Let's learn to respond instead of react.

Hi All

Saw this quote on Twitter today it come from Oprah I think as it was from her as no one else was credited with saying it so...

"It is not what happens to you but how you respond to what happens to you. " I am a big one for reacting, I'm loud, I scream, I shout and I have been known to completely over-react to a small thing. Often leaving the situation more embarrassed by my reaction than the initial incident.

Ever feel like that?

So the one thing I often meditate on is being able to control my temper, I have to consciously make a decision not to react to a situation. The few times that I have managed to control this instinctive reaction is to think about how I would feel if I was on the other side of my mouth, listening to what's being said.

When you react to a situation it's often an immediate and personal response to the person and not the situation. Learning to respond rather than react is learning how to approach the situation from an objective perspective rather than a personal one.

Once you have had a chance to think about what is being said/ done and why it's being said and done in this manner, you can clearly formulate a response that will not leave you totally an utterly ashamed of yourself.

So if only for the sake of saving yourself loads of embarrassment (as it is for me), it's also actually very rewarding to come up with a reasonable response especially when you think the other person is being totally unreasonable.

Hey just a thought - use it, don't use it. At the end of the day it's about consciously controlling your voice in conjuction with the mind. Rather than your voice in conjuction with your foot.

In love and light
Tracey

Day 22 Month 6 - Enable Me

Good Evening All
I had a marvelous day at school today, the school played host to a various array of disabled people, the Enable Me programme is designed to encourage awareness of the abilities of disabled people.
This morning we were met by two sports coaches (both in wheelchairs) a man with a lovely sense of humour who'd suffered a major stroke at age 29 and by far the most inspiring of the lot was a beautiful French woman who is 27 years of age. At university 7 years ago she contracted Meningitis TB. She was in a Coma for around 5 months and when she awoke she had lost ALL her hearing and ALL her sight. In addition to NO HEARING AND NO SIGHT, she could not move her body and was told she would be paralyzed from the neck down. She walked in today guided by a lady and walking with a crutch (friend #1). She explained that she is now partially sighted and can hear with a hearing aid (friend #2). She showed the children various "friends", basically little gadgets that vibrate and beep so she can feel or hear the door bell, the telephone, the oven etc. I asked how long she has been completely blind and completely deaf before her hearing and sight started returning. She picked up her Bible and told us that when the Doctor checks her eyes, her nerves are irreparably damaged. she should not be seeing anything. She attributes her ability to see in shadows and colour (albeit dim) to her faith. Her sight is getting better, on pure faith.
I was blown away by this young woman who returned to university to complete her course, and her ability to have faith after such an illness makes me think again of how we should be grateful EVERY DAY who knows when something like this could happen and then it leads me to wonder would I be as gracious, as inspiring and as forgiving had this happened to me?

Do me one favour tonight, look in the mirror and be grateful for 2 eyes that work, 2 ears that work and a body that responds to every little command without any effort.
In lots of love and lots of light.

Day 12 Month 6 - I believe in Angels

All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Those of you who know me will know 3 things.
1. I believe in Angels
2. I am amazed that Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote (quite a while ago) beliefs that are not confined to mainstream religion and yet touch many of the beliefs that I have.
3. You know my beliefs on the Creator.

So with those three things in mind let me tell you what this quote means to me...it means that if we can see and appreciate the world around us, then imagine what is laying beneath this magnificent surface.
A lot of new age writing touches on the unseen, imagining or visualising your life as you want it to be. I have tried to quite my mind enough to visualise my perfect life into reality, you all know how that turned out. But this evenings quote is actually saying to me, WOW just look at what we DO have around us right now, rain bringing life back into dehydrated trees, grass and flowers. Family who love us, and whom we love. Friends, who care and help because they want to without any repayment. The ability to help those friends because we can and because we want to without any repayment. A roof over our heads, jobs to go to. Things to see, places to go. So let us just reflect a moment on what the Creator (yourself) has brought into your life and vow today to change the negative, and be truly appreciative for the positive for by refelcting on the positive we are bringing more positive into our lives. By ignoring the negative we are then eliminating it from our lives.

In love and light

Day14 Month5 - Feeling Good

I was feeling a little down last night because I have to work this weekend and while waiting for my show to come on (Criminal Minds) I was channel surfing and came across Dirty Dancing, I'd missed the beginning and picked up where Johnny starts teaching Baby to dance for the show at the other hotel. I ended up missing Crimal Minds and watching to the end. I think I had a silly smile on my face because I remember watching Dirty Dancing for the 1st time at the Top Star Drive in and I am not exactly certain but I was either 17 or 18 so we are talking 1987/88. I can honsestly say that re-watching this one movie has highlighted how important movies, music and tv have become in making us as a species. In times of economic down-turn, the entertainment industry is very seldom hit but a recession, this was true during the great depression when unemplyed people would fill cinemas and watch movies, so what's the attraction?
I can say it's about escape-ism! I love watching movies that are far out. Give me Aliens, give me Zombies, give me Vampires, give me chick-flicks it's about forgetting your own problems and feeling great about something, anything. May the movie business go from strength to strength and may I never tire of watching the classics like Dirty Dancing.
Thank-you Patrick Swayze! Rest in peace knowing you brought joy to millions, and I am pleased to be one of them.
In love and light.