Walking the Beam of Balance

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Beth Wilson

Ups and downs.  Highs and lows.  Walking the beam of balance.

Ah, yes–the middle ground, the gray area (although not colorless) of serenity.  I haven’t been there too often lately but today may be a welcome exception.

What a relief!  It is so good to crawl back onto the beam of balance.  While it only takes a split second to fall off, the effort to climb back on is often quite challenging.

I read this morning that our circumstances reflect our attitude.  Interestingly, the reverse can also be true.  Our attitudes can reflect our circumstances.

I know all too well how both sets of reflections suck when my attitudes and my circumstances are bad.

But I can suffer bad circumstances and still have a decent attitude.

I can also sit in the best of circumstances and watch them wither with a bad attitude.

My point?  An optimistic attitude of sunshine is more likely to keep me balanced during rotten circumstances than if the two reverse.

It is all about me and my B-Attitude.

Gosh, it’s hard to remain vigilant when it comes to my sneaking, creeping attitudes.  Without a tight leash-hold, any moment is one when a single attitude shift could catapult me into chaos.

I know a guy who says recovery comes in seconds and inches.  He’s right when it comes to balancing my attitudes and my circumstances.  Fortunately, seconds and inches are all it takes to focus on where I am on the beam.

How is your balancing act today?  Wherever you are on the beam, please enjoy these five quotes about balance and make it a great attitude week!

B Well & Balanced!!

Be aware of wonder. Live a balanced life – learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some. ~
Robert Fulgham

Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance and order and rhythm and harmony. ~Thomas Merton

Balance, peace, and joy are the fruit of a successful life. It starts with recognizing your talents and finding ways to serve others by using them. ~Thomas Kinkade

The best and safest thing is to keep a balance in your life, acknowledge the great powers around us and in us. If you can do that, and live that way, you are really a wise man. ~Euripides

The calm and balanced mind is the strong and great mind; the hurried and agitated mind is the weak one. ~Wallace D. Wattles

Posted in Heart Connections, Mindful Monday, Presence and Peace, Recovery | 1 Comment

How is Your Level of Self-Respect?

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Beth Wilson

I know that the subject of self-respect isn’t one that is top-of-mind every day but when it comes to awareness of the moment, I think it is a valuable tool.

At the end of this Mindful Monday segment, as has been my tradition for quite some time, you’ll find five quotes related to self-respect.  Chew on them this week and see if they change your awareness of self-respect.

Here’s what came to me recently.  See if it resonates with you and ask yourself how you would rate your level of self-respect.

I was on the road all last week traveling for my day job.  My work is a wholly worthwhile endeavor but the older I get, the larger the toll that travel takes on my body.  Consequently, while I’m away, I often have to trade my old habit of arising early to ruminate and write my morning pages for sleep.

During this last trip of logging air and road miles, I also felt the beginnings of a chest cold.  Not good.

I recognized the old signs of trying to do it all, to fill all my roles perfectly.

Right then and there I decided to give myself a break and to be more respectful of my needs.  I let go of guilty feelings about not always writing when I’m on the road.

It is more important to take care of my immediate needs than to adhere to a rigid schedule.

We are our own worst critics, aren’t we?  Our thoughts often begin with phrases like, “I think I should . . . ” or “I could have been more . . . ” or “If I had only . . . ”

That’s just bull.  And disrespectful.  Of me.

I deserve my own respect and so do you.  Let’s begin today, right in this very moment, okay?  What messages are you believing about yourself that are disrespectful?  It’s okay if your level of self-respect is medium to low.  Life is full of do-overs, remember?

Let’s open our arms wide to the self-respect do-over and tackle it with gusto, just for now, just for today.

B Well & Self-Respectful,

Beth

The willingness to accept responsibility for one’s own life is the source from which self-respect springs.  ~Joan Didion

Never violate the sacredness of your individual self-respect.  ~Theodore Parker

Would that there were an award for people who come to understand the concept of enough.  Good enough.  Successful enough.  Thin enough.  Rich enough.  Socially responsible enough.  When you have self-respect, you have enough.  ~Gail Sheehy

It is the highest form of self-respect to admit our errors and mistakes and make amends for them.  To make a mistake is only an error in judgment, but to adhere to it when it is discovered shows infirmity of character.  ~Dale E. Turner

He that respects himself is safe from others; he wears a coat of mail that none can pierce.  ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Posted in Heart Connections, Love, Mindful Monday, Presence and Peace | 2 Comments

STOP in the Name of Love

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Beth Wilson

Sometimes I forget that the psalmist said we walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

Sometimes I feel like I’m stuck there, or as is the case right now, that one of my loved ones is stuck there.

Please don’t misunderstand; my Mindful Monday post of a few days ago still stands in terms of the gratitude I’m feeling.  I’m a long way from feeling down and out.  But gratitude aside, do you ever contemplate how challenging it is to stand still in faith when so much uncertainty exists?

I know I’m not the only one.  There’s the friend who’s father, a widower, calls her from out-of-state when he’s been “thinking and drinking.”  There’s the friend who’s son just told her that his girlfriend is pregnant.  And there’s another friend who sits on pins and needles waiting for word about her company being sold and what that means not only for her but for the people she supervises and their families.

So much uncertainty.

I am reminded that my thread of control is alarmingly thin.  What do I do when I don’t know what to do?

What do you do?

Here’s a tool that I’m trying.  I simply S.T.O.P.  Surrender.  Transform.  Open.  Patience.

I surrender as much control as I can.

I do my best to transform my thinking.

I try to remain open to new possibilities, ideas and miracles.

I grit my teeth and try to be patient.  If not this, then something better, Lord.

I also know what not to do.

I deny, or turn away from, Suffering, Tragedy, Oppression and Panic.

Instead, I focus on the things I can do in this moment.  I can say a prayer, write in my gratitude log, call someone, take a nap, write a note, read an inspirational piece, focus on peace.

I can let go of worry and thoughts of doubt.  I can let go of useless thinking that can slip into self-pity.

I can remind myself that I am a creature created for good and that my good extends to myself.  Living and breathing in goodness creates space for more of the same.  More good floats on wisps of gratitude and when I least expect it, in a sigh of transformation, gratitude becomes love.

And the pain in my heart subsides a bit as I realize I have stopped in the name of love.

How do I get from here to there?  By whispering a prayer of willingness which must be bigger than my tendency to sit in my own poop because it feels warm (lovely image, isn’t it?).

In willingness, I throw open my toes and fingers and mind to receive.  I must drain to gain.

At first the surrender seems so hopelessly small but the S in STOP also stands for Stick, as in stick around for something bigger and better.

If not this, then something better, Lord.

While I wait, I think I’ll keep on walking through that valley.

Posted in Heart Connections, Love, Presence and Peace, Spirituality, Thursday Thread | 1 Comment