It never ceases to amaze me how quickly money and life can change…seemingly because of random events (yeah no joke right? isn’t that why we prep?)
Usually, we only see the ‘bad’ changes , but this time, the change in fortune for me was a good one and I get pay all my bills with grace and ease this month (after holding my breath the past few days because until 10 am this morning, I didn’t even know where money for gas was coming from) and get to spend a little money on items my partner in life calls ‘survivalist stuff’ hahaha…(he didn’t know he ate dinner from that ‘stuff’ last night, joke on him!). But that is my life now that things are slowly hitting the fan…sometimes it feels like Chinese water torture!! And then suddenly…RELIEF!
But last night I was thinking (again, what’s new?)…If I am this close to the edge and things aren’t that bad yet…well, let’s just say we had a serious discussion last night to this effect and it has been agreed upon to step things up as much as possible and he is going back to finish his bachelor’s degree this fall and that would change things a bit around here…change happens… on the dime sometimes…but life is like that you know (like the power window on the car deciding to stop working at the half-way up position after being ‘possessed’ for time before that…don’t ask, you don’t want to know, let’s just say it did what it wanted randomly and at strange times). Often times it is just plain out of our control these changes that happen suddenly…the weather, the economy to a large extent, what others do or don’t do…but the thing about getting ready and being prepared for WHEN tshtf is to mitigate how far down the rabbit hole you go before hitting bottom or slowing the decent enough to give you time to adjust…and really, that is the hardest part about change that is suddenly thrust upon you, the adjustment to the change. My other half trys to see my ‘survivalist stuff’ through his lense…’its no different than what I used to do’ (he used to work Loss Prevention at the retail level). However, he still thinks a few things are great and still doesn’t get the BIG picture most of the time and thinks I am nuts but that is a whole ‘nuther story…
Many times, when things happen suddenly it is considered a ‘loss’. We humans have this habit of kicking and screaming about it (change) before we get over it (and some never do) and get a grip. And I sometimes wonder how it is that in our culture, businesses plan for shtf, we get insurance for certain ‘knowns’ but we as people just can’t grasp the big picture many times…seems strange to me since business is run by people…reminds me an ostrich really.
I mean, Life is life, and shtf happens, people lose jobs, tornados hit, cars break down and shtf just happens all the time. Right now, a big snowball is coming in many different forms for all of us (if you care to pay attention) but you know, so are blessings and miracles and it is my firm belief that they happen all the time if we care to see them for what they are! We just take the good changes, miracles and blessings for granted too many times and do nothing for when life changes suddenly in a not so good way…almost as if to name it would make it happen. But either way, it will come, the good and the bad and my family was blessed this morning so, I am spending a bit of the found money we received this morning on a few preps (finally bought a small grinder (grin), had one for herbs but not for grains) and will added into the pantry a little more canned foods. I am going to be a good steward of the gift that landed in our laps for no good reason. It makes me feel better, just knowing that I could ‘do’ something this week and take this blessing and do right by it…it also buoys my faith that I have not been brought this far only to be dropped after a series of drop kicks this summer. It was really starting to hurt a bit I must say, but life is like that…change on a dime. I just share this with you to help you keep the faith…follow the guidance you get, you will not be misled and remember, life changes on a dime, for the good and the bad, faith pulls you through until the miracle. Remember not to take the miracle for granted.
survivingshtfmom 
Positive Thinking and Being Prepared
Prepared people ar
e positive people…let me repeat that…preppers are preparing because they are POSITIVE people. They do not lie to themselves, they see the world for what it is, they have seen the possibilities of ‘danger’ or ‘possible problems’ and have decided to take positive action. Preppers believe this…they can! You CAN! Positive action come from positive thoughts…that something CAN BE DONE and they, in fact are powerful enough to effect change in their own lives. Maybe they can’t change the world in which they live, but they most certainly can change their own lives and have an effect on the outcome of a negative event or situation.
The following I have posted on my Facebook account, under Rev. Laura Bradley and is what inspired this blog:
Positive Thinkers: a reminder from our angels: Positive thinking requires seeing life in a clear light, without lies or pretense. Positive thinkers do not lie to themselves. Often people set out to practice positive thinking, and they end up denying difficulties, disregarding pain, and practicing grandiose wishful thinking. All this is only a form of positive lying. Think about how positive your own thinking is and find ways to strengthen your resolve against the negative, without lies or pretense…you can be positive even while seeing negative and naming it for what it is.
Norman Vincent Peale wrote a groundbreaking book in 1951 entitled ‘The Power of Positive Thinking’ and for the last 55 years, we’ve heard alot about the power that positive thinking brings. Positive thinkers have to be creative and intelligent in their thinking. Positive thinkers look beyond difficulties for creative solutions, seeing the difficulties in a clear light so that clear solutions will surface. On the otherhand, negative thinkers see difficulties in dark hues of hopeless despair and become overwhelmed and defeated by difficulties. We always have the choice to turn the lights on and take a good look at what we are dealing with, and we are always free to assume the best (without lying to ourselves or pretense or pretending).
I have taken this from Angel Wisdom by Terry Lynn Taylor and Mary Beth Crain and have taken the liberty to change a bit 🙂
Hmm…creative? No lying to ourselves? Turning the ‘light’ on? Assuming the best? Don’t deny difficulties or possible difficulties? Finding ways to strength themselves and their resolve against negativity? Gee…that sounds like a prepared person to me…and that is a positive thinker!
I have heard and seen the terms ‘doomers’ but is someone really a doomer? A doomer, by definition, is someone who sees nothing but the negative in this world and does nothing to counteract the negativity or sets about using negative measures to counteract the negative they see in the world…you may know the type and often will hear these sorts of comments: What’s the point? I can’t change anything. What will be will be (as they do nothing to help themselves). I don’t want to know anymore! Someone will come to help us/me if that does happen. And I am sure you can come up with even more statements yourself about doomer thinking or maybe not. Positive thinkers have a hard time thinking like a doomer!
Personally, I wouldn’t bother preparing me and my family against the coming storm(s) if I didn’t believe that we could survive and then thrive afterwards. And that is a positive attitude. To see the potential threat, name it, claim it, own it and then do what I can, where I can, when I can, to get through it as best as possible, so that when the dust settles, me and mine are still standing (hopefully with health intact).
But I will say this, positive thinkers pay attention, see the problem and then take steps to counteract the lies, problems and issues that are inherent in the situation that they are preparing to face, survive and then thrive in spite of. They do not DWELL upon the problem, they get to problem solving. While a positive person may see and name the negative forces or fact (and they certainly seem to be overwhelming at times) they get to problem solving as soon as possible. They may share what they see with others, but then encourage others in the same breath to get to problem solving themselves. If you can’t see the problem, then you are lying to yourself and that goes directly against positive thinking…you can’t ignore or hide or deny the problem exists and be a positive thinker. And you can’t stick your head in the sand assuming that someone else will ‘fix’ the problem for you. Positive thinking requires action of some sort.
Each person who is getting ready ‘for what may come, in whatever form it may come’ sees what they see. Some are aware at higher levels than others, and that is okay. Some of us prepare for literal ‘storms’ such as hurricanes, floods, tornadoes. Some of us take it a step further and have identified other threats that can be from the fragility of our economy (loss of job), to the interconnectedness of our world financial situation, to peak oil, to the erosion of civil and constitutional rights and maybe even identifying that our country cannot continue along as it has with our governments fiscal policies. You name it, we all get prepared for different reasons, but that is okay! It is all identifying a potential negative force in our life, over which we may not be able to effect change at a level to PREVENT the negative influence, so we take steps to mitigate its effects on a personal level. We feel that we have the power to effect positive changes in our own lives to help guard against the negative outside influences that may or may not directly effect us at some time in the future. We are positive in our outlook that we can survive and maybe thrive through what may come in the future.
We are aware, creative and problem solving and learning each and everyday in our preparations for an uncertain future.
We are POSITIVE thinkers, not doom and gloomers. We are just aware and take positive steps for our future while others walk down the road of negative thinking…
Positive thinking requires seeing life in a clear light, without lies or pretense. Positive thinkers do not lie to themselves. Often people set out to practice positive thinking, and they end up denying difficulties, disregarding pain, and practicing grandiose wishful thinking. All this is only a form of positive lying. Think about how positive your own thinking is and find ways to strengthen your resolve and your life against the negative, without lies or pretense…you can be positive even while seeing negative and naming it for what it is.
Positive thinkers have to be creative and intelligent in their thinking. Positive thinkers look beyond difficulties for creative solutions, seeing the difficulties in a clear light so that clear solutions will surface.
On the otherhand, negative thinkers see difficulties in dark hues of hopeless despair and become overwhelmed and defeated by difficulties. They may choose different path ways to overcome ‘difficulties’ but those ways usually involve allowing others to do the work for themselves whether by denial or through directly abdicating their freedom and control over their very lives through dependence.
We always have the choice to turn the lights on and take a good look at what we are dealing with, and we are always free to assume the best…that we can overcome through being prepared…