{"id":566,"date":"2011-03-11T12:01:00","date_gmt":"2011-03-11T12:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2011\/03\/prayers-for-japan.html"},"modified":"2011-03-11T12:01:00","modified_gmt":"2011-03-11T12:01:00","slug":"prayers-for-japan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2011\/03\/prayers-for-japan.html","title":{"rendered":"Prayers for Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"eye<\/a><\/span>I have a few problems on my plate that are big for me and have been making me feel stressed. Then I turned on the TV and saw pictures from Japan after the earthquake and tsunami and my problems melted into small stuff. Nobody is problem-free. Often we can focus so much on what’s going wrong and magnify problems so much that stress takes over<\/b>. That puts a dark cloud over your life and the good you have.<\/p>\n

The more you focus on your problems, the less you focus on blessings. <\/p>\n

As I felt sorry for myself this morning, I listened to the reports from Japan and my mouth dropped. It’s the worst earthquake Japan has ever had and the third largest ever in the world. OMG! And then there was the destruction from the tsunami. My problems became like small peas compared to what the people of Japan are going through. <\/p>\n

Of course everything is relative. I’ve told someone about a situation that was stressing me out and been told I should be grateful for my life because so many people are starving and suffering in many ways. When I was a DoorMat I bought this. How dare I be unhappy when I had enough money to pay my bills and spend extra on me and my health was good!? So I suppressed my unhappiness and felt guilty when it surfaced. Then I discovered there is a middle ground. <\/p>\n

Your problems don’t mean less because other people have it worse. But you also shouldn’t blow your problem up to seem worse than they are.<\/p>\n

I will solve my issues. One was weather related and it’s already okay. I will take care of the other one shortly. For the people of Japan, the problems will grow and remain for a long time. My heart goes out to the country and its people. When I watch it on TV I cry. It’s hard to imagine experiencing that kind of tragedy. It took my mind off of my own problems. While I still feel them, I’m able to keep them more in perspective by observing the magnitude of what the people of Japan are enduring.<\/p>\n

Keep your problems from becoming worse than necessary<\/b>. Most every day ones can be dealt with in ways that don’t need to cause super amounts of stress. <\/p>\n

And, say prayers for the people in Japan who are suffering so muc<\/b>h. It will go on for a long time. If you can, make a donation to one of the organizations that will provide support<\/b> for the people who lost everything and those who are stranded. I’m doing a lot of praying and will also donate what I can. I’m still stunned by this tragedy. May the people who lost their lives rest in peace.
 
Please leave comments under my posts so we can stay connected. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have a few problems on my plate that are big for me and have been making me feel stressed. Then I turned on the TV and saw pictures from Japan after the earthquake and tsunami and my problems melted into small stuff. Nobody is problem-free. 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Let Me Count the Ways, a She's appeared on hundreds of TV and radio shows, including Oprah, Howard Stern, and Good Morning America and has been quoted in dozens of publications, including the New York Times, Chicago Sun-Times, Cosmopolitan, Redbook, Marie Claire, and Men\u00b9s Health. After being a consummate People Pleaser who felt unworthy of getting her own needs met for many years, Daylle found a path of self-love that enabled her to build her self-esteem and reinvent herself into a dual career. She learned to get taken seriously without being overtly assertive when she became one of the first women to start an independent record label (on a dare!) and learned to play ball nicely and successfully in an industry dominated by men. To help independent musicians empower themselves, Daylle writes music business books for Billboard\/Random House, including the very popular Start & Run Your Own Record Labe and I Don't Need a Record Deal! Daylle's books have been translated into over 10 languages and are popular around the world. She speaks for colleges, organizations and corporations. Through her company, Project Self-Empowerment, Daylle creates programs and materials to help people empower themselves. One goal is to raise the money to self-publish her book, How Do I Love Me? Let Me Count the Ways and give it away for free in colleges and through organizations, to give thanks for all her blessings. Daylle uses her writing and speaking to help others find the kind of contentment and empowerment that she has.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/author\/dschwartz"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}