The following affirmations are from a book entitled, “The Present Moment,” by Louise L. Hay.

-Life supports me and wants me to be fulfilled and happy.
-This is a great day to create, imagine, produce, and visualize.
-I see the world through eyes of love.
-I am compassionate and understanding. I forgive and forget.
-I eagerly look forward to the future.
-I radiate success, and I prosper wherever I turn.
-People respect me and are very appreciative of everything I do.

“Who needs to hear ‘I apologize’ from you? Are you willing to apologize to someone today? An apology is not an admission of guilt or wrongdoing. It’s an acknowledgement to do better next time.”

–Iyanla Vanzant

“Goals are tools for focusing on your life and for inspiring you to take action. Today, determine the worth of your goals… because everything you want may not actually be worth having.”

-Keith D. Harrell

Most of us don’t look at happiness as a choice. You look at what’s going on in your world. When what’s going on is not to your liking, you decide to be unhappy about it. That’s right you decide! You may be thinking something like, “Sure, that’s easy for you to say, you’re not experiencing what I am!”
It’s true I don’t know what’s going on in your world and it might be truly sad or angering or frustrating, but happiness is an inside job. It’s a feeling inside of you that really has little to do with the world outside of your skin. It’s very true, you may experience some not so good feelings when things don’t go as you intended. Being happy, however, is more than a fleeting emotion. It’s more a way of life, an attitude, a way of looking at the world from a Life is Good! perspective. It’s a close relative to Joy which has been the topic of more than one of my cyberspace essays.
When happiness is evading you and your thinking is spiraling downward, say CANCEL! out loud or to yourself – if you’re on a crowded train saying it to yourself is a really good idea! As soon as you cancel the negative, replace it with a positive thought like ‘life is good’ or ‘all is well in my world’ or ‘everything is in perfect order’, something that puts your mind on a positive path. Science has proven that our minds really do respond to what we think and say.
Before you decide it won’t work, give it a try. You just might be pleasantly surprised at the happiness you feel.

“Be willing to admit that you’re wrong or have made a mistake. It’s the only way to learn.”
–Christiane Northrup, M.D.

I have a friend who always has to be perfect. She seldom will try anything new for fear she might fail and prove herself incompetent. She, like other perfectionists, aspires to be the top achiever and doesn’t allow herself to make even the smallest mistake. She is always on the alert for errors and weaknesses mainly within herself but sometimes it spills over into very high expectations of others as well.
There is a high cost to being a perfectionist. It usually results in paralyzing fear – like that of my friend who can’t bear to try new things for fear of failure. Perfectionists go from being happily highly productive and successful to being frustratingly and completely unproductive, sometimes within hours or even minutes.
Perfectionists, unlike high achievers, are not really trying to achieve success. Perfectionists are driven by the fear of failure and are generally motivated by self-doubt and the avoidance of disapproval, ridicule, and rejection instead of the healthy self-esteem and motivation of the high achiever.
If this perfectionist description sounds like you or someone you know don’t delay. Find or suggest a growth workshop lead by a professionally trained facilitator or a counselor/psychotherapist (preferably a Licensed Clinical Social Worker – LCSW) that can help in the journey to finding joy and peace in life!

“If you can learn from every relationship and understand how it came into your life, then no relationship needs to be remembered with regret.”
–Deepak Chopra, M.D.

You, like most people, may say you want to simplify your life. You want more control of your time. You want to have time to do the things you love or time to learn new things or time to travel to interesting places.
So often there are newspaper and magazine articles that report about how people say they aren’t spending time on what they enjoy. A recent poll actually found that 65% of people are spending their free time doing things they don’t want to do! Isn’t that amazing? It’s so very interesting that most of work so hard to create a full and interesting life but it’s so sad and frustrating that we then don’t take the time to enjoy it.
The challenge is to find those few very important and vital ideas or goals that produce the greatest value for you. Then focus on that small number of activities that result in most satisfaction for you instead of focusing on the larger number of activities that don’t result in satisfaction. This is summed up nicely in the 80/20 Principle first stated by Vilfredo Pareto in 1897. This principle states that 20% (the small amount) of your effort produces 80% (the large amount) of the results you really want.

“Think BIG. There are unseen forces ready to support your dreams.”
–Cheryl Richardson

I was looking through the latest issue of the NASW NEWS. This is a monthly professional publication of the National Association of Social Workers. I came across a brief statement that said, “Social Workers are the largest group of clinically trained mental health providers. They are your kind of people.”
Now, I have to admit that this statement was an ad to encourage advertisers to choose this publication to reach Social Workers. I, however, think it is a perfect statement on the benefit of choosing a Social Worker when you’re looking for someone to help you work through life’s difficulties, when you’re suffering from psychological dysfunction.
Social Workers receive more clinical training than any other counselor/therapist education program. Social workers learn from a person-in-environment perspective that looks not only at you but how those in your world impact your life. Social Workers actually do provide more than 70% of all counseling/therapy in our country. Just so you know, NOVO counselor/therapists are Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSW). We are your kind of people! Come and see how we might help you.