Good Saturday Afternoon!

Here's what i have to offer to myself and my friends today:    "...Whenever you're feeling negative or low, you're approaching an important crossroads. One direction takes you toward the reason you're upset, toward specifics and details. It encourages examination and analysis. This direction works on the assumption that "I'm not okay and that's not  okay." It's not okay simply to feel bad -- you must come up with an explanation as to why you feel bad and then do something to make yourself feel better. This is the direction most people take. It's the direction most therapists take. It's the wrong direction to take if your goal is to feel better...    ...If you think back to the discussion of moods, you'll recall that feeling bad, or dropping into a low mood or state of mind, is a natural part of life. Luckily, feeling good, or experiencing a higher mood or state of mind, is also natural. A natural flow or rhythm exists between these higher and lower moods...      The more you think in a low state of mind, the worse you'll feel because your thoughts create additional feelings to contend with. You end up convincing yourself that you really do have good reason to feel bad...    ...If you can simply allow yourself to be down and let it be okay, doing nothing about it, knowing that "this too shall pass", it will. No explanation is needed, no analysis, nothing. Just the understanding that it's okay not to be perfect. This quiet acceptance of or surrender to the natural flow of life allows your mind the space to be free. It opens the door to feeling good again...    ...Your Happiness Isn't Tied to Your Dreams        There is an enormous difference between having a dream and your making        happiness conditional on your dream coming true.     ...The dynamics of unhappiness apply whether your pipe dream is finding an ideal mate, geting a desired promotion, winning the lottery, or being able to afford a new car. It doesn't matter what issue you're dealing with. If you attach your happines to something external to yourself, you'll spend most of your life waiting to be happy. It doesn't have to be this way...    ...It's okay not to be perfect!..." all quotes taken from "Shortcut Through Therapy; 10 Principles of Growth-Oriented, Contented Living" by Richard Carlson For those trivia buffs, I was once told that the word "okay" actually comes from one of our Presidents; either Teddy Roosevelt, or Harry Truman, I believe, I'll research it if necessary. He was a teacher, and an avid proof-reader of all the typing done by the stenographers in his 'pool'. He would note "All Correct" on their work when done correctly, except that he started initialling them "a c", which by the close connection of his writting looked more like an a written lower-case as an "O" with an ending down-stroke "l" to make the A; and a C; put together it looked more like an "O" and a "l<" with the < being a c. Hence the stenographers joked that they had the President's "O K" as retribution for his perfection of their work, while his handwritting wasn't 'perfect'.