In a recent MacLeans Magazine article (October 14, 2010), Dan Hill (“Sometimes When We Touch”) shares openly about his and his family’s experiences under the care of Mental Health professionals.

Dan’s transparency and vulnerability, as he once again steps out from behind the curtain of privacy and self-protection, helps to further strip away the stigma that still surrounds the topic of Mental Illness. More people than we could ever know deal with some form of challenge in mental health and wellness.

I encourage you, if it is within your comfort zone, to take a small step out and share this article with someone you think may benefit from hearing about how real Dan is, in his article, Me and My Shrinks.

Read the article in MacLean’s Magazine… and also visit Dan Hill’s page on Facebook….

Imagine being born without arms.   No arms to wrap around someone, no hands to experience touch, or to hold another hand with. Or what about being born without legs? Having no ability to dance, walk, run, or even stand on two feet.   Now put both of those scenarios together: no arms and no legs. What would you do? How would that effect your everyday life?

Here’s Nick Vujicic, a man with no arms, no legs, and one incredibly inspirational attitude. Take a look at his outlook on life (see video clip below):

For more on Nick Vujicic, visit http://www.attitudeisaltitude.com.

A certain amount of fear is a healthy thing to possess. It functions as an early warning sign to prevent us from entering into harm’s way. Unfortunately, for some people, that alarm system gets hyper-sensitized, causing inappropriate affective (emotional) responses to non-harmful stimuli, triggering our built-in "Fight-or-Flight" response system.

This is an automatic body system that instantly pumps adrenalin into the bloodstream in order to enable a person to run, fight, or in any way defend themselves against perceived danger. Notice that the word perceived is important. If, in your mind, you have developed a fear of being made fun of (based, likely, on some very real occasions of this having happened in your past), you may have created such a dread of this recurring, that when you find yourself in a situation where you could be vulnerable to the jeers of others, you may begin to feel hot, flushed, a little (or a lot) shaky, and you may experience difficulty breathing. Your perceived sense of danger has just triggered the fight-or-flight response in your body, which in turn, is responding just as it is intended to when there is danger. There is nothing wrong with your body; it is doing what it is supposed to be doing when your mind perceives danger. The problem lies in the fact that your mind has developed such a fear of being embarrassed, that you have temporarily overdosed your body with adrenalin (since you are not needing to run or fight).

In situations of mild anxiety, you may not experience such a drastic reaction, but your “alert” system will be somewhat heightened, causing an increase in blood pressure to prepare you in case the "danger" escalates. The more you mull over and fret about events of the future, the more your mind is perceiving danger, and the more symptoms you may experience: tightness in the chest, shallow breathing, tense neck and shoulder muscles, etc. Your body is behaving as it should, given that your mind is mulling over all things that could go "wrong" or pose danger in some way, such as financial troubles, marital concerns, child-rearing issues.

The trouble is, that allowing your mind to remain in this state of turmoil causes your body to remain in its tensed, poised-to-fight state, causing pain and fatigue as it eventually wears you down. The body has to work much harder, because of your perpetual heightened state of alarm. Chronic headache, backache, and overall fatigue can set in, which in turn, causes more tension on the mind and body. This is what is all known as stress. Stress is a pressure that the body and mind endure, which, over time, can create compound issues, including but not limited to panic disorder, asthma, allergies, and heart and stroke risks.

Of all the websites I have come across, Dr. Reid Wilson’s site, called anxieties.com, on overcoming anxieties, has provided the most comprehensive (free!) help I have seen. Free lessons are provided on this site, to teach you about anxiety, and enlighten you to strategies and techniques to overcome anxiety and stress, including Panic Disorder (panic attacks) and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD).

To read about my own personal experience on overcoming anxiety and Panic Disorder, see my posting called Panic Stricken.

When Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Full Catastrophe Living popped into my Amazon mailbox, the title didn’t just pique my interest; it reached out and grabbed me by the throat!

Right there, that described my life!

The year was 2007, and having lived a life of managing stress on the slim rim of sanity, I knew that in order to keep from being sucked down into that familiar whirling, turbulent vortex that would fire me down, down, down into a full-catastrophe melt-down, I needed some help. I had lived in a mental prison that kept me, on the one hand, in deep regret of painful experiences of the past, and then, suddenly, on the other hand, would toss me to where I would linger in tense apprehension of the future. Add to that a sound measure of (Adult) Attention Deficit Disorder (A.D.D.), and you had yourself one fine specimen of a hurting human unit.

Riveted on the title that spring morning, I clicked on the Amazon link for the title and began an intravenous feed of the preview information offered on the site:

“Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain and Illness.” I read on…

“The program of the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center.”

“The practice of mindfulness: Paying Attention.”

“When you begin paying attention to what your mind is doing, you will probably find that there is a great deal of mental and emotional activity going on beneath the surface. These incessant thoughts and feelings can drain a lot of your energy. They can be obstacles to experiencing even brief moments of stillness and contentment.”

If you are the kind of person who is hard-wired to control the world around you and you find yourself continually overwhelmed by circumstances beyond your control, you will understand why I bought that book faster than a mosquito scores a bare arm. Over the course of the coming days and weeks, I enveloped myself in not only the knowledge the author imparted, but also in the practice of Mindfulness Meditation. In a nutshell, Mindfulness Meditation is the practice of training your thoughts to dwell on the present, moment by moment, as the moments unfold. As I began practicing it, the frenzied, mental cycle that for decades had dragged me down to the bottom of the emotional ocean, began to lose its grip on me. The more I practiced living in the present moment, the less time and inclination I had to focus on the past or speculate about the future. Intense anxiety gave way to a calmness and a peace like I had never known.

Moreover, because the practice of Mindfulness fosters a far greater awareness of one’s surroundings, I began to pay closer attention to where I would place things (such as my keys…a constant issue with A.D.D.ers ), and my greater ability to focus enabled me to do a better job at prioritizing, too. My life began to take on some semblance of very welcomed order.

Now, thanks to Mindfulness Meditation, I have become acutely aware of the warning signs of my own toxic thoughts, and can steer clear of the undertows of discouragement, anxiety and stress, by immediately switching gears and focusing back in on the present moment.

A dark time will come in everyone’s life when it will feel like there are no answers to the meaning of life and the pain that is sometimes experienced. To go on trying seems futile, the personal sense of failure is crippling, and the words "I hate my life" will gush out from the bottom of the pit, with no relief in sight. Deep despair leads to despondency, as numbness flows into the wounds that won’t seem to heal.

The loss of a loved one, a desperate financial situation, pain from abuse, the scars from betrayal, firing from a job, the evaporation of a dream. The source of the despair may be different for each person, but the pain is what’s common, and it begs an answer.

Waiting for the gloom to lift feels like an eternity as reminders swirl, moment by moment, whispering negative, discouraging thoughts with unrelenting persistence. If only there could be relief.

For some people, help from a trained therapist in the form of a psychiatrist, psychologist or counselor will be necessary to forge a new pathway to a renewed perspective on life that lifts the weight and cuts loose the ball-and-chain that had previously imprisoned your every thought. There is no shame in needing the help of a professional, and in fact, there is deep wisdom and reward in allowing your authentic thoughts and feelings to be revealed from behind the steel curtain to another human being who is trained in the effective leading of damaged emotions into the waters of healing.

In the meantime, how will you cope with today? How will you cope with this moment?

If you have entertained any thoughts of suicide, I implore you to contact your local mental health hotline immediately, where people on the other end can help. Harming yourself is not the answer, because although you cannot see your way out of the abyss right this moment, the turning point may be just around the corner, and you need only put one foot in front of the other to get from here to there. Obtaining assistance with your perspective on life right here, right now, will help tremendously.

You are not alone. Everyone experiences despair and needs help getting to a brighter place, so you are not a freak or a loser. You are a tender human being who needs some loving attention paid to your thought processes right now.

Circumstances may not change for a while, but with a renewed mindset over the situation, relief can be close at hand. To give your mind a much needed break from the swirling, negative thoughts, I invite you to join me in a stress coping technique, where you will focus your thoughts on only your breath for the next moments. The goal is to focus only on your breath, and as other thoughts bombard your awareness, gently pick up the thought of your breath again and focus back in on it. As many times as the thought of your breath gets eclipsed by other thoughts, pick it lovingly back up and focus back on your breath. Feel the air go in gently, and out gently. This moment, focus on the breath inside your chest. Now this moment. And again this moment.

It is important as you do this that you not disdain the uninvited thoughts that wander into your mind and distract you. Instead, just acknowledge them and then immediately pick up that gentle thought of your breath once again. Pick it up effortlessly. Do not push out the uninvited thoughts, because pushing involves force and effort. Instead, lovingly pick up what you do want to focus in on: your breath.

Feel the oxygen and nourishment from your breath moving slowly and lovingly from your chest through your bloodstream, out to your fingertips. Feel your shoulders, then gradually your elbows, and on to your wrists, and experience their sensations as the oxygen from your breath feeds them. Inch by inch feel the breath feeding your body, and if invasive thoughts interrupt, gently focus back on that part of your body where you are lovingly focused.

If you will do this exercise every time your thoughts start to spiral downward in negativity, you will rescue them from more torment, and place your mind in a place of tenderness and healing. The wee break you provide yourself with by doing this will soon grow to a bigger and more significant break as you begin to train your thoughts to follow this new, peaceful pathway. What you have just practiced is called Mindfulness Meditation, which is nothing more than learning how to keep your thoughts in the present moment, that place where healing, refreshment and peace can be found. It’s real, tangible, and free from distortions. Reflections of the past and fears of the future are wrought with distortions, but by focusing on the present moment, your thoughts are released from every other place. Over time, you may choose to focus on things in nature around you as they exist, moment by moment. Then when you are with people, you can focus on interacting with just them, as they are, in the present moment, not distracted by regrets of the past or worries of the future, but focused on that person, in that moment, right now.

For more resources on Mindfulness Meditation, I welcome you to follow the links below to the University of Massachusetts Medical Center Stress Reduction Clinic, where you will find books and guided meditation CDs to help you learn to have a fresh, relieving perspective on life that will break the pattern of past, destructive thoughts and give you hope for and expectation of a peace-filled future:

Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are terms that are often confusing to people, as the phrases are frequently used interchangeably. What do they mean, and is there a difference between them?

The term "Attention Deficit" refers to the wandering of the mind from the intended point of focus, onto other surrounding stimuli. There is an inability to innately regulate attention. (Ironically, while at times there is a deficit (shortage) of attention on the intended subject matter, at other times you may observe an unexpected hyper (over) focus on a subject matter.)

Hyperactivity can either be present or not in any given child with ADD. Moreover, it can be present sometimes, and then not observable at others. A very high-strung, super active ADD child would be a little more accurately defined if you used the term (ADHD) to describe them.

(An aside: While it may seem cruel or unkind to use "labels" in referring to people’s condition, the label serves as a quick means of defining a cluster of symptoms. It would be difficult to have to spell out the behaviours every time you wanted to refer to the child, in an attempt to not label. Labeling for clarity is beneficial when it is used for the right purposes, such as securing services or help for an individual. I do not typically go around defining myself to others as an ADD-er, but if I were to require some special services I would qualify for at a college or university, I would certainly make it known that I am an ADD-er, complete with official diagnosis.)

The best way to explain ADD and (ADHD) is to perhaps take a peek at some illustrations.

The setting: The Classroom

It is a grade 3 class, and the students, arranged in groups of 4, are tasked with looking through resources (picture books, story cards, etc.) to locate, discuss and record answers to the questions they’ve been given on a certain topic. Three of the students dig into the task immediately, flipping open and scavenging through the items on their table in search of answers.

The fourth student looks out the window at nothing in particular, then reaches in his desk for his pencil so he can continue picking the loose pieces of rubber off the end of his pencil eraser that he began to pull off earlier. While the other three students reveal to one another their academic discoveries, this child is unengaged in their topic. He gets up from his seat, and wonders over to the area where yesterday’s leaf projects lies on display. The teacher notices and directs him back to his group. By the end of the allotted time, this student has contributed little or nothing to the group’s experience, and perhaps has been, at times, an annoyance to the teacher with his continued trips around the classroom and his digging around in his desk to pull out this and that to play with. Because he has left himself out of the dynamic shared by the other three students in his group, he has failed to bond with the others and remains a bit of an outsider.

Over in the other corner of the room, a similar scenario is playing out, only the rogue student there is a little more vocal, pestering and poking at his classmates to pull their attention toward him. He gets up from his seat and meanders around, asking questions unrelated to the task at hand, and visibly annoying the other students who are trying to be attentive to their group.

Both of these students might have Attention Deficit Disorder, and they both may be exhibiting some hyperactivity as well. Because ADD is a spectrum disorder (there are varying degrees of severity of it), it is difficult to say whether just one of the two ADD children has the hyperactive component, or whether they both do. During group discussions in the classroom, they might both tend to blurt out answers the teacher asks, instead of raising their hand and waiting to be chosen to answer. They interrupt other classmates, correct others’ answers out loud, and have various other unexpected and often unwelcomed behaviours. In their distractedness, they have missed the cues the others have picked up on which teach a child when a certain behaviour is appropriate or not.

Not all ADD children exhibit the same symptoms, and not all in the same circumstances. A child may be unruly at home, but something in the structure at school may keep him or her in check, or vice versa. Moreover, the child’s attention may wax and wane from one day to the next, such that one day the student is perfectly attentive to the lesson, but the next day, during a similar lesson, is wildly distracted.

When I was a child, I was so excited to answer the questions the teacher posed, that I was constantly shooting out the answers even before all the words had left her tongue. I found it difficult to do silent reading at my seat, because every time another student would move or get up or make a gesture, my attention was pulled from the text, onto them. Yet when I was at my Grandmother’s house, I would sit and stitch buttons on a piece of cloth until every button was sewn on, with an uncanny length to my attention span.

Regulating attention is not natural for the ADD or the (ADHD) child, but the one with the hyperactivity component is more visibly distracting to others because of his or her constant movement, visibly impulsive actions, and incessant demand for attention.

As the child moves through adolescence and on into adulthood, the hyperactivity component is often tamed or disappears. Hence, adults are generally referred to as having ADD rather than (ADHD). ADD adults will often throw themselves into tasks in which they take an interest, while procrastinating on others that they find difficult to engage or connect with (that same attention dysregulation that was seen in the ADD child).

For some really high energy ADD adults, you would best describe them as having (ADHD), however. A great deal of energy my be visible in this person, and you may observe them participating in all kinds of activities and interactions, sometimes very risky, exuding a real zeal for life. They tend to be very impulsive, and will often suffer consequences for poorly thought out choices. This is the reason that ADD-ers, and in particular ADHD-ers, are at higher risk for addiction and crime.

In summary, it is no sin to use the terms interchangeably, though for a greater defining of an apparent hyperactive component, you may do well to describe the person as having (ADHD). All ADD and (ADHD) persons have difficulty regulating their attention, but not all have a visible hyperactivity component.

It all began when I was 9 years old and I choked on a piece of meat.

Fortunately, my Dad, sprang into action and dislodged the obstruction from my throat. Having now been turned off the rest of my dinner, I was excused from the table.

Consciously I was a little shaken up by the incident, but the days and weeks to follow revealed a deep trauma that had actually occurred within me. When I attempted to eat anything solid, my throat clamped shut like a spring-hinge. Feeling not terribly hungry anyway, I resorted to liquids (juice, water, and creamy soups with no big lumps). After about three weeks of this, I began to be quite hungry, and the notion came over me that I could handle boiled chicken.

“Boiled chicken?” my Mom questioned back. “Who eats boiled chicken!” But she knew that anything crispy, hard or dry would be simply repelling to me, so she boiled me up some tender chicken, which I mashed a little and managed to swallow without too much difficulty. Eventually I must have eased back into eating anything and everything, but I was soon to discover that a change had come over me, outside of eating, that would paralyze and immobilize me unexpectedly for the next 19 years to come.

I grew up always fearful of being focused on and picked on publicly, and had always felt uneasy in situations where there was the potential for someone to point and laugh at me. I had been the butt of jokes and the recipient of public mockings at the hand of someone I had trusted deeply to protect me. I had not realized, at the time, the degree to which I had become petrified of being singled out and put down. Following the choking incident, panic started coming over me in certain situations, when I was out in public. It didn’t happen all the time, and so I never could predict its arrival, which made it all the scarier for me.

The panic attacks continued, ninja-style, unannounced, throughout all of my teens and most of my twenties, until I was twenty-eight years of age.

By that time, I had built up a significant wall (no, it was more like a fortress) behind which to hide, so that no one could see the real me. I was unaware of this wall, but took every measure, sub-consciously, to have it on duty at all times. It was not a conscious decision I had come up with, to conceal myself. It was a built-in, natural defense mechanism to protect me from future public, verbal scourgings. My psyche had determined that protecting me was of life-or-death importance, so the stakes were very high.

Now, to a rational, self-aware human being, it would appear logical that being embarrassed publicly would not result in death or anything near death. After all, what is the worst that could happen? You’d feel like an idiot and then move on, right? Pretty simple.

The trouble was, I was not self-aware, and so lived in the grip of terror, not knowing what was inducing the fear, or why. Panic Disorder involves the triggering of the body’s autonomic system, releasing adrenalin and other hormones into the system in preparation for the body’s fight-or-flight from a perceived perilous situation. When real danger is present, the body needs to be able to react with beyond-normal speed, strength and intuitiveness. Yet when the danger is merely perceived, the body receives the same signal from the brain, that triggers the same amount of adrenalin as in a truly perilous situation, but because it is not really needed, the amount of the hormone arrives in overdose quantity, sending a chain reaction to all the body systems, elevating the heartrate, and sending power to all the extremeties, so that the person can run, kick, fight, and in any way, get away. Blood, and hence, oxygen, are borrowed from the brain, the heart, the lungs and from any organ that can surrender it temporarily, leaving pounding heart, shortness of breath, and the inability to think straight in the moment.

And all this, because of a perceived danger, that the unconscious mind has picked up on, but to which the conscious mind is not privy.

One thing is certain: the unconscious mind, responsible for all of this, believes there is something HUGE at stake, that is life-threatening. My task was to figure out what that was, so I could reprogram my mind to process the same situation as non-life-threatening.

The answer for me came about all quite by accident. I had sat with several Christian women to whom I had grown very close and trusted deeply, and during one of our times together, we were sharing about how transparency in relationships enables the iron closet of hidden secrets to be purged, the conscience to be cleansed, forgiveness to be sought, and relationship bonds to be strengthened. We all shared, one by one, about the deepest, darkest, most rotten, dirty little secrets we had stored up in ourselves throughout our lives. Assured that this was how I could deepen my relationship with God and find forgiveness for what I had done not only to humans but also to Christ, I poured out every last detail I could think of, of every single moment I had lived. The cleansing felt unbelievably scary, but I had no idea at the time that the reward would be as monumental as it turned out to be.

It was perhaps months down the road before I began noticing that certain settings that would have triggered a panic attack in the past, were no longer doing so. I continued to walk in my new mindset of transparency, allowing who I truly was to be seen, so nothing new would get stashed away, guarded inside any locked and hidden pressure-cooker like before. Miraculously, no panic attack every struck again.

What I will say, though, is that there have been moments when I have felt the precursors to a panic attack….that uneasy, tense and guarded feeling of high-alert and an unreasonable sense of fear (in comparison to the real danger at hand) when I have been in certain public situations. As soon as I picked up on those signals, I stopped immediately and consciously removed the protective guard, that mask that I hid behind for so many years, and allowed myself to be consciously vulnerable to potential embarrassment and even deep humiliation. What if someone laughs at me? What if I make a complete moron of myself? What if people look down on me and gossip about me? What is the worst that will happen?

This self-awareness and willingness to be completely transparent now calms me profoundly. I let the embarrassment in, picturing myself opening the front door and letting the wind flow right through me, and right out the open back door. I no longer lock and latch and press on that front door, trying with everything in me to keep the intruder of humiliation out. I now invite it in, like a best friend, to come an linger inside me and spend time with me. The more I invite it, though, the less power it has over me, and it slips quietly out the back door.

If you or someone you know has ever existed in the prison of fear, dread or panic, whether fear of heights, fear of flying, fear of anything perceived or real, I welcome you to visit the site of Dr. Reid Wilson, who has a free program on overcoming fear, Panic Disorder, and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. You can work on the online program at home, at your own pace. I applaud him for continuing to make this resource free. It speaks of his commitment to being a great humanitarian first and foremost, by helping as many fear-crippled people as he can. His site, anxieties.com, is located at www.anxieties.com.

It’s January. Christmas is over. New Years is past. The days are short, the weather cold. With much of winter yet ahead and the overwhelming urge to remain indoors in the warmth, physical exercise is not foremost on most people’s agendas. Crawling back into bed is a lot more appealing, this time of year.

What some are experiencing at this time, physicians call “Seasonal Affective Disorder,” or SAD. It is a form of depression that affects countless individuals annually. Lethargy, listlessness, lack of motivation, sadness, overwhelmedness, fatigue, and crankiness/annoyance include some of the more common symptoms of SAD. Although it often appears during the winter months, it can occur any time of the year, and often recurs seasonally.

What to do?

There are several helpful solutions, any combination of which may be helpful. But the one I want to focus on here, involves Mindfulness Meditation. (Note that additional suggestions will follow at the end of my blog.)

Mindfulness Meditation

Like the name suggests, Mindfulness Meditation involves purposeful, intentional placement of one’s thoughts on one certain area of focus. During times of depression, the mind naturally, effortlessly slips into a state of reflection on past failures, hurts, and disappointments. As such, it paints the future black, dashing hopes, dreams, and aspirations. Thought patterns are reflective of a vortex, spiraling down, down, down. At Canada’s Wonderland, there is roller coaster ride called The Vortex. Once on the ride, there is only one way to the end: spiraling down, down, down (in sheer terror, I might add!). Likewise, during depression, thoughts easily strap themselves into the ride that leads nowhere good, nowhere positive, nowhere hopeful.

What will break the cycle? What can pluck your thoughts from the dreaded vortex?

Mindfulness Meditation. It’s no great trick, really. It’s not rocket science. But it works like magic. Why? Because Mindfulness Meditation involves seating your thoughts in the present moment only.

Start by selecting something that exists right now, in the present. I often select my breath, because breathing is something that I do, moment by moment, every second of every day. It’s always there as my companion, on which to focus. Alternatively, you may choose to focus on things in nature if you are out on a walk. Or if you are inside, so you could decide to focus on the colours in the room. Whatever it is, it needs to be before you in the present moment, so you can focus in on it. As you zero in on it, you will immediately notice your focus wanting to lift off and take flight onto something else. This is natural, and a sign that you are normal.

As soon as you notice that your thoughts have left your chosen point of focus, gently and lovingly bring your thoughts back again. Explore the item of your focus (your breath, or the smells or sounds of nature, or the colours in the room….). Each time your thoughts escape, lovingly bring them back, without self-reproach for having allowed them to wander. There is no room for disdain, self-reproach, or self-loathing. In this place called the present, there is only acceptance. Accept what is. Love what is. Embrace what is. Feel the breath go in and out. Observe the smells. Whatever your object of focus is, simply allow it to be, with no judgments.

If you can only do this for 2 minutes, fine. If you can then return and do this for 5 minutes, great. If you can go on to 10 minutes or longer, all the better, but accept whatever it turns out to be. Explore beyond your breath as time passes. Focus gradually on each aspect of your body, from your head to your toes, gently bringing back your focus to your body every time it wants to float off. Or gradually focus on different aspects of nature you see and hear and smell and feel, if you are out walking.

For whatever length of time you have done this, you have just successfully trained your thoughts. This is the new platform from which future successes will springboard. The old is gone, the new has come. The new is always there, available to you, every time you bring your focus back to that which is in the present, in loving embrace of it.

Moreover, you have just provided much needed relief from the torment where your thoughts would have otherwise spent their time: the past, or the future. The past has some value when we glance at it for cues on how to improve things for the future. But sadly, during depression, the past becomes a hitching post for perpetual lashings and cruelty by none other than ourselves. The past is meant to be a lamp post to guide us toward a wise and better future, and nothing more.

During Mindfulness Meditation, your thoughts are also prevented from dwelling in the future, that place where there is the anticipation of dreaded events that depression tries to serve up to you. Anxiety plays richly on minds which linger in the future. But when meditating on those things that are in the present, thoughts are existing in the beauty of present reality. The future is not real; it has not yet happened, and any amount of rehearsing all the various combinations of bad outcomes for our future, will not bring about healthy emotions. All it will serve to do is put us in deep bondage, for the sake of things that might not even occur!

Alas, the only answer, the only relief, lies in focusing in on the present. It is life-giving, mobilizing, and uplifting. Only by focusing on the present, can a sound, healthy perspective be achieved that will allow for effective management of the past, and wise planning for the future.

If you are interested in experiencing more of the freedom that comes from reducing stress through Mindfulness Meditation, try Googling Jon Kabat-Zinn, and look into many of his wonderful resources developed through the University of Massachusetts Medical Center Stress Reduction Clinic.

See Jon Kabat-Zinn, Mindfulness Meditation.

(For a list of some additional methods of overcoming SAD, please read below.)

Some Additional Help with SAD:

Light-Therapy (Phototherapy)

For some, the answer may lie in light-therapy (phototherapy). Receiving a 20 minute dose (or recommended) of a special frequency light wave early in the morning before the sun comes up, has been found helpful in alleviating symptoms of SAD, according to some clinical studies. The light is not looked into directly, but is set in front of you while, say, reading a book. Be cautioned that exceeding the recommended daily length of time in the presence of the special light may cause feelings of annoyance due to overstimulation.

Medication Therapy

For others, the answer may lie in medication. There are several beneficial medications on the market that can help alleviate the symptoms of depression; consult your doctor to discuss your options. My experience, however, is that medication alone is not the “be-all, end-all.” Rather, medication should be viewed as that which can help set the train back on the tracks; what generates movement down those tracks, requires an additional form of assistance (counseling, psychotherapy, etc.). When a train is de-railed, it simply cannot move forward, until it is lifted back into position. Medication can sometimes fulfill that role and is sometimes needed temporarily, and sometimes permanently.

Physical Exercise

Physical exercise is a wonderfully valuable aid to anyone enduring any form of depression. In fact, movement of any kind is 100% more effective than no movement at all. So if you can only put one foot in front of the next, you’re on your way to recovery. I have a “lunatic” friend who takes it so much further, and is currently participating in a running event called “The Goofy,” which is a back-to-back half-marathon, followed by a full-marathon! Why she does it? It feels downright good, she reports. I suspect that the good is not just physical (for there is much pain in enduring marathon running), but is also emotional. As muscles are flexed and energy is exerted, hormones called endorphins are released into the bloodstream, creating a natural “high.” Lactic acid is also released, and lymph is moved throughout the body, enhancing overall well-being.

But if you’re not a runner, that’s okay, too. Walking has tremendous value, not just for the physical benefit, but also for affective (emotional) wellness. Take yourself where you are at. If you can run, run. If you can walk, walk. If you can bike, bike. Just move. Somehow. Move.

Learning How to Pray to God

For me, having a spiritual mindset involves focusing beyond what is going on in the world, by focusing my mind and my heart, moment-by-moment, on God, not just in a crisis, when convenient, or only on a Sunday. It means talking to God and bringing Him into focus, not just during specific, focused prayer times, but striving to be aware of Him in every moment that I breathe.

Stress, anxiety and depression can all cause the Christian to forget that God is present and that He is sovereign, and reliance on self instead of the mercies of God, can result in a state of overwhelmedness. I was not made to be super-human, but instead, I was made to be a fragile jar of clay, so that I would not rely on myself, but on Him who made me (see 2 Corinthians, chapter 4).

Do Not Be Anxious About Anything….

In Philippians 4, Paul gives away some really valuable secrets to unlocking peace and tranquility in my life, by teaching me that my anxiety is proportionate to my willingness to turn over every detail of my life to God’s loving care. In everything I encounter, I am to focus on The Lord, with thanksgiving in my hearts.

Paul teaches that by focusing on the qualities of God, I will overcome anxiety, and gentleness will flow from me where harshness once poured out. Praying to God effectively does not mean reciting a series of rote (memorized) words without emotion. Jesus taught his disciples to pray by first focusing in on the nature of God. “Our Father, who is in heaven, ” he began (Matt 6). God is my Father. This is not to say he is flawed like all earthly fathers, but that He is my protector, my overseer, and the shepherd of my heart. He laid down His life for me in sending Jesus to die for my sins. That’s the love of my Father. So I begin my prayers by realizing that I am speaking to the one who has the power to walk me away from anxiety, depression and stress.

Everything that is in the world (including us), was created by Jesus, for Jesus, and through Jesus (Colossians 1). Jesus holds everything together by His powerful Word, and indeed, He is the Word of God (John 1). I am not just praying to the cleaning staff in the building; I am praying to the owner, the boss, the C.E.O.; I am praying to the one who runs it all. As such, God expects that I will trust Him, and believe He is there for me.

In your prayers I am purposeful in being real, authentic, and transparent. I am not praying to God to look good, but to lay out before Him the gratitude, fears, and hopes of my heart. I ask Him to mould my heart into the likeness of His. He is not there to be a wish-granter, but to bring peace to my heart. He wants me to have a security and peace that transcends understanding.

Your prayers do not need to be any specific length. Better a 1-minute prayer, than babbling on and on in meaningless rhetoric. God wants your heart and your love.

There is no recipe for prayer, per se. God wants to speak back to His children when we pray to Him, so I try to include The Word of God in my prayer times. There are countless Scriptures that teach me to trust God with my fears and discouragements, and help to lift me out of the pit of depression and outfit me with a positive mindset. Memorizing small passages of Scripture and praying them back to God when in the midst of turmoil can do wonders for bringing about peace in the midst of life’s storms.

The point is to pray moment-by-moment as I live my life, inviting God into my every thought, my every decision, and my every emotion. I cannot hide anything from Him. Letting God and Christ walk alongside me allows me to be closer to people, and I have found repeatedly that God works through people to bless and comfort others. Letting Christ walk alongside me means being mindful of His presence there with me, all the time.

Finally, take on the focus of Christ, by being outward-focused. The inward, self-focused person dwells on life’s issues and problems and hence, magnifies their own self-importance and their own problems. There is a hurting world out there. Find someone who needs your comfort and friendship, and walk with them. Be aware of people around you, so you can be responsive to others in their time of need. You’ll be amazed at how God sees to it that, in serving others, your very needs will be met.

Christians are God’s channels. Christ desires to flow through you to others, and through others to you. Prayer helps to direct and unleash the power of Christ, that same power that raised Him from the dead. The time you spend in mindful prayer will refresh you and strengthen you, so that you will have peace enough to share with those around you.

Biblegateway.com

If you are wanting to find a good, free online Bible resource in numerous modern translations, click on BibleGateway.com.

Peace be with you.

Mindfulness Meditation involves the practice of intentionally and purposefully focusing on the present moment in a gentle, effortless manner. The ides is to focus, not in a pushed, forceful or strained manner, but rather, softly and persistently on something that exists in the present moment. Focusing on one’s breath is often a good place to start when beginning Mindfulness Meditation, because breathing occurs in the present moment, and our breath is always with us, everywhere we go.

Focused on the breath, my mind is occupied on that which is in the present moment, instead of gravitating toward the usual future-focused “what-ifs” and past-focused distressing regrets, thus providing me with a much needed emotional break. This is not to say that worries and concerns stop invading as soon as I begin focusing on my breath. Those thoughts will barge in, but rather than forcefully pushing these uninvited guests aside, instead, I gently pick up the present moment and softly lay it back down in the cross-hairs of my focus. If thoughts invade a hundred times, that’s okay; I just gently place my focus back onto my breath a hundred-and-one times, lovingly, without self-abasement for having allowed in the invaders. I simply acknowledge the other thoughts in a neutral manner, without judgment or disdain. They are just thoughts, and I am no less a person because they interrupted my focus on my breath.

As you begin practising Mindfulness Meditation, you will soon discover that sustaining focus on the present moment (on your breath) is no small feat. As simple a task as it is, it is extremely difficult to accomplish, because your natural placement of thoughts does not generally persist in the present moment. The longer you practice, however, the more natural it will eventually become. The key to success, however, lies in the gentle, loving nature in which you repeatedly pick up your focus and lay it gracefully back onto your breath.

Over time, you can start to place your focus on things that are in nature, occurring right here, right now. You may decide to focus in on the scents and smells in your environment. At first you may only be able to sustain your attention on these for a minute or so, but over time, you will be able to do so for 5 or 10 minutes. Then you may shift your focus to things around you that are alive: the grass, the trees, flowers, and wildlife. Anything you can see, touch, feel, or imagine in the present moment.

For as long as you have practised focusing on that particular object or concept in the present moment, your mind has been freed from the stresses of the past and the future. Moreover, you have just trained yourself to have a heightened awareness of your world around you. Did you notice sights, smells and sensations that you never really acknowledged in the past on a daily, moment-by-moment basis? Did your appreciation for God’s creation increase?

Once you have been practicing Mindfulness Meditation for a while, you can start to take the skill with you into your active life, focusing in on the people with whom you interact, in a more deliberate way. Rather than going on auto-pilot in conversing with others, pay attention to what they are saying in the moment you are listening. Notice their eyes, their mouth, their gestures. Notice yourself in interaction with them. How are you coming across? What is your body language? Pay attention to it, in the present moment.

As you learn to engage more in the present moment, you may notice your memory improving. Because you paid attention, moment-by-moment to what the other person was really saying, you will have a greater recall of the relevant details of their life, because auto-pilot is disengaged. Is this not what God calls us to do, to have deep love and concern for others, enough that we involve our minds in what matters to them?

Here are some additional way that the Christian can enrich his or her life and the lives of others through mindfulness experiences:

Focusing on the Word of God

Consider for a moment the very first time that you experience something new. Your awareness of it is generally at its peak. It is fresh, and the mind is pre-programmed to look for things that are new and different. So it is with The Word of God. The first time you read certain Bible passages and learned of God’s unceasing love and forgiveness, the words leaped off the page and into your heart and mind. But over time, some of those passages may have become “same old, same old,” bouncing a little off the walls of your heart.

As you are reading your Bible, try taking just a brief passage, and focusing in on it, in the present moment, pondering how it applies to you now, this day, in this moment, under these circumstances in your life. You’ll soon see that it’s not about whether you’ve heard that passage before, but that it is about never having heard it before now in this way, in this moment in time. How will you apply it? What will you do with it? How will it draw you closer to God, to Jesus, and to others?

Do Not Worry About Tomorrow

Jesus commands us not to worry about tomorrow, but to focus on what is in your world today, now, here, in this moment, because he knows that Satan can hurl you into turmoil by making you worry and fret. God is with you, moment by moment, and he will continue to be, always. The last thing Jesus said to his disciples before being taken up into heaven was, “Surely I am with you always, to the end of time” (Matt 28:28). Notice the present tense he uses. He is with us always, because he is in the present moment. Moreover, all throughout the Bible, God is known as “I AM,” demonstrating that God is always in the present, always has been, and always will be. We are not placing our trust in a being who will be there one moment, but not the next. We are placing our trust in the ever-present Lord of the Universe. The more we learn to focus on the present moment, the more we will become aware that God is right there with us, too. Jesus is right there with us. As soon as your mind starts to wander and fret about your circumstances, gently and lovingly bring your focus back to the present moment, where God and Jesus are right there with you. They’ll be with you in the present tomorrow, too, so you need not worry about tomorrow.

Forgiving Grievances of the Past

Every person on earth is going to be hurt by others. That is a given, and knowing that, God planned from before the world began, that Jesus would come to forgive us of our sins toward others. We are all sinners. Dwelling on what I did to others and what others did to me, is another way in which I can give the devil a foothold. Forgiveness is not a once-for-all thing in most circumstances. Entering into a place where you were once hurt may trigger a lot of past painful emotion, and memories may resurrect resentments and anger. Forgiveness will be necessarily called for on a present, moment-by-moment basis, for as long as we live. By living in the present moment, gently placing my thoughts and awareness back into the now, I can help prevent my thoughts from going back and fishing out old stuff that leads nowhere good. The apostle Paul urged that, rather than let our minds wander back into past pain or fast-forward to future fears, we focus instead on, “….whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things” (Phil 4:8).

Walking the Christian Walk

My Dad used to sternly say, with tongue-in-cheek (that is, jokingly), “Do as I say, and not as I do!” whenever he was caught doing something he’d hypocritically told us not to do (like snatching a cookie from the cookie jar just before bed). In our day to day lives as Christians, there is no point in espousing Christianity, while not practicing it. The Bible was not given to us so we could be religious, but so that we could learn more about the heart of God and his Son Jesus, and allow The Word to transform our hearts into the likeness of Their hearts. By practicing Mindfulness Meditation, I will become more aware of the state of my own heart, and the hypocrisy of my own actions at times when I find it hard to follow Jesus. I will no longer overlook my own impatience, but will see it for what it is, and lay it in humility before God to help me transform it into kindness. I will no longer nurse a quiet, unacknowledged grudge against another person, but will allow my awareness of my unresolved feelings to call me to action in dealing with it.

Walking in Faith

By practicing Mindfulness Meditation, I can start to focus in on the reality that God has hosts of angels around me, invisible as they may be, ministering to me and serving the Lord of the Universe. I will become more aware that God’s Holy Spirit is with me, every moment of every day when I face chronic pain, when I enter into painful situations, and when I go into places that are unfamiliar and frightening.

My prayers will become less automatic, less rote (by memory, instead of from the heart), and more authentic. Joy will feel deeper, and while pain will not disappear, I will know that I have a companion who knows my pain, has compassion for me, and loves me profoundly.

If you are a perfectionist at heart, chances are you may have an issue with organization. Many of us who are NOT born organizers wait for the opportunity when we will have a good chunk of time in which to clean out this or de-clutter that. Until that time, the clutter-pile grows.

The same may hold true for the perfectionist house cleaner. While waiting vigilantly for a huge chunk of time to fall into our lap in which to do a proper cleaning, the dust builds up. After all, if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well!

Some years ago I discovered a website, FlyLady.net. I likely learned about the site while attending one of the countless seminars and lessons I’d attended on overcoming ADD(/ADHD). ADDers aren’t generally known for having everything all neat and organized, because we get 25 plates all spinning at once in our propensity toward multi-tasking. I was (am) no exception. One of the main concepts the Flylady mentors us sidetracked ADDers in is taking little wee nibbles at keeping our homes and our lives organized. She generally prescribes between 5 and 15 minutes ONLY to be taken doing any one chore. If cleaning the counters, stove and sinks, take 15 minutes only, starting…NOW! At the end of 15 minutes, you must stop and move on to the next thing. The gist of the whole thing is, you will accomplish a whole lot more by taking the tortoise approach as opposed to the hare’s method. In the fairytale, the hare thought he’d wait and do the entire race all at once, but ran out of time and couldn’t finish. The tortoise, on the other hand, plodded along, making what appeared to be little progress, but in the end was the victor.

By tackling just one wee part of one pile over a 5-15 minute maximum time frame, you will have done something, versus waiting until you had the perfect opportunity (which seldom, if ever, comes) to take on the entire stack, and never getting to it.

Some years ago, a "Born Organizer" friend of mine taught me a similar secret: Keep a wee bottle of spray cleaner (general purpose glass and surface cleaner) and a roll of paper towel (or washable housecleaning rags) in each bathroom, along with some disposable or reusable rubber (I use nitrile) gloves. Each day, give the taps, sinks, counter and mirrors a quick spray-and-wipe, so that the area always looks and seldom requires deeper cleanings. Do likewise for the tub/shower area. Every week, don the rubber gloves and clean the toilet area. There’s no major, time-consuming bathroom overhaul to do when a tiny bit is looked after every day, and the added bonus is, the bathroom always looks presentable.

Tiny bites…little nibbles…brick by brick. Once you get in the habit of looking for quick 5-15 minute jobs you can do here and there, you’ll soon find that the build-up of clutter diminishes, and because things get put back into their proper place on a more regular basis, you can find things much easier, and life becomes much less stressful.

Organization for the home results in organization for the mind, which, wondrously, reduces symptoms of stress and anxiety.

How important is inner peace to you?

No, really. The foundation for inner peace is not something that is just naturally there all the time. And when it starts crumbling, look out! The building topples with exceptional velocity.

There are many wonderful ways to foster and grow inner peace in your life, but what I want to focus on here is the inner voice inside, that information system that sometimes turns up the volume to alert you that something is very wrong, and if ignored, will result in utter turmoil.

What I am referring to here is stress. Symptoms of stress are easily overlooked in the bustling activities of our lives. Busyness masks the tension that is building up, causing tightened muscles up the back and neck, causing headaches, and an overall feeling of edginess. Anxiety or apprehension often gets whisked aside, with little attention paid to the escalating sense of fear, agitation, and maybe even doom. For some, shortness of breath and increased heartrate or heart palpitations are experienced, going so far as to even turn into all-out panic.

The good news is, all of this is telling you that your internal emergency alarm system is operating as intended. It maybe started out gently knocking on your door, but you dismissed it. Then as time went on and your life continued careening downhill at a reckless speed, you began feeling some uneasy feelings that finally began getting your attention.

Not that long ago, I was offered a project that I had pitched very hard to get. I had met with the client on several occasions to discuss the implementation of the task at length, and was finally awarded the contract – the prize! So why was I not elated? Instead of excitement, I felt a pit in the bottom of my stomach. But why? The job was perfect! It matched all my skills and talents to a “T.” Yet there I was, filled with apprehension to the point of feeling ill. Where was this coming from? What did it mean?

My first instinct was to dismiss it, and feel disdain at my double-mindedness. After all, I had wanted and prayed for such a perfect contract, so was I now being fickle, ungrateful for the gift I’d been handed?

I decided to not dismiss the feeling, but to let it reveal to me what its message was. That feeling was my inner alarm system. I decided to stop everything I was doing, and just sit and be quiet and listen to what it had to say to me. I could sense that people-pleasing was at the root of the problem. You see, I’ve been a die-hard people-pleaser all my life, working tirelessly to help others, to the detriment of myself and sadly, often my family.

I decided to let my mind and body experience the sick feeling that had come over me. I needed it to teach me what my next steps needed to be. I let my mind clear by focusing on the present moment and gently bringing it back to an awareness of the present every time it wanted to wander off. Before long, my mind saw clearly what the problem was that was causing my stress and anxiety symptoms. That job that I had been awarded was beyond my ability to deal with, time-wise. There were so many other things and people to which I had already committed, that my sub-conscious mind knew better than my conscious mind that I had no time to take on one more thing.

In order to see this, it required stopping and meditating on the present moment, so I could de-clutter my mind long enough to let my sub-conscious actually have its say. When I listened, I heard the warning as though through a megaphone: “Do not go ahead with this project, because you will harm both the client and yourself (not to mention your dear family) if you do.”

This was not the first time I’d headed off down a certain path, only to crash my head into a tree in order to jar me to my senses about my limitations. I am not superhuman. I am just me, and there is only one of me (thank goodness!). I am confident that this will not be the last time I will have to backtrack and make a correction to my course.

If you have symptoms of stress and anxiety in your life, please allow yourself to stop and listen to what your mind and your body are telling you. Those feelings of illness, fatigue or panic are your friend, saving you from delivering yourself into ruin. Life is short, and will be even shorter and, in fact, bitter, if inner turmoil is ignored.

As the parent of a child with special needs, I soon discovered that my child was not the only one with the special needs. Looking after my own well-being has required time and careful planning to ensure my strength and stamina would endure through times of turbulence.

If you, too, are the parent of a special needs child, taking time for “you” is essential. There are myriad stress coping strategies that all help, but the most important of all is keeping yourself refreshed mentally, physically and spiritually. This will not happen magically, but is well worth the planning and effort.

One thing you can do is plan for yourself a timeslot each day, when you can practice a few minutes of quiet mindfulness meditation, or maybe take some time just planning out your day and your week so that you can be better organized and not feel overwhelmed or frenzied by all that is on your plate. The mindset you take into each day will transfer to your children, your spouse, your friends, and all your other relationships.

Another thing you can do to prevent burn-out is to find out if you qualify for respite care (a type of special needs service that provides for an occasional caregiver for your child), so that you can have a break to refresh. Should you not qualify for formal respite care, take the time to arrange with a friend or a relative, or hire a sitter who can step in for a few hours a week to allow you to either get the grocery shopping done without children in tow, have a coffee with a friend, or even go for a nice hike in the fresh air. Whatever you choose, do it frequently and do it before you get worn out and depleted.

One of the other ways you can help yourself is by keeping the relationship between home and school a positive one. You may have heard the adage, “You attract bees with honey, not vinegar.” This can’t ring more true when it comes to dealing with teachers, special ed staff, Principals, and other school officials. When they see your willingness to be involved in a problem-solving (rather than demanding or finger-pointing) manner, they will generally be more prone to rally behind your efforts, which in turn, will reduce your stress load.

You are a Special Needs Parent. Take the time today to focus on what your special needs are.

There is good news and bad news in receiving the results of a special education assessment. Take ADD/ADHD for example(ADHD vs ADD: I’ll use the terms ADD and ADHD interchangeably). Symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) in children are becoming somewhat more known: inattentiveness, distractedness, lack of focus (all of these with or without hyperactivity – hyperactivity being the "H" in ADHD). The good news is that you now have an explanation for some of the wild behaviours your child has exhibited. The even better news is that, with this information in hand, you will be able to advocate for special services for your child with greater effectiveness. The bad news, however, is that you were right: you must wrap your mind around accepting that your child is not "normal."

Grieving in the notion that "normal" is the path for your child is, oddly, normal. Allow yourself the acceptance of how you feel, so you can move on through it to the other side.

What awaits you there is your enlightenment to all the opportunities that lie ahead for a child gifted with ADD or ADHD.

What? Gifted with ADD? Yes. Your child is outfitted with characteristics that "normies" don’t necessarily have: boundless energy at times, the ability to multi-task, the desire for adventure, willingness to take risks in order to succeed, resistance to being daunted by set-backs and failures. Take a look at many successful entrepreneurs, for example. They would never have reached the summit, had they not gotten back up on their feet after countless backslides down the mountain.

Along that journey, however, your child will likely benefit greatly from the services of a psychologist (or psychiatrist, counselor, therapist, etc.) who specializes in assisting children diagnosed with ADD (ADHD). These specialists see the potential that is locked away inside each of these special children, waiting to be set free by way of the implementation sometimes of medication, and all the time, by way of effective home and school strategies. Children with ADD require tasks to be "chunked," for instance, since handing them the entire assignment at once will overwhelm them right over the cliff (emotionally speaking of course). A school psychologist is often involved in the process of determining interventions that will accommodate your child’s unique learning style. Your child may be a square peg in a round hole in the classroom without the special ed help, but with strategies in place, the hole can be made suitably square, customized to his or her abilities, poised for success.

As always, your mindset regarding your child’s assessment, diagnosis and treatment plan will play a huge part in how everyone in the family copes, and how your child will perceive himself or herself. Finding the right professionals to help move things in a positive direction, will be paramount to overcoming mental illness and fostering the mental well-being of everyone in the family.

If you run across a psychologist who suggests that he doesn’t believe in ADD/ADHD (astonishingly, there are some out there still who see all child issues as a result of lack of discipline by the parents), head for the door (politely, but resolutely). A good child psychologist will validate symptoms of ADD/ADHD if they are present, and then help give you strategies to set helpful boundaries and disciplines for your child. Discipline is important, so don’t discard their help for you as a parent. Let the professional hold you accountable for following through on the limits you set for your child. Humility will go a long way, as will unity. If you, your child’s therapist, and your child’s school are all on the same page, you will be setting up your child for many future victories.

Yesterday my husband and I had the privilege of attending a memorial service to pay honour to our friend, Wayne, who lost a 20 week battle in ICU against a Superbug that ultimately claimed his life. Yet because of the way he lived and because of the impact he’d had on those around him, Wayne was a victor. In addition to being a faithful husband, loving father, and proud grandfather, Wayne was a man with a mindset that enabled him to experience a great deal of joy during his lifetime.

You see, Wayne didn’t hang out with Murphy. You know Murphy…. the guy that wraps and loops and entangles himself in your psyche, convincing you that whatever can go wrong, will. If you’re running late, you know you’ll encounter every red light along the way! And of course there are no parking spaces, because there are never any! And just you watch: every weekend there will be good weather, until it’s holiday time. "Figures!" Murphy’s Law.

With a Murphy mindset, there is a running tally of every unfortunate thing that has ever been encountered, while most occasions of "luck" or "good fortune" seem to not make it into the mental archive. What a dark cloud it is that follows overhead with this kind of thinking! Dark, oppressive, discouraging, and embittering.

Back to our friend, Wayne… A few years back, he had just bought a new boat, and so, with his former boat to sell, he immediately spotted a fellow at the marina who appeared to be interested in finding a new boat. Within minutes, the man bought Wayne’s old boat. As Wayne was recounting the story to me, I expressed astonishment at the incredible luck that Wayne had in finding someone almost instantly who would buy his boat. In response to my surprise, Wayne looked me square in the eye and stated, "It happens to me all the time! I’m constantly lucky!" And he meant it.

With this said, I know my head tipped, and my face got that "I don’t get it!" puzzled-but-intrigued kind of look. "Are you kidding?" I thought! I had never run across anyone in my life who had that to say about themself! Oh, I’d heard plenty of rumblings from all over the place about how rotten a person’s luck always was, complete with a rolling of the eyes that complains, "Here we go again!" But a person’s speaking of how good their luck constantly was? Never this before!

Personally, I don’t really think that Wayne necessarily had a whole lot more good fortune in his life than anyone else. What he did have, however, was an awareness of it, every time it occurred. He kept a roster close at hand of all the good things that fell into place for him. And as a result, he drew more good fortune to himself. After all, when you have a positive, optimistic, friendly outlook on life, are you not more attractive in general? Wayne went looking for good things. He looked past the bad, and focused in on the good.

As I now reflect back on the years I’d known Wayne, I realize that I had never seen him being nasty, ornery, or unkind. On the contrary, he seemed always to be looking for ways to lend a helping hand. Wayne was a happy man. He was a content and happy man, and he brought contentment and happiness into the lives of others. It was infectious.

Thoughts that are focused on the negative and on misfortune are contagious; likewise, thoughts fixed on the positive and on good fortune are contagious. As a person chooses to see things, so shall they be. Herein lies a deep and precious truth that has the power to bring joy into even the darkest of places.

Mindset matters. Once again.

Peace to you.