Hi,
How’s it going?
I have been really sick over the last couple of days. I hope that I get better by Christmas.
I am going to take it easy today but wanted to send out this message.
I hope you’re doing well.
By now, everyone knows we’re in a global recession.
Millions of people have lost their jobs.
Banks are shutting down.
Businesses are closing their doors every day and going out of business.
Gas prices are sky high.
It’s nearly impossible to sell your house in today’s economy.
In fact, that seems to be the #1 thing on people’s minds today – How bad the economy is.
Well, sure, if you think on all the negative things I listed above (and I know it’s hard not to, with it all being in the news all the time staring you right in the face, and some of it happening directly to you).
But you have a choice. You do.
You can choose to be positive in a negative world.
In my courses/systems, I teach about having a positive attitude, no matter what the circumstances are that surround you:
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Now, I’m not saying that you just ignore all these negative things. I know you can’t do that. You still have to be realistic. You still have to deal with high gas costs, etc.
But it’s your ATTITUDE I’m talking about here.
If you have a negative attitude, is it going to keep businesses from closing down?
If you have a negative attitude, is it going to put people to work?
Is a negative attitude going to lower gas prices?
Would your negative attitude help other people be positive in a global recession?
NO.
But your positive attitude might help that unemployed person get through another day. It might encourage them a little bit.
Your positive attitude at least will help your loved one to manage their bipolar disorder, and keep them from having a negative attitude.
A positive attitude in a negative world is not going to change that world, but it might help change the world around you just a little bit.
What do YOU think?
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DUST OF SNOW
The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.
I think this little Robert Frost poem sums up what you are saying, Dave. It is difficult for me right now to deal with my BP sister who is making me feel like it is my fault I didn’t get the card/gift/whatever that she “overnighted” to me but didn’t have the condo unit number on. It is very hard to deal with her treatment of me…it is so hurtful. But another friend of mine commented that she fell in a snowdrift and felt better, weird as it sounds, and I immediately thought of this little poem. It is true…something small can change a negative attitude into a positive one. The poem will be in my mind all day today and, I hope, will help me be positive and forget about the ugly “in your face” treatment my sister gives me. It is so obvious that she is still very ill…but there is not much I can do about it.
just a quick one i am totally confused my x spent 25 years controlling being abusive and now he has found a girlfriend of two years who is mean to him and controlling now i feel sorry for him and feel the need to be there for him..she does to him what he did to me why would he go for someone a lot older and domineering ? it cant be good for him
Um, Gas prices are not high. In fact they haven’t been this low in four years.
Hi Dave,
Positivity is contagious, and it is going to help “us” get through this troubled time. I am a firm believer in a positive attitude. Just yesterday I was telling a friend that my life before medication was like being on a raft in the middle of the ocean during a category 5 hurricane! LOL? She said, “LOL… But I don’t know how funny that is.” I said I have to either laugh about it or cry, and I think laughing about it is keeping a positive attitude about it. She said she agreed and laughs about things that would otherwise make her cry too.
It does absolutely no good to cry in our soup. Besides it makes our soup too salty. We still have tremendous amounts of things to be grateful for. Now if you lost your job or your house, it is a little bit harder to be grateful, but being grateful doesn’t mean happy about it, it just means you take a step back and look at the things you still have and you can be grateful for these things.
Like I have heard, some one said “I was complaining about not having shoes until I saw someone who had no legs!” One day, several years ago, I was in a bad mood having a bad day and then I saw someone in a wheel chair, apparently in it for life, and he had the biggest smile and you could just see the LOVE Radiating from his being! That threw me into a big guilt trip, but I quickly became grateful. I learned what he had, gratitude. Gratitude is the best attitude to have. If we can see, hear, touch and feel, we have something to be grateful for. If we have any health at all, we can be grateful for that. We don’t have to be happy about suffering, but we can be grateful without being overjoyed. Grateful doesn’t mean being happy or oblivious to all the bad going on, it just means choosing to focus on the good things. It helps us stay healthy mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually!!! Can’t beat that!
Thanks for another great topic,
Hope you get better real soon…
Bob
I hope you feel better. Have a Merry CHRISTmas. Looking for good is the only way to think. It’s hard sometimes, but it’s better than being down.
Dear David, Wishing you and your team a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year! May your holidays be sweet and filled with wonderful things; you deserve the best, today and always. You make me happy when I log on and see mail from you. Bless you!
Abrazos,
Liliane de Mena Crenshaw
Dear David Oliver
I have been reading your e-mails you send .I read them and ask myself
can i get my loved one through this ,and can i get us through this .
I have read about the story of your experience with your mom .
All the money gone ,credit cards sky high ,yelling and screaming ,
its hard to try to relate to a person who has bipolar . Even though they are on meds,see there shrink and still call you to death and scream at you .
I have been doing this for 10 years now .Don’t know if want to keep going through this .How did you do this .
Thanks for your time
Patrick Canvin
Keeping a positive attitude is hard (I’m a bipolar survivor). I have found that doing a little meditation/visualization and some deep breathing helps when I feel overwhelmed. Then, at least I am relxed and can take a better outlook on things, whether its here at home or the world. I know I dont have any control over the economy, other than to be thankful I have a great job that is not economy based. And hope that others will soon be back to work (such as my husband, my emotional supporter). Have a woderful holiday and remember that its not about just presents! Enjoy your families.
what about vincent van gogh? he was dealing with something whether bipolar or schizophrenia I don’t know. He is one of the best known artists, although not during his lifetime. Perhaps he would suit your project.
Dave,I hope you feel better soon.Having a positive attitude Makes a big differance in how you feel and act and it can make a big differance with everybody around you if you share a positive thinking attitude..
Dave thank you so much for all your time and effort to help us learn more about bipolar.
I wish you to feel better and to have a very Merry Christmas!
God Bless you.
Mary
I have a question as “I do a comment”. First what do you do when the person with bipolar wants nothing to do with anyone in the family?
What do you do if your loved one tried to commit suicide twice in the matter of 3 weeks?
I’m trying to stay positive and give him the time he needs , but what should I think he wants nothing to do with me or anyone else>
Please help if you can.
My email is sherryschmidt39@gmail.com
Great Bipolar artists: Michael Angelo or Vincent Van Gough. You might want to check them out.
Hi Dave
thanks so much for your inspiring mails. It is very difficult to stay focused and act positive where where is so much negative influences around. Each and every minute of every day we come in to contact with so many negative poeple who we have to put strict barriers up and not let them affect us. We have to appreciate all what we have and count our life’s richest blessing.
Wishing you and your fam and merry christmas
Best Wishes
Gill
Hi Dave,
I hope you feel better and you and yours have a very Merry Christmas. I suffer from bipolar and this time of year is especialy tough for me. If it wern’t for me feeding myself positive thoughts ( It’s going to be O.K. just stick with it. Things will look up soon. I can get through these tough times. etc.) every day of my life I don’t think I could make it. It’s the POSITIVE that keeps me going when I am down and when those negitive thoughts come about I reverse them to positive.
WOW!! Staying POSITIVE in a NEGATIVE world is hard for ANYBODY, bipolar or not. I have been fortunate in that I’m in a good mood (NOT hypomanic, just “good”) for about two months now, and feel I’m embodying the Christmas spirit. Wouldn’t it be NICE if we could have that “spirit” all year long??!!
Those of us on Disability are on a fixed income, sure; but it’s better than being unemployed and looking for a job in this market; or trying to sell our house; or maybe facing downsizing and the elimination of our job. There’s always SOMETHING to be grateful for…
I hope you feel better, Dave, and that YOUR Christmas with your family is a happy one, and that your Mother is doing well. I think about her often, and how far she has come with your help (for her and for US). Your faithful “duty” of writing these daily emails is a ray of bright sunshine in our otherwise cloudy world!!
BIG HUGS to all bipolar survivors and those who love us. May God bless you real good. I pray for my country.