7 February 2022 Monday

Check out 7 February 2022 Monday morning chat https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1290210941

Hello to you. Hope this finds you well. I’m trying to get myself grounded after the stream this morning. We had a troll get in the first go around! It happens. You just can’t let them ruin your day. After the third try we got it. I talked about some serious topics. One of them was about coping with loss. The way I used to deal with it was shopping but after our Sam died I realized there was nothing on this earth I wanted more than Sam! You can’t put tangible things in the space of the intangible. It’s like light in a black hole. That’s why it’s important to have a strong relationship with the God of your understanding…..spirituality.

The battle for sleep continues

The battle for sleep continues. I’m going through the Hydroxyzine like it’s nothing. I think needing to lose weight is what part of my problem is. So I’m going to try and do little things to be more active. Yesterday Link and I went on a longer walk into town. He was panting and my leg aches but we made it! I have some weights I can use – just do something! May be being more active would help with anxiety too.

A good little message from A Woman’s Spirit today:

“ I write my script today. Who I choose to be is in my power. My past performance doesn’t determine my present personality.”

4 February 2022 What brings us Together

Check out 4 February 2022 Friday morning chat https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1286643827

Hello. How are you? How is your day going so far? We have lovely sunshine this morning and I got some sleep last night. Lots to be grateful for!

The Twitch stream this morning was interesting. We talked a lot about food and I shared a couple recipes. I have one viewer that loves to joke about potatoes because I’m from Idaho. We agreed that it’s food and music that brings us together. Both of them use more than one sense to enjoy. Eating and listening to music is a multi-sensory experience and are things common to all walks of life. We fight about most everything else don’t we?!

A new viewer joined us and shared a story about his brother being bullied and beat up and we talked for a long time about that subject! This particular viewer was from England. Bullies go way back! I was bullied at school. I think it’s all too common a thing that happens in the science experiment that is public school. Being a bully is taught and learned. Now with all sorts of social media and video game platforms this kind of behavior has migrated there. The phrase “sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me” isn’t really true in a modern digital world. Words do hurt.

Last night I called my Aunt ad I was feeling lonesome and kind of anxious about trying to go to sleep. We talked and she recommended this psalm that she said she reads to my Uncle if he is having trouble sleeping:

Psalm 23New International Version

Psalm 23

A psalm of David.

The Lord is my shepherd,(A) I lack nothing.(B)
    He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,(C)
    he refreshes my soul.(D)
He guides me(E) along the right paths(F)
    for his name’s sake.(G)
Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley,[a](H)
I will fear no evil,(I)
    for you are with me;(J)
your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table(K) before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;(L)
my cup(M) overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love(N) will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.

3 February 2022 Battle

Check out 3 February 2022 Thursday morning chat https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1285579428

Hello to you. How are you today? I’m just back from taking Link on a walk around the block. I streamed on Twitch for almost 2 hours today trying to work through the crap I’m dealing with. Last night I couldn’t sleep again. I keep getting anxious. I can tell people are getting tired of it – I have lost a couple followers. Don’t blame them. I’m sick of it too! I was feeling good and then I wasn’t! It’s becoming quite the battle to calm down and sleep. I went through a whole bunch of talking meditations on YouTube.

This is one I found that helped me a little bit with the panic I was feeling. She has a real soothing voice: https://youtu.be/pJWY3Bkkaew

I guess if I’m honest with myself I have always had problems with sleep just not the anxiety and panic part. This too shall pass. It always does. I don’t want to keep giving “this” power.

Oh to sleep like Link!

“Today I will recognize my pain if it comes, and I will take responsibility for my part in it. It will leave when I do my part and let my Higher Power do the rest.” (A Woman’s Spirit)

2 February 2022 Wednesday

Check out 2 February 2022 Wednesday morning chat https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1284406575

Hello to you. How are you? Feeling a little bleary eyed. I slept but feel like I could have slept a little longer! I was laying there and my body just wouldn’t let me go back to sleep.

Picked up my new glasses yesterday. I’m pretty pleased with them! The place I got them was Family Eye Care Specialist. They had s package deal where if you chose one of their frames all you had to do was pay for the lenses. What’s also nice is they are within walking distance. It felt good to get a nice walk in.

Yay new glasses!
It’s nice to be able to see at a distance more clearly again!

Todays message in the Woman’s Spirit book I read out of for my streams was a little different. It was talking about God in the feminine. When I was active in the AA program, it was emphasized that you have a Higher Power. It didn’t matter if it was a tree but it was important to have a relationship with a loving force outside of yourself to help you achieve sobriety. For many of the people I knew in the program the traditional Bible God was their Higher Power. It was important to have that relationship outside of yourself because you were the one who got yourself in the mess in the first place! When I think of God I think of energy….a “they” versus a he or she. God is everything.

Something that I think about with my concept of God is they are not limited to the duality that seems to permeate our existence. In order to be God they can’t be limited to the same things we are. God is not bound to a body with all the rules and limitations we are. They can see every side of everything known to existence. If you ask why something happened they have the answer. They can see forward and backward to infinity. Every piece of existence at their disposal. The God I know and love “just is.” Sometimes when I get to wondering if they are there I just have to ask and I’m shown indeed they are there! I’ll be crying and suddenly will feel this warmth like arms wrapping around me.

So I don’t think God is just good or bad. God just is. People like to blame God for all the bad things that happen. I think it’s easier to blame God than it is to take responsibility for their actions either as an individual or as a collective species. Everything, even a blade of grass has a plan for it. We make choices and there is a cumulative affect. I am beginning to think the plan there is for each of us is like a blueprint but the final product is up to us and our choices….that free will part of the equation! It’s like we are born with a plan, a blueprint for what we can be but we may or may not complete the design. So many factors are at work that determine if we will achieve our full potential.

Anyhew lol- can you tell I like riddling around with matters of the spirit? Hopefully something here will spark a thought in you. I’d love to hear if you have any thoughts.

1 February 2022 Tuesday

Check out 1 February 2022 Tuesday morning chat https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1283369641

Hello to you. I hope this finds you well. It’s hard to believe it’s the first of the month already!

Had a good stream by myself this morning. The people that have been showing up weren’t there. In the daily meditation book I like to read from, A Woman’s Spirit, there was a good message for me to talk about. It was about what we do when chaos in its many forms shows up. We have a choice in these times. What I struggle with is going into panic mode when bad things happen. I feel powerless and not in control which is incredibly difficult for me. In these times it’s important to remember things happen in this life that we can’t control and it’s how we choose to go through those things that shapes the final outcome.

I can remember when my mom found out she had cancer and had to go through chemotherapy. She chose to go through all that with a positive attitude! She was such an inspiration the people at the hospital wanted her to speak to other patients! She made a conscious decision not to let the cancer crush her spirit – her will to live.

“Every person I meet today is in my life by design. What I give to or learn from others helps each of us to grow.” (A Woman’s Spirit)

Grateful to have Twitch

31 January 2022 Monday

Check out 31 January 2022 Monday morning chat https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1282260826

Hello to you. How are you today? Did you get some sleep? I got some but it was still a struggle. When I take the Hydroxyzine it acts a lot like Benadryl. I will get drowsy and fall asleep for a couple of hours and then I wake up and can’t go back to sleep. This morning I’m having some anxiety but it will pass. It always does.

Had a good stream this morning. I was up early so ended up talking about a lot of stuff on my own before having viewers come in. We had a new person visit and that was a lot of fun!

Yesterday I went over to my Aunt and Uncles and caught the end of the Bengals and Kansas City Chiefs game. It was hard for us to figure out what the KC’s quarterback was doing three plays in a row. My Uncle suspects he wanted to be the one to get the winning touchdown. It seemed like that anyways! I don’t watch football much. Guess the Super Bowl will be on my cousin and my birthday (the 13th).

“My confidence will not waver today if I remember to let God help me handle each responsibility” (A Woman’s Spirit)

29 January 2022 Saturday

Check out 29 January 2022 Saturday morning chat https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1280050945

Hello. How are you today? I hope good. I’m feeling pretty good. I got some sleep and that makes the world of difference!

First drawing in my new sketchbook today

The Twitch stream this morning was good. I got a chance to talk about some things I hadn’t talked about before. For example some of what was going on with media and my brain when I had all those manic episodes. How it’s really important to be mindful of what you feed your mind, body and spirit. When I was having manic episodes my brain didn’t differentiate between fantasy and reality. The two worlds merged and I was in the middle. I feel “content creators” in this world have a responsibility for what they put into this world. Over time, if we look, there has been a lot of trash packaged for consumption that may be should have just been left to being a thought, a dream…. a nightmare. There are people like me that have had psychotic breaks and start talking to things like television sets!

Another thing I talked about along the line of content creation is motive. As a content creator what is my motive for my creation? Is it to make a lot of money? Garner attention and fame? Influence people? Why am I doing it? For me personally it’s for several reasons. Making the videos and writing this blog is very therapeutic. It helps me not be lonely for a little while. It’s also my hope when I’m doing these things that somebody will get something out of it. That something will resonate with them and they will be able to use it to help themselves of somebody else. My motives are pure. I’m not looking for money or fame from doing what I do. Honestly I don’t think that is Gods plan for me. In the past when money has come into play with crafts and stuff I’m doing it has tainted it….the purity is lost. Bottom line is as a person putting “stuff” into the atmosphere people live in it’s important to check your motives at the door!

28 January 2022 Friday

I’m live on Twitch – Watch me at https://twitch.tv/jwygant

Hello how are you doing today? I’m kind of dragging a bit. Only got 2-3 hours of sleep last night. Guess I have to take what I can get!

“I can change only myself, but sometimes that is enough.” – Ruth Humlecker (A Woman’s Spirit)

Sunset last night

As I sit here writing to you I am trying to keep myself together. Sometimes it’s hard. It’s good to have some sunshine – may be that will help!

Not one of my best but it gets the idea across! Need that sunshine!

27 January 2022 Thursday

Check out 27 January 2022 Thursday Morning https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1277668869

Good morning from here. I hope this finds you well.

Last night was rough again but I thankfully had someone to talk to. Sometimes it’s nice to hear a comforting voice when your freaking out! I keep falling asleep and panicking awake. So weird! I want it to stop!

The stream this morning was definitely a mental health stream. We had a good talk about some things we are going through. If you or someone you know struggles with mental health issues you might take a listen. One of the viewers does a lot of help online and she was talking about anxiety being fear of the unknown and depression being about time – ruminating about the past.

When it comes to mental health sometimes it’s hard for people who haven’t been “in the system” to understand what’s going on. Half the time we are trying things out! Like getting waves of anxiety and not knowing where they are coming from. Not knowing what will work “this time” to soothe things out. Feeling so uncomfortable in your own skin. Every day having a battle with yourself!

Anyhew I would love to hear from you if anything here resonates. Hugs!

26 January 2022 Wednesday

Hello to you. How are you? I’m up really early after another battle with sleep and anxiety. This too shall pass. It always does.

The eye appointment went well yesterday. I had them take a picture of my eyes and they are looking good. Just needed a tuneup for distance vision! I walked over to the clinic and back. There was another stream I passed with some really hardy ducks but they swam away too fast for me to get a picture of them.

Very cold water the ducks were swimming in

Not much planned for today other than talking to my therapist this morning and may be getting groceries. As I write to you I’m in bed with Link and a warm blanket. A part of me wants to try and go back to sleep. Do you ever feel like just hibernating until spring?

“Right now I am at peace. All the tremors and quakes that shake me will cease. In the loving presence of the Spirit I am surrounded with warmth and security. “