Is it recession or depression?

No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an
uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit- Helen Keller

As Harry Trueman once said - its a recession when your neighbour looses his job, and depression when you loose your own. And today, many of us are faced with financial challenges, some our own doing, and some which life has decided to throw at us. Sarah points out, that it is very easy to surrender to an emotional depression when a financial one occurs. Its easy to be pessimistic about tomorrow when today seems so bleak.

Drought, fire, flood, unemployment...................... these are just a few of my challenges. I am sure you dear reader will have a personal list of your own. But what if we were to say - stop being pessimists, and change our thinking to becoming optimists??

Sarah writes, optimism is a habit (like happiness) that can be learned. She encourages us to start today with a little experiment - smile at everyone you meet. Expect something good to happen today not matter what happened yesterday. Realise that the past holds you captive if you continue to cling onto the woes that life has dealt you.

And take ownership of your life - and of those past choices that have left you feeling financially vunerable. Living authentically is a process of working out what matters to us, and what is just a waste of our time and energy. For example, during our financial "crisis", I have learnt to pare down to the essentials. Yes I do miss the convienence of buying the whiz bang birthday cake for my youngest recent birday - but I have discovered how much more enjoyable it is to make your own. Especially when you have a little helper willing and able to lick the bowl clean for you (helps with cleaning up LOL).

And funny enough, I feel much lighter, since I have de-cluttered my kitchen of the 101 herbs & spices that I used to tell myself that we needed, now its what ever I can grow and dry which I use in my cooking extrodiaires. And yes, I feel I am much more productive. And in the process, I have re-set my personal values, and found new joys and pleasures which I never knew exsisted.

So dear reader - today think about what past decissions you need to acknowledge, pay homage to them, then place them in the past where they belong. And if the ramifications of those choices are still affecting your day to day living, then work out a plan. Re-set your own personal values, pare down your clutter, your shopping lists, etc. Consider donating to charity any item that is wasting your energy for someone more needy (and yes dear reader there is always someone worse off than you), or having a go on EBay.

Oh - and dont forget to recognise something today to be grateful for............