Greatest Gift to Yourself...."Getting Real"

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Greatest Gift to Yourself...."Getting Real"

What is the greatest gift to one's self? Being authentically you! That may seem like an easy thing, that you are naturally "you". And in the truest sense that would be right because a developing child is just naturally themselves. That is until they learn it is not OK to express who they are and what they feel. Most of us learn from disapproval or punishment, that just being ourselves is not acceptable. So we learn to hide our feelings and self- expression from others and even more importantly, from ourselves. Through paying attention to our feelings and writing them down, or sharing them with a trusted person, we can feel more fully alive and present. This makes close relationships even deeper and leads to feeling more loving and more lovable. To learn how you can be more authentically "you" and how this intention can lead to greater richness and joy as a result, watch You Tube video "Getting Real" by Susan Campbell PhD. or read her book by that name. 
Susan Campbell PhD is author of many books on relationships, describing her highly effective method of sharing honestly to create greater intimacy without blame or disrespect .  Her new book is a must for anyone seeking to either enhance an already good relationship or one that is in trouble. 
 
Ideas for Creativity
 
Exercise your creative nudges!....If you see a movie, read a book or article, hear something on the radio, anything that arouses some thought or passion in you, grab paper, even a napkin, anything at hand. Hold that reaction and allow/encourage it to come through your pen or pencil in words, lines or scribbles. Tease it and tickle it to get results by thinking back to the most intense point in the experience, linger there allowing yourself to explore it. Do this whenever you have a strong response to something you experience interpersonally or in any other way.  Don't judge or question what you are doing.  It may be hard not to be self-critical... but just let it flow!  If nothing happens don't get discouraged, just keep giving yourself the opportunity.  If you feel moved to get your hands into something, such as when angry or frustrated, try clay... or for something right at hand, such as soap or wax (an old chunky candle can work or paraffin sold for canning) which can be very satisfying to carve and shape. Note: wood carving is a bit risky if you have intense feeling.   

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"I slept and dreamed that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service.
I acted and behold, service was joy. -Rabindranath Tagore  
 
"SEE that evil no longer overpowers good,. FEEL that hate has lost the battle and love has won...,and KNOW that love is winning in your life too". --susan k stafford
 
"We don't see things as they are, we see things as we are" -Anais Nin
 
"Helping fellow human beings is the greatest gift any of us can experience. Our opportunity to give begins with listening. Then with learning. Then with understanding. Sometimes all you have to do is be there..."  (quote from"Gift From Within" website)
 
Emotional literacy: the capacity for sophisticated utilization of emotional information -(Claude Steiner)
 
"When we give to the world what we want the most, we heal what is broken inside us." -Eve Enstler-activist
 
"Live as if every second, every thought, every word, and even the smallest act, matters...because it DOES! We each have the power to change the world for better or for worse every day" -susan k stafford
 
"Pssst, say:" 'My life will be redeemed by the extent that I help redeem others' lives.' "Pass it on!" -susan k stafford
 
"For me, there is only the following of the path with heart, any path
that may have heart.  The only worthwhile challenge is to traverse its
full length.  There I walk, looking, looking breathlessly".
-Don Juan from Carlos Castaneda
 
"And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time"- T.S Elliot
 
"Overstating an opposing viewpoint doesn't constitute "balance" -unknown
 
"Every loving act and word ultimately effects all humanity"  (susan k stafford)
 
"If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro’ narrow chinks of his cavern".—William Blake

"I am ashamed to think how easily we capitulate to badges and names"
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
 
"A nation of sheep creates a government of wolves" - Edward R Murrow
 
 

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Some really good relevant books:
 
Trauma and Recovery- Judith Herman MD (a "must read" for anyone with post traumatic stress disorder)
 
I Can't Get Over It- Aphrodite Matsakis PhD
 
Memory and Abuse- Charles Whitfield  MD
 
Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain- Betty Edwards
 
The Problem of Evil- Eric Greenleaf PhD
 
Through Time Into Healing- Brian Weiss MD (extraordinary book!)
 
Tapping the Healer Within- Roger Callahan PhD 
 
Waking the Tiger- Peter Levine  PhD
 
Traumatic Abuse- Bessel van der Kolk PhD
 
Why People Don't Heal and How They Can- Caroline Myss PhD
 
Any suggested additions to this list will be appreciated! 
 
 Cheapest comparative book pricing:
 

I Dream of This Foreign Land
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...where lanterns light the path and people await me with open, loving arms

Please feel free to email me any quotes or books you think relevant. I will review and may add them to the site!  

Inner Vision Art  by Susan Kennedy Stafford
Absolutely no part of this site can be copied or reprinted without express permission!!