Everyone needs encouragement. Everyone needs hope. Everyone needs support. Here's my contribution as you go through what you do, day by day, in both practicing and making positive changes in your life! Remember, you are a child of God. Nobody is above you...or beneath you. We are all in this together...
Just For Today....
. Practice smiling. When even strangers say to you, "Come on, it can't be that bad!" you KNOW you need to practice smiling more often!
. Practice making eye contact and for longer periods of time than what you are "used to" with others. As soon as you shift your gaze away from another person, you send the message to them that you've lost interest in them and/or what they are saying. ADHDers are notorious for not being able to maintain eye contact for more than 15 seconds at a time without "shifting".
. Practice NOT using profanity. Swearing is like trying to ice a cake with spackle. It may appear acceptable for some at first...but it doesn't take very long to see how wrong a choice it really is. Words can be very powerful...but only when what is said is based on the truth!
. Practice saying "No" when you feel "No" is the right response for you in that moment. Who died and made you the "go to" person for anyone and everyone in your life and world? By learning to say "No" more often, you are learning to practice positive self care which leads to higher self esteem over time.
. Practice asking "Can you tell me what you meant by that?" when you feel someone has just said or done something to make you feel AFRAID, ANGRY, and/or CONFUSED. There are lots of different ways to ask this same question...just be sure to practice asking whenever you feel offended!
. Practice waiting patiently. Nobody likes lines. Nobody likes waiting to speak to someone on the phone. And certainly nobody likes rush hour stop-and-go traffic. So what? Are you going to accomplish "whatever" faster or more effectively by having a literal or figurative meltdown? No, you will not. So practice waiting patiently. It builds perseverance. And one day when you are in the nursing home waiting to be taken to the bathroom, you'll be able to do it without having a heart attack first! :-P
. Practice saying "I love you!" to those you do love! What's the harm in that? None at all! So practice it!
. Practice thinking "the opposite" thought if you tend to see the glass as half empty. It's raining today? Instead of thinking of everything you can't do outside as a result, think about what you CAN do inside instead! Turning your thoughts around from negative to positive takes practice anyway...so why not start this very day?
. Practice reaching out to someone just because. Not everyone is busy. Not everyone is pre-occupied with other people, situations, or circumstances. Many, in fact, are very lonely and broken. When you reach out to someone in a selfless manner, the act of giving becomes its own reward. Try it, you may like it...and find you are becoming a better person as a result.
. Practice doing at least one thing a day that you LOVE LOVE LOVE! Do you love to dance? Do you love to sing? Do you love to read? Do you love to bike? Do you love to hike? Whether it involves 5 minutes or 5 hours of your time doesn't matter. Always practice doing something each day that you love! (That is NOT illegal, immoral, or fattening that is!)
. Practice being a student of life...rather than an expert at everything. Humility is a gift. Pride is a curse. Practice being humble even when in the presence of someone who is of no possible use to you. Then you are doing something right! Pride is what causes us to make stupid mistakes over and over and OVER again. Don't be stupid. Be humble instead. And keep practicing it!
. Practice identifying the lesson you have learned as a result of the mistake you have made. Without lessons learned, mistakes will just keep making an encore appearance in your life because you aren't seeing what you are supposed to be seeing! Every "hurt" you have felt has a lesson attached to it. What is that lesson? You will never know if you don't practice identifying them!
. Practice STOP.....RELAX.....THINK....AND FINALLY ACT before you "do" anything after being triggered. Too many of us act first and think last when someone says or does something that immediately sends us into mental orbit. And you wonder why you have problems? Get into the habit of stopping in order to think (and if you have to relax or jump around or do a dance before you can think "straight"...go right ahead!)..BEFORE you act!
. Practice following through. It's easy to think about all sorts of things and making plans accordingly. Following through, however, on those plans and/or promises is not so easy. You don't have to do everything today. Maybe just one. And you'll feel good for it besides!
Making positive changes starts with a single step. And with each new day is an opportunity to practice a "new" way of thinking, a new way of speaking, and a new way of behaving that works FOR you rather than against you. You may not believe in yourself very much...you may have spent a long time in fact beating yourself to a pulp. As such, there's no time like the present to start treating yourself as the gift you are from God to the world around you.
Until we meet again...
.
Just For Today....
. Practice smiling. When even strangers say to you, "Come on, it can't be that bad!" you KNOW you need to practice smiling more often!
. Practice making eye contact and for longer periods of time than what you are "used to" with others. As soon as you shift your gaze away from another person, you send the message to them that you've lost interest in them and/or what they are saying. ADHDers are notorious for not being able to maintain eye contact for more than 15 seconds at a time without "shifting".
. Practice NOT using profanity. Swearing is like trying to ice a cake with spackle. It may appear acceptable for some at first...but it doesn't take very long to see how wrong a choice it really is. Words can be very powerful...but only when what is said is based on the truth!
. Practice saying "No" when you feel "No" is the right response for you in that moment. Who died and made you the "go to" person for anyone and everyone in your life and world? By learning to say "No" more often, you are learning to practice positive self care which leads to higher self esteem over time.
. Practice asking "Can you tell me what you meant by that?" when you feel someone has just said or done something to make you feel AFRAID, ANGRY, and/or CONFUSED. There are lots of different ways to ask this same question...just be sure to practice asking whenever you feel offended!
. Practice waiting patiently. Nobody likes lines. Nobody likes waiting to speak to someone on the phone. And certainly nobody likes rush hour stop-and-go traffic. So what? Are you going to accomplish "whatever" faster or more effectively by having a literal or figurative meltdown? No, you will not. So practice waiting patiently. It builds perseverance. And one day when you are in the nursing home waiting to be taken to the bathroom, you'll be able to do it without having a heart attack first! :-P
. Practice saying "I love you!" to those you do love! What's the harm in that? None at all! So practice it!
. Practice thinking "the opposite" thought if you tend to see the glass as half empty. It's raining today? Instead of thinking of everything you can't do outside as a result, think about what you CAN do inside instead! Turning your thoughts around from negative to positive takes practice anyway...so why not start this very day?
. Practice reaching out to someone just because. Not everyone is busy. Not everyone is pre-occupied with other people, situations, or circumstances. Many, in fact, are very lonely and broken. When you reach out to someone in a selfless manner, the act of giving becomes its own reward. Try it, you may like it...and find you are becoming a better person as a result.
. Practice doing at least one thing a day that you LOVE LOVE LOVE! Do you love to dance? Do you love to sing? Do you love to read? Do you love to bike? Do you love to hike? Whether it involves 5 minutes or 5 hours of your time doesn't matter. Always practice doing something each day that you love! (That is NOT illegal, immoral, or fattening that is!)
. Practice being a student of life...rather than an expert at everything. Humility is a gift. Pride is a curse. Practice being humble even when in the presence of someone who is of no possible use to you. Then you are doing something right! Pride is what causes us to make stupid mistakes over and over and OVER again. Don't be stupid. Be humble instead. And keep practicing it!
. Practice identifying the lesson you have learned as a result of the mistake you have made. Without lessons learned, mistakes will just keep making an encore appearance in your life because you aren't seeing what you are supposed to be seeing! Every "hurt" you have felt has a lesson attached to it. What is that lesson? You will never know if you don't practice identifying them!
. Practice STOP.....RELAX.....THINK....AND FINALLY ACT before you "do" anything after being triggered. Too many of us act first and think last when someone says or does something that immediately sends us into mental orbit. And you wonder why you have problems? Get into the habit of stopping in order to think (and if you have to relax or jump around or do a dance before you can think "straight"...go right ahead!)..BEFORE you act!
. Practice following through. It's easy to think about all sorts of things and making plans accordingly. Following through, however, on those plans and/or promises is not so easy. You don't have to do everything today. Maybe just one. And you'll feel good for it besides!
Making positive changes starts with a single step. And with each new day is an opportunity to practice a "new" way of thinking, a new way of speaking, and a new way of behaving that works FOR you rather than against you. You may not believe in yourself very much...you may have spent a long time in fact beating yourself to a pulp. As such, there's no time like the present to start treating yourself as the gift you are from God to the world around you.
Until we meet again...
.