Hi Hals,

Thanks for starting this thread.

I'm grateful for the beauty of the earth, and the mountains that surround me in the valley where I live. They're covered with fall foliage this time of year and we've had some rainy weather this week, so the mountains have been especially beautiful in the evenings with the sun shining on them through the clouds.

I'm also grateful for my almost-finished home. It will be my first "own" home, as we have always rented our whole 16 years of married life and my boys (and I too) need the space this new house will provide. It's a great blessing.

Thanks for getting me thinking in a positive direction. Have a great weekend!!

MTF

what a good idea!

hmm... today is tough, but I can say that I am thankful for this sweet kitty curled up in my lap, the long ride on my bike I had this morning, and for a moment to sit and breathe and be...

Hals, good initiative!
Today i am actually feeling wery thankful for the session that i had today. I havent felt that for a long time. All of a sudden i understood today that my T really is WITH me, not against me. Like we`re in a team, and he wants me to stand up for my self and grow and be proud. -And stop hiding and holding myself down. This "discovery" keeps growing in me somehow.. yeah, its hard to describe, it just feels like a growing blessing...that makes me thank God as well.
and one more thing: I am very thankful for this forum and the great people here.

don't know where you are, hals, but it is beautiful here too!!

great thread..

i, am thankful that you posted this and encouraged me to think of the millions of things i have to be thankful for....one.

two. that every now and then, like today, i feel like someone has just soothed my ruffled feathers.


jill

jill...today I don't think it matters much where you are, I think the entire US is experiencing this beautiful weather....It is funny isn't it, how when you look for things to be thankful for or to appreciate, there is an abundance. I spent so many years of my life (learned behavior I suppose based on my experiences, enviornment, etc...) looking for all of the bad things...the bad things that happen to me, the bad things that happen to those close to me, all of the ways that life is unfair and that I'm the victim of the injustice. Some days when there wasn't enough bad things I would go looking for them...I would find them in friends lives and I would take on their pain, their suffering as my own. I would take on any pain that was remotely close to me. Why? Becuase that is all I knew. How can you know that there is another way until you are exposed to the other way? That is what therapy has done for me. My T has challenged me, we've worked hard, at times I've hated him, at times I've pushed away, buried my head in the sand. But today, I am thankful that I am seeing that the way I was thinking of things, the way I was viewing my world, my life, and experiencing my suffering isn't it. It isn't all there is. There is a whole different way to do things, a different way to be, a different way to see.

Some days, some moments, I find myself getting stuck in my old ways. I had a horrible time early this week with my T....bad, bad "tantrum", horrible fears of "I can't do this". Much of it is feelings of "it's just too hard". I have to remember that it took me many years to perfect the way I've been doing it and I'm not able to undo all of it in a matter of a few years of therapy. Well... I guess when I started this reply, it wasn't meant to be this big long drawn out reply, but there you have it...the long and short of it. I'm thankful for this forum as well...as my day wore on, I found myself looking at all the beauty that is there for me every day to soak in. Yea....feels good

Hals

Hals
What a wonderful thread!! From your later post Hals, you've come a long way and really enjoying the good space you're in! Fabulous!
Morgs

hals, it sounds like you have 'crossed over'...y'no, the threshold of the other side that we are all searching for. some days it is easier than others, and today was one of those days for me, but two days before?? ragged at best.

i had the same indoctrination growing up too. look for the flaw, magnify it, worry about it, hysteria and drama. and NEVER LET IT GO.

so, this many years later, while i have tried to fight it all my life, too. somehow, the dam broke, and i fell in. a big pot of brewing gunk, that somedays buries me alive.

but, there is another way. focus on what is good, what is true, what is pure...these things. and there are alot.

i am so glad you have found it, and i long to have both feet on the other side.

funny, i do feel so good today. don't quite know why, distance from scary old wednesday, maybe. but, euphoric a bit...uh oh, she quized me on signs of bipolar, and i met quite a few but she nixed it ... i am suspicious, as always. and a bit euphoric. i can circle the drain and smile like sunshine, all within a week...i think i'll just settle with bpd, that is enough ... hmmmm, i will tell you, therapists will be in business in any economy. that is a profession that will never end...if prostitution was one of the first, therapy will be one of the last.

thanks for your kind reply,hals...jill

Aw BG

yea

Am so pleased to hear about your H's job, that's wonderful news. Sometmes we never appreciate what we have til it goes do we? Enjoy,

starfish

harder time this week in the "grateful" category, but here goes...


*Iced coffee
*weekends
*my lawn mower with a bagger attachment (the thought of raking leaves with an actual rake is enough to send me into a panic attack

i want to add a few:
*my purring kitty
*friends who make me laugh
*a working computer
*clean water
*this forum and the people here
*a bright blue sky this morning

*and giving into a craving for a dutch apple and cinnamon bagel with hazelnut cream chese, hot chocolate, and going for a long walk by the creek (before getting to the immense amount of chores, paperwork, and other work of the day.)

Been a bit absent as of lately...just doing a lot of good work, still reading, just not posting so much. With the Thanksgiving holiday approaching....knowing so many that are dealing with so much right now, I did want to say thank you to all here for their contributions, stories, encouragement, and hope. When I think about all of the love and support that is so evident in this online community, it really overwhelms me. So for all of you this Thanksgiving...thank you! Each and every one of you, whether I have had direct correspondence with you or just maybe a post that I never respond to that strikes home or has the exact words I need to hear thank you...I am grateful to have found this place and I hope all of you have a safe and blessed Thanksgiving! Hals

Aw, Happy Thanksgiving, Hals...it is so nice to "see" you again even if it's briefly! I loved your message...

Peace,

BB

quote:

Many of you will never know your influence because in reading here I have been affected many more times than I have openly expressed.

My thoughts exactly! Many days I leave this forum after only viewing a few posts and I feel a renewed sense of energy and a new view on things...other days I am overwhelmed with sadness for what a fellow "therapy client" is feeling or experiencing, but even that helps me with perspective and puts me on my knees again, remembering to lift others up in my thoughts and prayers. Hals....

I'm very thankful that I have
a good job
a good husband and family
a good T
and for finding this forum
with such wonderful people who
encourage me and make me realize
I'm not alone.

PG

I am so grateful right this moment for warm heavy blankets and a sweet kitty with endless unconditional love for me, purring in my lap...

Hals, its great to hear from you!

I am thankful for my life, that I am living in it, that I can feel all of it even when sometimes it doesn't feel really good. But I am grateful that I can now experience deep moments of joy, and the incredible beauty that dwells within the heart of life despite all the suffering.

I am thankful that healing from what happened to me provided me with strengths and insight and compassion that I would not otherwise possess. I am even more grateful that I have been provided places to use those strengths. I am finding my work on the phone line incredibly rewarding.

I am grateful for my loving husband and two wonderful children. All of them can drive me nuts at times! But I love them, they love me, and I am thankful that we all muddle through and make this family work. I am really grateful for all their support through my healing.

And last, but so not least, I am grateful for so many dear friends I have made here. That I have a place where I can be understood so well and be met so consistently with acceptance, and comfort and support. You have all been such an integral part of my healing, and I bless the day that led me to this place.

I hope everyone in the States has a peace filled Thanksgiving. And for those of you who live elsewhere, may you have a peace filled Thursday.

AG

I am grateful for my T, my husband, and my SD. I am grateful for that, my kids aren't going hungry, we are not being tortured or in a war-zone, and we have a warm house in this very cold place. I am grateful for *all* of you... grateful to be accepted here- someplace.

I am grateful that I have health of body, and ability to seek healing for my mind and heart. I am grateful for my dearest of Ts.

Happy Thanksgiving.

BB

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Woo, Maclove, so many nice Thanksgiving treats in there!

I had a good Thanksgiving (despite being nowhere near the US). I went to the same function, second year in a row. I remember last year I was so anxious and exhausted that when I got there I had to go sit in the bathroom in the dark for about 15 minutes. I remember how uncomfortable I felt with everyone there, none of whom I really knew.

This year I was stressed, but not freaked out. And when I got there, I realised those same people were now my friends. Not close friends, but I was happy to see them, I felt they were happy to see me, and I had a really nice night.