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11-Apr-2006
Uplifting Words, by Dr. Janice Dorn

In an age where technology is accelerating at logarithmic speed, people are hypertasking, hyperactive, hypertexting and just about everything else which leads to neurochemical hypomania, addiction, anxiety, depression and various states of disease, it behooves one to step back and take heed of what your body and brain are telling you.

What is serenity and how do we achieve it- even for a few moments every day?

The cardinal principles are simple, but not easy. Every day is a new beginning, a time to start again, to renew, to look in the mirror and decide-- in the first three minutes-- what your goals are for today. You are what you say to yourself as your face is staring you in the face. Just as trees have dendrochronology, so do your face and your body. Rigidity, obsessiveness, anger, paranoia, joy, anticipation, and every conceivable emotion show in the set of your face and your body. You are what you make yourself. It is about you and no one else.

What can we do each morning to make ourselves better human beings, and to allow ourselves to evolve in a way that is effortless?

• Forgive others...truly forgive and move on. Resentment is among the most destructive of all feelings.
• Forgive yourself...get over yourself because you're "Not All That!"
• Visualize yourself as a person of confidence and success with clear, delineated goals who can sustain yourself through anything. Life is not at all about what happens to you. It is about who you are and how to respond to what happens to you.
• Keep up with yourself, not with others. Use your dignity to rise above yourself as you stand in your integrity and speak the truth to yourself and others.

Every week, I pick one day to send myself a note saying something nice about myself. I take the note to the florist and ask the florist to include it with roses which I send to myself. What a delight when the flowers arrive and I see what nice words have been written about me!

Many years ago, I came across a writing which has sustained me through triumph and tears. A worn copy of it is with me always :

After a while you learn the subtle difference between holding a hand and chaining a soul and you learn that love doesn't mean possession and company doesn't mean security. And you begin to learn that kisses aren't contracts and presents aren't promises and you begin to accept your defeats with your head up and your eyes ahead with the grace of an adult not the grief of a child. And you learn to build your roads today because tomorrows ground is too uncertain for plans and futures have ways of falling down in mid-flight. After a while you learn that even sunshine burns if you get too much so you plant your own garden and decorate your own soul instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers. And you learn that you really can endure that you really are strong and you really do have worth and you learn and you learn. --Veronica A. Shoffstall