The Little Red Book

I WILL HAVE A POSITIVE

OUTLOOK ON LIFE

 I will have a positive outlook on life today, an attitude that will allow me to experience joy and move me on a path of acceptance, love and freedom. I have the power to change the way I think. I can choose to change my attitudes, and this is what gives ne freedom. ~ Daily Affirmations for Adult Children of Alcoholics, Health Communications, Inc., 1985

If you have been following me on Facebook, then you may be aware that I am in the midst of a major crisis and have been for a week. To end the crisis, I need the support and guidance of lots of people. I also need to locate some documents from several years ago – one documents that I received and another documents that I sent. 

Again, as I’m sure you must be aware, I am not a neat freak. I have boxes and boxes of stuff, primarily stored in my spare bedroom.

Last week I went through about fifteen boxes, throwing away seven 30-gallon garbage bags of stuff that I need not have saved. As I went through those boxes, I became more and more exasperated at not finding the documents. I even began tottering on the edge of sever depression, as anxiety began to drive my actions.

Saturday, July 17^th, I awakened long before dawn, having slept less than three hours. I was a wreck. Still, I began going through more boxes. In one I found a book, Daily Affirmations for Adult Children of Alcoholics, that I had not seen in years. There was a page marker in it; when I opened the book to that page, I was astounded to discover that the daily reading was for July17th! It seems to me that many years ago I had stopped reading on the previous page and now I was taking up from where I had stopped.

The quotation above is the beginning of the July 17^th reading. As exhausted and down as I was, to took time to read that entry and then to meditate on it. I changed my attitude. I sought the positives in this crisis. And I decided to postpone my anxiety-driven search and allow myself a weekend of rest and re-creation.

I did. It worked. Today I have continued the process of seeking the documents as well as making contacts to obtain guidance in dealing with it. I have also discovered benefits from my search. For example, besides finding the Daily Affirmations book, I also located a ring that I purchased in (I think) New Mexico quite a few years ago.

 

I also located the activation codes for Microsoft Office, Paperport, and Corel Video Studio, expensive (for me) programs that I have not be able to use since my computer crashed several years ago because I couldn’t find the activation codes.  I can now use all three.

There is one more benefit to the crisis and my “cleaning out” the boxes of stuff. I need to move soon, to a much smaller place. A few weeks ago I began receiving the services of a financial adviser who works with the agency that provides my primary home health care. After looking at my finances, he pointed out that the guideline for housing costs is 30% of one’s income. For the past several years I have been expending 68 – 75% of my income, depending on heating costs. Therefore I am seeking a place to live that is with that 30% guideline.

Obviously, those seven 30-gallon garbage bags of stuff will not have to be moved to my new home (wherever that may be). As I continue to go through the boxes still in my spare bedroom, finding all sorts of treasures (including, I pray, the two documents that I am seeking), I shall fill and dispose of more bags of refuse.

One final thought, throughout most of my life I have lived by the belief that God provides what I need. It is when, as I did last week, I depend solely on myself becoming anxious and depressed that bad things happen to me. It is when I let go of the anxiety and depression that good (God) things happen.\

I share the blessings that I am receiving with you, my friends.