I saw this beautiful wall piece on my friend Sophie’s Facebook page. Reading about how she is living her life is inspiring on many levels.

Everything written on this wall art resonates with me. 2018 has been a year of learning what healing looks like for me. Learning how to truly let go. Learning to trust my Higher Power. Learning to detach with love. Learning that I can acknowledge my emotions and let them go…that my mood and my day is not controlled or directed by emotion. I’m learning how to ground myself in the present as a way to practice gratitude and to work through triggers. I’m learning how to cultivate peace within myself. I’m learning that each one of us has their own path. And as much as we love someone – our parents, our companions, our siblings, our children, our life-friends – I’m learning that they have their own path and we cannot walk it for them. We can only be of service and assist however we can.

I’m learning my own character defects and learning how to recognize them when they appear. I’m learning how sometimes what I consider a defect is a strength. I’m learning how to ask my Higher Power to remove these defects. I’m learning that my character defects don’t serve me, and how they have made my life unmanageable at times.

I’m learning that there are only 2 real emotions…Love and Fear. All the good emotions – faith, hope, happiness, et al – come from love. All the negative emotions – jealousy, resentment, anger, apathy, and so on – come from fear. And I’m learning how to ask my Higher Power to remove my fear.

I’m learning that I don’t have to respond or react, or give any space in my head to things that don’t involve me, and don’t serve me. I’m learning that when I have moments of despair, or just not feeling good about myself, that being of service to others helps lift my spirits. I’m beginning to learn that healing my physical self starts with healing my spiritual and emotional self.

I truly look forward to continuing to learn and re-learn things that heal and sustain me. Life is Beautiful. And I am so very grateful for all the blessings that encompass this life. ❤️

Hi there! Long time no blog. To be very blunt, I’ve thought about writing, but decided that other things needed my focus and energy. I do enjoy writing and sharing, and learning, so I will make time to keep up this blog going into 2019.

Some of what took up my time and energy was my job. It’s my 2nd year being a middle school therapist and I could feel a big difference in my confidence level as a clinician. I really felt like I was “in the zone” the last 2 months, meaning I found a good mindset and method of keeping up with my documentation and finding different things that may be of help to the students and staff I work with.

And my crafting mojo returned after being lost or on hiatus for a few years. I spent much time and energy sewing and beading for my kids, my husband and family. It feels really good to create again. I missed it.

I hit my 1st Al-Anon birthday in September. Al-Anon has saved my life. My meetings are an integral part of my self-care. Amazing things can happen when you feel your healing take root.

Some things on my mind:

I want to start listening to podcasts. I tried listening to one a year or so ago and I couldn’t get into it. But then my sister Makyla referred me to a good health podcast. And I’ve found a number of podcasters who speak about clinical social work, working with kids with ADHD, and turning 50. I listened to two so far and look forward to listening to more.

I still need to figure out what works for me to be more consistent with my health habits. I have to visualize what that looks like for me. It’s elusive. Motivation is not hard to find, setting goals isn’t difficult either…it’s staying consistent that is my Achilles heel.

I made a deal with my 14-yr old to turn in our phones every night by a certain time. We have another week before we go back to school/work so we have time to see how it goes. She reported a good night’s sleep last night. So the initial feedback is positive.

Anyways…that’s what’s on my mind. 😊

Happy Friday!!