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“Letting it be” tonight for peace and a good night sleep
Published November 8, 2011 | 
Play this while you read this post (Beatles “Let It Be“)
I can push and push,
keep trying, harder and harder.
I can put enormous pressure on myself.
I can set very high expectations for myself and others….
Or,
I can ,as the old Beatles song puts it, “let it be”, knowing that
all good things will happen when they are supposed to, at my-ease (instead of dis-ease)
Oh to be ambitious, and I am….
I want to and intend to achieve my dreams.
Alas, I want peace as well.
Is relaxing just a bit and permitting some down time resignation from achieving all I set out to accomplish?
I think not.
Sometimes we just have to let ourselves be. Let others be. Let it all be. And be okay with that!
Goodnight and in peace,
Debra
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Putting stress to rest so that we can get our rest at night.
Published October 27, 2011 | 
Stress is one of the leading causes of losing sleep at night. We aim for a restful night of sleep here at The Warm Milk Journal. It is time to put Stress to rest!
Three main sources of stress:
1. Job
2. Family
3. Health
In your journal this evening (or morning), write down anything that is causing you stress right now. There is a very good chance that it will be one of the three sources listed above: job, family, and health.
Once you pinpoint some areas in your life that are causing you stress, put down your journal and close your eyes and breathe.
Continue to breath, be still, quiet… just be with yourself a while.
Now, open your eyes and your journal and write down anything that comes to mind.
Some questions I ask myself when I do this exercise that are helpful are:
1. Is this something that will really matter tomorrow, next week, next year, or five years from now?
2. What if I were to remind myself of the fact that “this too shall pass”? All things good or bad will pass. This will too in due time.
3. What action steps can I take now to deal with ______ ?
4. When dealing with family issues, what is more important: to be right or to make love be my guiding principle and have peace and harmony in my home?
5. When dealing with something very large, sometimes I just have to ask myself: “Have I done everything I can do?”. If yes, then I truly may just have to focus on my faith and “let go and let God”
Other things that really help with stress?
Take a walk/bike ride/ jog around the block a few times (I have a great music playlist on my Ipod shuffle for this purpose)
Watch a funny movie with loved ones.
Be in the now and appreciate what you have all around you NOW.
In peace,
Debra
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Posted in Breathing exercise, Depression, Family life, Getting a good night sleep, Happiness, insomnia, journal writing, Meditations, Positive living, stress, The Warm Milk Journal, Tips to help insomnia, worry | 
acceptance, action steps, journal writing to relieve stress, meditation, peace, sources of stress, stress causing insomnia | 
2 CommentsRelease: Letting it go for peace
Published September 15, 2011 | 
Letting go
release
that is peace.
Holding tightly onto
things, people, or ideas
will only keep us on a tense tightrope
of expectations waiting to be dashed
from circumstances outside of our control.
Why give our peace away to such folly when we can simply let it all go?
Yes, LET IT GO.
In peace,
Debra
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Ten things we all have in common
Published September 4, 2011 | 
We all share these things in common:
1. The desire to express ourselves
2. The need to be accepted for who we are.
3. The need to “cut loose” and not worry about things for a while.
4. We all are doing our best
5. None of us are perfect (and thank goodness, right?)
6. We all have lot’s to offer this world
7. We all want to be loved
8. The desire for good health and a good night sleep
9. We all have our fears and our masks that we wear
10. We all have an opportunity each day to start anew
Have a blessed day, everybody!
Debra
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Seven things to do when change is in the air and you are anxious
Published June 12, 2011 | 
Life is not static and change is inevitable. Times of change and transition can be stressful on us, however. For those of us prone to anxiety, we may be vulnerable to heightened anxiety when change is happening in our lives.
Here are a few things that can help if you are experiencing change in your life:
1. Recite a simple affirmation such as “I Am peace”.
2. Breathe.
3. Call up a supportive friend who can help you keep a positive perspective or make you laugh.
4. Exercise
5. Get outside.
6. Be easy on yourself.
7. Practice blessing the situation, releasing it, and accepting the wonderful new things which are in store for you due to this change.
In peace,
Debra
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Posted in Affirmations, anxiety, Physical Exercises, Positive living, stress | acceptance, change, release, stress, support of friends | Leave a commentIt’s magnificent to be different! Accept your true self for less anxiety, greater peace, increased self confidence, and restful nights of sleep
Published April 13, 2011 | 
“I celebrate myself, and sing myself” ~ Walt Whitman
Not accepting ourselves can cause much anxiety and loss of sleep. We grow up in a society where fitting in is all-important. You could not pay me enough money to go back and be a teenager again (my daughter is 13 now, bless her heart). The pressure to be like the others was so great. I tried a lot of things that really were not authentic and genuine for me at the time- but I so wanted to feel like the other girls.
Even as an adult, I’ve experienced times of feeling inadequate in some way; of being different and somehow being on the sidelines because of that perceived difference.
I now know that I put myself on the sidelines. I caused myself much pain, anxiety, and loss of sleep over the years because of my fear of “if the world really knew what I am like it would not like me” kind of thinking.
If any of you out there experience shyness and social anxiety you know what I am talking about. This kind of non-acceptance of our true selves is brutal and debilitating.
We are meant to shine. Each and every one of us has something special to offer. We are enough. Just as we are.
For a lot of my childhood and early adult years I suffered from a lot of sore throats and strep throat. Louise Hay wrote a wonderful book a while back called “Heal Your Body”. In it, she describes ailments of the throat coming from the inability to speak up for one’s self. For those of us who are shy or have some form of social anxiety, this may resonate.
I truly believe:
1. that our voices are meant to be heard.
2. Not only is it okay, but it is fantastic to be different.
3. Being like everybody else is boring.
4. Our uniqueness makes the world a much more interesting place.
5. If we were to truly accept ourselves and live authentically (without worrying what others think), we would discover a blissful place of peace,
acceptance, much less anxiety, greater self-confidence, and sound nights of sleep.
Tell yourself: “I Am enough”!
Believe it.
Live it.
(Yes, this is me!)
In Peace,
Debra
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Posted in anxiety, Getting a good night sleep, Happiness, insomnia, Positive living, Self-empowerment, Tips to help insomnia | acceptance, accepting ourselves, anxiety, authenticity, being an introvert, being different, embracing our uniqueness, genuine, loving ourselves, shyniess, social anxiety | 1 CommentDo you choose anxiety or peace?
Published February 21, 2011 | 
Anxiety or peace?
Worrying about stuff or shrugging it off?
Being unforgiving and harsh on yourself or accepting and loving yourself?
Winning the argument or letting the other be right?
Conditional love or unconditional love?
Excessive consumption and debt or living within your means and creating wealth?
Hurried and stressed or calm and relaxed?
Dis-ease or at your ease?
Living a life of duty and obligation or one from passion and purpose?
Bored and drifting or focused and excited?
Anxiety or Peace? Your choice!
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Posted in anxiety, Positive living, Self-empowerment | acceptance, anxiety, forgiveness, loving, peace | Leave a commentAcceptance For What Is Brings You Peace
Published February 15, 2011 | 
Accept the fact that things are what they are.
Accept that things that are done are done. They are in the past. You can’t go back and change them.
Accept people for who they are. You can’t and won’t change them no matter how hard you try.
What is, is. Not good nor bad. Just IS.
How much energy do you spend fretting about not being happy with the status quo?
How many times do you guilt yourself or beat yourself up with the coulda woulda shouldas?
You may stop NOW. Free up your precious life energy.
Be at peace. With WHAT IS.
Have a blessed evening,
Debra : )
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Posted in anxiety, Happiness, Self-empowerment, Spirituality, stress | acceptance, be in the now, peace, serenity | Leave a commentTwo very little, but powerful words for peace and better sleep: JUST BE
Published December 6, 2010 | 
My last post I wrote about being less busy during this holiday season. I am finding it is really helping me to not get too caught up in all of the busy-ness that this season tempts us with. I say tempt for it is an offering off busy-ing ourselves that we can either accept or reject.
Aside from the holidays I have been experiencing high levels of stress as a public school teacher of late. I won’t go into the details, but it has been a challenging year so far.
Thoughts of not wanting to go to work, a constricted and tight chest, feeling very run down physically, and being emotionally drained have been symptoms of my letting the circumstances of my work life get to me. I hit a low point, and I prayed. The last few days I have been doing a lot of praying, writing in my journal, and reading wonderful spiritual books.
The message that life, God, the divine, etc. has given me is to JUST BE. That’s it. Simple.
Yes, I still have a busy job to go to and to do lists and goals I want to accomplish- but I also am being reminded of the delight and peace that comes with JUST BEING.
It is bliss. To just be. No agendas. No worrying about being productive. Just being.
One of my favorite business books about negotiating is entitled Negotiate This! By caring, But Not T-H-A-T much, by Herb Cohen.
I just love that idea: caring, just not that much. I am always someone who cares so much. I am an achiever and a people pleaser which is a great recipe for anxiety and stress. Perhaps some of you out there can relate. What if we, though, still continued to care (like the good people we are) but just not too much? Would that be so terrible?
I also like the statement “Let Go and Let God”. There is a certain amount of relief and peace that comes when we have just had enough, we feel we can’t do it all on our own, and we can choose to just turn it over to a higher power. That is peace. A wonderful book that expounds on this message of letting go and letting God is Kathy Cordova’s Let go let miracles happen The Art Of Spiritual Surrender. This is a great read to have on your bedside table.
The Beatles old classic song “Let It Be” comes to me as I write this, and…
I would like to end this post this evening with the Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr:
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.
–Reinhold Niebuhr
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Posted in anxiety, Happiness, Positive living, Prayers, Spirituality, stress | acceptance, being, bliss, god, Let it be, letting go, peace, praying, The Beatles, The Serenity Prayer | Leave a commentWhat is home? A journal writing exercise for this evening
Published November 26, 2010 | 
Your eyes are like street lamps to me. They tell me I am home, this is where I live, I am safe here, I have made it. There is someone waiting here to talk to me and hold me…I want to know everything, and I am rushing now across the grass, to throw open the door, to say “I’m home”, to see your eyes, to know that this is the right address, the right address at last, thank God.
~ Marianne Williamson, Enchanted Love
If there is anything in this world that gives me peace and lessens my anxiety is knowing that I am loved and I have a peaceful loving home to live in.
What does home mean to you?
To me, home means:
- Being surrounded by people and pets that love you and accept you unconditionally.
- a refuge from the outside the world.
- peace
- Good smelling things: food cooking in the kitchen, bubble baths, potpourri, flowers and herbs in the garden, fresh clean linens on the bed, candles, loved ones.
- furniture that pleases me.
- clothes hanging in my closet that delight me.
- views outside the windows that connect me beautifully to the natural world.
- Colors, art work, and plants that are soothing and beautiful.
- A place to play
- A place to laugh
- A place to cry
- A place to dance
- A place to be silly
- A place where I can take my contacts out, wear my glasses and sweats, and still feel beautiful
- A place to be held when everything gets to be too much at times.
- Love…
That is home.
What does home mean to you? Get out your journals and jot a few ideas down.
Have a blessed evening,
Debra : )
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Posted in anxiety, Family life, Happiness, Journal Prompts, journal writing, lists, Love, Positive living | acceptance, anxiety, bath, candles, cry, family, home, laugh, love, love unconditionally, peace, pets | 1 CommentAdvertise Here!
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