Hey Ladies,

I stumbled upon a book this morning while I was online called It's Just My Nature by Carol Tuttle.  It's about discovering your personality type and appreciating who you are (and appreciating others for who they are).  It got some great reviews on Amazon and sounds like it has been a life-changing book for many.

This same author wrote a book called Dressing Your Truth which focuses more on how to dress according to "who you are" inside.

So I just wanted to comment real quick about something!  I know for all of us going through this terrible disease, we often rely on and reach out to eachother for love and support.  For me, you all gave me the courage and motivation to fly my pregnant self out to Dr. B.  And I am so thankful to you all for that.  I know that the majority of us on this forum are the ones who are thinking about starting treatment, in the beginning stages, or still struggling but on the path to being healed regardless.. SO we can sometimes scare eachother a little when we are feeling vulnerable and fearful.

Just wanted to share with those of you who are really struggling with pain like I am.  I started an Inspirational Journal for myself.  I write quotes and Scripture, prayers and thoughts, etc in there.  I am decorating it like a scrapbook.  It is really helping me to focus on what is real.  It's so easy to get bogged down in fear and depression when the days of pain drag on.  But what is real is that I have great hope for the future, and that I am healing more and more everyday.

To all my fellow ICers on their journeys to recovery.  Wherever we are on the journey, whether just starting out, enjoying marked progress or enduring a set back or feeling 'stuck' we all need patience and determination.  I came into work today and found this in my in-box.  It was very fitting and so I thought I would share it with you.  I hope it helps you to keep the faith and to keep going, it's going on my fridge when I get home tonight!!!:

So a month after I started treatment with Dr.B, my Husband bought me a book that has a different little spiritual passage for every day. I didn't start reading it until recently, because I have been having so much die off, and I really needed some help mentally, and spiritually. So today I read a passage that totally hit home. It was so good, I decided to share it, and hopefully it might help some of you, as it helped me....

I've been going to al-anon and ACoA meetings and I really find that they help deal with IC  just as much as alcoholism. The serenity prayer may seem hackneyed since we've all heard it so often but it helps me woith this disease and this treatment.

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change

the courage to change the things I can

and the wisdom to know the difference.

I say this out loud when the panic of "when? Why?" starts up.

I have been struggling to find a mental calm about this and I just found a guided imagery that I bought from Amazon for .99.  It is called "enhancing healing and recovery" I did  it today and I found it to be very helpful. I'm amazed that i found the time to do it- even that is a victory for me!

I am a professional singer and I often sing at Catholic funeral Masses. Last Saturday, I was having a particularly tough time IC/mental/emotional wise. I was filled with fear, doubt, dread, hopelessness- you name it. Anyway- I had a funeral (and a wedding) that day. I usually sing songs that I've done a million times but on Saturday I had a new song. it was based on a Psalm 27 and was to the tune of an old spiritual. It was a lovely song.

Hope this is ok with u Honeybee but this post has meant so much to me that I wanted newbies especially to read it. 

Honeybee's dream: