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Browsing Category Positive News

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Positive Quote Wednesday – on Therapy

  • 04/26/12
  • admin
  • · Positive News

A lot of what I’ve been learning in the last two years is due to therapy – about my sexuality, why things go wrong, why relationships haven’t worked. It isn’t anything to do with anybody else; it’s to do with me.
Boy George

Acting is probably the greatest therapy in the world. You can get a lot stuff out of you on the set so you don’t have to take it home with you at night. It’s the stuff between the lines, the empty space between those lines which is interesting.
Robert Carlyle

All of my problems are rather complicated – I need an entire novel to deal with them, not a short story or a movie. It’s like a personal therapy.
Manuel Puig

Being able to improvise is the basis for creating all characters and situations, for everything to do with performing, really. And it’s good therapy as well.
Chris Kattan

Being in therapy is great. I spend an hour just talking about myself. It’s kinda like being the guy on a date.
Caroline Rhea

Getting on stage is a bonus, that’s my therapy, that’s when I can tell stories and it all makes sense.
Jason Mraz

I do it as a therapy. I do it as something to keep me alive. We all need a little discipline. Exercise is my discipline.
Jack LaLanne

I don’t really look at myself as the kind of person who craves attention, but I’ve never been to therapy so there’s probably a lot of stuff about myself that I don’t know.
Al Yankovic

I got into therapy in the fifth grade because I said in a sarcastic way that I was going to kill myself, and they didn’t get it then. Nothing’s changed.
Fiona Apple

Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud

Beth

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Positive Phone Calls

  • 04/25/12
  • admin
  • · Positive News

When we think in terms of communication, we envision either the “face to face” or the virtual kind (email, text messaging, etc.) One seems personal and the others, well, we try to make them personal, but something always seems like it’s always a little missing.

And while it’s hard to make electronic messages genuinely personal, a phone call falls somewhere in the middle. No, that person isn’t face-to-face but you are hearing a human voice and communication certainly does occur.

Here are a few ways to add some positivity to your phone communications:

1. Check your Voice. We all respond to calm, soothing voices in a positive manner. Before you call a friend or a colleague, hum and yawn a little. This brings your voice forward and assists in making your speaking voice sound more melifluous and welcoming.

2. Start it off Right. Just as we often judge someone within seconds of meeting, we also can sense someone’s mood fairly quickly by the way he or she answers the phone. Remember to sound upbeat and happy to hear the caller, regardless of whether you are. Better communications happen when people feel respected and honored.

3. Listen, listen and listen. Listening is even more challenging on the phone than in person. Take a moment to breathe and genuinely hear what the person has to tell you. Hear the way in which they’re telling you something. Listening is always key and more important when we’re physically removed from the person with whom we’re speaking.

4. End Kindly. A proper goodbye feels good to both parties. Don’t end too abruptly; some people feel secretly hurt by hasty departures. Think of being on a see-saw with a friend. When it’s time to get off, you do so gently and fairly, together, so both parties feel safe and content.

Beth

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Positive Beverages?

  • 04/25/12
  • thegreenchildrenfoundation
  • · Positive News

Perhaps your first thought when it comes to positive beverages is a big glass of red wine. And while that can be wonderful, did you ever notice the power of a good non-alcoholic beverage? Here are a few good examples:

1. A Hot Cup of Tea. People have been drinking tea for eons now. Whether it’s herbal or caffeinated, there’s just something instantly grounding about drinking hot tea. If you’re feeling a bit frazzled or unfocused, stop for a sip and see what happens.

2. A Tall Glass of Water. A boring beverage, you might think. Until you realize the changes you feel after drinking some good old H20. Many of us go throughout the day slightly dehydrated. Water is cleansing and gives you a small boost of energy. While drinking it, feel a sense of purification, as if you’re washing all the bad stuff away.

3. A Refreshing Glass of Juice. I don’t know about you, but when I’m not feeling well, I crave orange or grapefruit juice. Its as if my body is screaming for it. Juice is a fresh, alive and it imbues in us a sense of vibrancy, on top of it being good for our health.

So drink up today. Take a moment to feel the effects in your body and mind.

Beth

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Positive Quote Wednesday – on Mornings

  • 04/25/12
  • thegreenchildrenfoundation
  • · Positive News

Prayer is the key of the morning and the bolt of the evening.
Mahatma Gandhi

If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And If it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.
Mark Twain

I have to be alone very often. I’d be quite happy if I spent from Saturday night until Monday morning alone in my apartment. That’s how I refuel.
Audrey Hepburn

For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ‘If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?’ And whenever the answer has been ‘No’ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Steve Jobs

I look upon death to be as necessary to our constitution as sleep. We shall rise refreshed in the morning.
Benjamin Franklin

I wake up every morning at nine and grab for the morning paper. Then I look at the obituary page. If my name is not on it, I get up.
Benjamin Franklin

In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.
Khalil Gibran

It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.
Henry Ford

The person who doesn’t scatter the morning dew will not comb gray hairs.
Hunter S. Thompson

In the morning, a man walks with his whole body; in the evening, only with his legs.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

All men are children and of one family. The same tale sends them all to bed, and wakes them in the morning.
Henry David Thoreau I have a great deal of company in the house, especially in the morning when nobody calls.
Henry David Thoreau

The light which puts out our eyes is darkness to us. Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star.
Henry David Thoreau

Beth

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Tall Men Wear Big Shoes

  • 04/19/12
  • thegreenchildrenfoundation
  • · Positive News

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We often don’t think in terms of what “the other” experiences on a daily basis. What is a day like for someone dealing with chronic pain, for instance? Or someone who has just lost his or her mother? Or job? Okay, how about this: what is it like to be the tallest man in the [...]

Beth

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The Importance of a Retreat

  • 04/02/12
  • thegreenchildrenfoundation
  • · Positive News

I met a man yesterday who was on a self-proclaimed retreat. No, it wasn’t an “official” retreat at some fancy spa or in the middle of the desert somewhere. It was at his friend’s shore house, which was empty during the winter. He’s a musician, works hard and just feels empty as of late: scattered, no new ideas and low on energy.

He only managed to get away from 3 days but he’s turned off his phone, made his environment quiet and welcoming, and is allowing himself to “clear the slate” as he put it.

Most of us never bother doing such a simple act of spiritual care. But undoubtedly most of us are in need of that thorough downtime that’s dedicated to repair, reflection, creation. Our world has never been so frenzied and frenetic. We need to take that downtime, because no one is going to take it for us! Our mental, spiritual and physical health require time to unwind in a thorough manner.

If you can’t afford a fancy retreat somewhere, how could you make a day off “retreat-like”? Turning the phone off for a day would be a nice start. (Come on! You can do it. Stop using “Well, it could be an emergency” as an excuse. We lived a long time without our precious cell phones.) Picking up that book you’ve been meaning to read. Writing about any old thing in your journal. Going for a long walk. Reflecting on your past and how it’s lead you to where you are now. Being at peace with yourself.

Retreat. Reflect. Revive.

Beth

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Positive Quote Wednesday – on Speech

  • 03/28/12
  • thegreenchildrenfoundation
  • · Positive News

Mahatma Gandhi

I think my first album opened a lot of doors for me to push the freedom of speech to the limit.
Eminem

A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous.
Ingrid Bergman

Watch your manner of speech if you wish to develop a peaceful state of mind. Start each day by affirming peaceful, contented and happy attitudes and your days will tend to be pleasant and successful.
Norman Vincent Peale

To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker.
Frederick Douglass

Speech is an arrangement of notes that will never be played again.
F. Scott Fitzgerald

The trouble with her is that she lacks the power of conversation but not the power of speech.
George Bernard Shaw

Beth

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Anxiety – Not What We Have, but What we Do

  • 03/27/12
  • admin
  • · Positive News

According to Charles Merrett, clinical psychology as a treatment for anxiety doesn’t really work the way we’d like it to. And he should know . . . he’s been a clinical psychologist for more than 35 years. His recent book, “The Origin of Anxieties” is a culmination of what he’s learned about stress over the years and why the way most of us think about it is dead wrong.

The way people think and speak about anxiety (“EverydaySpeak” as Merrett calls it) is as if it is a condition, or something that has “happened” to you. The problem with this perspective is it relinquishes all control over the situation and makes people victims of their anxieties.

Merrett uses the example of “The Speeding Car” to illustrate his point. If you were standing in the middle of the road as a speeding car came headed straight towards you, you would be experiencing a great deal of anxiety. But if you were wearing your iPod headphones and had your back turned as the car bore down on you, you wouldn’t experience any anxiety at all. In other words, the anxiety is not in the car or in the situation, it is in you.

It is only when you become aware of the car and begin to attach significant meaning to the situation that the anxiety comes into play. Anxiety is not what we have it’s what we do. In some situations, “doing” anxiety can be helpful. (Preparing your body to leap out of the way of an oncoming car would be one good example.)

Read more…it’s worth it!

Beth

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Cows Welcome Spring

  • 03/26/12
  • admin
  • · Positive News

If you’re having trouble starting your week, take a moment to watch this sweet video of cows celebrating Spring.

This video was shot at a farm in the UK where cows were recently released from their indoor winter housing to their fresh pasture for spring and summer grazing.

Beth

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Positive Quote Wednesday – on Silliness!

  • 03/21/12
  • admin
  • · Positive News

There is a finite end to this life and we’re all going to face it and a little silliness can help.
Alan Thicke

Never stay up on the barren heights of cleverness, but come down into the green valleys of silliness.
Ludwig Wittgenstein

The best actors, I think, have a childlike quality. They have a sort of an ability to lose themselves. There’s still some silliness.
Kenneth Branagh

We all sit in front of our mics and our scripts lay on music stands. Then the silliness begins!
Tara Strong


Beth

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