You Only Know Yourself

The other day I had a not to pleasant reminder that "You Only Know Yourself". The situation is that I went to the ER with a certain complaint. It was a rather serious complaint. After spending a day in the hospital I was accused of making the whole thing up.

This caused me to take pause. You know in life we entrust our well being to many different people, doctors, therapists, etc. We operate on the assumption that they know what is best for us and we should trust them explicitly. After all they are the experts. I came to realize that they do not know everything. A lot of times when they cannot understand something they do not recognize that they do not know and do not seek to find an acceptable explanation. In this case they conveniently ignored an very obvious cause, because it did not fit what their assumption was, and instead blamed the patient for "making the whole thing up."

I learned the hard way. You know your own body better than any doctor will know or cares to even to bother to know. When you know something is wrong. Fight for it. Do not let anyone try to tell you that what you are feeling is not real. It is not their body so what is it to them. Stay strong do not give up.

Waiting for Questions

Alright. This blog is viewable by anyone. Also, anyone can post comments, whether they subscribe to this blog or not. You have 2 bloggers - myself and Hammad. We're here to serve and it's free - for now!! :) Take advantage of the opportunity. Ask us something. We promise a straight answer. No beating around the bush. All you have to do is respond to any blog posting. Respond to this one!

Hammad and I (Get a Life) will continue to post our blogs and pour our soals out on screen.

Get a Life coaching is open for business!

Who am I?

I must be bored to ponder the age old question "Who am I?" On the one hand sometimes I think that this is a very pertinent question. At other times I think, how can one ever really know who they are? If this is the case why bother even pondering the question.

Well. Right now I feel like pondering this issue no matter how futile it may be. I think back to things that have occurred in my life that have shaped who I am. As I ponder this issue for some reason I am drawn to the negative things that have happened in my life that have shaped me. I believe that in a large part these are a product of my family. In particular I find that I believe that in large it is my father that has shaped me.

I have come to realize that I am a child. For some reason I always try to seek the approval of my father in whatever I do. For some reason I have this idea in my head that I have not received his approval for most things that I have done. I have this perception that the majority of things in my life that I view as major accomplishments he has not given his approval. I am not sure if this is reality or just my perception of reality. Does it really matter? I believe that how you feel is one of the most real things in your life. This is what shapes how you are in both the present and the future. From this I have realized that I have a very specific way of being. This is that I am inadequate.

I feel that it is a major accomplishment that I have realized this. I believe there is power in this recognition. I believe that in this recognition I can move past it. I can begin to realize that perhaps I have this eyepiece that may be distorting reality. That perhaps I may be looking for reasons to support the thought that I am inadequate. I can have a shift in context. A new context where I can say "I am inadequate but....." After the but I can insert all of the accomplishments in my life that contradict the thought that I am inadequate. This, I believe, changes my meaning of life. It allows me to shift my thoughts to the positive.

I hope that my thoughts resonate with others and perhaps it may help them to get a life. A more positive and fulfilling life.

There are 2 of us posting

I have added my very close friend and brother from another mother - Hammad - as a poster to this blog. He and I will both be contributing. The way you can tell who posted a given blog entry is to look at the bottom where it says "Posted by". His posting name is "Hammad". Mine is "Get a Life".

Go get a life now!

Sandwich (two)

It has come to my attention that issue was taken with my sh!t sandwich analogy. I you were to actually read my post you will realize the following. I am not actually saying that your life is a sh!t sandwich. What the sh!t is, is the problems that we let take over our life. We make them as if they are our life when they are not. They are the sh!t that we mistaken for our life. If we realize that the problems are only sh!t and that is all they are. And that we take one thing at a time and not let them overwhelm our lives then we can create a more fulfilling life. We take little bites of the sh!t sandwich.

Life is a Sh!t Sandwich

Just sitting here for some reason a very influential person in my life came to mind. He was an English teacher that I had in high school. He was a good friend, mentor, and philosopher. He had a very profound statement "Life is a sh!t sandwich. In order to make it palatable you need to take it in little bites." I am not sure if this is a common statement but this is the first time I heard it.

At the time I heard this statement I did not realize the impact. I just thought it was hilarious. As I went through life I had many problems as I am sure that we all do. I looked at these problems as being daunting and insurmountable. I blew these up into huge behemoths. It dawned on me that I was indeed full of sh!t.

I made these problems what my life was about. It was who I was and who I am to a great extent. It was life. It was my sh!t sandwich. I realized that I did not make these define me. I needed to take small bites. My sh!t sandwich was indeed palatable. If you will, it was a huge change in the context of my life. The context I was living in was that my life sucked because I had problems that I could not deal with. The new context was that my life did not suck. I had problems like everyone else. I was not alone. If I took one thing at a time and deal with them as they happen and not let them develop into something so daunting my live would be very rich and fulfilling.

My suggestion is that every ones life is indeed a sh!t sandwich. Take small bites and live a more satisfying life.

Language

So, I got some feedback about the language I used in my 'Kaka' post yesterday, something to the tune that I used too many curse words and the post overall was scatological in nature.

I could justify it by saying that my mood was such that I openly expressed myself. I could also come up with several other reasons and even apologize. I'm not going to do that. Reasons don't belong here. And the only apology you'll get from me is if I don't make a difference in your life.

My M.O. in general is to keep the cursing out. This does not guarantee a rated PG post every time and there will be posts that are slightly more 'expressive' than others. What's there though is I promise to talk to you like I do my best friend and say it like it is, no matter how it sounds. My promise is to share openly, coming from the context of making a difference in your life as well as my own.

My 'Kaka' post from yesterday is not about kaka. It's about creating being powerful in any circumstance, good or bad. For those who were hoping for a scatological lesson and were let down, please feel free to look up the word 'scatology' in Wikipedia. You'll get a full explanation on this compound word of Hellenic origin.

Now go get a life!