SERIOUSLY SPEAKING - AND IF YOU BELIEVED THAT…

So, what's the problem with buying into those 'pretty' stories?

The 'happily ever afters', and the lovey, dovey perfect family movies?  All those magic, easy solutions?

The problem is simply that it's not real! If we believe the fantasy, we take away our weapons - our skill sets, our 'stick to it', 'work through it' powers…

If it's all supposed to be rainbows and unicorns, we undermine our strength by believing that something is wrong with us when we are faced with reality.

There is a lot of beauty in life, and we can often create a sense of ease, but not by trying to erase the truth: that it is often, also hard!

DANCE WITH IT!   EXPERIENTIAL APPS              An opportunity to experiment with some fun ideas…

THINK ABOUT SOME OF THE THINGS YOU THINK SHOULD BE EASY:

    Work?

    Meeting new people?

    Relationships?

    Family issues?

    Love?

    Dealing with feelings?

All the things that are magically resolved in our fairy tales…

What do you think might change if you acknowledged that these things are indeed challenging, that there is nothing wrong with you because you find them difficult?

Think about it:

Is it possible that without the overlay of 'make believe' these issues might actually be easier to go through?

SHOULD IT BE SO HARD?

"It's so hard! Something must be wrong with me…"

Sure…

If you believe in Fairy Tales.

Remember Cinderella and that Prince?

Yikes!

And all those 'Happily After Movies?'

What do ya say?  Did you ever wonder what really happened 'After'?

RUINED!

Ever hear of brumotactillophobia?

Ever watch a little kid refuse to eat because the carrots touched the peas?

"It's all ruined!" the child sobs.

Yep.  That's brumotactillophobia.

And how might that translate to our grown up world?

Ever try really hard to accomplish something and have one little thing fall apart and 'ruin' everything?

What do ya say?

Get it?

SERIOUSLY SPEAKING - LOST IT ALREADY?

Did you know that 80% of us break our New Year's resolutions by February?

How come?

Maybe because we are setting ourselves up to fail by creating unrealistic expectations…

DANCE WITH IT!   EXPERIENTIAL APPS                           

An opportunity to experiment with some fun ideas…

DID YOU SET YOURSELF UP THIS YEAR?

How many resolutions did you make?

How many are the same as last year?

How did those work out?

How many do you REALLY expect to keep this year?

RESOLVED?

They were talking about their New Year's resolutions.

It was interesting to eavesdrop…

I tried not to roll my eyes.

"Yeah, right," I thought.

"Same time next year…"

What do ya say?

You get this, right?

SERIOUSLY SPEAKING - WINTER BLUES

In reality the winter holidays are some of the darkest times emotionally for many of us.

We tend to buy into so much hype about how we are supposed to feel and how supposedly everyone else does feel…

How many times did you hear 'Merry' and 'Happy' over the last month?

'Happy families' is a persistent theme as if all the clashes are going to magically disappear as we sit down to that holiday feast.

And how about those of us who don't have families to go to?

What's the message there?

DANCE WITH IT!   EXPERIENTIAL APPS                           

An opportunity to experiment with some fun ideas…

REDUCE TOXIC TALES

How often did you buy into these holiday myths?

          *Everyone is happy!

          *Families are all loving!

          *Everyone is having a great time!

          *Gifts are very important!

Can you see the hype?

Can you let it go?

What changes when you release these beliefs?

DOWN IN THE DUMPS?

"Don't know what's the matter with me," she said.  "It must be the weather…"

Uh huh…

"Don't know what's the matter with me," he said.  "Must be looking at my bank balance after the holidays…"

Uh huh…

"Don't know what's the matter with me," they said.  "Must be all the weight I gained over the holiday…"

What do ya say?  

Do you have those post-holiday blues?

PROMISES, PROMISES

You know what we're talking about here, right?

Or at least you can guess…

Yup!

Those tricky New Year's Resolutions.

Did you know this tradition is reputedly 4000 years old?

Supposedly it all started with those pesky Babylonians making New Year's promises to the gods…

If they kept their promises the gods were happy, if not…

What do ya say?

Ever manage to keep them?  How long?