WONDER ANEW POSTCARD PROJECT: giving up labels

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Wonder Day 2.6.15 - Natasha Reilly

I decided to change my thinking about who I am...

Posted by Susan Michael Barrett

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Labels: be myself, change my thinking about who I am, giving up labels, I am, Natasha Reilly

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VISIT WONDER ANEW

MY POSTCARD PROJECT

My name is Susan Michael Barrett. This website shares a selection from the over 1700 postcards I received from 2013 - 2015.

Blog Archive

Wonder Day

The turmoil and frustration that has dictated my life for so many years will be transformed into positive energy. By sharing my story to others like me I hope to create a footprint for a better world. - a young person in addiction recovery

Wonder Day

The ongoing evolution that seems to be happening through this bodymind is an awakening of loving awareness…the more it emerges, the more my prayer is to live from that presence, to “be” that loving. Often that takes the form of seeing our shared vulnerability and holding with care, and seeing the beauty and goodness that lives through all of us… - Tara Brach

Wonder Day

I have made and continue to make efforts at transforming my suffering into compassion, that I may be of better service to others and that I may be happy. - Joe Reilly

Wonder Day

The most positive change I've ever made was to get sober in a 12-step program… All of the joy, challenge and growth of the past 15 years couldn't have happened without that change. I did it by asking God for help, and putting myself in the hands of those who had overcome alcoholism themselves and wanted to help me… - Megan DeFrain

Wonder Day

I want to become who I am truly meant to be. A girl. -high school student

Wonder Day

Twelve years ago, my breakfast was a cigarette, a donut, and a vanilla coke. Today I nourish my body with whole foods and meditation. - person in an adult recovery workshop

Wonder Day

High school student

Wonder Day

High school student

Wonder Day

I wish I had more time to walk or feed my dog...if I had a dog. Oh well. - high school student

Wonder Day

I will love to get color into my life. - high school student

Wonder Day

Give up cola. Drink more water. -art school student

Wonder Day

I want to be a better gift receiver, working at kind, non-judgmental receiving. - emailed to Wonder Anew

Wonder Day

I plan to get rid of a ton of Christmas stuff at a garage sale this summer. (Ok, I haven't fully come to terms with getting rid of the Danbury Mint ornaments.) - emailed to Wonder Anew

Wonder Day

High school student

Wonder Day

I got a spinal cord injury...I wanted to die but I changed my perspective...I am going to walk across the stage to get my diploma using reciprocating gait orthotics. - college student

Wonder Day

I stay on the phone too much... - high school student

Wonder Day

University student

Wonder Day

University student

Wonder Day

University student

Wonder Day

Emailed to Wonder Anew

Wonder Day

No more eating animals (beef, chicken, fish). I eat plants, seeds, and legumes. I educated myself about protein and changed my belief that I needed to get it from animals. - Emailed to Wonder Anew

Wonder Day

Emailed anonymously

Wonder Day

Person in addiction recovery

Wonder Day

High school student

Wonder Day

Be myself. - high school student

Wonder Day

Me and my brother started to get along with each other. We used to fight over everything and be mean to each other. Also we used to put each other down. But just recently we are spending more time together. - middle school student

Wonder Day

I stopped acting bad with my family and it really changed my life. I didn't scream no more and I didn't fight or argue. - middle school student

Wonder Day

My change was forgiveness to my friends and family. - middle school student

Wonder Day

I didn't have time, but I MADE the time... I had a lot going against me, but I had enough going for me... I had plenty of excuses, but I chose to not use ANY of them! - young adult in addiction recovery

Wonder Day

I'm thinking positive. -art school student

Wonder Day

A change was to just write it out and not hold it in forever. Because when you write it out you feel very different and you feel free. - middle school student

Wonder Day

Someone called me beautiful. So I felt good that day. So that is all that I know. Someone has called me so. - middle school student

Wonder Day

I changed my goal. Instead of working to get fame, I decided to work for the purpose of sharing the pleasantness of life with others. -Wooksang Chang

Wonder Day

...the most major change I made is to consciously welcome gratitude into my life. This has come about by two significant events: while riding a motorcycle I was hit by a truck and taken via Flight for Life to a trauma center with a broken neck, a fractured arm, leg, pelvis, ribs, and internal injuries. The second event occurred 7 months later when my son was killed in a blizzard that involved 24 vehicles. I am eternally grateful that these two traumatic events have led me on a path of spiritual awakening... - Georgi Starz

Wonder Day

the positive change i made has been to wear clothes that match me. that make me happy. -rachel awes

Wonder Day

Everything changed for me when I changed my hero to my uncle. - Bob Miles

Wonder Day

I try now not to be sarcastic at all…I learned that although I grew up with sarcasm as a mode of communication that I thought was universally appreciated, I learned that many did not find it funny. -Terry Barrett

Wonder Day

Alice Risemberg

Wonder Day

I feel as though I am too sensitive and that I let things get to me a lot. I think that I need to stop caring about what other people think and start being me. I want to stop doing things and being something I don't want to just because people tell me to. -middle school student

Wonder Day

As I approach my seventieth birthday in January, I have experienced an anxiety, indeed, almost a paralysis of spirit…I have been spending a lot of energy fearing that my own life might follow the pattern of my mother’s [she died at 70]. To avoid the feelings and anxiety, I was spending hours playing games on my phone. I was numb to the possibilities of each day…I wanted to change the thought pattern that kept me from living fully in the moment of the time I have. I have chosen to begin each day by bowing my head below my heart to remind myself that for all the fabrications and complications my brain can invent, my heart has its own wisdom. –Lurline S. DuPree

Wonder Day

…A divorce was my crisis. I was with someone for years who was a great person, but not for me. My soul would speak to me and let me know it was all wrong, but I decided to bury the sounds by adopting an external persona that was so far from myself, I almost lost me… - Erin Geraghty

Wonder Day

He died for his dreams, and so I decided there was no excuse any longer to not live for mine. - Sarah Treanor

Wonder Day

I wish that my cousin and I got along better. I can try to be nice to her and when we start arguing… - middle school student, FL

Wonder Day

after years, a decade, we met. dad and me. in a hotel room, N. Las Vegas. we met once then we met again. mostly we talked about gambling, which is why he left phoenix way back then. gambling and barb, my mom's ex-best friend, that is why i think he left. that is why i though he left, but as i grow older i can imagine there are other reasons to leave. i was the one who caught them, dad and barb, and told my mom. i was the one to whom katie confessed awful things. he told me these things, about her sons. about me and him i felt it was time for us to reconcile, for me to love him anyway… - anonymous

Wonder Day

One thing I would change - how much I pay attention to people. I need to not ignore people, so to change I will hang out with people more. - middle school student

Wonder Day

Emailed anonymously

Wonder Day

Embrace the unease. In the past few months, change has spilled through my life. Many of the changes have been positive, but hard. The changes have pushed me, and sometimes have hurt, but they have given me back my rich inner life. They have given me back my heart... Harmony Harrison

Wonder Day

My type of cancer has ties to stress, both environmental and emotional. A hard and difficult look at my need to please, my search for perfection, and my inability to shake things off, impressed upon me the idea of letting go of many of my control demons. Not easy, as these ways of being in the world are hard-wired in my personality. Slowly, over time, even years, I began to believe in putting myself first. Not in a selfish way, but in ways that opened me to knowing that what I felt needed to be noted and dealt with—not buried or hushed. – anonymous

Wonder Day

Cancer and its treatments eat away at my being, but not at my becoming. Change is rapid and a tipping point is coming, so now I try each day to be still and remember who I am. What I love. And here's what I find: gratitude is the memory of my heart. – Mariclare Barrett

Wonder Day

…I have depression, am an addict, and am working towards living a more serene life…I have been in a funk for a while now (funk meaning having more emotionally challenging days than easy days) and have not been fully utilizing my known funk-kicking tools. But today…I had a cool thought. What if I asked myself each day, "Emily, what have you done for your depression today?" Have I done at least one good-for-me thing to help stabilize my mood? – Emily Jourdan

Wonder Day

A person in an adult workshop

Wonder Day

Sarah Rudell Beach

Wonder Day

High school student

Wonder Day

I am capable of contributing to the freedom of Palestine one day. Inshallah. - high school student

Wonder Day

Stop doing heroin. - high school student

Wonder Day

Doing what I love has changed my world... - art school student

Wonder Day

We are all in the darkness. But some of us are watching the sunrise. -art school student

Wonder Day

I want to give time to myself. - emailed to Wonder Anew

Wonder Day

High school student, Texas

Wonder Day

I need to stop being condescending toward people. I honestly need to stop looking at the people I don't know and automatically assuming that I'm better than them. - high school student

Wonder Day

University student

Wonder Day

University student

Wonder Day

University student

Wonder Day

I want to shake my drug addiction. - high school student

Wonder Day

University student

Wonder Day

I wanted to stop running from my problems and face them head on. I became sober and the lies stopped, problems got less frequent and I faced my situations head on. - young person in addiction recovery

Wonder Day

Person in addiction recovery

Wonder Day

From a fifth grader

Wonder Day

From a fifth grader

Wonder Day

It [marijuana] was once in my life but now out of my life for good! For myself and kids! - person in addiction workshop

Wonder Day

One thing that has improved my life is when my dad got my first and most beloved dog Haylee. -middle school student

Wonder Day

The best thing that happened to me to make my life change is I met a friend named Damion. He brightens my day. He makes me feel special regardless of my disabilities. Damion takes me and accepts me as I am. We have been special friends since the day I met him. He is my very good friend who means a lot to me and has changed my life and makes me forget sometimes that I am in a wheel chair. – middle school student

Wonder Day

I used to always get mad and feel the need to get back at the person who made me mad. But now I'm just calm. I realized that every situation doesn't need a reaction. - middle school student

Wonder Day

I used to drown in the bottle. Now I swim in the pool. -person in addiction recovery

Wonder Day

I stopped saying YES to projects and commitments that made me feel unhappy and resentful. - Alexandra Franzen

Wonder Day

I celebrated Rosh Hashanah--The Jewish New Year--about a month ago. Leading up to the holiday, I put my attention on creating greater connection and empathy between me and all other life forms I come in contact with. I put my attention on the person, and say: Just like me, this person is seeking happiness in his/her life; Just like me, this person is trying to avoid suffering in his/her life; Just like me, this person has known sadness, loneliness, and despair; Just like me, this person is learning about life. The result has been a greater sense of inner peace... - Dan Betzel

Wonder Day

A father always loves his daughter. I am no different. But I am also inspired by my daughter. Daughter teaching father is a very positive change in my life and a powerful lesson. - Gordon Gee

Wonder Day

I want to provoke dialogue about what it means to be human, to be creative, and to value the stories we live by even if those stories are not originated in one's personal experience and those stories must first be moved from the unfamiliar to home. - James Haywood Rollings, Jr.

Wonder Day

Herbert Jay Bacchus (Bert)

Wonder Day

I felt tired, I felt cranky/More than I liked/Overwhelmed and exhausted/My busy-ness spiked/I was lost and unsure/Was I really enough?/There was a pit deep inside/I attempted to fill, by doing stuff… - Karen Main

Wonder Day

I realized that claiming focus might be the simple shift I need to avoid the perceived crumbling of my world... - Emily Jean Hood

Wonder Day

I started using my camera to see life through a different lens. Literally and figuratively. - Michele Bergh

Wonder Day

I want to be able to talk to people I don't know. I wish that I could have more confidence around strangers. -middle school student

Wonder Day

After over 25 years, I moved forward to end my marriage. - anonymous

Wonder Day

I look in instead of out. When I choose to focus on others instead of feeling my feelings I lose myself and my voice. - Emily Pasienza

Wonder Day

I want to be free of all the beliefs that I thought were mine but that aren't... I want to free myself of needing to fix anything or anyone (big one for me)… - Suzanne McRae

Wonder Day

I’d have to say the most positive change I’ve made in my life was to begin cultivating love and compassion for myself. That may sound a bit selfish, but my life for many years was one that consisted predominately of cutting, severe drug and alcohol addiction, suicide attempts, jails, psych wards and more. - Chris Gross

Wonder Day

I changed one thing and that changed everything. I would not call it a positive change; it was a move beyond positive and negative to where things just are. Nor can I take credit for making the change. It came to me like a breeze blowing by, this time I let it sweep me off my feet. I thought it would take me to a new place, instead it set me back on the same spot, but all the world was different. The breeze itself is my new home. It is inside of me but doesn't come from me. The big change I have made is listening to it, feeling it, trusting it, learning to let it guide me, letting go of everything else. - Tracie Wells

Wonder Day

I have made a positive change in my life by throwing away ALL of my blades. - middle school student, TX

Wonder Day

I listened to Rumi: "Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you really love..." I was an accountant. I didn't like that work. It was not what I wanted to do. I stopped sitting at a desk adding numbers and filling in forms. I went back to school to study early childhood education. I got a job teaching second grade children and I'm happier than I've ever been. - elementary school teacher, FL