365 Days of Gratitude: Where the Wild Things Are.

For my birthday last month the boy gifted me a limited edition Where The Wild Things Are backpack from Taiwan. It is 1 of 50 signed by Maurice Sendak in 1980.

He also got me a WTWTA Max onesie that’s what the crown is for lol
Here’s a close up of the signature.

Where The Wild Things Are was my favorite book growing up.

You can’t see the title of the book, but this is how pumped I was reading my fave


My dad spent a whole day finding that picture for me. In other VERY exciting news, Mini has joined the ranks here as a guest blogger/hopefully long-term feature! Click here to check out her first post. The clan is coming together, yo. Stay tuned for new bios, which she and I will pen in the near future!

The Law of Attraction

The other day as I took a voluntary trip down the internet rabbit hole, I found a YouTube video about the Law of Attraction and how to implement it. I had no previous knowledge of it, and I found it very intriguing. 

Its definition according to wikipedia is “the belief that positive or negative thoughts bring positive or negative experiences into a person’s life. The belief is based on the idea that people and their thoughts are made from ‘pure energy’, and that a process of like energy attracting like energy exists through which a person can improve their health, wealth, and personal relationships.”

My interpretation of this is that because the universe is made of energy and similar energies must attract. People can attract opportunities, ideas, experiences, and even other people. Sadie Aldis says “you get what you think you can have”. So, whatever you believe is possible for yourself most likely is. You can’t set extreme or unrealistic goals for yourself and expect them to manifest. You have to focus on one aspect of your life that you’d like to improve. 

The law of attraction has always been present in your life and is constantly in motion. It’s a matter of becoming aware and having control over what you attract. We’re all made of atoms that vibrate at different frequencies, and we attract things that vibrate at the same frequency that we do. High frequencies tend to attract positivity, compassion, and love. You’re always contributing to the law of attraction, even subconsciously. You’ll get what you focus the most on. Lastly you have to connect your mind with your heart. To raise your frequency you have to actually feel grateful, happy, or excited. 

Using the law of attraction techniques give you control over what you magnetically attract. The 2 LoA techniques are Creative Visualization and Dream Boarding. Creative Visualizations can be visualizing your goals or making a mental image to get a clear idea of what you want. Once you have a specific idea of what you want, you’ll likely be more motivated to do it whether it be working out, becoming more productive, or finding a new hobby, etc. When visualizing use as many senses as possible, imagine what your desire might sound or smell like etc. Look at your goal from different perspectives, 

visualize yourself holding that achievement from an outside point of view. Dream Boarding is similar to Creative Visualization but it’s more physical. Dream boarding is basically using images or words that capture what you’d like to manifest and putting them in places that you see often. Something as simple as putting a sticky note on your door so that you’ll be reminded, can help you manifest your goal. 

If you think that this is something you’re interested in, I’d definitely recommend checking out some of Sadie Aldis’s videos as well as thelawofattraction.com. I have so much more to learn about this and I’ll definitely be trying it out, thanks for reading.

– Mini

 

365 Days of Gratitude: Birthday Puzzles!

Over the weekend I received a puzzle in the mail for my birthday, as is tradition.

(If you’re like me and now need to see it done, here it is.)

My new puzzle has books (with punny titles!) and a sleeping kitty.

this one was pretty easy with all the distinct colors and large lettering

It only took me about 3 hours to finish, so naturally, I needed to continue my puzzle marathon to truly scratch the itch.

this one I got last year, from the boy, also for my birthday. It’s a “Macabre Mansion” of Poe’s short stories

The boy told me he bought it from Etsy. I did a quick search and it’s from the shop DrawnbyHolly.

In other good news, one of 13 people already received the seeds I recently sent out! As we’ve had a mild winter, I’m really looking forward to spring and gardening again. I bought some seeds from Burpee and plan to try my hand at cut flowers this year. I opted for the theme of salmon colors, lol, subtle, I know.

365 Days of Gratitude: I mailed out about 2600 seeds!

In 2017 I tried to buy jasmine vine seeds. I had done my research for a climbing perennial (in my zone) that was dog safe for my patio. The seller sent me different seeds, which I only realized when I finally planted them last year.

I rarely leave reviews but felt obligated to my fellow plant lovers

After finding out that the seeds are toxic for dogs, I set about meticulously collecting every seed I could. I feared my dogs (let’s be honest, only one of them is a dirt eater) would accidentally ingest these. At the conclusion of the season, I had A LOT of seeds.

It’s… this one

Luck would have it I came across a Reddit post asking for identification of a flower that was a Four O’Clock! I responded that I hoarded an inordinate amount of said seeds and was happy to pay them forward as I did not plan to plant them again this spring. Several people expressed interest so I decided to cut off the list at ten people so everyone would get plenty.

Turns out I did not have to worry about having enough haha

I had a total of 13 people send me their addresses. I ended up dividing my seeds into 14 piles and reserving one for myself. I figured I can probably find places out of my dogs’ reach to plant mine.

I counted one of the piles and it had 200 seeds!

I made origami paper pouches for the seeds and stuffed them in regular letter envelopes. I weighed the envelopes and at .08oz per all I had to pay was one forever stamp for each!

All ready to go!

I sent them out today, and I feel great! I’m glad the shady Amazon seller cheating me out of the right seeds have inadvertently ended up making 13 people happy. Life gives such wonderful turns! Did I mention I had two people offer me seeds in exchange? I simply can’t wait for spring!

365 Days of Gratitude: talk therapy.

Today, I’m grateful for therapy. We had a phenomenal session. My therapist asked me how well has my anxiety served me, and it immediately dawned on me that the true answer is “poorly.” As soon as I saw that, and saw too my impulse to hide it from her (because I’m anxious about how she perceives me), I felt I crossed into a new territory in therapy with a new goal on the horizon.

 

When I first returned to therapy I thought the problem I wanted to tackle was that I no longer felt the closeness to my parents I once did, and that largely stemmed from my unhappiness with the way they communicated/expressed themselves. During today’s session, I came to realize that I had been trying to control how my parents act/behave/communicate (essentially, how they are), because I wanted control over them to ease my anxiety about potentially losing them.

 

In my teens I often behaved recklessly, and I only corrected myself when the consequences of my behavior impacted me negatively. As long as I couldn’t conceive of harm to myself, I continued to behave poorly whenever convenient or desired. In my early to mid-20s, through a DUI and a relationship crisis caused by my own callous carelessness then, I learned I did not want my bad behavior to hurt others. From the moment of each realization to every instance of enforcement thereafter, I was always rewarded for correcting my behavior, my course in life, my self.

 

When Amanda succumbed to suicide when I was 27, I frantically tore through life searching for what to correct. I took over my dad’s care and in time was rewarded with his recovery from his terrible depression. I struggled profoundly with my mom remaining abroad precisely because she felt out of my control. When my mom returned stateside following retirement, a new dynamic arose. I seamlessly reoriented myself to task. I picked apart how my parents interacted with each other and me, for more corrections to make. I needed their communication better, their moods better, and their lives more perfectly managed (by me), so I could lower the risk of them also deciding to end their own lives. All of this I saw today. I also saw how utterly futile and potentially harmful my pursuit could be.

 

I felt regret over my mistaken direction, and the resources I threw away trying to accomplish the impossible. But, I also feel incredible relief. Now that I see I’d been striving after the wind, I feel freed (and equipped with abundant resources [energy, time, thought capital] likewise newly freed) to pursue something better. I have therapy to thank for where I stand now, clearer-headed and feeling excited for the future for myself.