a great attitude is not the result of having a great life; having a great life is the result of having a great attitude. Cultivate a great attitude. With a great attitude you can choose the kind of day you're going to have. Today stretches ahead of you, waiting to be shaped. And here you are, the sculptor who gets to do the shaping.

Depending on how you choose to use it, electricity can be constructive or destructive. Used positively it can fill a room with light. Used negatively it can give you a nasty shock. All thought, good and bad, is creative and tends to become a material thing. And like the electricity it can be constructive or destructive depending on how you choose to use it, positively or negatively.

We are all capable of becoming tired, selfish, resentful and fatigued to a child-minded state in which our judgment and reasoning is impaired, causing us to dwell on unreasonable fears and paranoia, even causing panic attacks. When you feel like this it is important to stay calm and get plenty of rest. Try to distract yourself by doing something that calls for concentration and one-track mindedness and stick with it until you are feeling stronger.

[Bluerose]

Groundhog Day - It's how we learn

Day 1 - I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. I'm lost. I'm helpless. It isn't my fault. It takes forever to find a way out.

Day 2 - I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I don't see it. I fall in again. I can't believe I'm in the same place, but it isn't my fault. It still takes a long time to get out.

Day 3 - I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I see it is there. I fall in. It's a habit. But my eyes are open. I know where I am. It is my fault and I get out immediately.

Day 4 - I walk down the same street. There's a deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it.

Day 5 - I try walking down a different street.

[Symora]

Love your posts Rose. Quite a few of the sayings resonated for me. It's all in the attitude isn't it.

[goose]

Groundhog day, well thats the story of my life. However with my therapists help I am learning not to go down those same paths too often.

Thanks:)

Goose

[Bluerose]

I’m glad you find it useful. I buried myself in books and then the net when it came along. I was driven to seek answers to what the hell was going on with me. So much of this stuff got me through the day and many a lonely night.

Enjoy!

[Bluerose]

The Rose Within

A man planted a rose and watered it faithfully and before it blossomed, he examined it. He saw the bud that would soon blossom, but noticed thorns upon the stem and he thought, "How can any beautiful flower come from a plant burdened with so many sharp thorns? Saddened by this thought, he neglected to water the rose, and just before it was ready to bloom... it died.

So it is with many people. Within every soul there is a rose. The God-like qualities planted in us at birth, grow amid the thorns of our faults. Many of us look at ourselves and see only the thorns. We despair, thinking that nothing good can possibly come from us. We neglect to water the good within us, and eventually it dies. We never realize our potential.

Some people do not see the rose within themselves; someone else must show it to them. One of the greatest gifts a person can possess is to be able to reach past the thorns of another, and find the rose within them.

This is what love does. It helps us to look at a person and recognize the nobility in their soul. Help others to realize they can overcome their faults. If we show them the 'rose' within themselves, they will conquer their thorns. Only then will they blossom many times over.

Author Unknown

[Bluerose]

We start off wanting to help each other with enthusiasm and excitement and blissful ignorance. Then we begin to get to know each other and gain more knowledge of each other and that's when we begin to wonder how can our simple, feeble words help the other person when all we can do is listen - or read, like here on this board.

Some of us have lived with 'our stuff' a long time and probably have a handle on it and can manage quite well - most of the time. But some of us are new to 'our stuff' and are struggling with untold depression and pain, and sometimes all we really want is to know that we are not alone. We all have families who are probably dealing with life the best way they can too and we hesitate to bother them with 'our stuff' because we don't want to burden them.

This is where we on boards like this one come into our own. We really can help each other. I remember the first time I got involved on forums. I was a bit shy to begin with but I got some good support and I was encouraged to open up more. When I did it all came pouring our. I had opened a flood gate. It's just as well it was anonymous, I would have been so embarrassed to face a friend after that. So much anger and self pity but it had to come out and, as I learned later, it was better on the outside of me than on the inside festering away.

Today, I'm on the other side of the fence. Today, I can payback all the help and support I received on message boards like this one.

Don't let anyone ridicule you for being involved on message boards and for 'pouring your heart out' to strangers. I was very pleasantly surprised by my psych doc’s reaction when I told him that I had worked out most of my demons on online forums. He smiled and said, "Whatever works for you is good."

Never underestimate the benefits of sharing 'your stuff' on a forum with a bunch of strangers. I have met some of the loveliest people on forums and I am still in touch with some of them ten years on from when I first had a Windows My Space, now called Windows Live Space.

Stay anonymous and just let it out and then allow time to heal the pain and help the memories of it and what caused it to fade.

You might lose a battle or two but you can still win the war.

Stay strong and stay above the battles.

[Bluerose]

I’m still working to clear my file of the old to make way for the new so help yourself. Take only that which rings true to a deeper part of your soul and simply disregard the rest. If none of this is your cup of tea then simply avoid the thread titled 'I'm having a bit of a clear out'.

Best wishes.

[Bluerose]

Your mind can make you feel ill and your imagination can do the rest. So try to avoid imagining things are worse than they are. When your energy is strong use it to help you heal and when it’s not so strong treat it like a rest period.

[Bluerose]

I call it swings and round-a-bouts; what you lose on the swings you gain on the round-a-bout. As you begin to get on top of things instead of letting them get on top of you, there might be a bit of back-sliding. A kind of five steps forward and two back. It's normal and it's just your mind and body adjusting to the new perspective, outlook and attitude. Don't panic thinking it was all for nothing and you are slipping again. Hang in there and allow for this adjustment period.

[Bluerose]

Put Life Stuff into perspective by dividing it up into smaller more manageable pieces and deal with it a bit at a time.

[Bluerose]

Thought For Today ~

Practice being thankful for the beauty and bounty in your life by maintaining an attitude of gratitude. This helps condition the subconscious mind and also helps to remove fear and negative vibrations. If you are joyful, loving and grateful, there is no room for doubt, fear or negativity. Notice what is 'right' about the people in your world, thereby reinforcing their positive traits. And when appropriate, tell them how you feel. Small, sincere compliments or words of praise are gifts of love vibrations to those around you.