Saving Sense

Every little bit of conservation

adds up!

Tough Love

Are you depressed?
Tired?
Unmotivated?
Listless?
In Pain?

Well, get up off your ass , get outta the bed, and
find something to do, anyway. And if you haven't
been doing so, get out of the house.

Fresh air, interaction, accomplishment, mobility, and
change of scenery are requirements for keeping the
demons at bay.

I speak from experience when I say it's an everyday
struggle to keep feelings and circumstance from
doing me in. We can't be ruled by emotion or fears.
Make yourself get up, drill sergeant style.

Whatever it takes to generate movement.
Activity is crucial to feeling better and accomplished.

To start moving is a magical.
Survival begins with refusing defeat.
You don't need a long-term plan to just start moving.

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Who's In Charge of Your Workshop?

As a realist and a cynic, I see things for what they are,
not the feel-good facade often promoted. I see the world
stripped bare of pretense.

Sometimes, that harshness threatens to consume me.

When you're going a spell without work, when having nothing
of value to occupy your mind (or hands,) when questioning your
worth based on the normal tenants of what people in our society
are 'supposed' to have in their lives....things can get rough.

When you're an unemployed person--shifted out of normal
society as we are--separate, detached, lost...you can lose
your grip on the world very easily...and quickly.

We have to work overtime to make sure that doesn't happen.
Any or all of these tips that can help are ways to avoid having
the situation get to you.

*Occupy yourself; keep busy and productive
*Reinforce your best attributes; stop beating yourself up
*Surround yourself with correct things, not negatives
*Keep working on what's important to you
*Don't let yourself go; maintain hygiene and house cleaning
*Keep to a schedule
*Keep working on goals
*Do something body-wise like exercise
*Do something for your mind like learning a new word, language, etc.
*Do something spirit-wise, like meditation
*Do something fun or freeing, like laugh, dance, or draw

You may not feel like doing any of these things, but just as a
job is sometimes a means to a paycheck, sometimes in life we
have to do the groundwork for a better outcome, even when we
don't feel motivated.

Make taking care of yourself your new full-time job.

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Sunday is a Day of Re-Set

Keep working at it; keep battling.

No concern for resistance, no attention to past losses.

A man--a person--is not a cumulative effort of losses.

Losses are things that happen, inevitable, normal.

Don't lose perspective because you're in the midst of one now.

Regain that moxy and verve.

Don't accept a secondary position of value in your mind.

Don't let the opinions and condescension of others alter your self-concept.

Be strong, motivated, proud, audacious.

Don't let the emotions lead you.

Feel them...without being controlled or led by them.

YOU CAN DO THIS.

***

"I´m Still Standing"covered by André Fuckert

It's Blinders, Not Blindness

These times may seem insurmountable.

They aren't.

This can seem like the end of the road...

It isn't.

Dreams can crumble,

old friends are disappearing,

hope is a rare commodity

(or perhaps even a distant memory.)

Survival...merely staying afloat...

can seem a strangely unattainable and

even undesirable notion.

("How will this ever work out?")

Ideas don't seem to manifest,

'nothing' seems to bear results,

opportunities seem to have ended.

But, this...this is NOT the end.

Your view is distorted by the experiences

you have endured. By the surroundings

you are 'stuck' in now.

Right now, no end is in sight.

The outcomes seem dark and unavoidable.

Everything seems lost.

But there is a tomorrow...there is possibility.

There are options and choices and chances

that, right now, you are not even capable

of imagining in your current

state of despair.

But even this...this struggle

and helpless sensation

and fear..

is giving you something you can use.

If only you can hang on, and believe,

and persevere.

And you can...

you can do it, even if you don't yet know it.

You are about to discover just how strong

and courageous you are...but it will take

being nearly destroyed for it to happen.

Push on.

This is a new life, a new chapter,

a new understanding.

Be open to the changes, without giving up.

Some day, you will find yourself,

as I have, with a new perspective

and an ability to transcend... that

gives you hope and appreciation

you cannot imagine...

from where you stand now.

***

"Nickel & Dimed" by Barbara Ehrenreich

As the subtitle suggests, this is a book

about how the American workforce is

not making it on the minimum wage

American nightmare.

It details in exhausting scrutiny how

companies and corporations have us

all behind the eight ball.

If you're already in trouble, it may

not be able to serve as warning, but

sometimes the simple act of

hearing that others know, understand, and

have experienced similar difficulties

can be therapeutic.

Available at most libraries as

book or audio book.

There is strength in numbers.

****

Michael Franti & Spearhead - "Sound of Sunshine" (ft. Jovanotti)

A little Monday morning pick-me-up and inspiration
for me and my jobless (or underpaid) brothers and
sisters.  Don't give up on the finer points.

'Down' is not 'out'.
Stand strong.

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