Saturday Night Ramblings

Hello, World!!! It is 11:09 at night in my corner of the world. I have been watching the Olympics quite faithfully this time around. I am finding that watching the Olympics has been helping me with the loss of my grandma. I really miss her.

I’ve also been doing some mindfulness and meditation practices today. I am feeling some peace whenever I do a mindfulness practice. I have come to the conclusion that mindfulness and meditation is helpful for my recovery.

My recovery means the world to me and whatever I find helpful for it, is something I will continue to do. If you are person in recovery, I encourage you to find things that are helpful for you and your recovery.

Thank you for reading. Peace Out, World!!!

 

Everyday Inspiration; Day 4: A Story in a Single Image

As this woman walks through the woods I cant help but thinks about the peace it can bring her. If it brings me peace, I am sure it brings her peace. A peace that only nature can bring. A peace and contentment that can give one hope and inspiration. A hope that can change the world. A change in the world that will inspire others and give them hope. A hope that is being set by example. An example of hope all because of a walk in the woods.

Sunny In Seattle

Good Moring, World!!! Thankfully, I was able go back to sleep after my last post. The best part about waking up this time around is that it’s sunny outside and I was able to see a bald eagle fly around my window for about ten minutes. I have to say that this is going to be one of my favorite moments of the day and the weekend.

I think I’m going to paint the eagle I saw outside. I paint when I want to express my emotions. Right now I feel content with how things are going. Yes, life may not be where I want it at the moment however I’ll take feeling content with life any day.

I hope everyone has a great day. Have a great weekend. Peace Out, World!!!

 

Photo 1; Day 6: Solitude

Good Afternoon, World!!! Today’s topic is of solitude and I thought of the perfect picture from Christmas of 2017 in Olympia, Washington.

IMG_0115The above picture is from my hotel room I stayed at while visiting family for the holidays. As you can see I had a white Christmas. I stayed in Olympia, Washington as mentioned which is the state capital. You can see tiny bit of it three quarters of the way up on the left. So the solitude part of this picture was when I walked around the lake while listening to the sounds around me. I went back to the hotel room and had hot chocolate while looking out the window to the scene that is pictured above.

Thank you for reading. Have a great day. Peace Out, World!!!

Photography 1; Day 3: Water

When I found out that todays topic to photograph was water I became ecstatic as water in my peaceful place. Its the place where I feel a sense contentment. Both the emotions of peacefulness and contentment are rare for me to experience which is why I love the water so much.

IMG_0006The above picture is taken from a hotel that I stay at from time to time in Bremerton, Washington. It’s just a ferry ride from Seattle. The hotel I stay at and the Bremerton ferry terminal are near the Bremerton Navy Base and Bremerton (Puget Sound) Shipyard. The picture above is of a sunrise over the Puget Sound. This picture brings me peace.

Thank for reading. Have a great Sunday everyone. Peace Out, World!!!

Depression & Sports

Good Evening, World!!! I am so ready for spring. Mainly because of baseball season. I am a huge baseball fan.  I love baseball.

As much as I love baseball at least I have some other sporting events that will be helping me through. I’ll be watching the Winter Olympics along with the rest of the world. The Olympics bring the world together even for a few short weeks. I wish the world could get together everyday of the year like it does doing the Olympics.

Sports helps me with my depression. It helps me get out of my own head even for a few hours. Sort of like how the Olympics bring the world together even for a few short weeks ever four years.

Thank you for reading. I hope everyone has a good evening. Peace Out, World!!!

Everyday Inspiration; Day 4: A Story In A Single Image

The above image invokes some very pleasant childhood memories. A good portion of my childhood was spent playing in and around water. In fact, I was either at the beach surfing or in the woods camping near a lake a good portion of summer vacations as a child.

Not only does the above image invoke pleasant childhood memories it invokes positive memories for me as an adult as well. I’ve spent my entire life near water. I have trouble comprehending not living near water due to the fact I’ve lived no more than thirty minutes away from it via public transportation.

In fact water is the one thing that gives me a sense of peace. A sense of peace that I rarely have. Peace that I usually only get when I am near water. Even in the midst of the most severe symptoms of my mental health diagnosis acting up, water can calm those symptoms.

I realize that what a wrote about the above image isn’t exactly a “story” but I just wanted to share with you the power water has on me. The power of giving me peace. Water is my happy place.

Now that I’ve share with you that my happy place is water and the pleasant childhood memories that water brings up, I’m going wish you a good Sunday. I hope that everyone has a good day. Peace Out!!!

Finding A Peaceful Way To Have Daily Structure

Hello, World!!! It’s just after eleven o’clock at night in my part of the world. Even though I haven’t accomplished much the last few days in the eyes of what society calls accomplishments, I feel like I have made some significant accomplishments.

Accomplishments that are a major deal for me. Lets start with something that is difficult for me to do and that is taking time out of my day to do a mindfulness meditation. A fellow peer specialist introduced me to an app called Calm. So I decided to get the app however I didn’t start using it until about ten days ago. I’ve been using the guided mindfulness meditation of the Calm app. In fact I’ve done it for, four days straight now. I’ve noticed over that last ten days especially the last four days straight that I’ve had a sense of calmness and peace I haven’t felt in a long while. I am making a conscience effort to do a guided mindfulness meditation each morning to start off my day in a good way.

Another way that I am starting off after my morning mindfulness meditation is having a nice cup of hot tea with honey and half & half in it while reading the local news paper. Yes, the news can be quite depressing at times however, I find that reading the news paper helps me with being less traumatized by the news. I can always put the paper down when it gets overwhelming and pick it up at a later time during the day. I do end up reading the entire paper without needing to put it down and I have both the mindful meditation I do before hand as well as what I do next.

What I do next is take a two mile walk while listening to my favorite music or my favorite podcast. Right now the podcast I’m listening to is Philosophize This. Its about philosophy as well as philosophers. I am finding listening to Philosophize This extremely educational for me.

Another thing I am finding educational for me is teaching myself how to play the musical interment the recorder. It is quite similar to playing the flute and since I know how to play the flute, I’ve decided to teach myself how to play the recorder. Part of the reason I’m teaching myself to play the recorder is its not only similar to playing the flute but my flute needs some major repairs to it and will take some time to get it repaired. Learning a new musical instrument also helps bring a peace and calmness that many other things are unable to do. Playing an instrument is also a type of mindfulness and a form of meditation for me.

I hope that when I see my therapist tomorrow that I can tell her what I am doing to help myself with all the mindfulness and meditation I am doing for myself. In fact I consider all what I discussed with you a form a self care for myself. Most of which is a new form of self care for me.  I just help that I can continue this good self care with the help of both the professionals in my life as well as the people in my natural support system (aka my friends).

As I end this blog post for the night, I hope this is a start that things are starting to look up for me in regards to my recovery. It’s going to take a great deal of effort on my part but am extremely hopeful that I will stick with it.

As always thank you for reading. I hope that with what I discussed in this post helps others realize that recovery is possible and that those who don’t struggle with a mental health condition or challenge that we  who do struggle want, desire and work hard to be well. Thank you for reading. Peace Out, World!!!

A Sunday to Remember

Today has been truly a lazy Sunday. A Sunday, I wouldn’t trade for the world. I wouldn’t trade for the world because it was a truly amazing day. A day that Junior put a great deal of thought in to.

Junior put a great deal of thought into today as he is well aware of how difficult things have been for me the last several months. Junior planned today out to be a relaxing and lazy day as well as to enjoy what he had planned in hopes to have spontaneous events to enjoy. We both enjoyed the planned and the spontaneous events of the day.

This is where I share with you the events of today. Events that have helped me. When Junior got off work this morning he went to my place to gently wake me up to start off the day. He rubbed my back till I woke up. When I woke up, he gave me a kiss and asked if I wanted to spend they day with him at my place or his. I said his place because it has a more homey feeling to it. So, we came over to Junior’s place.

Once we got to Junior’s place, he changed out of his uniform and into his pajamas. In fact the both of us have spent most of the day in our pajama’s with a couple exceptions that I will tell you about later on in this post. After Junior put on his pajamas he made breakfast. Breakfast consisted of French toast, scrambled eggs, bacon, fresh strawberries and chocolate milk. After breakfast, Junior went to bed as he had a long forty-eight hour long shift and I started the dishes. Junior ended up getting up shortly after going to bed to watch me do the dishes. As he watched me do the dishes for about five minutes he turned on some music.

Not just any music but music that represents our love for each other. After turning on the music, he went to were I was, turned of the water and gently grabbed my had asking me to dance. I, of course said yes and we danced in his living room. The dancing led to some passionate intimate moments. Yes, we made love. As we made love, I felt a sense of peace, I haven’t felt in months. A peace that Junior’s love for me is never-ending no matter how tough things get for either of us as individuals or as a couple.

After making love, we talked about things. Things that brought both happy and sad tears to the both of us. It was nice to be able to lay in bed holding each other talking. After a good talk we both fell asleep. We slept for a few hours before waking up to eat lunch and watch a baseball game on television.

We ate left over salad before the Seattle Mariners versus Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim game started. As we watched the Mariners play against the Angels we held hands, cuddled and even did some petting. Petting that led to more intimate moments. Moments that I am beyond grateful for. Yes, we did watch the baseball game. Granted it was only about half the game due to intimate moments but we did watch. I am happy to say that the Angels beat the Mariners once again. In fact they (the Angels) swept the Mariners under the rug. Junior of course was (and is) a little disappointed as he is a Mariners fan. Even though he is a devoted and loyal Mariners fan I still love Junior.

I love Junior because he is devoted and loyal to every aspect of his life. His devotion and loyalty to me amazes me and is something I don’t deserve. Even though I feel like I don’t deserve Juniors love, devotion and loyalty, he continue to give it to me and is extremely patient with me. Patient enough with me to let me cry as he held me. Yes, I cried. I cried due to the pain I was dealing with regarding PTSD symptoms I was experiencing. Junior just sat there holding me as I cried for a good half an hour. After as I was done crying we talked. Talked about the symptoms I was experiencing and then about what we were going to do about dinner.

We decided that we were going to have a simple dinner. A simple dinner of spaghetti, corn on the cob, milk and for dessert we had strawberry short cake. We made enough to have left overs tomorrow. I’m looking forward to left overs tomorrow because they always taste better the next day.

After dinner we did the dishes. Dishes that were left from breakfast and lunch as well the ones we had from dinner. When we were done with the dishes we sat on the couch talking again. Talking about our future. A future together. A future we want together.

As we discussed our future together we decided to do a jigsaw puzzle. Something we both enjoy doing. As we worked the puzzle together we ended up having yet another intimate moment. Another moment I am grateful for. I’m grateful for the moment because Junior and I haven’t had many intimate moments lately due to severe and on going symptoms of my Depression and PTSD. Moments that both Junior and I are grateful for.

Being grateful for what we have is a major reasons why our relationship has lasted so long. Another major factor is good communication. I’m sure you all agree that communication is key a good relationship no matter what type of relationship it is.

Today has been a Sunday to remember because of the time I have spent with Junior and as I end this post remember to thank those people in your lives that make an effort to make your day better. I know I plan on thanking Junior on making my day better. I hope to blog again tomorrow about the continuing education class I will be attending. Have a great rest of your weekend. Peace out!!!

 

Poetry, Day One: Water

A Sense of Peace

by Gertie

Water brings a peace.

A peace nothing else can bring.

Peace that brings freedom.