Healthy Happy Loving Life: Second Day Back

Tags

Enjoying life, Healthy Happy Loving Life, Natural pain solutions

Welcome (back) to the new version of my long-running blog about being as healthy and happy as you can be, enjoying life as much as you can!  I started blogging in 2009, when social media was young.  I took a class on Facebook, Twitter, and blogging, and it was a mind-blower.  At first, I was spending 20 hours a week, learning and practicing my new skills.  I learned photo selection and manipulation, and how to get those pesky titles, subtitles, and captions in all the right places.  Now I’m fast at creating what I want.

I’m using the Ultimate Blog Challenge this month (look for the group of that name on Facebook)– one article per day– to motivate myself to get back in the driver’s/writer’s seat.  There was a lot of family business the last several years, and I just couldn’t keep up my weekly articles and newsletters.  For a couple of years, I did write monthly articles for an authors’ blog.  If you’re interested in seeing those, I will be making the collection available as a pdf ebook.  Now, a shift in family needs is allowing me to spend more time on what I’m called to do: consulting, healing, and writing.  During the last few years, I did continue teaching and speaking.  I finished two full-color browsing books:  Inspirations for Peace Within and Sacred Meditation.  My next planned book will likely be on stress and burnout.  Stay tuned!

Some people wonder how I got into the field of natural medicine.  While I don’t believe in dwelling on the negative, I will share my story briefly here.  In my twenties, I was a serious, focused workaholic engineering manager.  I published mightily; I had quite a publications list.  One night I realized the large knuckles of my hands were burning badly.  I dismissed it, since my mother had first experienced mild arthritis around the same age.  Mom had never done anything about her arthritis, other than take anti-inflammatories and supplements.  I look a lot like Mom and have had much the same metabolism.  So I thought, no biggie.  I have what she had.

Wrong!  Within a year, I was burning from head to toe, and aspirin wouldn’t touch it.  There was a terrible stiffness with the burning.  On the worst day, it took me 2 hours to turn over to reach a telephone, to call in sick.  I thought I might have about a dozen years before I would be in a wheelchair.  There would be no marriage, family, or children.  I took up yoga and jogging.  I worked and experimented and prayed. I continued my career in hydrology and engineering.

In the eighth year of my research and efforts, a miracle was revealed: I had beaten it!!  I was at a party, when a friend started talking about Her Arthritis like it was her lover.  After being introduced to her new diagnosis, she bought a new car for it.  We had been going on group campouts.  She bought all new camping equipment for her companion-disease.  She bought new furniture for her companion-disease.  I listened as generously as I could.  Finally, I heard myself say, “well, when I had horrible crippling arthritis… I did (these things to beat it)…”  I was so shocked to hear myself speak of the horrible burning condition in the past tense, that I can’t tell you what the friend replied.  Or even what my sharings were.  I do remember her frowning at me.  We were both struggling to be polite.

Within a couple of years, I was so involved in natural- and energy medicine, and natural pain solutions, that I was bored with hydrology and engineering.  I gave notice and left the engineering firm I was working for. I opened my own holistic healing practice and have now been at it for over 30 years.  I have helped many, many people with energy healing, dietary adjustments, intuitive guidance, positive languaging, relationship strategies, and understanding the “why” of their physical discomforts.

I invite you to join me on this journey of seeking happiness, health, and a love of life!

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Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert and award-winning author.  She also is an ordained minister and has a natural healing practice. Among her books are: Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br),and Inspirations for Peace Within:  Quotes and Images to Uplift and Inspire, and Sacred Meditation: Embracing the Divine.  The books are available on Amazon and through Kebba’s office.   To email us, kebba@kebba.com .

Books by Kebba Buckley Button

 

Upbeat Living: Create Change and Release Energy!

Tags

Create change, energy, Feeling energized, Kebba Buckley Button, Release energy, stress, The life you want, UpBeat Living

 © 2016 Kebba Buckley Button, M.S., O.M., World Rights Reserved.

Sometimes we ache for a shift in some area of life, and when we finally create change, we release energy into our lifestyle.  Sometimes it comes in with a burst. Then it feels great to have released that aching need, and we have a fresh smile and a bounce in our step.  So why don’t we just jump into change and reap those benefits right away?  There are several reasons.

I’ll share a personal example about flooring.  Sounds mundane, doesn’t it?  But The Great Flooring Project became a metaphor for projects that release energy to us at  powerful level.  When I bought my home, I had new carpeting put in, underlain by padding.  It had a 7-year warranty.  By the 9th year, it had developed wrinkles and no longer looked really clean after a shampooing.  It was so embarrassing looking, so out of character for me and my husband,  that we no longer felt we could entertain, with that tatty looking carpet.  Now I have owned the home for 12 years.

My husband and I both appreciate neat and harmonious living.  As a stress/energy expert, I do Feng Shui consulting.  Our home is Feng Shui balanced.  I also am artistic, with my paintings adorning the living room walls.  We love beauty and are jarred by what is messy, ugly, and dysfunctional.  So the carpet had to go!

By now, you’re thinking, “so replace the carpet already!”  Agreed!  But we were stuck:  what to replace it with?  This, I believe, is exactly the balance point on which so many are stuck:  WHAT is the next step?  In what direction?  In our case, we debated for several years :   how much of the floorspace to cover and with what?  Some materials wear out at convergence areas, and we have two major convergence areas that take a lot of punishment from foot traffic.  New materials have been coming on the market.  So we thought of the porcelain tiles that look like wood.  But we find hard materials jolting to walk on.  And real hardwood wears.  Matching material to patch it will never be found several years down the road.  Carpet collects more dirt than flat surfaces, but grout collects grime and requires maintenance.

At last, we were drawn to a flooring company that moves the furniture for you, an option I was unaware of previously.  Moving the furniture is no small thing, in terms of time and wear on one’s spine.  We liked the quality of materials they offered.  We liked the idea that carpet could be done in one day, whereas our porcelain idea,or any tile project,would take 3 days.  We are least-fuss people, and we do like the feel of carpet under our feet.  So we finally—FINALLY—launched The Great Floor Project with a carpet plan.  At last!

Now here’s the surprise fun:  in the five minutes after we landed on our plan, I felt an incredible release.  I felt so calm, so relieved.  My mind had instantly cleared.  Apparently, the drag from the Great Floor Project had created enough drag on my consciousness that I was having a low level of brain fog.

I sailed off to a meeting and was very centered, speaking powerfully and connecting with colleagues easily.  I was back in the Flow, having only made the firm PLAN for The Great Floor Project.  Two days later, with the lovely carpet installed, we are experiencing a huge rise in energy, in vitality and vibrancy.  It’s the release of the need to make a decision, the relief of having made it, and the enjoyment of the results.  Energy abounds!

What if we take this principle to the global level?  Actress Camryn Manheim has said:

Instead of hating, I have chosen to forgive and spend all of my positive energy on changing the world.

 

So what are you stuck on?  Large or small, what top issue do you need to move off the start mark?  Pick an issue or condition, get whatever information or help you need to make a decision, and get going.  Reap the rewards, and let me know what new energy you experience!  Create change and release energy.  And that’s Upbeat Living!

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Energy – Peace – Meditation

• Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert.  She also has a natural healing practice and is an ordained minister. She is the author of the award-winning book, Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br), plus the 2013 book, Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core, Second Edition. That and her newest book,  Sacred Meditation: Embracing the Divine, are available through her office.  Just email SacredMeditation@kebba.com. 
• For an appointment or to ask Kebba to speak for your group: calendar@kebba.com .
• Recent changes have made our Facebook likes look low.  Would you click “Like” in the right-hand column?  You’ll get our appreciation and a huge rise in your good karma!

Forgiveness Stress: When to Forgive Yourself

Tags

Forgiveness, forgiveness stress, Kebba Buckley Button, living in the now, releasing the past, stress, UpBeat Living

©2015  Kebba Buckley Button, MS, OM.  World Rights Reserved.

Do you have Forgiveness Stress? That’s when you feel a lot of internal pressure because of resentment of things that happened in the past. Even yesterday. Even this morning. Someone did something wrong to you. You didn’t get that raise but a jerk did. A job didn’t work out. A driver was rude and cut you off in traffic. A friend, or someone you thought was a friend, betrayed you. Mom always loved your brother better. The big box store stopped carrying your favorite snack the last 6 months; maybe they’ll have it again, depending on the supplier. You asked a simple question in the produce department and the clerk snapped at you like you did something wrong. Someone attacked you.

 

A lot of unfair things happen in life.  A lot of us get dealt unfair hands, or it seems so. A major key to dealing with all these things is to forgive them: both the individuals and the situations. I have written columns and chapters in my books about the importance of forgiveness and how to work that process. Forgiving will lighten your heart and leave you free to live right now. After all, we can only live in the immediate present moment! Think about it: can you even go back to this morning and handle a situation better? No. Can you go a couple of days ahead and handle something better? No. You can only live in the NOW with an eye to the future you are creating, or cocreating with the Divine, if you are a person of faith.

 

Holding onto sadness or resentment for unfair things and hurtful things only keeps you firmly gripping stress, living in a soup of negativity. We all need to learn to forgive—but not to forget how we got into negative situations. Sometimes, for example, we think a person humiliated us in public. We are still hurt and angry 20 years later. However, looking back from the perspective of twenty years, we may realize that if we had made different choices, that person could not have embarrassed us. Our own behavior made it possible. If we had been better prepared for that meeting, the sequence would have been completely different. In this example, the core of this memory is actually shame.

 

This can be hard to face: sometimes we behaved in an inadequate way, bad stuff happened, and we need to forgive ourselves for our part in it. If you’re thinking of an example from your own life, then start working on forgiving yourself right now. Consider journaling about it. You will never let go of that bad memory and end its power over you until you deal with your Forgiveness Stress! Bless and release the You of the past, and just do your best now. Your life is waiting.

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Energy – Peace – Meditation

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert.  She also has a natural healing practice and is an ordained minister. She is the author of the award-winning book, Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br), plus the 2013 book, Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core, Second Edition. Her newest book is Sacred Meditation: Embracing the Divine. Both that book and Peace Within are available through her office. Just email books@kebba.com.
• For an appointment or to ask Kebba to speak for your group: calendar@kebba.com.

 

Opinion Stress: What You Think of Me Is None of My Business

Tags

achieving goals, acid stress, at choice, Effective living, Kebba Buckley Button, Letting go, moving on, Releasing, UpBeat Living

© 2015 Kebba Buckley Button, MS, OM. World Rights Reserved.

 

Fotolia

 

Now be honest: how many times today did you consider someone else’s ideas about you? How many decisions did you make because someone else would or would not like exactly what you did? If your hair is royal blue and forms a peak across the center of your skull, maybe this isn’t you. Or maybe it is.

 

As a stress management expert, I want you to navigate as freely and joyfully through your life as you can. I want you to find the greatest health and fulfillment you can. And that means dealing firmly with the things that cause you stress, pain, and fatigue.  The results are a lifestyle I call Upbeat Living, always emphasizing the Up beat, like the music term.

 

One of the things I see most draining people is the desire to make a choice that is harmless to others, but there is fear of others’ opinions. So many of these fears are small. For example: you’re having lunch with a vegetarian, but you really crave a burger, and that’s better for your metabolism; you’re afraid to order what you want, for fear of disapproval. Or you want to cut your hair short and dye it vivid red, but you’re afraid of negative feedback in the workplace or that the one you’re dating will be less attracted to you. But some of these fears are bigger: maybe you want to leave your current financial career that’s sucking your soul dry. But you’re afraid your family will disown you if you become a chef.

 

Argue for your limitations and they are yours.

~ Rev. Terry Cole-Whittaker

 

If the vegetarian expresses disapproval of your lunch order, the message is that you are wrong—not worthy. If your workplace expresses disapproval of your hair color, the message is that you are wrong—not worthy—for their group. And if your family would disown you for quitting your draining job and becoming a chef, the message is that you are wrong and not worthy.

 

Several decades ago, I encountered a book by (Rev.) Terry Cole-Whittaker, with the most amusing title: What You Think Of Me Is None Of My Business. Cole-Whittaker believes firmly that each of us is already a complete person, with nothing missing. So we cannot be inadequate.

God does not make junk!

~ Rev. Terry Cole-Whittaker

So according to Cole-Whittaker, other people are not our source, the Divine is. Since God/the Universe/the Divine is completely infinite, all options are open to us, and the sky is the limit. Or not even. She encourages us to think very freely about why we’re attached to what and whom, and to be open to just releasing those attachments. We often have a very strong sense of possession: MY job, MY hairdresser, MY beloved. She tells of realizing she was hanging onto her first marriage, long after it was no longer working or salvageable. She finally got honest with herself and saw she didn’t want anyone else to have her husband!

 

Try this: find 15 minutes of you-time in a quiet place. Or find it in a charming coffee shop where you plug in your laptop, with the hum and chatter of the place creating happy white noise. Now free-write to yourself and the Universe about your life—what you like and don’t, what’s working and what isn’t, what and how you would have things in your dream life. Do you see ways in which you’re feeling stuck? Now: YOU are the only person who can choose differently.

 

What I think of you is none of your business. And what you think of me is none of my business. But what you think of your life, what nurtures you, and what would make you happy and fulfilled—those things are entirely your business. Create some you-time every day, as you can, and keep writing to yourself and the Universe. Keep adding to the “discussion” you have going with you and the Divine. Notice what makes your heart dim or race. Notice you’re beginning to make small changes. And maybe you’re starting to make big ones.  Now, that’s Upbeat Living!

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• If you enjoy this post, please click “like” in the FB widget in the right hand column! You’ll have our undying gratitude plus a huge rise in your Good Karma! Due to a recent FB change, our “likes” look low. Thanks for your help!

Energy – Peace – Meditation

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert.  She also has a natural healing practice and is an ordained minister. She is the author of the award-winning book, Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br), plus the 2013 book, Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core, Second Edition(http://tinyurl.com/mqg3uvc ). Her newest book is Sacred Meditation: Embracing the Divine, available through her office. Just email SacredMeditation@kebba.com.
• For an appointment or to ask Kebba to speak for your group: calendar@kebba.com .

The Biggest Secret Roadblock Preventing Your Successful New Year

Tags

New Year's Resolutions, releasing the past, resolutions, stress, The life you want

© 2015  Kebba Buckley Button, MS, OM.  World Rights Reserved.

 

© Neirfy-Fotolia

In yesterday’s article , I urged you to glide gently into your fabulous New Year, 2015 (http://wp.me/pw4HM-kV). I urged you to wait before setting resolutions, to simply drink water, gently exercise, and otherwise detox from the holidays, while considering your options. Today, I’m asking you to wait one more day before making those resolutions.

 

Today, I’m sharing the number one unrecognized secret roadblock causing the failure of New Year’s goals and resolutions, and any other goals and resolutions you may ever have. You must recognize and deal with this phenomenon honestly and completely, if you are to succeed any time, now, this year, or throughout your future. READY?

 

Ack! Actually, readiness is the secret. When you are not ready, the goal is roadblocked! There are 3 secrets to being beating this roadblock:

1. Believability:  Your mind must be able to believe the goal is achievable.
2. Worthiness:  Your personality must allow the changes necessary to achieve the goal. Will your mind and heart allow you to be that person? Are you worthy enough?
3. Release:  Your desire for the new condition or level must be greater than the inertia of staying as you are. Are you willing to let go of that roadblock? Can you say goodbye to the old you?

 

“This is a new year. A new beginning. And things will change.”

~ Taylor Swift

 

Let’s do a simple example using a popular New Year’s Resolution. Using Secret 1, you want to lose 30 pounds, which is, let’s say, 3 sizes. When was the last time you were that size? Or were you ever that size? If you have been trying to lose weight for 10 years, since you were that size, does part of you possibly believe that you can’t really lose 30 pounds? If so, you’re sunk before you’ve started. Research shows that your mind must find a goal believable, so this one is a candidate for sectioning. Now let’s break it up into 5-pound segments. Would your mind believe you can lose 5 pounds in the next 2 months? Sure! So take that goal to start with, meet it, then go for another 5 pounds.

 

Now, using Secret 2, will your mind allow you to be the 3-sizes-smaller person? Are you worthy of being that attractive and fit? Or does part of you think you should never presume to claim the small-thin-fit image? This can be a little tricky. How do you feel about your current weight, fitness, and attractiveness? Write down or keyboard out what the consequences would be, if you were 3 sizes smaller. What would that look and feel like? Who would your friends and colleagues be? Would you have better business opportunities? Are you worthy of making more money?

 

Now we’re applying Secret 3: would you feel uncomfortable with that much social attention? Would you be tempted to give up your singleness and then be possibly risking dating and relationships? Sure, it’s comfortable staying as you are and getting what you’ve always gotten. But that’s exactly your roadblock: staying the same is comfortable. Is the new size you want worth shaking up your routines and results? Can you say goodbye to the old You and hello to a really new You? Only you can decide.

 

Now try walking through this process with other goals you may have. Privately write down everything you’re thinking and feeling. What do you really want? Who are you willing to be? What are you worthy of?

 

Don’t you feel different now than you did a few minutes ago? Fantastic! I stand for your most joyous, fulfilled, successful 2015. Please let me know how you have used these secrets, and with what results. Meanwhile, tomorrow, I will finally talk about Resolutions to Revolutionize Your Year!

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Energy, Peace, Meditation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert.  She also has a natural healing practice and is an ordained minister. She is the author of the award-winning book, Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br), plus the 2013 book, Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core, Second Edition(http://tinyurl.com/mqg3uvc ). Her newest book is Sacred Meditation: Embracing the Divine, available through her office. Just email SacredMeditation@kebba.com.
• For an appointment or to ask Kebba to speak for your group: bookings@kebba.com .

UpBeat Living: Forgiveness Part 2: Forgiveness for Empowerment

Tags

allergy relief, Amish, at choice, Dr. Eileen Borris, forgive, Forgiveness, Grudges, moving on, peace, peace within, Peacemaking, personal peace, stress, The Dalai Lama, UpBeat Living

© 2014  Kebba Buckley Button,  MS, OM.  World Rights Reserved.

 

Dr. Eileen Borris

In Forgiveness Part 1  (http://wp.me/pw4HM-jI), we talked about how important it is to your own health and wellbeing, to forgive.  The extraordinary forgiveness of an Amish community showed how humans can choose to follow their faith, forgive murders, extend compassion to the family of the murderer, and move on in constructive ways.  This time, we consider the work of an international reconciliation expert and how we can choose to be affected by her work.

 

Dr. Eileen Borris (www.globalpeaceinitiatives.com) can teach you what you need to know about finding forgiveness.  She has been teaching forgiveness and reconciliation around the world for the Institute for Multi-Track  Diplomacy (Washington, DC), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).  The last time I saw her she had just returned from giving workshops in Kuwait.  She was about to go to Rwanda, for the Healing Wounds of History Conference.  Wherever she goes, Dr. Borris transforms.

 

It is possible to realize that the past is past, that continuing to feel anger and hatred serves no purpose.

~ The Dalai Lama

 

In her book, Finding Forgiveness, the Foreword is offered by none other than His Holiness, The Dalai Lama.  His Holiness points out that: “When we become angry, we stop being compassionate, loving, generous, forgiving, tolerant, and patient altogether.  We deprive ourselves of the very things that happiness consists of…it is possible to realize that the past is past, that continuing to feel anger and hatred serves no purpose.”

 

Dr. Borris’s core methodology involves 7 steps:  becoming clear, telling your story, working with anger, working with guilt, reframing the situation, absorbing pain, and gaining inner peace.  She does not ask you to deny the wrong that occurred.  She does not ask you to forget it.  She does not ask you to not-seek appropriate justice where a crime has occurred.  What she does do is expose the complexities of forgiveness and invite you to work this process, ultimately setting yourself free.

© 2014 Kebba Buckley Button, MS, OM

 

Why do we need to forgive?  The final purpose for the individual is empowerment.  You  are at choice at all times.  When you forgive, you get back your power over whoever made you their victim.  Dr. Borris makes the point that animals do not hate.  Hatred requires conceptual thought.  But humans are able to hold thoughts of hate and vengeance lifelong.  How much energy does this steal from a person’s upbeat living lifestyle, joy, health, and productivity?

 

Try this for a moment:  bring to mind some terrible personal injustice that was done to you, which you have had trouble forgetting.  Perhaps someone attacked you.  Perhaps a boss treated you badly or even fired you unfairly.  Perhaps Mom always loved your sibling better.  Perhaps someone badmouthed you, telling tales that were totally unfounded.  Bring this injustice to mind and feel vividly the stress and emotions that come with it.  Did your heart hurt or your back tighten up between the shoulder blades?  Did your shoulder tops tighten painfully?  How about your neck, your head, or your stomach?  Do these sensations feel like they are blessing or enhancing your beingness in any way?  Of course not.  So what has the toll on your mind, heart, body, and spirit been, in the months or years since the injustice occurred?  Is that toll enriching your life in any way?  Of course not.

 

 Whatever your faith basis, does it make sense to hang onto any burden you do not need to hang onto?

~ Rev. Kebba Buckley Button

 

If you would like to challenge yourself, try the following exercise.  Get a pen and paper, and make notes of your thoughts and experiences as you do this.  Imagine your life if the injustice had never occurred.  What hours would you have spent enjoying life and your loved ones?  Would your marriage be better?  What friendships might you have developed, based on sharing happiness and companionship, that you did not because of the injustice?  How well would you have slept?  What excellent health would you have had all this time?  How much better would your concentration have been, on the job or in fulfilling recreation or charity work?  Would you have earned more money?  So what if you could have forgiven this injustice early in the game, and not spent any of this time on distraction, negativity, complaining, and generally experiencing a burden?  These may be tough questions for many of us.

 

Whatever your faith basis, does it make sense to hang onto any burden you do not need to hang onto?  You are always at choice.  What is your willingness to possibly hang up self-burdening beliefs about the importance of an injustice to you?  If these questions are provocative for you, why not pursue them further?  Your journey can be very freeing.

 

Now imagine living in a community where everyone is compassionate, everyone forgives and there is no impulse for revenge.  Now imagine that in the World community.  Countries would be waging peace, not war.  Imagine.

 

Some resources for further reading and techniques include:  Bruderhof Forgiveness Guide (www.foregivenessguide.org), A Course In Miracles (acim.org), Forgiveness Foundation (forgivenessfoundation.org), and the Forgiveness Project (forgivenessproject.com).

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● Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert.  She is the author of the award-winning book, Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br), plus the 2013 book, Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core, Second Edition (http://tinyurl.com/mqg3uvc).  She also has a natural healing practice and is an ordained minister.

● Liked this article?  You can buy Kebba’s books:  just click the links!

• Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br). 
• Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core (Second Edition) (http://tinyurl.com/mqg3uvc)             

● Enjoyed this post?  Please click “like” in the FB widget in the right hand column!  You’ll have our undying gratitude plus a huge rise in your Good Karma.

● Please comment!

● Get these articles by email– just click the Subscribe Free option in the right column.

● Reach the writer at kebba@kebba.com .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UpBeat Living: When Life Flips You Off Track

Tags

change, dealing with change, Garth Brooks, Kebba Buckley Button, life change, Pinball Machine, relationship, stress, Stress Management, UpBeat Living

© 2014 Kebba Buckley Button.  World Rights Reserved.

 

©M. Rosenwirth – Fotolia

Think of the top 3 disappointing events you’ve had in life.  Maybe you were in a relationship you believed in, and suddenly it was over.  How about the time you had your heart set on a job, you knew you were the prime candidate, and you didn’t get it?  Then there was that friend who suddenly cut you off, with a weird reason or no reason.  Remember how much that hurt?

 

Enter, the Upbeat Living Pinball Machine Theory of Life.  Sometimes, it’s like you are the ball on a pinball game board.  After the token goes into the machine, and the spring launcher is pulled and released, the ball zips up the slope of the game board.  Sometimes, like the pinball, you are racing up the board of life thinking you are definitely headed in a certain direction.  The right direction, surely.  Then you get hit with a flipper.  Ow!  For a moment, you don’t even know what your new direction is, right?  You’re just reverberating with the impact of the flipper (ow!), feeling the pain, and trying to get your bearings again.  Then you begin collecting yourself, look up, and see what unintended direction you are now headed in.  Yikes!  This is a new direction!  Not what the plan was!

 

Now let’s talk about that major relationship change.  Grammy-Award winning musician Garth Brooks has a powerful song called, “Thank God for Unanswered Prayers.”  In the song, he tells of being at a football game with his wife and seeing the woman he dated in high school.  Back then, he used to pray for that relationship every night.  By the time he saw his old flame again, he realized he would not be in the amazing relationship he was in with his wife, had the relationship with his old flame worked out.  So now he is massively grateful for the passing of that old relationship.  He was redirected on the Pinball Machine of Life, and now he is deeply glad.

 

Life is a tapestry woven by the decisions we make.

~Sherrilyn Kenyon, Kiss of the Night

 

Now, that perfect job you didn’t get—what changes would that have created in your life?  Changes that would have prevented something great that then did happen?  Here’s an example from this writer’s life:  20 years ago, she flew to Denver for a pre-hiring interview with an international company.  Having done projects with the CEO of the Colorado Division, she knew it was only a matter of negotiating the position and salary.  In Denver, she scoped out where to rent an apartment and what moving arrangements would be involved.  But when she called the man who was to interview her, he said he would call back in 20 minutes.  Then he never did. He never managed to meet with her during the 5 days she was there.  When the CEO asked how her conversations with the interviewer went, she told him they never even met.  The CEO said, “but I thought it was a pre-hiring interview?’  She said, “yes, I thought so, too.”  She never heard from the company again.  It was a bitter disappointment that hurt for many months.  Now, however, she sees that she would never have met and married her husband, had she been given the job in Denver.  She was redirected for a powerful reason.

 

As to a friend who suddenly cut you off, let’s put it in perspective and then give thanks.  Recently, a client was suddenly dropped as a friend because she declined a vacuum cleaner demonstration.  That’s right.  She politely declined an emailed request, due to an extreme work schedule.  Also, she did not know the friend-of-a-friend-of-a- friend that she would be helping by giving 2 hours for a demonstration of a product she could not afford.  The inviter sent an attack reply, assaulting the client’s integrity and spirituality.  He said she was monetizing their friendship.  The client was thinking, “[W]ell, ONE of us is monetizing the relationship!”

 

Leeda knew friends never turned out to be what you expected. They came and went in waves, pulling away and coming back, leaving you feeling safe one minute and lost the next.

~ Jodi Lynn Anderson, Peaches

 

The client then phoned the inviter’s wife to ask if she felt the same way.  The wife said she would call back.  Immediately the inviter emailed the client again, nastily ordering that she must not “go behind his back” to talk to his wife, and best she not contact either of them again.  Did the client really want to be friends with people who would go ballistic over small matters?  Reconsidering a number of past hints of the dark side of these “friends”, the client sadly let these friendships go.  Since, she has come to be glad they are no longer in her life.  Now she has more time for more compatible friends.  She was redirected for powerful reasons.

 

Never respond to an angry person with a fiery comeback, even if he deserves it…Don’t allow his anger to become your anger.

~ Bohdi Sanders, Warrior Wisdom:  Ageless Wisdom for the Modern Warrior

 

If you are a person of faith, remember this timeless truth [Romans 8:28]:  “We know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him…”  When the flippers hit you, you are being directed for powerful purposes, by a Wisdom greater than our own.  Do your best to deal with the hurt.  Then embrace the new opportunities that are arriving.  Be the happy and grateful pinball.  Now that’s Upbeat Living!

 

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● Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert.  She is the author of the award-winning book, Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br), plus the 2013 book, Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core, Second Edition (http://tinyurl.com/mqg3uvc).  She also has a natural healing practice and is an ordained minister.

● Liked this article?  You can buy Kebba’s books:  just click the links!

• Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br). 
• Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core (Second Edition) (http://tinyurl.com/mqg3uvc)             

● Enjoyed this post?  Please click “like” in the FB widget in the right hand column!  You’ll have our undying gratitude plus a huge rise in your Good Karma.

● Please comment!

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● Reach the writer at kebba@kebba.com .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UpBeat Living: Quick! Say A Proper Goodbye to 2013!

Tags

holiday stress, Kebba, New Year, New Year's Resolutions, stress, Stress Management, UpBeat Living

UpBeat Living: Closing Out 2013

© 2013 Kebba Buckley Button.  World Rights Reserved.

Image by Microsoft

It’s the last day of the old year, 2013, and already people are wishing each other a Happy New Year.  TV networks have aired video summaries of the most colorful events of 2013.  This morning, Arizona time, as people watched those videos over breakfast, Sydney, Australia had already crossed into the New Year and celebrated with fireworks.  You have to watch those pesky time zones.

But wait!  Have you properly said “[G]oodbye” to 2013?  Before you launch into your New Year’s resolutions—and you know you will—how about first making your own summary list of all you accomplished or weathered or observed in the old year?  My husband held a great-granddaughter on his lap for the first time.  I finished the second edition of my newest book, Peace Within, and officiated an interfaith prayer service in a Catholic Church (think about it—I’ll wait) for International Day of Peace in September.  A new Pope was elected, an Italian-speaking Hispanic, who embodies God’s love and goes by “Francis”, after St. Francis.  And CBS says Esquire Magazine has named the Pope Best-Dressed Man Of The Year!  For a Pope, he dresses simply, in white.

Why not make a list of all the frustrations and victories, disappointments and joys, that were there for you in this outgoing year?  Take a piece of paper, or a word processor document, or create lists in your phone.  Make 3 columns:  what I didn’t like, what I did like, and what happened in the World that affected me.  Take just 15 minutes, or more, if you realize it’s a powerful thing for you.  You’ll notice a lot of accomplishments.  Be proud.  Celebrate the good.  Toast to the wonders of the Old Year, and wait until midnight to ring in the New Year.

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● Kebba Buckley Button is the author of the 2013 book, Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core (Second Edition).   Keep this book with you constantly, to quickly recharge your Peace Within, with quotes, photos, and poems that take you directly there!  Kebba is a corporate stress management trainer, and she also has a holistic healing practice.

● Liked this blog?  Why not buy Kebba’s books?  Just click the links!

• Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core (Second Edition)( http://perfectboundmarketing.gostorego.com/authors/kebba-buckley-button.html)
• Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br). 
• Enjoyed this post?  Please click “like” in the FB widget in the right hand column!  You’ll have our undying gratitude plus a huge rise in your Good Karma.

● Your comments are welcome!

● Reach the writer at kebba@kebba.com .

UpBeat Living: Finding Your Peace Within

Tags

at choice, Effective living, Feeling energized, happy, Kebba, peace within, stress, Stress Management, The life you want, UpBeat Living

If you are not feeling perfect peace within right now, read on.  If you are stressed, if you have any aches, pains, loss of concentration, or relationship damage from stress, read on.  If you ache for internal quietude, read on.

Peace Within, Second Edition. Photo by George Rocheleau.

Peacefulness comes from being balanced, from being clear about your beliefs, and from living in that clarity and in your connection with the Divine.  Peacefulness is supported by perfect health, whatever that means for you.

Peace within generates peace in your relationships and anywhere you go in your world.  It generates peaceful vibes that others can feel, and that they respond to.  So when you are peaceful inside your body, mind, heart, and spirit, you breed peace wherever you are.

People love a pleasant person and a pleasant experience. So a person who is quietly radiant with inner peace will be receiving positive, gentle and  enthusiastic connections with others.  Now what if everyone in the World were cultivating Peace Within?  Ghandi famously said, “[B]e the peace you want to see.”  That is the way this works.

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● Kebba Buckley Button is the author of the 2013 book, Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core (Second Edition).   Keep this book with you constantly, to quickly recharge your Peace Within, with quotes, photos, and poems that take you directly there!  Kebba is a corporate stress management trainer, and she also has a holistic healing practice.

● Liked this blog?  Why not buy Kebba’s books?  Just click the links!

• Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core (Second Edition)( http://perfectboundmarketing.gostorego.com/authors/kebba-buckley-button.html)
• Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br). ● Enjoyed this post?  Please click “like” in the FB widget in the right hand column!  You’ll have our undying gratitude plus a huge rise in your Good Karma.

● Your comments are welcome!

● Reach the writer at kebba@kebba.com .

UpBeat Living: Getting Past the Past

Tags

Forgiveness, get past the past, NOW moment

© 2013 Kebba Buckley Button.  World Rights Reserved.

Photo by Fotolia

Whatever your belief system, UpBeat Living stands for your greatest health, fulfillment, happiness and success.  UpBeat Living advocates doing what you can to support yourself in living your best possible life, starting now.  One element of that best possible life is understanding that you can only live in the one moment—the “now” moment.

Go ahead—try to live yesterday.  I’ll wait.

Over it?  Great!  Or are you?  How many times this week have you thought of a terrible thing that was done to you in a past job?  How often do you think of past relationships and wish someone had treated you differently, or that you had treated someone differently?  Today alone, what mistakes have you made in your job performance, that you thought of today and winced over?  How many times this month have you thought of not having the childhood you wanted or the parents you wanted?  All these things are actually living in the past.  When you keep playing the mental videos from the past, you do two things that limit you:  (1) you rehearse and relive the past, thus reinforcing your sense of wrong and unworth, and (2) you keep yourself from living in your NOW moment, thus moving on.  Make sense?

Especially if you need a new direction, how will you choose that and move into it, if you are stuck in the past and not even actively living your present?  You must let go of the past!  Resolve to practice catching yourself and gently turning your attention back to the present, with an eye to the future you are creating.

If you are a person of faith, practice turning your attention back to the future you are co-creating with the Divine.  Consider this line from Paul in Phillipians 3:13 (NIV)

 “…One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.”

Practice forgiving, blessing and releasing, and even finding gifts in the lessons of the past.  Try praying for those who have wronged you, wishing them all the best—and God knows what the best is.  And practice letting go, so you can get into your NOW.  God has plans for you!  Will you be there to participate in those plans?  Or will you be stuck in your past?

Step toward your future now, by pulling yourself into your NOW moment, and truly living there.  Get past your past to have the life you were meant to have.

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● If you enjoy this post, please click “like” in the FB widget in the right hand column.  You’ll have our undying gratitude plus a huge rise in your Good Karma.

 

● Kebba Buckley Button is a Master’s Degree scientist, a minister, and the award-winning author of  the 2012 book, Peace Within:  Your Peaceful Inner Core (http://tinyurl.com/abd47jr), and also Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br).  She also has a natural healing and stress management practice and is a celebrated public speaker.

 

● Your comments are welcome!

 

● Get these articles by email– just click the Subscribe Free option in the right column.

 

● Reach the writer at kebba@kebba.com .