Love Never Forgets discussion

We'll be giving away 25 beautiful finished copies of The Things We Keep by Sally Hepworth in early January. Comment and tell us your new year's resolution for the chance to win a copy!

To reconnect with friends and family. This year has been a rough and painful year. I want to change that for 2016.

My New Year's resolution is to show gratitude and appreciation for others AND to let them know it. This extends to service provided by wait people, fast food servers, clerks in stores, and many others that often go unnoticed. It only takes a few extra moments in my day. Not only will I acknowledge the actual provider, but will mention the service to the supervisor as well.

I stopped doing resolutions many years ago and these last seven years have been wrought with critical illness, my own and my family members (my dads cancer is the hardest to grasp), deaths of friends and family, the loss of everything my girls and I owned, which four years later I still cannot let go of and being a person who believes in a lesson being in every single thing cannot for the life of me find the lesson in that, broken family, shattered bonds, a million painful and sobbing tears on a daily basis, trying to accept that my daughters are grown and moving on very soon which is leaving me with nobody left offline, and this holiday season not being able to accept that not only do I not have gifts for my daughters for the second year in a row, but this year we couldn't even get a tree. Christmas is one of the holidays we've shared beautiful memories and traditions together and being that this will be my oldest daughters last year at home for Christmas, I'm hurting an indescribable pain.

With that said and as I still try to hold hope and try to find the lesson in the greatest pains of these last seven years I struggle and hold little faith. That's something I never gave up on and Hope I held for dear life til my hands bled quite literally........so instead of resolution, I'm sharing something I wrote and posted two years ago when there was a sudden light of hope and I'll try to not only grasp this message again and live by it, but also sharing in hopes to inspire others. Just a short message and one I found great hope and light in writing.

Apologies for the run on sentences and horrible grammar above. Between the pain of what I just shared, and that's just the tip of a million mile long iceberg, and not having a Christmas to celebrate with anyone or anything the tears are blurring my view and the pain.......I just give up......which is in conflict with my "resolution" message below......hopefully that light will shine again after I've shared it. Hopefully it will shine on for everyone......




~*Cheers to, not resolutions, but Promises~Not the same troubles of yesterday, but the Renewal and Rebuilding of Today, Tomorrow & Always~Promises to not 'existing' in sickness, but commitment to 'living' in Wellness. Mindset to, not the negative and self destruction, but to the Positive, picking oneself up and forging ahead to the destination we've chosen to reach for and a little destiny thrown in for the Believers. To not losing oneself, but becoming 'one' with oneself! To embracing, Giving, and Shining ALL Your Love Out Loud for the world and for yourself to see! & to Remembering the Promises we 'can' and 'will' create every single day*~With Love & In Wellness*~

~*Dream, Believe, Do~*~Keep Faith & Love Will Find its Way~*~Dance To The Music Of Hope*~

That all may sound so corny, however it's this community, these books and the thoughts above that are literally keeping me alive......

I do have the ARC's, but I'd absolutely love one of the beautiful finished copies to read again and display, if there are enough left. A book and story to be shared along and I will most definitely do that.....thank you St. Martin's and Sally Hepworth. ~*Happy Holidays*~ to ALL! Wishing you all somebody to share them with to create unforgettable memories.

Diane wrote: "To reconnect with friends and family. This year has been a rough and painful year. I want to change that for 2016."

Diane, my heart goes out to you deeply and I'm going to be praying and wishing on stars for that to come true for you. To 2016 and many many more years for healing, rebuilding and creating memories that will live on from the bonds of our most cherished relationships. Happy Holiday's!

Melissa wrote: "Diane wrote: "To reconnect with friends and family. This year has been a rough and painful year. I want to change that for 2016."

Diane, my heart goes out to you deeply and I'm going to be praying..."
Thank you Melissa.

My resolutions include thinning closets & drawers with increased donations to Purple Heart for those in need, especially men and women returning to the workplace.

Diane wrote: "Melissa wrote: "Diane wrote: "To reconnect with friends and family. This year has been a rough and painful year. I want to change that for 2016."

Diane, my heart goes out to you deeply and I'm goi..."

You're very welcome, Diane. Happy New Year with many more amazing and healing years to come.

Something I wrote on my mirror and have spinning through my thoughts often, trying to keep positive is......

~*Dream~Believe~Do*~
~*Keep Faith*~
~*Love & Healing Will Find Its Way*~
~*Dance To The Music Of Hope*~

It helps..........

Melissa wrote: "Diane wrote: "Melissa wrote: "Diane wrote: "To reconnect with friends and family. This year has been a rough and painful year. I want to change that for 2016."

Diane, my heart goes out to you deep..."

That didn't post formatted the same as I typed it.......

My resolution this year is to eat healthier and exercise more, in order to maintain the good health I've had the last two years.

My New Year's Resolution this year is to beat this awful illness (anxiety and depression) and to get back on track to being my happy bubbly self. It's been a really difficult year and honestly it scares me to look back to a year ago when I had no idea of what was about to hit me. But I'm determined to do it! Wish me luck.

Simone, I wish you more than luck. Sending you all positive and healing thoughts with all my heart. I've had debilitating panic attacks, phobias, anxiety, severe OCD, and numerous other health issues since I was five years old. I'm 43 now and the panic and phobias have been every single day of my life. I have zero idea what living "normal" is. Zero idea of a day without intense fear and now I'm nearly 100% agoraphobic. I've spent the past 27+ years researching, implementing, educating and living through holistic means and life coaching the right way. Unfortunately 6and a half years ago a gas leak nearly killed me and I haven't been the same since. I charted my every day for sixteen years and there is without question a definitive and powerful gut/brain reaction. Foods, environmental toxins, the simplest think could cause the most devastating damage. What gets to the gut effects the chemicals in the brain. One reason I can't stand the term "m*ntal illness". It's always been a challenge keeping on track, but when I was on track and charting everything.......this were the times when everything was right. Not perfect. But, nearly 100% gone. Panic, phobia and OCD free. The gas leak knocked me down hard, but I can do it again and so can you. Everyone's body chemistry is made up so intricately, so what's good for everyone else, as the fda tries to say isn't necessarily good for you. A single sesame seed could kill my ex/husband/almost ex/don't know for sure.

Point being, please give it a try. If you ever need a bit of direction or advice I'd be happy to help as I can. I never feel well and I'm better with helping others than I am myself. The darn gas leak again. There's not only hope, but there's 'living' free of this.

I wish you all the best and knowing about 38 years of it......you're not alone. Never. In my thoughts and wishes for healing to you.

In Wellness and warmest,

Melissa

P.S. Apologies for typos/auto corrects.

St. Martin's Press wrote: "We'll be giving away 25 beautiful finished copies of The Things We Keep by Sally Hepworth in early January. Comment and tell us your new year's resolution for the chance to win a copy!"

St. Martin's Press wrote: "We'll be giving away 25 beautiful finished copies of The Things We Keep by Sally Hepworth in early January. Comment and tell us your new year's resolution for the chance to win a copy!"

My New Year's Resolution is truly a simple one. With all the negativity in our world, I'm determined to only focus on things that are in MY control. That means that I will not spend hours on Facebook whining about the state of the world, but instead will spend more time creating well-crafted novels, exercising moderately so that I don't grow to hate it, and eating foods that keep cholesterol under control and give me energy. My 50th high school reunion is this summer, and I intend to look my very best!

this year - with its goodness and badness - was good for me. my resolution is to learn more and more

I am ready for new love - new spirituality, and new Bernie Sanders' friends (and of course), for him to be President!

Make the most of every day and be the best mom I know I can be. Give life my all and stop holding back what I'm thinking and how I'm feeling.

Thank you so much for you kind words, it really means a lot to me particularly because I often feel that no one appreciates how difficult a thing to go through it really is. Wishing you all the best :D xxx

Reading everyone's outlook and hearing the positivity being shared really helps me so much. This had been a wonderful discussion.

To read as much as i can :)

Diane wrote: "Reading everyone's outlook and hearing the positivity being shared really helps me so much. This had been a wonderful discussion."

It's beautiful, Diane. I couldn't agree more. Amazing how books bring us together in so many ways.

I love everyone words

Every time I make a resolution I never seem to keep it. So instead of making a solid one like exercising every day, I decided to make a more open one.

My resolution, which is one I want to carry out forever, not just this year, is to take a moment every day and reflect on what I'm thankful for. I feel like I can be a bit negative and focus on those negative things, so I love the idea of just taking a second to be appreciative of something, no matter how small or big it is.

I received my copy of the book today. Thank you St. Martin's Press. Can't wait to read it!

I received my copy 2 days ago and was SO VERY delighted!!! Thank you St. Martin's Press! Next book in line to read (as I never have really "Won" anything before. I am also excited to check out some of the authors other books. Any thoughts on the "Midwives" book from anyone?

Amy wrote: "I received my copy 2 days ago and was SO VERY delighted!!! Thank you St. Martin's Press! Next book in line to read (as I never have really "Won" anything before. I am also excited to check out some..."

I have not read "Midwives" either but several of my friends highly recommend it. They loved it.

Just finished reading! Spent the whole day devouring the book. Incredible story! I still have tears on my face.

If there is any hope of a copy at this late date, I would add my resolve to be more content with what I still have with my husband, who has had Alzheimer's Disease for about nine years. When I forget, I lose my composure, and that causes me to be miserable. Even when he doesn't remember these aberrations, I regret them deeply. We've been married more than forty-seven years and I'm glad to have him still at home with me.

Charlene,
Our hearts truly go out to you as your husband struggles with this disease. I worked in a nursing home fifty years ago and watched some of the patients lapse into this dark, black hole. We didn't call it Alzheimer's back then, but it probably was. I remember relatives of these patients trying their best to share with us what their loved ones were like before this disease took its toll. Blessings on you as you continue to care for your husband. Be sure and cut yourself some slack. We're only human.

Tessa wrote: "Charlene,
Our hearts truly go out to you as your husband struggles with this disease. I worked in a nursing home fifty years ago and watched some of the patients lapse into this dark, black hole. ..."

Thanks, Tessa. I attended my 50th High School reunion a couple of years ago. I had seriously thought about not going, since I weighed about forty pounds more than at the 40th. I finally decided to go, risking that people might be less critical than I was of myself. I did connect with a few really good friends and we had nice conversations and shared memories.

Best wishes to you as we are already near the end of this first month in 2016. God Bless....