We have a special guest blogger today on Exploration Thursday! Art in any shape or form, photography included, is very therapeutic and inspiring, certainly to the many out there struggling with a disease or disability. So today's post comes to you from Melanie Bowen, who writes for the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance Blog and has seen how photography, music, art, or any hobby or pursuit can change some one's outlook and improve their health in big ways. Today she addresses some simple steps anyone can use to move past whatever your obstacles may be and start finding inspiration and confidence. I know that when I've done the following with my photography, the process moves more smoothly. Here's Melanie....
Inner Dreams: Outer Accomplishments
Sometimes the best place to look for outer inspiration is to look within. Having a chronic or life threatening illness like diabetes, mesothelioma or lupus can create times when you just want to sit down and give up. However, no matter what your prognosis is, you can still take the appropriate steps to create the future you want for yourself despite your current situation.
Write Down Your Goals
Writing something down is a very powerful experience because it can give you a sense of accountability and drive to actually accomplish things when you put them in black and white. This is the reason that we write down contracts or agreements we make with others. This is also true when you write down goals for yourself; you create a written agreement with yourself that you will actually meet the goals that you write down for yourself.
Goal setting for yourself can be as fanciful or as concrete as you want to make it. For example, you might decide that you want to write out daily goals for yourself like walking for 30 minutes daily, sweep the kitchen floor, or going grocery shopping. You can keep this list of goals posted some place where you will see it every day and work your way down the list throughout the day.
Go One Step Further
However, you might take personal goal setting a step further and really have some fun with it. If you could imagine yourself doing whatever you want, without being concerned about how much it cost, what your health is or anything else, what would those things be? Would you climb Mount Everest? Would you write an amazing book? Would you create your own fashion line? Let your imagination soar and write down whatever fantasies come to mind that you really could see yourself doing.
Turning Dreams into Reality
The great thing about personal goal setting is that usually those things we fantasize about actually accomplishing are things that we can actually do if we set our minds to it. If something is really important to us, we will find a way to make it a priority and set events into motion that will bring it about and make it happen. It is an unconscious process and often it takes a long period of time, but it also gives us something to look forward to and something to be working toward in the future.
Turning our dreams into reality is also an uplifting and invigorating experience. Suddenly our mood improves. We wake up looking forward to the adventure of a new day and everything just looks brighter. So start making goals for yourself and turning them into your own personal reality. Be as concrete or as fanciful as you want, but create something to look forward to for the future. Your quality of life can improve and your future may become more enjoyable if you simply take the time to put your dreams on paper.
Yours in Health,
Melanie
Thanks Melanie for providing our guest post this month! I know this will be a helpful tool for anyone trying to overcome an illness, injury, or simply being overwhelmed with starting the pursuit of something that makes them feel more positive and productive. If you wish to see more from the MCA and Melanie's writing please be sure to visit the MCA Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance blog.
“Melanie Bowen is an awareness advocate for natural health and holistic therapies for cancer patients. You will often find her highlighting the great benefits of different nutritional, emotional, and physical treatments on those with illness in her efforts to increase attentiveness and responsiveness on like topics. Here, she will be writing about the benefits of tracking your thoughts and goals—because thoughts are merely thoughts but writing is the first step to taking action, organizing oneself and being proactive."
Thanks for tuning in today friends, and let's get out there and apply ourselves and our skills to something inspirational!
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