Christmas Time

In the world today we tend to forget about the meaning of Christmas, the fact that it is about love, salvation, giving of yourself and not just gifts. It seems we get so wrapped up in our own problems and how we're going to buy those expensive presents to try and please others, we lose ourselves and forget about others that have less.
Sometimes we need to take stock in what we do have, it may not be much, or it may be a lot, but wealth and happiness is not measured in the presents under the tree, or our bank accounts. Happiness is measured by what's in our heart and the love we give and get; so rich is the person with love in their life, love of family and friends. So rich is the person who can leave this world knowing that love and knowing they shared that love with others.
We leave this world as we came in, with nothing but hope, faith, and love, you can't take possessions with you just an inner peace of self and how you lived your life. So live the best life you can it doesn't have to be a huge boundless life it can be a small family life as long as it is done with joy and love and lessons learned, true happiness will follow.

I know this time of year seems to bring tragedy to many lives and is amplified because of the season. So I would like to mention a few that I have heard about the past couple of days and hope if you read this you will send out good thoughts and prayers for these people and all who are in need.

First is for my new friend Jen who is facing another Christmas after great loss but is doing it with grace and good spirit. Things will get better.

Second is for Jen's best friends mother who faces illness this year, give hope that she will be okay.

Third is for a woman I know that has survived lung cancer, lost her husband this month last year to lung and brain cancer, and had her house burn down last night. Sometimes when we feel bad about our own lives look around and see the struggle others have to face and take a minute to send love and compassion to those who need it more.

This year is coming to a close and yet my own journey is just beginning because I am starting to look at things and life through different eyes. Events in my life as well as the things I am learning are bringing me down a new path, one I hope that brings the happiness I seek so I can share it with others.
So this Christmas morning when all the craziness of the season is done take a moment to think of others and send out good thoughts and prayers to them. I will be up early that morning, as I always am, I will turn the tree on, get my coffee, and sit there in the quiet of the day and think about the happy memories I have and mourn what I have lost to never have again. But this time I will take stock in the now and know that I am not done with life as life is not done with me. I will realize the peace I am coming to know inside myself and smile, knowing that this life is just a beginning, a trial run at what is to come. I know there is more after this life and I smile because there lies true hope, faith, and love.

Merry Christmas everyone :)

Unit 3 Reflections

1. Based on your reflections, and on a scale of 1 to 10 (ten being optimal well-being), where do you rate your A-physical well-being, B-spiritual well-being, C-psychological well-being? Why?

On a scale of 1-10 I rate my:

Physical well being 6, because I do have some issues but I am pretty healthy overall.

Spiritual well being 8, because I am secure in the fact that there is more than this physical world and my faith in greater beings and an afterlife is strong. The test is holding on to that faith when things go wrong and I have to understand the lesson being taught.

Psychological well being 5 and growing, because I have struggled with many events in my life and gave in to depression and the “why me” phase but am sorting through all that now and learning to find the inner peace that we have been talking about. Sometimes life has a way of going by and bad things happen and we find ourselves pushing the feelings, emotions, lessons, etc. down into a place inside so we don’t deal with them. At the time it seems to hard or we don’t want to relive what has happened yet as time marches on we realize in order to find peace and forgiveness of the past and of ourselves we have to deal with those issues. I am doing that now and am feeling a change within myself, a good one. Grieving, anger, acceptance, as others are all important feelings and emotions we need to deal with in order to move on and flourish.

2. Develop a goal for yourself in each area (physical, spiritual, psychological).

My goals in these areas are:

Physical: work on giving myself the best nutrition I can and stay away from the chemical laden foods that have become staples in the American diet. Find an exercise plan that helps with my spinal disabilities and promotes flexibility, endurance and mobility.

Spiritually: Keep seeking that strength in my faith and that no matter what I am not alone.

Psychologically: I will keep working on that inner peace and forgiveness of self and others that will bring me to a peaceful existence in this world. I will continue to work on the issues that I have suppressed and kept me down for so long, so I can be happy with what is now. Let go of painful past mistakes and things I can’t change, not worry about what may be coming because I can’t stop fate, just live in the moment and be happy with that.

3. What activities or exercise can you implement in your life to assist in moving toward each goal?

The exercises and/or activities that can help me with all of these goals would be meditation, writing, a gentle yoga, and relaxation techniques. I have been running away for so long now it is time to stop and deal with the issues I avoided and I believe an assortment of the exercises/activities I mention above will help me.

4. Complete the relaxation exercise The Crime of the Century. To hear this exercise, click here. Describe your experience. (What it beneficial? Frustrating? etc.)

My experience with this exercise was calming and peaceful. It is a reminder of what is inside all of us and what we send out has an effect on others as well as ourselves. Picturing someone we love and admire and feeling those feelings and then picturing others maybe enemies, strangers, etc. and letting those same feelings of love pour out reminds me that we are all connected. And that karma is something we do send out and what we get back is a reflection of what we sent. This realization and feeling of contentment is beneficial to our well being and flourishing, it revolves around inner peace. The only frustrating part is to quiet the mind sometimes and focus on nothing that can be hard.

Welcome

Hello,
My name is Charlene Chambers and currently live in Florida but am trying to sell my home and move back to New England. I have 2 adult daughters and 2 grandchildren which are the loves of my life. I am earning my BS degree in Health and Wellness in order to build a career helping children and families. I hope to have my own business someday where I can help people revamp their lives through nutrition and general wellness so they can achieve their best overall health possible. I just want to share my knowledge with others and help people who desire change for the better. In this day and age the basic's of life get put on the back burner because of the constant rush of society. We forget to slow down and take time to enjoy life, the problems and issues will be there tomorrow but we tend to forget that life may not so priorities, like family and quality time have to come first. As I get older I see this philosophy more clearly and know that quality of life is much more important than quantity because we cannot always control the quantity but quality we can certainly make a priority.