You will never be merely..."pretty" - Poetry Slam 2007 Katie Makkai

Be your gender male or female I believe you will find this video to be inspiring.

To all of my friends, around the world who are traveling this journey from there to here where we get the opportunity to create not who we might have been but to become


all that we are...

I can do this thing called "Life!"

Photo Credit:)

This is something of a "sing along"......:)


Its one of those made up verses that has gotten stuck in my head this morning and it leaves me with one of those feel-good-fuzzy-warm-from-the-inside-cup-of-hot-cocoa kinds of feelings inside....:)


Think Julie Andrews/Mary Poppins kind of voice as she


floats into the window....


Sunshine streaming behind her as she winks and begins to sing...



I can do this thing!

I can do this thing!

I can do this thing!

called

Life!

Happy Friday everyone!

En Joy your weekend!

I Will Never "Get Over It"

Peace is Possible

Along the path I have followed in my journey through to get out of the pain of a past complicated by trauma, I struggled to understand the how behind "making peace" with the past....

"Let go"

"Acceptance"

"Live in the now"

and my favorite (not)

"get over it".

Are all phrases that in the past had no meaning to me - other than to tell me that I was somehow doing this "recovery" thing

wrong.

Those who shared these pearls of wisdom did so with the best of intentions, I'm sure. But I had no internal understanding of "how" to "do" this.

Until I learned that to live in acceptance was very different than

"stuffing"

and

"avoiding"

the pain of the past that was stealing my "now" as I focussed on the resentments because I did not have the understanding of the role that

"grief"

played in this journey as I travelled that road to get from "there"

that "dark place"

to "here"

where I "live in the light"

and create the life I choose for myself each day.

And this, I have found, is the crux of finding "acceptance" in this healing journey...

To grieve 


what was


and that which will never be


to accept 


what is


and is not.

I will never "get over it"

in the sense that it will never affect me again.

But rather that it will no longer

consume me

the way it did when my entire purpose in life was to live in

"avoidance" of the pain.

I see the Light in You...

Namaste

I see the light in you that is the light in me.

This quote came to me via some friends on Facebook recently.....and I wanted to share it with you...

'May today there be peace within. 


May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be. 


May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others. 


May you use the gifts that you have received and pass on the love that has been given to you. 


May you be content with yourself just the way you are. 


Let this knowledge settle into your bones and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love....


It is there for each and every one of us"


~Unknown

I wish for each of you that which you wish for yourself.....:) 

In appreciation of your presence in my journey and support of your dreams!

Namaste:)

You may enjoy this post....Yes. You Can. 

From the archives: October 2009

This message is one that pulls at my heart and soul and gives my spirit wings and deserved to be reposted. From the archives of 2009.


Yes. You can. 

A Pantene commercial with extraordinary deliverance of a message for you today..

Yes.

Whatever it is that is your Nemesis.

The message today is

Yes.

You can overcome it.

Yes

You can find your way.

Very simply.

Yes yes yes

You can.

Seeing My Failure in the Success of Others

Photo Credit

I learned from a very young age that I had no control over my life. That what happened to me and around me did not come from within me but was the result of what other's did or didn't do.

I spent a lifetime looking at the world around me from this perspective.

I did not see the world as my "oyster"

I saw the world as everything that I never had and never would have.

Anything that I did have was a fluke because I had worked "hard enough" or done something "right enough" but I did not believe that it was long lasting or something that I could repeat.

I could not take credit for any success and constantly demeaned myself and any good thing that was in my life. I expected good things to be temporary, fleeting and as though the good feeling of accomplishment was a bad thing because that was my life experience...

...that good things may come my way but don't get too excited because it will not last.

Someone or something will take it away from me.

I saw all "good things" in my life as having come from someone or something outside of myself and often this included being able to manipulate someone else into providing me with my solutions by living in that state of perpetual victimhood.

And there was always someone ready and willing to rescue me from myself and "fix" me or my life and reenforce that I was incapable of learning how to take care of myself and be my own best resource.

I saw myself as "powerless" and I felt hopeless to create conscious change in my own world, my own life. I saw the world outside of myself as both my problem and my solution.

I felt helpless to be the "captain of my own ship" or the creator of my own universe.

Because I'd been taught that I was not "good enough" could not do things "right enough" and somehow was just not "enough"; that my world, my dreams, my hopes, my "being" was defective, corrupt; that my life was not in my hands.

I developed a dependence on people, places and things outside of myself to shape my life and tell me what to do. I often struggled with making even the simplest of decisions - so I often did made no decision, took no action - while my life passed me by.

Consequently, when I saw others in this healing journey making progress and moving forward in their own lives finding peace, joy and happiness - I couldn't celebrate with them because in their success I saw my failure.

Instead of seeing hope for something that I could accomplish for myself I saw all that I did not - and believed that I could not - have.

Today then....

When I see another's success...I intentionally catch the negative thoughts of jealousy and resentment about what I never had, don't have and never will have and the rumination about my own history and pain where I live in that chronic state of hopelessness....and choose to look through a different lens; a lens of hope.

And suddenly I began to see what I could have.

If you are looking for resources to support you in your own journey to wellness please check the resource page here.

"Un-diagnosed" from "Bi Polar disorder"

Freedom

Photo Credit

To be what we are and to become what we are capable of becoming

is the only end in life. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

A friend sent me a link to this story of a young woman who had been diagnosed as "Bi Polar" and now lives free of the drugs, the mental health system...and the "diagnosis". 

Here's an excerpt from this celebratory post of her finding freedom from "diagnosis"....


"Dr. R: Wow. That's really interesting. So this bipolar diagnosis we have on here really isn't relevant any more. I'm going to take it off your records."


You can read the rest of this post by clicking here....


You can read about Will Halls approach to safely coming off psychotropic medications from a harm reduction approach. Here's a brief excerpt and description about this guide:


"A 'harm reduction' approach means not being pro- or anti-medication, but supporting people to make their own decisions balancing the risks and benefits involved. Written by Will Hall, with a 14-member health professional Advisory Board providing research assistance and 24 other collaborators involved in developing and editing. The guide has photographs and art throughout, and a beautiful original cover painting by Ashley McNamara."


You can download and read Will's guide here.


You can read my disclaimer about psychotropic drugs  here.

Change is in the air!

Susan Kingsley-Smith

Change is a good thing!

I've been having some challenges with my name....and have been considering a name change for some time but - after being relocated to 3 different hotel rooms this week because there were 3 "Susan Smiths" at the conference...and once again asked if I was the Susan Smith who drowned her children - its official; my new online name will be "Susan Kingsley-Smith".

Empowering Solutions! Author, Educator and Coach Shamash Alidina on using the R.A.I.N. formula to manage painful emotions

Empowering Solutions is a Blog Talk Radio program hosted by me, Susan Kinglsey-Smith, that focus' on sharing solutions that will empower you to take control of your healing journey!

Learning to use mindful self awareness to deal with difficult emotions is a vital core component of healing from trauma regardless of its source or cause. Mindfulness is a protective environment where we can begin to release difficult emotions and this month on Empowering Solutions we'll be talking with Shamash Alidina on this topic.


Shamash Alidina is an Author, Mindfulness Trainer, Coach, Educator and Lecturer and who recently published his best selling book “Mindfulness for Dummies”. On Empowering Solutions this month we'll be talking with Shamash and his insight into mindful awareness as a tool and the skills in using his RAIN formula to learn to manage distressing emotions and other mindful techniques to support your healing journey!


Learning and practicing mindful self awareness when things are calm will empower us to conquer the pain when life is difficult; R.A.I.N. is formula we can use to begin to "go through" to "get out of" the pain of PTSd. 


Go to Empowering Solutions on Blog Talk Radio to listen to this Empowering Solutions broadcast with Shamash Alidina, Author of Mindfulness for Dummies!