How Can I Turn Negative into Positive?

How Can I Turn Negative into Positive?
Not to be morbid, but in the past week and a half, I've received some really difficult news...not just one time, but like seven times!  

It started with three elderly relatives with physical difficulties, one of them, ending up in the hospital, then rehab, then the ICU, and then back to the regular hospital, then the rehab facility, again. Fortunately, he is on the mend now. The other two elderly relatives, a husband and a wife, delightful people, each passed away within days of each other.

Not only did I care about each one of these people, but one of my cousins more in the middle-age range than the elderly, passed away after a long illness.  

Just the other day, I came across an obituary for my best friend from middle school. Now that one, the youngest of them all was the shocker.

I hadn't talked to her in 35 years because we had a falling out in high school and lost touch, the fact that she passed away, actually died, at a relatively young age and unexpectedly, is jarring.

There are positives that can be grasped out of these pieces of seemingly bad news...three people are no longer suffering with debilitating health issues and pain, a husband and wife didn't have to be separated by death for very long before they were reunited in heaven, we still have more time with one of our cherished relatives on this side of heaven, and we know that as Christians, death has lost its sting because it's really just a transition to a better place.

No matter how you look at it, all of our days on Earth are numbered. Whether old or young or somewhere in the middle, there comes an expiration date.

Some don't like to think about it or talk about it, and some people actually obsess over it because they want to get to heaven so badly and to escape from the hardships of this world.

I fall somewhere in the middle. I want to live each moment to the fullest. I want to live and love well. I want to steward what God's given me to steward, and I want to use it to bring His healing to help people.

There really is no time but the present. We are not guaranteed tomorrow on this planet, but, if you are reading this, you have right now, today.

Each who passed recently had really cool experiences and contributed much while they were here.

What do you want to leave behind when it's your turn to transition to Heaven?

How are you doing with that?  

Are you intentionally moving forward, or are you trying to minimize and ignore the uncomfortable fact that our days on earth are not unlimited?

My encouragement to you is to make a choice to live boldly and unapologetically for the Lord now, so you can leave a legacy of good things to touch others lives when it's your turn to transition home.  

That's basically the whole point of life, isn't it?

If you could use some help and encouragement along the way, you might want to learn about a new program, SHINE, I have developed to help make the "shoulds" in life more like easier "did thats."

Let's live well now so we can live always without regrets. Check out this week's podcast here. Click here to learn more about SHINE.

There is no time like the present to live really well.

What to do When I am Exhausted?

What to do When I am Exhausted?
Are you exhausted?  Like, it's just too much, exhausted?

Yeah, I feel it too.

Sometimes I'm exhausted because I put so much energy into something and haven't had enough time to regain personal and mental space to fill up on energy again.

What is taking up your energy recently?

How do you personally fill up on energy again?

Sometimes, I'm exhausted trying to please all the "red tape" things in life, like filling out tax forms, or taking the dog to the vet, remembering to pick up stamps, or keeping up with continuing education credits for my counseling license.

Sometimes I'm exhausted because I overthink things, and then I connect things to other things in my brain, and I need to turn my brain off for a bit because it's just too much.  And, sometimes, I'm just physically tired.  

I know you've been there.

Exhaustion is a real thing. 

We can see more clearly and not get caught up in a lot of noise in our heads or from the world around us.

To hear more on this topic, listen to this podcast: 15 Therapist Sayings that Can Help You

ANNOUNCEMENT!

The SHINE  Subscription, is about to go live this Saturday, February 15, 2025. The SHINE Subscription is like having a personal coach, a friend, a devotional partner, and a daily planner right at your fingertips as it gives you bite-sized prompts and helpful downloadable tools to use as you go through your day as well as helpful suggestions and mental health tips each week. Best of all, it is just $16 a month to subscribe to something that can definitely make life simpler.  

The first two weeks of the SHINE subscription focus on the concept of rest: personal rest/spiritual rest, and resting in God and include other helpful resources for managing life with less stress. I hope you'll join when it becomes available this Saturday, February 15, 2025.

Each month will have a new theme of focus, so that we can dig deep together and continue to grow and glow in the Lord and in our mental health.

For now, though, I invite you to take a moment and breathe deeply...just for a moment, take in a really slow, deep breath, and slowly, slowly release it.  Rinse and repeat.  This helps your nervous system to reset when you're exhausted, overwhelmed, or stressed, and it just feels so  good when your muscles can  relax and be reenergized.



 
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