Here are a wonderful travel story (a Best of Better Endings repost), and positive Thoughts for the Day:
1) April 16, 2014
A Backpacker’s Guide to Exorcism, from ViolaConspiracy
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ViolaConspiracy
by amethyst:
A Backpacker’s Guide to Exorcism
Apr. 7th, 2014 at 2:00 PM
The reflection in the window tells me that the pack strapped to my back is small– far too small, in fact, for someone who is on her way to a different country for two weeks. It’s hard to believe my eyes, because I feel like I’m carrying a mountain.
Most people could carry three of my pack without trouble, but I’m adding it to an already-massive load. With all the ghosts riding on my shoulders, there’s hardly room for a backpack. There are the ghosts of Worry About the Future and Self-Doubt, the ghost of Personal Failure, the ghost of Life’s Unfairness, the ghost of Fatigue, and more. They take turns riding piggyback, wrapping their gaunt arms around my neck and digging their fingers into my collarbones. They like to whisper nasty things into my ears. Some of them wear spurs. There’s an ache between my shoulder blades that never goes away, and my reflection in the glass shows a slouch that’s too pronounced to be explained by the small bundle of things I’m carrying.
In a moment of hot panic, Worry and Self-Doubt begin to quarrel. “I won’t have enough things!” collides with “I can’t carry this for two weeks!” But it’s too late to do anything. The bus leaves in three minutes, and Worry is flogging me and shouting that if I don’t make this bus, the next one won’t get me to the airport on time.
By the time I check into the first guesthouse late that night, I feel as though I’ve been beaten. Fatigue hangs on my neck like a ballast stone, muttering quiet obscenities at me. My feet and joints ache from the extra weight. The skin on my shoulders is chafed where the straps of my backpack rubbed all day, and the muscles underneath feel bruised. The constant ember of pain in my back has flared into a bonfire. It’s hard to even sleep.
In the morning, Fatigue and Self-Doubt clutch at the straps and try to stop me from putting my pack on again, but finally I wrestle them down and the weight settles unkindly onto yesterday’s bruises. I haven’t even left my room yet and I want to cry. The pace of the entire day is dictated by my need for periodic rests, and the sightseeing agenda is chosen according to which locations will have a locker or a place to leave bags. I feel heavy and slow and old and Personal Failure keeps whispering that I’m getting in everyone else’s way. This night, even the inferno in my back can’t interfere with my bone-weariness, and I sleep the sleep of the dead.
On the third day, the weight of my backpack is familiar. Deep sleep has erased some of the bruising and tamed the blaze in my back to the size of a small campfire. My body has started to adjust its balance for the weight of the pack. I can move without knocking into things, at least. The ghosts are tired from sharing their space with my bag, and their grip is lazy. The day is filled with historic temples and street food, and the cherry blossoms floating down everywhere are so mesmerizing that I forget to listen to Worry’s whisperings. At night I dream of fantastic foreign landscapes sweeping past my train window.
“I am a turtle,” I think on the fourth morning. “This backpack is my home. All the things I really need are inside it, and I can carry it wherever I want to go.” On this day I can stand up straight, because I have discovered how to be a little more self-sufficient and that makes me proud of myself. Self-Doubt loses his clammy grip as I bump down the stairs, and I leave him sitting alone on the bottom step.
By day five, I can’t hear any whispers, and I strap on my backpack without any cadaverous arms or bony fingers getting in the way. When I’m carrying home on my back, there’s no room for ghosts.
http://violaconspiracy.livejournal.com/3480.html
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Thoughts For The Day (5/22/14)
“When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.” ~ Henry Ford, Founder of Ford Motor Co.
MarDrag’s Thoughts:
Sometimes it feels like the world is working against us, but we have the power to fly into it, face it, rise above it….and soar.
“Always know in your heart that you are far bigger than anything that can happen to you.” ~ Dan Zadra, Motivational Author
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MarDrag’s Thoughts:
“When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.” ~ Henry Ford, Founder of Ford Motor Co.
Put things into perspective, realize that things happen, but the scope of the Power of Will and the Soul is far greater than anything else. Focus on your personal power, and it will be there for you.
“Discouragement is a negative emotion with more than one trick up its dark sleeve. It tricks you into mentally or emotionally dwelling in the very place you want to leave. Drop all such sorrow permanently by daring to see through this deception of the unconscious mind. You have a destination far beyond where you find yourself standing today” ~ Guy Finley, Author and Speaker
MarDrag’s Thoughts:
Remember, there is a bigger picture than just the snapshot you are looking at today. This day, and its difficulties, do not define you as a whole person, or the whole of your life. Tomorrow, you will wake and have another chance to do it differently or make another choice. Trick the trickster of the deception Guy Finley speaks of and see through it, thereby taking all the power away from that negative emotion.
We are all special and unique in our own way, and are an important thread in the tapestry of the universe. Remember how significant you are in that tapestry and how no one can fill the space your thread fills and weaves like you do. No matter what you are going through, or what anyone else says, you are essential to the greater picture and a beautiful thread that completes this gorgeous tapestry.
Blessings!
About MarDrag:
First things first: Spirit and Love! Then, I am a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist and Counselor who assists people in achieving empowerment over life issues and challenges. I have developed am series of meditations and processes designed to help achieve a balanced way of life that enriches and empowers and teaches how to overcome adversity while still maintaining a positive and happy lifestyle. Yes, it is possible!! Read much more at my blog: fromthedeskofmardrag.wordpress.co
By From the Desk of MarDrag • Tagged Alone, Awakening, Awareness, Bigger Picture, Change, Destination, Empowerment,Encouragement, Healing, Heart, Inspiration, Life, Life Force, Obstacles, Personal Growth, Rise Above, Soar, Spirituality,Surrender, Tapestry
Better Endings 