PAMPER YOURSELF

At the end of the day when you're feeling too tired / lethargic or tied up in knots, take a step back and UNWIND!!!

This may not seem like a big-deal to some of you, however, I know personally that the more depressed or anxious I became, the less I worked on myself. When I took those small steps of keeping myself feeling good whether it be through appearance to eating habits, I changed!!!

One more thing you may want to consider...! If you are sitting at home a little too much for your liking, get up every morning and take a shower and get dressed before you even have time to think about it. Dress how you would if you were to go out and do something nice, this will help give you your passion back to the point where some days you will just want to get out of the house for a while! Don't believe me... Give it a try for one week and get back to me ;)

Ok, back to the indulging :)

Get some candles, make a BIG thing of it, after all YOU are the most important person in your life, you would do it for a loved-one, time to start thinking of yourself first!

PLAN AHEAD...

A cup of herbal tea. For those of you feeling anxious, I suggest Chamomile Tea! Depressed? Try Licorice tea. You can get either of these from your health food store!

Get your favourite essential oils (I suggest lavender if you're stressed-out or a citrus base such as lemon, orange, lime or mandarin if you're feeling depressed). Preferably used in an oil-burner (if you don't have one, you can pick them up pretty reasonably at your local discount store).

Either purchase a favourite facial mask from the local shop or make one up yourself. My favourite is:

• Mix some hot water with rolled oats, to this you add:
• Honey (it will dissolve witht he hot water)
• Avocado (mashed-up)
• Powdered milk (normal milk will make it too slushy)
• If you have an Aloe-Vera plant, cut off a stem and squeeze the juice into the mix!

Mix it to make a thick paste, you will be able to easily get the consistency by either adding a little more hot water or some more rolled-oats!

Either put this onto your face and leave for 1/2 hr, or, alternatively you can put on your face and dab until it feels sticky enough to then rinse-off with warm water. This will leave your face feeling smooth, the rolled-oats will help remove dead skin cells.

After you've done this, put on some of your favourite face-cream to keep it nice & soft:)

Hands...

Get some sugar and preferably some liquid soap. Put a small amount of sugar into the palm of your hand along with a few squirts of liquid soap and a little bit of water. Rub your hands together as if you were washing them, all around until the sugar has dissolved or nearly dissolved, then, wash off with warm water. This is fantastic for softening and getting rid of dead skin cells from your hands, however, you MUST put hand cream on afterwards or it will have all been done in vain!

Now for the feet...

Get either a foot-bath - OR - You can simply use a big dish. Put a few drops of your favourite essential oil (pre-mix with milk if it is not lavender oil because it can irritate the skin if you put it in neat) into the mix and (if you are using a dish, you may want to consider buying some marbles to put in the bottom to massage your feet, I use this method, it works better than the foot-spa I have) then you are wanting to soak your feet for at least half of an hour, make sure you have a towel on hand and a good book or some music to keep you entertained.

After this, get some cream and massage into your feet. Massage your feet for as long as you can, this will get a lot of pressure points that can also release any tension you have!

Please Note: If you are pregnant, do NOT massage around the ankle area, many people are not aware that this stimulates the pregnancy and can bring on an early labour!

THEN......

If you feel the urge to go for a sleep or whatever it may be that floats your boat, don't fight it........Just do it ;)

LOVE

*.*.*. JOY .*.*.*

STOP LABELLING YOURSELF...!

Ok, now here it is, I personally refuse to use the words “mental-illness” and “clinical-depression” OR any other words that can describe (on a personal level to you) an inability to heal yourself! Listen, it will make sense…

It is fine if you go to your local GP and get diagnosed, nothing wrong with that what-so-ever. BUT, do NOT keep telling that story to others. Stop labelling yourself. What this will do is keep you in the rut you’re trying to get out of! STOP the self-talk about it also (the labels), it is the same as telling the story over and over again! You are only doing yourself a disservice by doing so! We all have someone in our lives who LOVE to lament the fact that they don’t have enough money, aren’t their perfect body weight, are still single, etc, etc, etc. Now, here is the clincher….. Do you see them getting more money, the perfect body, a partner??? NO, because, simply put……..They don’t stop talking about what they don’t want!

“STOP TELLING IT LIKE IT IS, IT ONLY GIVES YOU MORE OF WHAT IS” – Esther Hicks / Abraham

I am not asking you to lie about your situation, all I am saying is, don’t play that broken record for yourself or anyone else! Start by saying something different, when someone asks how you are going, play it up, tell them how well you are doing. Some days you will not want to sugar-coat things, you may very well feel too miserable to do so, in that case a simple “I’m getting there” should suffice!

Very simple steps, yet, imperative to your changing your outlook on yourself, life and the way the world sees you!

There will be days you wake up and nothing is bothering you, you feel GREAT, you feel INVINCIBLE, THAT is when you need to congratulate yourself for doing such a wonderful job, keep it up! The world did not decide to bless you that particular day, YOU made it happen with these (what seemed insignificant) simple steps. AND if you don’t acknowledge it, when you have a down day (like everyone else gets), you will think that the world has decided to curse you YET-AGAIN…

Make EVERY good feeling count! We don’t let the negative feelings get away without dissecting them, why not milk the good ones!!!?

LOVE

*.*.*. JOY .*.*.*

MEDICATION & PANIC / ANXIETY / STRESS OR DEPRESSION

Many of you reading this are taking some form of medication to combat the negative thoughts whether it be through panic or depression, or both! I want to make one thing totally clear for anyone here, there is nothing wrong with taking the medication. I personally believe we are at different stages in our lives regarding panic / depression and I also believe that it is a tool for helping us getting back our equilibrium! NEVER worry about another's views on this topic, you go by what your own gut-instinct tells you and not the one that pipes up after you've had fifty different discussions with yourself on the matter!

"You are where you are and that is OK"! Esther Hicks / Abraham

Being ok with who you are and what you choose to do / take is a release for most of you given you can form a habit of listening to other uneducated peoples opinions on what you "should" be doing. The ONLY person who knows best for you is YOU!

The point I want to make here is this, take the pills if you believe it is what works for you, in time you may very well discover you want to ease off of them or eliminate them alltogether!

I did (to begin with) take medication back when I was 16 years old. I did fight the need to ingest anything to what I considered to be foreign into my body which was one of my biggest fears to begin with (not having total control), I also refused to take it (which is what resulted in my 16 year long and expensive research into overcoming panic & depression), BUT, I do NOT advise those of you who are doing well on anything that works for you to just quit, especially without your physicians help! I knew what I wanted and it worked for me, so, should you try to go against what makes you feel good, you will not get the final results that I did which is to be free of anxiety, depression & panic!

Sure, there are the "old-school" people who don't believe you should take anything that comes in the form of a tablet or take advice from a book, you will also discover those same people are stuck in their old ways, refuse to accept change or even refuse to believe that what you endure day in day out as a panic attack or depression even exists! I also know their lives would be a far cry from enviable. Live & Let Live, they are who they are and so are you which is someone pretty remarkable!!!

P.S. Did you know studies have proved those with higher IQ's usually are the ones who suffer from Panic Attacks, etc. Too smart for our own good:)

So, feel for those who don't have a problem in the world;) hehehe

LOVE

*.*.*. JOY .*.*.*

HIVES / RASHES AND STRESS

I recently had the pleasure in hearing of another's personal problem with getting hives and her doctor prescribing a medication which led her to put on a bit of weight due to the medication...

I did get what was classified as "nerve-related" hives which I discovered could be avoided by avoiding the following foods:

• Oranges - HIGH Acid Content which I worked out brought them on. I used to drink a fair bit of orange-juice on a regular basis which didn't help the matter!
• Tomatoes - Again, not a biggie for me personally, however, if you are sensitive to getting rashes, you may want to re-think your tomato intake! They can be the main cause for some people!
• All citrus - Lemons & Limes, etc
• And Pineapples

Whilst there may be other foods that cause your rashes to appear, these are the main ones for me personally! Just keep a mental note of what you have eaten over the days leading-up to your break-out and you should be able to easily identify which foods may have caused it. Should you want to know more about what foods are good for you, I have a link under "Food Matters" which can be of assistance!

ALL THE BEST

LOVE

*.*.*. JOY .*.*.*

DEPRESSION & STRESS PACK

Make up your own stress / depression kit for unforeseen moments...

There are some things I did when I got nervous or depressed, the reason being it DIVERTED my attention from negative thoughts and they are...

• Lavender Oil - Tension Headaches (Discussed Under - In The Beginning)
• Meditation CD / Music (Discussed Under - In the Beginning)
• Collection of music on CD's, iPod or Tape (Discussed Under - Depressed / Nervous??? Mix it up...)
• Journals (Discussed Under - Journaling - A MUST READ)
• Water (Discussed Under - Nutrition Matters)
• Get a game, I am not talking about buying the latest of games, it could be anything from a cheap $5 game you get at a local discount store to the latest Nintendo / PSP or PlayStation game. I find that the small compact games are best so you don't need a television or computer in order to play them, you can do this wherever you are! Play it when you're anxious / depressed, what you are wanting to do it take your mind off of your current thoughts so you can move forward OR come back to the issue (if there is one to deal with) at a later time!
• Crosswords & Magazines are a good mind-consumer also!
• Make a list of your favourite websites which make you FEEL GOOD when you go to them!

The aim of the game here is to take your mind off of the problem and divert your attention, so, anything goes here! Whatever makes you feel good, add it to your Stress Pack & keep it on-hand:)

LOVE

*.*.*. JOY .*.*.*

INSECURE???

One thing I found that troubled me over the 16 years I had panic & depression was I gave too much thought to what others opinions were of me and what they might think of me as a person! Things such as “if they really knew me for what I am like, they would not like me” or “I am too ugly, or fat, or stupid” or just simply “they don’t like me because I’m different”, etc. I hate to be the one to break it to you, but, simply put… WE ARE ALL DIFFERENT.

Sure, there are those out there willing to tell you otherwise, however, they would be the ones so insecure they are still to this day making up stories on how wonderful they truly are! If these people are so wonderful, they wouldn’t be spending so much time trying to convince you of it! The fact is, they are searching for compliments everywhere they go because they need CONFIRMATION that they are infact worthy!

CONFIDENT PEOPLE NEVER NEED TO CUT YOU (OR ANYONE ELSE DOWN) IN ORDER TO FEEL GOOD. It is the insecure people who do this to TRY to boost their self-worth, BUT, it is backwards, it NEVER works. I know, the first thing you want to do is give them a good tongue-lashing back, however, this does not really make you the victor either!!! NO-ONE knows what someone else is going through in their private lives, if you knew, perhaps you would be more sympathetic and learn to ignore them because they are looking to boost their self-worth by treading on you or for some sort of fight! When you come across someone like this, just sit and think for a moment, WHY are they like that, WHAT has made them be like this, and feel for them because they are in much more pain emotionally than you could ever imagine!

Don’t ever again look at someone conceited or “out there” in their personality and get jealous or feel sub-standard around them because they are coming from the exact same place you are, only over-compensating for their insecurities. Truly, you need to be sympathetic (in your own mind, not always verbally toward them), know in yourself that they are just as scared as you as to knowing their own abilities. I don’t care if it is about looks, skills, ability, knowledge, career, parenting, WHATEVER it is that someone is trying to point out to you to get you to feel bad, it is their own insecurities doing this!!! PLEASE KNOW THIS…. The people who really do have it all-together, WOULD NOT EVER, NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS GLOAT OR TRY TO MAKE YOU FEEL BAD ABOUT THEIR SUCCESSES OR TRIUMPHS. THEIR INTENTION WOULD NEVER BE TO MAKE YOU FEEL BAD! IT IS THE CONFIDENT SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE WHO CASUALLY GO ABOUT THEIR DAY AND…………… “LIVE AND LET LIVE” IS THEIR MOTTO!"

When you have a GREAT DAY, have you ever seriously tried to hurt someone on any level??? Think about it!

As Esther Hicks - aka Abraham would say "You have to NOT give a RIP about what anyone else thinks!!!"

LOTS OF LOVE

*.*.*. JOY .*.*.*

TAKE A BREAK

For many of you, taking time away from the security of home is daunting (for both panic / anxiety sufferers and those with depression), so, stay at the journaling as explained earlier under "Journaling - A Must Read".

However, if you are toying with the idea you could do it, then, here are some ideas....

• Go on a SHORT holiday with a loved-one or significant other - One Night - or - Two Nights LOCALLY...

You see, you don't have to go on some huge holiday interstate or overseas, it can be in your own state, city or suburb. Just getting away for those few days can really clear out some mental clutter and get you re-aligned and recharge those batteries! It doesn't have to be expensive either, depending upon your budget!

• Go Camping - OR - Stay in a Caravan Park...

Again, it doesn't have to be expensive. When you get the urge to want to go away DO IT, you have come this far, what basis do you really have to rely upon you won't be able to make the trip and come back happier and healthier for the experience? You're reading this, so, there must be some truth to it ;)

• Visit and stay with a friend for a few days...

This can be more comfortable for some to begin with!

• If you're feeling a little more adventurous, take that trip interstate...

It doesn't have to be long, just some time away, out of your comfort zone (not too far out of your comfort zone, you are wanting to re-define / broaden your boundaries not conquer the world in a week, this attitude can more than likely hinder your progress).

• A WHOLE DAY OUT is also a great idea...

You don't have to spend the night anywhere if this is not your thing, just make a personal Itinerary for yourself and go have fun, you could start by having breakfast at a local hotel, take a walk along the beach, stroll through some shops, get some lunch and have it in a local park, or, have lunch in a nice little coffe shop, then, perhaps dinner in your favourite restaurant.

It's as big or as small as you want AND allow it to be! EVERYTHING IS.

Your life is calling you, what are you going to do with it today???

LOVE

*.*.*. JOY .*.*.*