[Anonymous December 15, 1996 at 6:34 am Post count: 93172]

#1057698

Hi gang! Bruce is back to throw in hand grenades. Didn’t see any posts for a while after my last and was a bit concerned that I upset people.

Thanks for the nice replies Caroline and Trish but I gotta say something about “positive thinking” (I always have to rain on your parade, huh?). I wasn’t talking about that at all, I could think positively forever about winning the lottery and probably be a waste of time. (so far has been!) I could think positive that my eyes look great, and they still look like hell.

I’m talking about responsibility for our lives regardless of our circumstances. I have a lot of “circumstances” myself. My hair is gray and leaving me, I’m poor, I have graves’ but those circumstances don’t determine the quality of my life! I DO!

It’s like saying, “if only I

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then my life would be great” If only I were rich, better looking, had blonde hair, (insert yours here) if only I didn’t have graves’, etc etc. Then my life would work. Quit waiting for the IF ONLYs!

You have some given circumstances you just can’t change all that much, you always have, you always will, not just Graves’– I’m talking about the rest of your lives too.

What you have the real power to change is who you are with those circumstances! The “context” within which you hold all the “content” (those circumstances we all live with).

Its not about thinking positive with all this, its about a SHIFT in the way you interact with it. OK, body, we have gray hair, we’re not rich and we have graves’, now what? I say lets ROCK. JUST BECAUSE I SAY SO!

With much love and respect to all, Bruce

[Anonymous December 15, 1996 at 1:10 pm Post count: 93172]

#1166709

Hi Bruce! Yes, yes, yes! I agree with you wholeheartedly! The quality of my life is whatever I make it. I make the choices and I accept the responsibilities that go with my actions, whether I like them or not. For me, acceptance of GD wasn’t hard – it’s part of me. I feel that I am a strong person who can roll with the punches, and make life wonderful no matter what.

I am a positive thinker! I think you are too – we just define the term differently. We can think positively about winning this or doing that or changing this, but to me that’s just DREAMING or setting UNREALISTIC goals or expectations for oneself. Positive thinking is getting up in the morning and looking at the day as another opportunity to get things done or to just kick back and enjoy. Positive thinking doesn’t involve the “what ifs” or “if onlys” for me. It’s more like looking at what I accomplished for the day and being satisfied with that. Some days are better than other days, but all days are *good* days.

I have Graves’. I have gray hair. My face doesn’t look quite the same as it used to. I get crabby and demanding. I am unique and special in my own way. I am a positive thinker!

Thanks for making me think and appreciate my life even more! Good day, Bruce!

Sending hugs, Debby

[Anonymous December 15, 1996 at 3:09 pm Post count: 93172]

#1166710

Hi, I wrote a long message about all the emotional escapades on this bb.
But before I sent it, AOL threw me off line, so you were all spared.
First before I share what I think about victimization let me say…
when I was 13 my mother died on operating table about to get a thyroidectomy.
She left 5 children.. we all suffered from her grave’s disease. Now I “have it
at 47, and two months later my bro of 56 yrs. has it.
I don’t think it helps to go around saying a mantra of “every day in every way I’m getting better and better”
and I don’t think that it helps to simply complain. I does help to
be honest about your changing and bewildering circumstances. It does help
to be believed. It helps to listen to your inner dialogue… ask yourself “what am I telling myself?
Is it true? and Is it helpful.” If you are murmuring to yourself about how sick and poor and etc you are it is likely
to further discourage and wekaen you. If you say okay, today this aches and that is swollen and i can do this and I shouls be
careful but… then you feel and lkive to your limit for that day.
Lots of people will never understand and some people will never
signal before they trun left in front of you. But you don’t want to spend your life flipping them off or educating them, right?
But if the people are close, be patient with them and explain you needs.
Life is always hard, even without one disease or another. Those stories about starvation and
war and all are real. So we have a personal war in the body… be sure that you feed
your soldiers…your heart and mind your soul with love and encouragement. Bye for now. Jeannette

[Anonymous December 15, 1996 at 3:17 pm Post count: 93172]

#1166711

What a great response Debby! I love this conversation we’re in about the quality of our lives (guess you can tell I’m passionate in that area). You are right on, it can be a matter of definition. I hold “positive thinking in a totally different way than you, therefore my irritation at the subject, but I believe most people view it as I expressed, therefore making absolutely no difference in their lives and just being another good idea. (like weight loss, quitting smoking, etc)

Its easy to say stuff like “You have the power to cause a shift in who you are with your experiences” and have people “understand”, And quite another to get it in a way that cuts into your very being and makes any kind of ongoing difference. After all, I think the human motto should read “avoid change at any cost”.

Bruce

[Anonymous December 15, 1996 at 10:26 pm Post count: 93172]

#1166712

hey there bruce. I got what you’re saying…maybe I didn’t communicate well myself. It’s not about positive thinking, per se, it’s about turning what you’re given into a positive. The world shift is perfect. So you have graves, or so you lost your job, or so you blah, blah, blah…the BIG question is…”so what are ya’ gonna do with it?” You can learn a lesson, you can take a new direction, etc..turn it into a positive experience or make a “shift” with it…or you can become it’s victim. Got it. Trish

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