Monica
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 224
posted
I'm currently listening to the Psychology of Achievement on CD. Written/narrated by Brian Tracy. You may be familiar with him.
I'm only on the 3rd disk (I think there are 6 or 9), but I've found it relevant to me in my current health situation.
I am on the "positive thinking" bandwagon. I hope everyone will jump on board with me.
I started listening during my most recent horrendous herx. Maybe it helped hasten the end of the herx, maybe not, but I can tell you I feel better now than I have in quite a while.
Also -- I'm elminating negative people from my life. I don't need to hear, "Are you SURE you have Lyme disease and not ALS?" or any other negative garbage. They can spread their particular poison elsewhere.
Posts: 1757 | From Somerset County, NJ | Registered: Oct 2000
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hopeful123
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 3244
posted
hey, monica
i live in pawling, the home of norman vincent peale and positive thinking.
i'm sorry, i find it an irritating concept, but, then, i'm not really awake today. sitting at my desk at work pretending that i am not logged in to this site.
i was realllllly depressed years back and i was told that all i had to do was think positively.
right.
i actually think that i am naturally a negative person who hopes to become a positive one when she grows up.
whatever floats your boat!!!
attitude adjustments, I believe in. stop feeling sorry for myself, i believe in. gratitude for what i've got i believe in.
sorry, if this wierd.
-------------------- some days you're the bug, some days you're the windshield Posts: 1160 | From NY | Registered: Oct 2002
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Monica
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 224
posted
I don't think positive thinking solves all our problems. If that were the case I'd be doing handsprings down Broadway right now.
I do think that always seeing the glass as half empty is self-defeating.
I am not a religious person. I can't say, "God is letting me go through all this crap so I can learn an important lesson." If I learn a lesson I think that's up to me.
Nevertheless, I think positive thoughts are far more healing than not.
Posts: 1757 | From Somerset County, NJ | Registered: Oct 2000
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hopeful123
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 3244
posted
monica, yes, i totally agree with you. i just don't like the expression "positive thinking" but like what it really means.
and, yes, i dislike it when people talk about this being a lesson we need from God. Although i believe in a God who doesn't want anything from you but to love and forgive everyone.
i'm a cranky little bugger today because of lack of sleep.
i like this thread a lot.
-------------------- some days you're the bug, some days you're the windshield Posts: 1160 | From NY | Registered: Oct 2002
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Monica
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 224
posted
Well, I'm glad that despite your lack of sleep and crankiness this is bringing you some joy. Posts: 1757 | From Somerset County, NJ | Registered: Oct 2000
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hopeful123
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 3244
posted
yes, monica, thanks for the thread!!!
i only have a half hour to go at work before leaving and driving home (5 minutes) and then collapsing in my wonderful, cat ridden bed!!!
talk about a major fantasy!!
see ya
-------------------- some days you're the bug, some days you're the windshield Posts: 1160 | From NY | Registered: Oct 2002
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quote:Originally posted by hopeful123: attitude adjustments, I believe in. stop feeling sorry for myself, i believe in. gratitude for what i've got i believe in.
Then you're on the right track! Maybe you just need to read Dr Peale's book!
A positive attitude is what has gotten me 90% well. I'm sure of it! If you're not a positive thinker, you most likely have given up on ever getting well....or you don't really believe that you CAN get well.
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96222 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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trails
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 1620
posted
Actually this whole subject is rather cloudy for me these days but very present in my mind at all times.
I am not so sure WHAT people mean by a positive attitude and what they mean by getting well.
I wrote this the other day. And I am still adding to it. I do not see it as negative, but I do not think that I will ever be WELL. I am reading books about dealing with chronic illness that are really helping me and they are all talking about accepting your illness. This not defeat, but a grieving process none the less. It does not mean you do not hope for wellness but that you do not get caught up in thinking that getting well, being well or staying well is what it is all about.
I am making less sense than anyone today I think?
I am reading a LOT of scientific research on Bb, and other spirochetes, disease, and coinfections. These guys are here to stay. It is more how we deal with them on an every day basis I THINK?
At least that is where I am at today.
Here is what I wrote---lengthy, sorry. ---------------------------------------- Chronic illness is a drag. I am learning to change my whole life now and accept that I am and will be sick for the unforseen future. It is not a giving up but more of an acceptance that my life is going to be different than I always thought it would be and different than all my peers are experiencing too.
This acceptance comes in waves as any grieving process does, so some days it is okay and others it is more difficult.
Lately with so much pain and disability, it is more difficult.
I am trying to focus more on being rather than doing. Our society is all about doing and achieving and having. I can not live this way with my illness, I will always be a failure if I try to measure myself that way.
Instead, I have to really take it a day at a time and try to remember that it is not my job, my money, my vacation, my ability to walk, run or excercise, be thin, pretty, smart, cool or have children, a family or foster kids that makes me a good and whole person. I am still trying to figure out what does do this, but like I said, if I measure my life by the above things, which is all I have known my entire life, then I feel awful about myself and my life.
I am trying to make a new measuring stick and break the old one. I never knew how much pain and sorrow this would bring me. But then again, I never knew I would be ill and unable to achieve almost all the things I had previously set out to do before in my life. -------------------------------------------------
I really appreciate this thread.
It was refreshing to see some others struggling like me and not bringing any of the organized religions into it. I have seen so much suffering because of organized religion, I can not at this point, find things that are positive there.
Plus it is funny. and strange. a good place for me. Thanks for listening.
Trails
Posts: 1950 | From New Mexico | Registered: Sep 2001
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posted
Yes, trails....I agree that we have to accept our illness. But NEVER give up looking for the "solution", whatever that may be. That, I believe, is a positive attitude.
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96222 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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Monica
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 224
posted
I made it to work all five days this week!!!
I do feel better, and I believe my doctor when he says we're going to lick this thing.
Posts: 1757 | From Somerset County, NJ | Registered: Oct 2000
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trails
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 1620
posted
Way to GO MONICA!!!
I maybe just having the worst herx ever, so take everything I am saying with a grain of salt and shot of taquila! Posts: 1950 | From New Mexico | Registered: Sep 2001
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