Blog Archives
Where Is Your Focus – Problems or Answers?
Your focus is vital to your quality of livingness. Sometimes, situations demand your attention. Life can get really complicated. Answers may appear few and far between. Is there a solution to this conundrum?
Yes: Thousands of years ago, the Egyptians carved columns at the Temple of Karnak. One of those carvings demonstrate a person’s chin moving from looking straight ahead, turning to one side. In other words, change what you are looking at – the idea of focus.
In the Bible, Matthew 5:39 states: “But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.” In my Protestant upbringing, it served to teach me that I should be a rug and let others walk all over me as I was doing a holy act. This is known as Pacifism, which by definition is: “Opposition to the use of force under any circumstances; to not return insult for insult, abuse, or revenge .” Religions have been founded on this idea. However, as I grew up, I woke up one day. I realized that others learn nothing if you let them walk all over you, leaving their footprints on your back. It was not “a holy act.” In fact, it was a form of violence, harming my spirit. I had to get up off the floor, remove the rug from my back, and stand straight. When others (whom I had trained by accepting their poor behaviors without resistance) tried to repeat their acts, I gently but firmly let them know that I was no longer going to accept it. They, of course, kept trying. (After all, I had trained them well.) Surely, I would eventually respond the way they expected. (It is like someone puts a coin into a pop machine but does not get a can of pop. That person punches the button harder, thinking it will activate. When it does not, anger accelerates to the point of possibly kicking the machine, etc. ) In order to change the interaction level, the perpetrator eventually has to change his/her actions, accepting that you have changed. If not, he/she leaves. You might lose a supposed friend or two, but you will be better off in the long run because you will attract others who will respect you.
I found that “turning the other cheek” actually goes back to when Joseph was sold into slavery and taken to Egypt. He knew what the teaching was behind the Temple of Karnak carving. If one changes what you are looking at (your focus), you can become more aware of answers and solutions that were excluded by the narrowness of your focus – just like a camera lens – whatever it is focused on appears in the frame, and the rest is excluded. Life is like that.
If you want to stay on the level of the problem, all you have to do is keep thinking, emotionalizing, and talking about it. The more energy you pour into it, the bigger it appears. You are, in fact, turning a mole hill into a mountain no one can climb. You may want someone to rescue you (as you are a victim), saving you from whatever is going on. Fact: The more you claim yourself to be a victim, the more reasons you attract to feel that way. It reinforces itself, always.
How do you break the flow of negative synergy? Change what you are focusing on. It is that simple, and that hard. Habits are hard to break. That includes mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual ones. Awareness is the beginning of change. Realizing that something is not working is the beginning of a new plan of action. Find something that does work for you. Write out a list of possibilities.
The Power of Nonresistance has been glorified by many, but is actually understood by few. In Matthew 5:5, it states, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” Meekness, again, is taught to us as: “Patient and mild; not inclined to anger or resentment; too submissive; easily imposed on; spineless; spiritless.” Here is an idea for you: Meekness actually means “teachable” – the ability to bend with the winds of life so we do not break. Think about it: Can you learn to “bend with the winds” instead of becoming rock-hard in your opinions and actions? Submissiveness and obsequiousness can only lead to more trouble. If you are a person, you need to stand up for what you believe in. You are entitled to respect, safety, and the ability to express your ideas and opinions.
It is a well-known fact that water wears away rock. Just look at the Grand Canyon to confirm that idea. Why does it work so well? Water flows around the rocks. It is the act of flowing that wears the rock away. Can you see that “bending with the winds of life” is the same principle as “water wears away rock?” It is, you know.
Meekness and turning the other cheek actually go hand in hand, after all. Interesting concept, isn’t it? Are you willing to contemplate how you might solve problems in your life by changing your attitudes, actions, and choices?
God’s blessings upon your journey!
Grand Canyon, AZ
Grand Canyon – South Rim About Sunset
Grand Canyon – South Rim
Personal Rejuvenation
Springtime is here! What a wonderful time of year to zero in on your bad habits and look around for a better way to live!
We all do things on a regular basis that do not serve us very well. The bad thing about habits is that the more you resist them, the stronger they appear to be. I use the word, “appear” because it is just an illusion.
This goes for the all the “aholic” words you can think of: Chocaholic, workaholic, alcoholic, couchaholic, tv-aholic, game-aholic, text-aholic, foodaholic, phone-aholic, depressed-aholic, party-aholic, etc. Anything you do that does not serve you well qualifies.
There is an old saying that, “Too much of a good thing can become a bad thing.” Ergo, anything done to excess can become “too much of a good thing.”
Moderation can assist anyone who chooses to change. A piece of chocolate, a little tv/game/text/food/party time, etc.
Spring time is a time of renewal. It is, literally, a new beginning. A time when the earth awakens to begin another cycle.
You could choose to look at the illusions you serve and treat as a reality. You can move from concentrating on the problem to one that is looking for an answer. If you ask the question, God can answer you with a magazine article, a book, a person, a teacher, or a class.
Let’s say you want to lose weight, have tried many things unsuccessfully, and have an attitude of hopelessness — one that says you have not done it before, so what makes you think this time will be any different? You are concentrating on the problem, not the answer. There is ALWAYS AN ANSWER — one that will work for you if you consistently try something new. You could NOT eat the whole container of ice cream at one sitting because you are depressed. You could take a class that is appropriate for your physical condition…something that is gentle enough to help you begin to make a difference. You could take a meditation or a yoga class to calm yourself and learn to breathe correctly in lieu of stuffing something into your mouth to anesthetize your overwrought feelings. You could say the same for cigarettes, which everyone knows is detrimental to you to the point of death.
The problem is that the gung-ho attitude for change rarely works. Sooner or later, gung-ho gets weary and leaves. It is replaced by feelings of failure, sadness, hopelessness, etc.
In order to make some changes, you need to have a dialogue with yourself and be gentler. (No strong-arming yourself, please.) Look at the people on the Fastest Loser TV Program. They have given themselves an incentive to do what it takes. Why don’t you try to do the same? Surely, there is something you want that will help you to firm your resolve and take action for a change that is beneficial to your life, your livingness, and your longevity. Make a personal reward part of the program…make the rewards small enough and doable so they reinforce your long-term goal. The only question is, are you willing to take a look at your life, make a list (short or long) of what you want to change, and then come up with at least one suggestion that will help you begin…to take that first step, even if it is like a thousand-mile journey. Again, build in a reward program as well. The journey may be shortened considerably by improved attitudes, more energy, feeling better, liking how you look in the mirror, compliments from others, etc. Then you keep putting one foot in front of the other, moving along, step by step toward the NEW YOU…in looks, actions, etc. Make up new lists of action as you move towards your goal, always keeping the steps small enough that you will be successful, creating Synergy towards where it is you are going.
REMEMBER, THE KEY TO CHANGE IS CONSISTENCY!
Does that mean that, if you make a mistake and eat a box of cookies, you just permanently trashed your choice to be healthier? No, it means that you begin again, this moment, to fix a salad and a piece of meat for dinner. Failure only occurs when you give up.
MAKE A DECISION NOW TO NOT GIVE UP, NO MATTER WHAT! PERSEVERANCE IS THE KEY HERE!
Only you can make this Springtime a journey towards changing whatever it is that is not serving you well. Are you willing to make a list, look at it, and begin?
God’s blessings on your journey!
Tulips in Snow
Growth Happens
Signs of New Life
These three pictures show how Mother Nature perseveres: Growth continues in spite of the horrendous forces that can happen. You can see pictures of trees growing out of rocks and on impossibly steep cliffs, flowers and weeds growing up through the cement, etc. These should give us impetus in our lives to overcome, to begin again, and to go for it!
Procrastination
PROCRASTINATION is a foible that we are all guilty of at one time or another… some experience it more than others.
Items of unfinished business that are laying around create disorder, and that causes PROCRASTINATION. As one envelope invites you to put more there…so does a chaotic environment procreate itself ad infinitum ad nauseum.
One element of procrastination that generates chaos is a lack of organization…a pile of anything, be it paperwork, clothes, or something else. If one has not used the idea of “a place for everything and everything in its place,” piles of stuff accumulate. A pile is just an invitation to procrastination. A lack of prioritizing also contributes to it.
Putting first things first sounds simple and uncomplicated…until you take a look around at your surroundings. Most of us live in a state of unfinished business…a project not quite done in one place; dirty clothes that have not yet made the wash basket; a hat here, a glove or two there; unopened mail where one put it, still lying in a stack a couple of days later.
Sometimes we overburden ourselves with expectations. We surround ourselves with disorganization that makes it looks insurmountable, so why even start?
Every single item on a To Do List actually holds a piece of your energy. Just looking at it will not release that energy. It must be completed to free the mind and energize the soul so one can do something else.
When I find myself procrastinating, I purposely choose ONE THING and BEGIN to accomplish it. Synergy then gives me the ability to continue on with my day, doing whatever it is that I choose to do.
One of my simple organization methods is: “Try to handle something only once.” If it is in your hand, make a quick decision to “put it in its place.” If it is dirty clothes, put them in the wash basket immediately and decide to not just dump them wherever. If it is unopened mail, determine what is junk mail, ready for recycling; open real mail and sort it…put bills with the bills and the rest into a suspense area to be dealt with later. Dirty dishes can get rinsed off as soon as you are done eating as food dries quickly and makes it even harder to get off…put them in the dishwasher OR get them washed, dried, and put away.
If you are already living a state of unfinished business, pick one room or area. Begin to take care of the problem. Prioritize, put stuff away, and simplify your life. Soften your viewpoint and focus it on a smaller goal that you can achieve. Break a pile into its parts and handle each one individually. With enough consistency, you can see the piles shrink before your very eyes.
Unfortunately, we do not have a Mary Poppins in our lives to put things in order. The clothes do not hang themselves up, and toys do not jump into the toy box.
Habits are difficult to change. They are created by continually making bad choices. They remain because we do not consciously make a decision to change our actions.
So, how about you? Do you want to continue to beat yourself up for your Procrastination? Do you really want to put out the effort to change? If you do, write it down. It begins there. Then pick an area to begin and decide to get moving. Are you willing? If you do, you may find your breakthrough!
Try to remember: God created Divine Order and Harmony in your mind as a natural state of being, bringing Peace to your Soul. This happens when you create order from disorder in your environment. All you have to do is look at a waterfall, a rainbow, beautiful flowers, an osprey in flight, or a lovely landscape to understand this Truth.
Best wishes as you begin to change. Enjoy your day! 🙂
Bridal Veil Falls, Idaho Springs, CO
Rainbow Signifying Peace
Beautiful Flowers
Osprey in Flight
Mt Evans, Front Range, CO
upliftingthoughts4u 