About a month ago I saw a girl I went to school and church with, I barely recognized her and my first reaction was to text a mutual friend of ours from back in the day and ask "what the heck happened to 'Suzy'?"
Suzy had been sitting in a local coffee shop with an older man, she was very obese and dressed in rags, I could barely see the girl I knew in that face anymore but knew it was her.
The mutual friend said they had lost touch with Suzy as well but knew she was not well and had fallen on hard times. Her mother is still living but I don't remember her having siblings.
I saw her again this morning hanging outside the same coffee shop, she had a phone and a cigarette and clothes on her back. (tattered, torn, stained clothes but clothes)
I thought about it then and I think about it now. But especially now, I just finished "Furiously Happy" by Jenny Lawson, which is a humorous look at depression and other mental illnesses.
Suzy was always the funny one in the group, loud, irreverent, no-filter, you get the gist. We always thought she was a little bit crazy, in a way teenagers think people are crazy. Like one of these days she will grow out of it or someone will come along and set her straight. We knew her mother was very strict and we or I did not know much about her father. Her mother was very involved in the church and youth group. (I think more to keep an eye on Suzy then anything else)
I know this is already long but I do have a point or something.
Suzy never received the help she needed.
Mental Illness is not something your family wants to admit you have or help you with it. Mental Illness is not something you want to admit you have or ask for help. I am pretty sure there was mental and physical abuse in that home. I do believe both parents suffered from mental illness as well, so it all seemed normal to the whole household. (I am also reading "Childhood Disrupted" by Donna Jackson Nakazawa)
Suzy seems content, though a bit of sadness is seen in that face I barely recognize shows through. Maybe this is the best she can do with what she has. But I wonder who she would be if she had gotten the help she needed when she was younger. Who she would be if her parents had gotten help.
Mental Illness should not be any more of a stigma than Cancer or Hyperthyroidism or Heart Disease. No one is ashamed of admitting they need help with those illnesses. Your brain is an organ, it can get ill too, it can also heal or adjust.
PLEASE BE KIND TO YOURSELF
PLEASE BE KIND TO OTHERS
NEVER JUDGE ANY ILLNESS
GET HELP
BE HELP
I FREAKIN LOVE YOU ALL <3 p="">
Wednesday, November 25, 2015
Friday, October 9, 2015
Question IT Like a 5 Year-old
Not Political or Religious Statements, just random musing from my inner 5 year-old.
Why do we get all up in arms and to the point of violence when an animal is killed to put food on the table and we do not bat an eye when a plant gets killed for the same purpose? Are they not both living things? Are they not like you and I, here to live until we die? We all need oxygen and water to survive.
Why are we passing laws for or against guns? Why are we not making bigger strides in mental health issues? A well-adjusted, socially apt person does not go legally purchase a gun and kill people.
Why do we take it so personally when someone commits suicide? What does it have to do with us? If they want to take their own lives, why do we get a say in it? I have lost people to suicide very close to me over the years, it sucks. It is their life and their choice to live it or not. They did not get a choice on being born. That doesn't mean we shouldn't love people a little harder when we know they need it, it might save a life.
Why are people so passionate about politics and religion? What is politics? What is religion? Isn't it all just man's perception and definition of something that is very subjective? Is there a society that lives peacefully without politics and/or religion? Can it be done? Should it be done? What happens if we govern ourselves? What happens if we choose to just believe that there might be a higher power than us and treat each other with that in mind? What if the higher power is living right next door to you? What if you are the higher power? Be passionate about your life, period.
Why do we not allow ourselves to question things like a 5 year-old any more? Why do we accept what it taught to us at home and in schools with out question? If we all just accepted what we were taught by our elders the world would never have been round, nor would anything have changed. In that scenario, you are only as intelligent as the person who taught you.
Why do you get offended? Does getting offended make you narcissistic? Are the things that offend you really meant to be personal to you? Is there something inside yourself that you don't like and won't admit to not liking that is causing you to be offended when chord is struck too close to home? What happens if you just simply remove yourself from the offense or offender instead of attacking it or them?
Why do we not choose Health, Happiness, Kindness and Love as a default? Or do we? If so, then what happened to our default mode and how can we reset it? Why are we just practicing Gratitude? If you sit still and quiet your mind, you will tell yourself what you need/want to be the best you there is and will be.
Why do we get all up in arms and to the point of violence when an animal is killed to put food on the table and we do not bat an eye when a plant gets killed for the same purpose? Are they not both living things? Are they not like you and I, here to live until we die? We all need oxygen and water to survive.
Why are we passing laws for or against guns? Why are we not making bigger strides in mental health issues? A well-adjusted, socially apt person does not go legally purchase a gun and kill people.
Why do we take it so personally when someone commits suicide? What does it have to do with us? If they want to take their own lives, why do we get a say in it? I have lost people to suicide very close to me over the years, it sucks. It is their life and their choice to live it or not. They did not get a choice on being born. That doesn't mean we shouldn't love people a little harder when we know they need it, it might save a life.
Why are people so passionate about politics and religion? What is politics? What is religion? Isn't it all just man's perception and definition of something that is very subjective? Is there a society that lives peacefully without politics and/or religion? Can it be done? Should it be done? What happens if we govern ourselves? What happens if we choose to just believe that there might be a higher power than us and treat each other with that in mind? What if the higher power is living right next door to you? What if you are the higher power? Be passionate about your life, period.
Why do we not allow ourselves to question things like a 5 year-old any more? Why do we accept what it taught to us at home and in schools with out question? If we all just accepted what we were taught by our elders the world would never have been round, nor would anything have changed. In that scenario, you are only as intelligent as the person who taught you.
Why do you get offended? Does getting offended make you narcissistic? Are the things that offend you really meant to be personal to you? Is there something inside yourself that you don't like and won't admit to not liking that is causing you to be offended when chord is struck too close to home? What happens if you just simply remove yourself from the offense or offender instead of attacking it or them?
Why do we not choose Health, Happiness, Kindness and Love as a default? Or do we? If so, then what happened to our default mode and how can we reset it? Why are we just practicing Gratitude? If you sit still and quiet your mind, you will tell yourself what you need/want to be the best you there is and will be.
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Bad Things Happen To Me
WRONG!
I caught myself making the statement, "well all this bad stuff happened to me this week".
Nothing happens to you or me. We make the choices every moment of every day that brings about the occurrences in our lives. We just have to accept the consequences of those choices when they come to fruition.
The choice you make right this minute might have immediate results you need at the time but what will it bring into your future? The decision you made 5 years ago brought you to this exact place and the pending decisions you are having to make now. Thinking about that, would you have made that same decision? Are you prepared to live with the decision you are making now 5, 10 or 20 years from now? Is the immediate gratification worth the possible fall-out down the road?
Bad things happen in the world because of choices being made by people we have no control over. You have control over yourself and your choices. You and only you have control over your life.
I am in control of my life, I make the choices that cause the occurrences in my life good or bad. I am in control of those choices and those choices only, I am not in control of other's choices. I am a good person who makes bad choices from time to time and I face the consequences to the best of my ability and try to learn from them. I am also a good person who makes good choices and reap the benefits to the best of my ability and learn from them as well.
I will not blame happen-stance or the universe on the bad things that occur, I will, however, thank the higher power for the blessings bestowed upon me. I am in control of my life but I know that I am but a spec in the bigger picture. I want my spec to add beauty to not turmoil.
Back to Manifesting Abundance of Good
If you have not read Slight Edge by Jeff Olson please do so.
I caught myself making the statement, "well all this bad stuff happened to me this week".
Nothing happens to you or me. We make the choices every moment of every day that brings about the occurrences in our lives. We just have to accept the consequences of those choices when they come to fruition.
The choice you make right this minute might have immediate results you need at the time but what will it bring into your future? The decision you made 5 years ago brought you to this exact place and the pending decisions you are having to make now. Thinking about that, would you have made that same decision? Are you prepared to live with the decision you are making now 5, 10 or 20 years from now? Is the immediate gratification worth the possible fall-out down the road?
Bad things happen in the world because of choices being made by people we have no control over. You have control over yourself and your choices. You and only you have control over your life.
I am in control of my life, I make the choices that cause the occurrences in my life good or bad. I am in control of those choices and those choices only, I am not in control of other's choices. I am a good person who makes bad choices from time to time and I face the consequences to the best of my ability and try to learn from them. I am also a good person who makes good choices and reap the benefits to the best of my ability and learn from them as well.
I will not blame happen-stance or the universe on the bad things that occur, I will, however, thank the higher power for the blessings bestowed upon me. I am in control of my life but I know that I am but a spec in the bigger picture. I want my spec to add beauty to not turmoil.
Back to Manifesting Abundance of Good
If you have not read Slight Edge by Jeff Olson please do so.
Sunday, August 9, 2015
The Preacher's Wife Has a Tattoo
Just like me. I found my tribe.
A few years ago I took a part-time job to help the ends meet. I gave up most of my volunteering and some of my social network. I then started taking a year-long course in holistic health and wellness on top of working 7-days a week.
In December 2014 I decided I wasn't any better off financially working so many hours and I was missing the little joys in life like volunteering and socializing, so I left the part-time gig. The very first weekend I was no longer working I went to Church Under A Bridge to volunteer.
It is what I had been missing! My soul felt filled.
But wait, not only did I fill my soul with that missing element, I also found organized, unorganized religion. I could go hear the gospel in my jeans and tennis shoes. I could listen and sing-a-long to hymns with the homeless and the local business owner alike. There was no judgement on what I was wearing or if I had make-up on, no one cared that I had a tattoo or freckles.
So now my soul is full, I am comfortable and I am reminded we are all on equal footing when it comes to Him.
My preacher has tattoos and he doesn't hide them. His wife has tattoos and she doesn't cover them. I don't feel the need to cover mine either. We are all beautifully put together.
My point?
Do not try to fit into a tribe. Do not bend who you are to be accepted by others. Don't cover up you.
Keep meeting people. Keep putting the real you out there. Stand by your beliefs and morals.
That is how you find your tribe.
PS. We won't judge you if you don't have a tattoo 😜
Thursday, February 19, 2015
My journey with Essential Oils (just the beginning)
Essential Oils and I, I am not here to sell you a product, other then myself. But part of myself is the products I use for my health, wellness and happiness.
My oily journey, I have always used eucalyptus oils in the shower and such for my sinuses and have had a curiosity about EOs.
Taking the holistic health and wellness coaching course through IIN helped open my mind up to pursue that curiosity and I had a mutual friend that introduced me to a Young Living Oils advocate. I went to a couple of meetings with her and had my derma-scan done and met some great people. YL is a great oil and company. The advocates were very friendly and supportive. However, I did not see the overall health I would expect from a group living the oily life as I call it.
I was then introduced to another lady who was a doTerra wellness advocate and had a couple of breakfast meetings with her and she told me her story of how her health was so bad she had lost the will to live. She discovered oils and processed-free living and at 20 years my senior had so much energy she made me tired. That still did not sell me completely, so I searched independent lab studies of the different EOs on the market and honestly it was a lot of scientific stuff that boggled the mind. Some said they were created equal some said one peppermint was purer than the other and so on.
I then went to Facebook and asked what everyone was using and why and who had actually compared the two by using each. Well that can bring out some passion right there for sure. I had to remind them to be polite and to private message me if they felt the need. More of the people I had grown to respect and hold in high regard on many things were doTerra WA. Still not 100% sold as everyone had a great testimony as to why they chose their oils.
doTerra then came out with TERRAFit and I was SOLD.
TERRAFit takes the oils, vitamins, supplements with the oils in them, adds a clean good food list and bad food list to choose from, interval exercise program and an accountability point systems for you and your team. This was the best all around, one-stop-shop program I had seen in a really long time.
I signed up and haven't looked back.
I am a doTerra Wellness Advocate and if you are interested I can show you how to become one yourself or where to purchase the oils from me.
As I said I am not selling a product, I am selling myself and I use doTerra and if you are interested I can show you how.
It is too good to keep to myself!
My oily journey, I have always used eucalyptus oils in the shower and such for my sinuses and have had a curiosity about EOs.
Taking the holistic health and wellness coaching course through IIN helped open my mind up to pursue that curiosity and I had a mutual friend that introduced me to a Young Living Oils advocate. I went to a couple of meetings with her and had my derma-scan done and met some great people. YL is a great oil and company. The advocates were very friendly and supportive. However, I did not see the overall health I would expect from a group living the oily life as I call it.
I was then introduced to another lady who was a doTerra wellness advocate and had a couple of breakfast meetings with her and she told me her story of how her health was so bad she had lost the will to live. She discovered oils and processed-free living and at 20 years my senior had so much energy she made me tired. That still did not sell me completely, so I searched independent lab studies of the different EOs on the market and honestly it was a lot of scientific stuff that boggled the mind. Some said they were created equal some said one peppermint was purer than the other and so on.
I then went to Facebook and asked what everyone was using and why and who had actually compared the two by using each. Well that can bring out some passion right there for sure. I had to remind them to be polite and to private message me if they felt the need. More of the people I had grown to respect and hold in high regard on many things were doTerra WA. Still not 100% sold as everyone had a great testimony as to why they chose their oils.
doTerra then came out with TERRAFit and I was SOLD.
TERRAFit takes the oils, vitamins, supplements with the oils in them, adds a clean good food list and bad food list to choose from, interval exercise program and an accountability point systems for you and your team. This was the best all around, one-stop-shop program I had seen in a really long time.
I signed up and haven't looked back.
I am a doTerra Wellness Advocate and if you are interested I can show you how to become one yourself or where to purchase the oils from me.
As I said I am not selling a product, I am selling myself and I use doTerra and if you are interested I can show you how.
It is too good to keep to myself!
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