Thankful I'm No Longer a Basket Case!

Thankful I am no longer a Basket Case

Happy Thanksgiving All! I am reading on Social media all the things people are most grateful for and I am delighted to read them. It is heart warming that people realize the bountiful blessings they have in their lives. So I decided I better post what I'm most thankful for before it looks like I'm not into the Gratitude Circle. So I started to think. I mean really think. I cant post just any ol' feel good thing. i gotta be real if I'm going to talk about gratitude! I had to be  honest with myself (and the world I serve): I am most grateful that I am not an emotional basket case. I am emotionally stable and at peace with the way life is for me. 

See, there was a time not too long ago where I couldn't deal with the losses in my life. I had a sense of prolonged grief. And for those of you who don't know, prolonged grief turns into serious depression and can affect not only your mood but your physical health. I literally was a closet and functioning emotional wreck!  I could work life publicly but went home miserable. I can joke about it now, but living it was painful (and for my closest friends and loved ones). But I can say today that I am no longer a basket case. 

Yes, I have my moments when I pout, when I cry, when I vent, but the losses are not the definition of my existence. I have had to deal with rejection and losses since the BIG loss but it doesn't consume me to the point of no return. 

So that is what I am most grateful for this Thanksgiving Season. That is what I can shout about and say I have victory over! 

Blessings on this Thanksgiving Day 2012,

Aurellia

What Do You Know For Sure?

Proceed in the direction of what you know for sure. I remember when Oprah Winfrey came out with her Magazine "O". In the back of each edition she wrote a personal page titled, "What I know For Sure." This always intrigued me because a woman as successful as she had to know many things for sure. But the title spoke volumes in that it pointed out the fact that while we may "know" many things, there are those things that we know "for sure".

I myself know many things about my life but there are few things that I know "for sure". Those truths that we know for sure have to be what guides every step and the direction we take in our life. I know for sure that the school I chose for my son to attend is the right one for him (and us) and our life choices will be made around his school. See how what I know for sure should guide every decision? Simple concept but hard to follow, I know.

But we should make life that simple. We have to know for sure some things and allow it to be our truth regardless of what the hens in the coup say.

So I ask you, "What do you know for sure about your life?" Proceed in that direction.

Blessings,
Aurellia

Life Support

I am a hospital chaplain. I love my job but I will admit that it has some really tough days. Some of the toughest days are the ones where I see hope ceased. There will be a family who is hoping for the miraculous turn-around of a family member who is on a ventilator, or life support. They have hoped that the patient would be able to breath on their own but after many unsuccessful attempts, the patient is not able to be weaned, or come off of the life support machine. They then have to make the decision to have a tracheotomy placed in the patient (permanent life support) or allow the patient to die a natural death and remove the life support. Those days are tough because it has such a spiritual component that we all can relate to.

While we may not all have to make a decision to sustain one's life by hope and artificial means, we all can relate to holding on to hope of a situation in our lives turning around for the better. We have experienced a relationship (personal or professional) that is essentially dying (or even dead) and we hold on hoping for it to "live" or "live again". And then eventually, we will have to decide to remove the life support-all those things we are doing to sustain the "alive-ness" of the relationship and allow for it to die. Unfortunately, like some families, we decide to keep relationship "alive" by artificial means until eventually it dies on its own. For example, a job that we know has died but we will continue to put all our energy into it with no seemingly beneficial results. Same goes for a friendship, romantic relationship or business. Sometimes, we must discontinue the life support in order for their to be comfort and peace.

The Death of a thing is not easy. It requires true assessment of the situation and understanding of the purpose and goals of whatever it is we are holding on to. Sometimes something will die on its own, but more likely than not we are given the opportunity to discontinue life support. Ask yourself, am I continuing unnecessary suffering because I have reasonable hope or is it because I fear the outcome removable of the "life support" will bring? Whatever the answer you receive allow it become real in your life and I pray you have the strength that I didn't have to remove the "life support". 

Blessings,
Aurellia

Photograph by Jennifer Enright (c)

Eye of the Tiger

Hi Bloggers! I have a dear sweet sister-friend named Jen. Jen is a competitive horse rider (or shall I say equestrian) who took the time a while back to teach me to ride. I loved it! I new I was a nature girl but I didn't realize how much I was until I got on her horse, Dolly. Dolly was so patient with me. She handled my newness with ease. I never fell off of Dolly but there sure were times when I thought I was going to fall. But she steadied herself which in turn held me on.

Over the past few days I have felt the steadying of life when I was sure I was going to fall off. The bumps and the rough ride of life can have us thinking that we are going to fall off. But we won't if we just trust that we are not going to fall. Our thoughts will determine our behaviors...

In that same time, I began to get distracted by the bump and the seeming change of a new season or a different course my life was going to take. The hurt of the change or the pain of the withdraw of a constant can distract us from our goals. We must have the eye of a tiger and not get distracted when the seasons change...

Change can be the hardest thing we have to deal with in life. I know for me I don't do change very well. I like consistency. I like knowing what to expect with the two that matter is things change. Seasons to change. And change they must...

The atmosphere has a way of letting the weather know how to behave in a particular season. This season has to change so that growth can continue. Our lives are just like this season. Our lives change: people come, people go, jobs come, jobs go, experiences come, experiences go...

We must embrace the changing of seasons. Yes, our hearts may be heavy and tears may well open our eyes but also there may be those who are excited that the season is changing. Embrace the season that you're in with expectation that it will change. You may not know when it will change but it will change.  So let your hearts be lifted.

Blessings,

Aurellia

(c) Photos by Jennifer Enright