Live Over The Top
A couple of weeks ago I stumbled into the local bookstore and asked the clerk at the front if she could point me in the direction of the Self-Help aisle. She grinned and said, "If I did that it would sort of defeat the purpose, wouldn't it?"
Okay, so that's not true.
Yet it is just over a month ago that I lost my father. On the day after his funeral, spurned by a remembrance that I hadn't handled grief very well, and buoyed by something a close friend said - "Use the gifts God gave to you" - I decided that I would handle loss differently this time around.
I began to read and write and eat better. I waited for the fog to lift all around. While it is still mostly cloudy with a 70% chance of rain, I've punched a few holes in the darkness.
In the month since Dad passed I've read about four books. I've gathered my thoughts in the trusty black notebook - this book may need a second notebook - and I've tried to take to heart some of the passages I've been reading.
What blows my mind is that in 1957 there was a book published by Norman Vincent Peale called Stay Alive All Your Life. It's a book that relies heavily on Christian values, and it is also a book that seems to be timeless in that the problems he speaks of are the same problems we all face on a daily basis.
One of the interesting aspects of the book is learning to control your mind. It's a book designed to uplift and by mind control Peale speaks a lot about replacing negative thoughts with positive ones. Replace weak thoughts with strong thoughts. Replace hateful thoughts with loving thoughts. Replace gloomy ideas with lifted flashes.
I certainly believe that a healthy mind does try and do this on a daily basis, but reading along I also believe that "normal" people can certainly be spun into the trap of beating themselves down.
Life is tough. It's easy to look down upon yourself and never give yourself the break you need.
One of the sentences that really caught me is Peale saying that people must practice living over the top of the things that break them down.
I like that idea. Hover over the top and move the pieces until you get them where they need to go.
Of course, you can't do it alone,right?
Now if only I could find that self-help section.
Okay, so that's not true.
Yet it is just over a month ago that I lost my father. On the day after his funeral, spurned by a remembrance that I hadn't handled grief very well, and buoyed by something a close friend said - "Use the gifts God gave to you" - I decided that I would handle loss differently this time around.
I began to read and write and eat better. I waited for the fog to lift all around. While it is still mostly cloudy with a 70% chance of rain, I've punched a few holes in the darkness.
In the month since Dad passed I've read about four books. I've gathered my thoughts in the trusty black notebook - this book may need a second notebook - and I've tried to take to heart some of the passages I've been reading.
What blows my mind is that in 1957 there was a book published by Norman Vincent Peale called Stay Alive All Your Life. It's a book that relies heavily on Christian values, and it is also a book that seems to be timeless in that the problems he speaks of are the same problems we all face on a daily basis.
One of the interesting aspects of the book is learning to control your mind. It's a book designed to uplift and by mind control Peale speaks a lot about replacing negative thoughts with positive ones. Replace weak thoughts with strong thoughts. Replace hateful thoughts with loving thoughts. Replace gloomy ideas with lifted flashes.
I certainly believe that a healthy mind does try and do this on a daily basis, but reading along I also believe that "normal" people can certainly be spun into the trap of beating themselves down.
Life is tough. It's easy to look down upon yourself and never give yourself the break you need.
One of the sentences that really caught me is Peale saying that people must practice living over the top of the things that break them down.
I like that idea. Hover over the top and move the pieces until you get them where they need to go.
Of course, you can't do it alone,right?
Now if only I could find that self-help section.
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