My Little Jules of Wisdom

nybg: Amazonian Mushroom Eats Indestructible Plastics The non-biodegradable polyurethane that environmentalists have been sighing over for decades may have met its match in fungus. Student researchers from Yale have discovered that Pestalotiopsis microspora (not shown) not only loves munching on the plastic that goes into everything from garden hoses to disposable bottles, but it can do it almost anywhere—even the depths of a landfill. —MN

nybg:

Amazonian Mushroom Eats Indestructible Plastics

The non-biodegradable polyurethane that environmentalists have been sighing over for decades may have met its match in fungus. Student researchers from Yale have discovered that Pestalotiopsis microspora (not shown) not only loves munching on the plastic that goes into everything from garden hoses to disposable bottles, but it can do it almost anywhere—even the depths of a landfill. —MN

(via verticaltheory)

From TinyBuddha.com

“The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem.” -Theodore I. Rubin

There are times when things get complicated and it has nothing to do with the choices we’ve made.

Sometimes everyone around us needs us for different things, right as our work is becoming more challenging, and we’re feeling confused about what we actually want to do with our lives.

Sometimes we receive medical or psychiatric diagnoses—and possibly both at the same time—right after being laid off and losing our health insurance.

Sometimes we feel we’ve made headway with emotional wounds from the past, only to find ourselves feeling challenged by the smallest of triggers and uncertain if we’ve made any progress at all.

Try as we may to eliminate the debt, responsibility, unhealthy relationships, and anything else that may cause us stress, life may never be simple.

We may always have different challenges to address in our lives. But maybe simplicity isn’t eliminating problems; maybe it’s learning to embrace them, face them, and grow from them, instead of seeing them as something to resist.

Perhaps “simple” has nothing to do with the circumstances in our lives, and everything to do with the mindset we foster in accepting and responding to them.

There are certain problems that need solutions more quickly than others. There are certain events that may seem more overwhelming than others.

We can either approach these situations with a sense of dread and anxiety, assuming we have no choice but to respond this way; or we can find our center, take it all one step at a time, and recognize that whatever happens, we can handle it and learn from it.

We can’t change that life will be complex at times, but we can cause ourselves a lot less pain by accepting that, instead of fighting it, questioning it, and wishing we could change it.

Life will inevitably involve challenges; and sometimes they’ll work in our favor. Problems allow us to create, innovate, and stretch both ourselves and the world we know.

The question isn’t whether life will ever be simple; it’s whether we’ll recognize all the opportunities within the complexities and find the strength to seize them.

What problem will you embrace today?

This post really struck a chord with me this morning. Last night, my family hosted a Super Bowl party and one of the guests was a woman who had recently changed careers and was in the supervised phase of becoming a clinical psychologist. As we were chatting in the kitchen and she was telling me about her work, I revealed to her that I had Trich and someday hoped to be doing the same work as her, but for Trich sufferers. She then asked me, “So how were you able to overcome it?” I had to shamefully admit to her that it was still a major problem for me. She then gave me and big, soft hug and went on to stress the importance of finding someone to really help me face this head on and hold me accountable. I’ve always liked to think I can do it solo, but time tells me this theory is wrong. Even in writing these few posts I feel more connected to my recovery and more accountable to sticking to my goals.

Today I am setting a goal: to go pull free and find the name of a Trich specialist to make an appointment. Wish me Luck!