Monday Positivity: This is My Year & My New Year Resolutions

Good morning! I hope you had a lovely Christmas

Yesterday I watched the Shaytards Christmas Special 2014. At the end there's a link to @HiimRawn's music video on @shaycarl's channel. The song is motivational, all about how 2015 is going to "be my year".

I've listened to the song a few times and it's going on my ipod today. I'm hoping it will remind me throughout 2015 to keep going with my goals and resolutions, even when times are bad. Living with a chronic illness, I always keep in mind that the best laid plans can still go awry, but if I lay down nothing at all to aim for, then I won't ever have the motivation get anything done.

Here are a few of my goals for 2015:

1) Keep up my Monday Positivity posts on this blog. I've really enjoyed putting these together and the self imposed deadline seems to be working; I've managed to post every Monday for the last three weeks, so I should manage for the next 52 right? I also want to add in extra posts on life and projects on other days

2) Start my business. I have been planning on setting up a website selling my jewellery for about 18 months. Why haven't I done it yet? Well, aside from the health set backs I don't really have an excuse. I think I need to try some more specific goal setting over the next few weeks to get the gears in motion. Maybe I'll write a post about that when I have it figured out

3) Start my YouTube channel. I have a few vlogs I decided never to upload and notebooks brimming with ideas for videos but I am yet gain that final bit of courage to commit and upload something. Maybe I'll get there soon, maybe I'll try again in a couple of months

Apart from these three big goals I have a couple that are more generalised:

4) Keep in contact with my friends. ME/CFS can be isolating, but this year I'm going to try even harder to stay in contact with friends and family

5) Make more use of my sewing machine. I was lucky enough to be given a sewing machine for Christmas last year, but I've hardly used it! I do have a few projects in mind for the new year though

So I've a few things to think about heading into January. Have you made any new year's resolutions? Is there anything you've been putting off for ages that you're going to go for this year?

I hope you are having a brilliant day

Positivity Monday: Silver Linings

Hello and happy Monday morning to you. I hope you are well. 

Today I want to talk about the figure of speech "every cloud has a silver lining"

Focussing on a silver lining has really helped me when I have been feeling down. Say the bad situation you are in is a big black cloud. There will be something about it that you can latch onto as a silver lining. The small good thing might be completely insignificant and over shadowed by that bad thing but it's still helpful to focus on the one small thing about it that you can be glad about. 

I took this picture a few days ago. I think the hundreds of water droplets on the tree look like silver linings.

Last week I was too ill to go and see War of the Worlds with Carrie Hope Fletcher performing. I'd been looking forward to seeing it for several months and I was very excited about it. I was devastated when I realised I just wasn't well enough to make the trip to London. BUT instead I was able to have a nice cosy evening in with my fiancé. 

Now I would have much preferred to be withy the rest of my family enjoying the concert, but instead of dwelling on it, I chose to focus my energies on enjoying my evening with Henry. There were a few tears over the weekend but focusing on the good things helped me to not get lost in the negativity. 

Focussing on the small, relatively insignificant silver lining helped me get through what otherwise would have been a pretty miserable weekend. 

What small thing made you happy recently?

I hope you are having a brilliant day

Monday Positivity: Trust in your beliefs

Good morning! 

I am trying something new: I'm aiming write a little blog post about positivity every Monday! I hope to bring a little happiness to your day. So, here goes. . .

At this time of year my family tend to talk about religion a little bit more. In one conversation recently we talked about the comfort having a faith brings to people who have it. We were talking about a religious faith, but I think the same feeling could be applied to whether you believe in God or not.

Maybe you believe in destiny and fate, the power of good conquering evil, karma, happy endings, love, strength of family, loyalty of friends or you might believe in God. Whatever you believe in - I believe in a few of these - you can put your trust and faith into your belief, to comfort you when you need it.

Try this: write down what you believe in. What is it that anchors your faith in these beliefs? When you are having a bad day, you can come back to what you really hand-on-heart trust and believe, in the hope that whatever is getting you down on that day pales into insignificance. Maybe looking at your list or your one word will bring you a little peace or happiness.

What words would make you happy on a rainy day?

I hope you are having a brilliant day