Whether you are listening to preacher, Joel Osteen’s optimistic sermons or believe in Karma, having a positive image and opinion of yourself works to your benefit – and therefore everyone around you.

For too long I have been under the illusion that belittling myself was attractive to others. It helped the person I was encouraging attain greatness, not me. Meanwhile, I was swimming in self-doubt and eventually, self-loathing.

This path lead to destruction, despair and depression. Wallowing in my flaws and asserting their existence only perpetuated them further.  It was totally useless and undermined my self-esteem.

I came to the conclusion eventually that I had to make believe I was worthy. As noted before, I have been saying affirmations for more than a dozen years but I am pretty thick headed.

Grateful to be here. Grateful you are here.

I now know I have a lot to give and bless the world with too.

It is Rebirth day for me.

When I listen, I get clues to my next journey.

It is revealed, organically and it is obvious.

In the past, distractions, lack of focus and procrastination have kept me blocked from attaining my goals. I would get side tracked and discouraged. I lacked drive.

Today, I am inspired and task oriented. My actions match my desires. I put the work in to make it happen.

What is it you truly want? Are you working towards it or away from it? Why?

Abandon attachment to results and expectations to attain peace or be bound to it.

It is truly difficult to on the one hand have goals and on the other, not expect certain outcomes. For me what works best is to keep working towards a dream but allow it to unfold in its own way and time. I do the footwork and then just see what happens.

There is enough in life that requires my instant and undivided attention and action to resolve like the flood we had inside our home and the subsequent fall out of things to do. 

I teach Restorative Yoga with blankets, blocks, straps and bolsters. We use modifications and stay in one position for up to ten minutes, allowing the tissues, bones and muscles to release with depth. I remind my yoga students to get comfortable because the difference between bliss or torture can be off just one eighth of an inch. It is the same with our attitude.  Whatever circumstance we find ourselves in, it is our responses that inflict pain or joy in the psyche.

We interpret and transform according to how we engage in our surroundings. Each moment, each challenge and every single twenty-four-hour period, is an opportunity to be our best selves. We treat our environment and others with the same way we behave towards ourselves.

No matter where we come from or whom are parents are, it is our task therefore to educate ourselves about the world and ripen into a modern maturity.

I come from a long line of alarming chicken littles’. And then I wonder why I suffer anxiety attacks?

Recently, we had a sewage flood in our home; I sobbed when I thought my pooch might have been infected with dirty bacteria laden water.

The headaches, the debris and the aftermath of the lake inside my house from a broken main line sent me spinning. After a few hours, I pulled on my big girl panties, strapped on my heavy-duty workout bra and got to work.

The good news was my dog and my house cleared the contamination check.

It is just a matter of time, investigation, expense and work. No one got hurt. This is not a tragedy. It is fixable. This is not a dollar problem, I told myself. It is a penny problem. And life happens when you are making plans. It is an inconvenience, a glitch and an intrusion, not a funereal calamity.

Ironically, I was contemplating sending my laundry out to a service and now I must. Be careful what you wish or pray for. You are sure to get it.

The silver lining is that now we know who the haters are. And we don’t have to play nice anymore. Sharpen your claws, pussycats. Oh you have woken up many wild souls!

According to a Washington Post reporter of over thirty years, her favorite sign she noticed and quoted was – You thought I was a nasty woman before? Well, Buckle up Buttercup!