Toxic family members rarely apologize. They would rather carry their denial to the grave than face the damage they have caused.

In their minds, the pain they created was somehow your fault.

Sometimes healing means accepting the apology that you will never get.

 

Old Memories

 

Do you have great memories from being a kid, and fun with your friends? Can you go to these places,and think about all the fun you had. Do you have lasting friendships from back then?

I have thinking about these things recently. The old man has all of these things.

Then I thought about being a kid. I have none of these experiences.

I have one place with memories, those things are very special for me. Where? The farm where my mother was from...the relatives and my cousins.

It is a sad commentary about the life of a military child. We moved every year...I went to a different school yearly.

Still, these things are how I became my own strong person.

Something to think about....

Keep a Good Attitude

Written by Marc Chernoff

Patience isn't about waiting, it's the ability to keep a good attitude while working hard for what you believe in.

As you move through the days and weeks ahead, remind yourself that it takes roughly 66 days to form a new habit. So for the next nine and a half weeks, consciously leverage the actionable reminders below to look at the brighter side of your life, and you will gradually rewire your brain…

1. Start steadying yourself with simple rituals.

When life feels like an emotional roller coaster, steady yourself with simple rituals. Make the bed. Water the plants. Rinse off your own bowl and spoon. Simplicity attracts calmness and wisdom.

2. Start filtering out the noise in your life.

Be careful about who you give the microphone and stage to in your life. Don’t just listen to the loudest voice every day. Listen to the truest one.

3. Start choosing differently for your own well-being.

A big part of your life is a result of the little choices you make every day. If you don’t like some part of your life, it’s time to start tweaking things and making better choices in the days and weeks ahead.

4. Start being a little more productive than you are busy.

There’s a big difference between being busy and being productive. If you’re going to put in some work between now and the end of the year, don’t confuse motion and progress. A rocking horse keeps moving but never makes any forward progress. In other words…

5. Start dedicating time every day to small, meaningful steps.

If you only have fifteen minutes to spare, no problem — make those fifteen minutes meaningful. Focus on taking one small step forward in the right direction. And even when the struggle is real, remind yourself that it always feels better to be exhausted from taking a small and meaningful step forward, than it does to be tired of doing absolutely nothing.

6. Start moving toward things, not away from them.

The best way to move away from something negative is to move toward something positive.

7. Start doing what’s right, even if it’s not the easiest option.

Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. Just because it’s easy, doesn’t mean it’s worth your while. Do what’s right, not what’s easiest right now. It’s a less stressful way to live in the long run.

HSP Self-care

 

by Linda Binns

the self-care you need

• Spend time alone. Find somewhere to go to be by yourself, even for just a few minutes, when you’re at work.
• Boost your energy before and/or after work with something soothing. Michelle’s routines were yoga and soaking in a hot tub. Yours may be different.
• Listen to calming music, or even white noise, while at work.
• Practice working through emotional issues, rather than holding onto them. (Yes, we too can “smuggle” feelings from our personal life to work or vice versa.)
• Bring nature into your environment, such as a plant or fresh flowers. It’s amazing what even one beautiful natural element makes for HSPs.

 your natural gifts as a highly sensitive person

Nothing stifles your energy more than not using your innate gifts, talents, and abilities. 

Do you have a strong intuition about certain things? Do you know things without knowing how or why you know them? Do people seek you out for advice, or share problems with you? All of these things are clues to your unique gifts.

Once you identify them, you must use them in some way — and yes, you can leverage them at work. It’s a rare workplace that doesn’t want an insightful problem-solver that everyone trusts.

HSPs can thrive in our professional lives, but we can’t wait for other people to figure out what we need. We have to take the lead. We have to help ourselves and tell others how to help us. Then we can show the world what we’re really capable of. When people see how much we have to offer, I believe we will be more accepted — and valued. That’s when organizations will start competing for their share of HSPs.

HSP listen to your body

 

by Laura Rose Ogden

The Big Takeaway: Listen to Your Body! 

 Listen to, and be kind to your body!

This is important for highly sensitive folks to be aware of because we are more sensitive to external stimuli. If you are regularly in an environment where your stress response is triggered and hyperstimulated, you can develop a nervous system response that includes heightened sensitivity to touch. 

Being highly sensitive can make your muscles tight, put your skin receptors on alert, and give you headaches and even stomach pain. But that doesn’t mean being highly sensitive is a bad thing. 

We burn out quickly, get overwhelmed, and feel stressed more often tells you this.. All it means is that you need to take time to look after yourself — to think about where you hold tension, if you’re breathing normally, if you’re clenching your muscles, and so on. Don’t ever underestimate the mind-body connection.