Stress Management

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OUT OF DIFFICULTIES GROW MIRACLES.  Jean de la Bruyere

We all struggle with change, stress and difficulties in life. Things happen unexpectedly every day.  What matters most however, is how we person react to change.

Some people seem to be better than others at dealing with life’s inevitable changes and all the unexpected things that happen. They seem to have the knowledge, experience, and mental power to manage stress and overcome difficulties.  They have a calmness and grace surrounding them even in the midst of the storm.

Here are some ideas  to help improve your ability to deal with life’s inevitable changes, manage stress and overcome difficulties:

1. Change your thoughts. 

Any situation can be looked at from a positive or negative perspective.  It all depends on your attitude. Every situation you find yourself in can be perceived in a bad way or good way. This means what you decide what it means to you.  Learn to handle stress and overcome difficulties by avoiding negative thinking about any situation or any person.   Make a decision to keep positive thoughts in your mind and let go of any negative ideas. Look at the bright side. Use affirmations to remind yourself to keep thinking positive. This will help you overcome your difficulties and build up your inner power. Mental discipline is something that everyone is capable of, but it must be practiced.

2. Turn away from fear and conflict. 

We all make choices every day.  Choose love over fear.  Keep your focus on peace rather than conflict.  Just knowing that you truly desire peace will help you focus on better things.  If you follow your fears, you will ultimately find yourself mixed up in conflict, but if you choose to look at everything with love, your whole perspective will change and you will manifest more good in your life.

3. Stay present with your purpose. 

We all search for ways to live better and happier lives. Finding your purpose is important. It is a very personal and individual thing and requires some soul searching. Taking time with yourself to really dig in and understand what makes you happy and feeling fulfilled will eventually lead to a path of inner peace.  So take time for self-awareness. During Lent, Christians find this to be a good time to do this kind of searching.  Consider becoming part of a religion or find a spiritual practice that can help you personally and connect to others too.  Support is key.

5. Identify your strengths.

We all have natural talents that we are born with. Everyone is good at something.  Take time to think about, discover and analyze what your natural strengths and talents are. Just recognizing your own personal strengths will help you to explore your abilities and discover what you are passionate about.  Many people believe in “doing what you are good at”, in order to be happy at what you do. The sooner in life you can recognize your own talents, the more successful you are probably going to be at developing them and making your dreams become reality.

5. Claim your personal power. 

Some people have problems that last for years because they believe that they are helpless to solve them. Be bold and have courage to take chances, make changes and do things you want to do but may not have done before.  Feeling helpless and staying in a condition of inaction will only prevent you from moving past the problem and discovering a solution.

 

Be strong. Be active. Being willing to do something when it needs to be done will make you a leader. A leader steps forward, faces their fears and overcomes them. If you want to build up your inner power, turn away from fear and conflict, choose love and peace, know your purpose, recognize your strengths, claim your power and do what you can.

Ashes/Lent

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Yesterday began Lent in the Christian faith.  Lent is a season of the Christian Year where Christians focus on simple living, prayer, and fasting in order to grow closer to God. It’s the forty days before Easter.  Ash Wednesday usually begins with a service where we recognize our mortality, repent of our sins, and return to our loving God. We recognize life as a precious gift from God, and re-turn our lives towards Jesus Christ. We may make resolutions and commit to change our lives over the next forty days so that we might be more like Christ. In an Ash Wednesday service, usually a minister or priest marks the sign of the cross on a person’s forehead with ashes.  In Jewish and Christian history, ashes are a sign of mortality and repentance. Mortality, because when we die, our bodies eventually decompose and we become dust/dirt/ash/whatever. Repentance, because long ago, when people felt remorse for something they did, they would put ashes on their head and wear “sackcloth” (scratchy clothing) to remind them that sin is pretty uncomfortable and leads to a sort of death of the spirit. This was their way of confessing their sins and asking for forgiveness. At an Ash Wednesday service, we are invited to come forward to receive the ashes. The minister will make a small cross on your forehead by smudging the ashes. While the ashes remind us of our mortality and sin, the cross reminds us of Jesus’ resurrection (life after death) and forgiveness. It’s a powerful, non-verbal way that we can experience God’s forgiveness and renewal as we return to Jesus. The color purple is also used during this time to denote our sadness of heart over our sins against God’s love.

Why “DO” Lent? How do I start? Are you searching for something more? Tired of running in circles, but not really living life with direction, purpose or passion?  It’s pretty easy to get caught up in the drama of classes, relationships, family, and work. Our lives are filled with distractions that take us away from living a life with Christ. We try to fill the emptiness inside us with mindless TV, meaningless chatter, stimulants, alcohol, too many activities or other irrelevant stuff. We run away from life and from God.

Lent is a great time to “repent” — to return to God and re-focus our lives to be more in line with Jesus. It’s a 40 day trial run in changing your lifestyle and letting God change your heart. You might try one of these practices for Lent:

FASTING: Some people have been known to go without food for days. But that’s not the only way to fast. You can fast by cutting out some of the things in your life that distract you from God. Some Christians use the whole 40 days to fast from candy, tv, soft drinks, cigarettes or meat as a way to purify their bodies and lives. You might skip one meal a day and use that time to pray instead. Or you can give up some activity like worry or reality tv to spend time outside enjoying God’s creation.  What do you need to let go of or “fast” from in order to focus on God?  What clutters your calendar and life? How can you simplify your life in terms of what you eat, wear or do?

SERVICE: Some Christians take something on for Christ.  You can collect food for the needy, volunteer once a week to tutor children, or work for reform and justice in your community. You can commit to help a different stranger, co-worker or friend every day of Lent. Serving others is one way we serve God.

PRAYER: Christians also use Lent as a time of intentional prayer. You can pray while you walk, create music or art as a prayer to God, or savor a time of quiet listening. All can be ways of becoming more in tune with God.

TOP TEN THINGS YOU CAN TRY FOR THE LENTEN SEASON: (upperroom.org)

10. Try an electronic fast. Give up TV, Facebook, texting, tweeting, e-mail and all things electronic for one day every week. (Or everyday of Lent!) Use the time to read & pray.

9. Start a prayer chain. Each day of Lent, pray for someone.

8. Go deeper into the Bible. Take a course, find a bible study or go online.

7. Forgive someone who doesn’t deserve it (maybe even yourself.)

6. Give up soft drinks, fast food, tea or coffee.

5. Create a daily quiet time. Spend 10 minutes a day in silence and prayer.

4. Cultivate a life of gratitude. Write someone a thank you letter each week and be aware of how many people have helped you along the way.

3. Participate in a Lent Photo-a-Day practice and pray each day with your camera in your hand.

2. Volunteer one hour or more each week with a local shelter, tutoring program, nursing home, prison ministry.

1. Pray for others you see as you walk as you walk to and from classes or drive to and from work.

 

“Come and Find a Quiet Corner” – Lea Austen

Come and find a quiet corner in the busy life we lead,

Find a place for hope to enter, and belief that we are freed.

Remove the chaos and the clutter; and clear our eyes so we can see

The things in life that really matter, and who we are supposed to be.

Let silence be a friend that helps us be and breathe and slow our pace

So God has room to enter in and fill us with His love and grace.

Come and find a quiet corner in the busy life we lead,

For we are children of the great creator, bound in love indeed!

 

 

 

 

Two AM Phone Call

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We all have had the 2:00am phone call.  I don’t really even need to explain really do I?  Sleeping and at peace, warm under the covers and perhaps dreaming.  Then the rude intrusion. The jump, the heart racing, the panic and questions, the breaking through the fog to have clarity so you can find the phone; all happening simultaneously.  I had one of those calls last night.  I am not a stranger to them either.  Honestly, almost every night I struggle with the thought, “Do I leave the ringer on or turn it off?” before going to bed.  I hate this struggle and it is unwelcome each and every night.  Then as you might predict, ringer ON, wins almost every time.

Last night the call was difficult.  It left me sad and helpless as it does most times.  I don’t say the right thing and I don’t even listen correctly according to the voice on the other end of my line.  So what do I do after being completely helpless and traveling the same path around the tree that we have become so familiar with?  I lie awake, I pray, I read to get my mind to go somewhere else besides on the helpless situation I can do nothing to fix.  I pray more and maybe if God is merciful, I get an hour or two more of sleep before I face my day.

Maybe you too are no stranger to this situation.  Maybe you, like me, have an internal battle that keeps us from severing the cord once and for all.  Maybe you, also like me, have a support system who helps you keep clarity.  If not, get one soon.  I am available.  I am here if you want to share you story with me.  Maybe it will help to release it!

Godspeed

Lea

 

Daily Reminders

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10 Things You Should Remind Yourself Daily

motivational slogans and phrases - colorful reminder notes with handwriting on cork bulletin board

 

Here are 10 things you should remind yourself daily, things that will most probably bring more sunshine into your life and more peace into your heart:

1. This moment is your life and there is a time for everything
2. There is a time for everything.
3. Each day is a new beginning, each morning is a new life.
4. Nothing in life is yours to keep.
5. You are never given more than you can handle.
6. You were born with wings. Learn to use them and fly!
7. What other people think of you is none of your business.
8. Never neglect your path for another.
9. It is better to be alone than in bad company.
10. You are a human being, not a human doing.

I don’t know about you but some days I need reminders like these.  I love post-it notes by my computer, my bathroom mirror, in my car; places I cast my eyes frequently just to have the visual reminder.  Pray, meditate, journal, surround yourself with good people and good books.  Make today your best day.

 

Ancient Time

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Ancient Time

On our recent trip to India we were treated to a viewing of this amazing observatory.  Can you imagine time was being calculated so accurately so long ago!  Numerous astronomical instruments at Jantar Mantar, Jaipur have been designed to calculate time, predict eclipses, measure altitudes of celestial bodies, track the position of stars, and assist in other astronomical observations.  The term ‘Jantar Mantar’ is derived from the Sanskrit word-‘Yantra Mantra’ meaning instruments and formulae.  The ‘Yantra Mantra’ literally means ‘Magical Device’.  The Jantar Mantar, the observatory in Jaipur is located near the gate of the illustrious City Palace of Jaipur.   The Jantar Mantar was built by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, the founder of Jaipur and the Rajput ruler of Amber, between 1728 and 1734. For being a reputed astronomer, Jai Singh was commissioned by Emperor Muhammad Shah, to correct the astronomical tables and to confirm the data that was available on the planetary positions. He took nearly seven years to finish the Jantar Mantar. It was restored in 1901 and in 1948 the famous observatory was declared a national monument. The observatory consists of 13 different instruments of various geometrical forms for calculating the time of day, the heights of heavenly bodies, predicting eclipses and the situations of constellations. These instruments are of gigantic sizes so that accurate readings can be obtained. The instruments can make accurate measurements within one second. Jantar Mantar consists of the Jaiprakash Yantra, Samrat Yantra, Ram Yantra and the Composite instrument which contains a sundial and an enormous hemisphere on the northern wall.

The colossal Samrat Jantar is the sun dial that is 90 feet high and its shadow is carefully contrived to tell the time of a day. The small domed cupola (chhatri) at the top is used for predicting eclipses and the coming of monsoons.

Till dated , the instruments of Jantar Mantar are used for forecasting weather, the duration of seasons, the intensity of the monsoon, and the prospects of flood or famine. The Jantar Mantar stands as a testimony to the wisdom of the former epoch and awaits the visit of every tourist.

0 to 60

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Time: Weekly Photo Challenge

0 to 60

0 to 60…that’s what you said
I fell hard, I fell fast. Yes!
TIME: blink of an eye
The heart cannot deny the way that it feels

0 to 60…that’s the beginning of love
We are exceptional, there is no doubt
TIME: day by day
We’ll take our time and feel our love grow
Making moments turned memories

0 to 60…my moments with you
Love, laughter and comfort
TIME: hour by hour
The fastest, most fleeting and hardest of all
For that time before I must leave you
My heart and soul flood
With everything I have taken, have learned and have shared
I go breathless with a silent wish for time to stop
Stop so I can breathe and take you in

0 to 60…never when we are apart
My days aren’t as bright and my nights, much too long
TIME: second by second
Slow and ordered
I search you in pictures – in my room and my mind
Allow thoughts to wander to another place and time
A time when we walked, rested or played
A time we shared secrets and sweet, intimate strokes
A time not too far off when I will see you again!
A time in the future, if God gives us that gift
When my 0 to 60 becomes a minute’s gift in our lives
My 0 to 60 no longer mine but ours…
As we share
Our seconds
Our moments
Our days and our nights
Our months and our years
From that time for eternity

Poem by Lea Austen

Written while I was dating my now husband!

Time plays such tricks on us when we are in love.  It can move too fast, or not fast enough!  It can be slow and seemingly endless.

Colors of India

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“There are some parts of the world that, once visited, get into your heart and won’t go. For me, India is such a place. When I first visited, I was stunned by the richness of the land, by its lush beauty and exotic architecture, by its ability to overload the senses with the pure, concentrated intensity of its colors, smells, tastes, and sounds. It was as if all my life I had been seeing the world in black and white and, when brought face-to-face with India, experienced everything re-rendered in brilliant technicolor.”
― Keith Bellows

I could not have said this better myself!  Thank you Keith.

Vibrant Photo Challenge

 

Vibrant – Photography

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The Colors of India

India has always been exalted and remembered fondly as the country of symbolic colors. To an outsider, its colorful culture, streets, and stories seem like a page out of an ancient folk tale. But color, in essence, has been a large part of the Indian consciousness.  From the deep orange marigold flowers that bejewel almost every celebration to the deep hues of red that deck up the bride on her most important day, color in India has, over time, become synonymous with religion – an expression of faith and beliefs. In a country where a deep understanding of the prevalent diversity is perhaps the only common thread that ties its people together, India is a magical experience that ought not to be missed. I am grateful to have seen her with my own eyes!

Re-Entry

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My husband and I just returned home from a two week trip to India.  Our time there was nothing short of life changing.  Our travels took us to Delhi, Rajasthan cities, Agra and Varanasi.  It was a packed itinerary from the moment we landed.  The sites foreigners are taken to happen to be in the older and poorer areas of each city we traveled to.  It was hard to see such sites and then go back to our five star hotel each evening.  How do these people survive without proper plumbing or clean water and food? How do they live with whole families living together in two rooms?  Why aren’t there more people, dogs and cows killed with the crazy traffic?  My questions are seemingly endless.  What we did experience was grace, kindness, smiles, welcoming spirits and a culture that treats fellow humans with utmost respect.  Many of these people we Westerners look at and think they have nothing yet they live as if they have everything.

I have been home for three days now.  My sleep patterns still have not fully recovered nor has my digestive system for that matter!  My dreams at night keep transporting me back to India as well.  Then there are the more than two thousand photos on my camera I am in the process of editing.  My body is here yet at least for now I still have one foot on the other side of the world.  I know that this trip will never leave me.  The sites, sounds, smells and tastes are now a part of me.

I am happy to be home at my computer.  I am grateful when I open my eyes and see my adorable pit bulls wagging their tails ready to start the day with us.  My lungs are enjoying the clean air again and my body is getting re-acquainted with exercise.

India, you are a part of me now.  Thank you for the gift.

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Self-Control

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To end my series on The Fruit of the Spirit, self-control is the last on the list but certainly not least!

We will never control some things. We cannot stop the tides from going in or out. As much as some would like, we cannot control the weather so that it will not rain on our parade. We must admit that there is far more over which we exercise no control than that which we do. God does not require that we try to control what is beyond us or that we fret because they are beyond us. Some things in life we must learn to accept peacefully, yield to and work our way through. Otherwise, we could find ourselves “beating our heads against a wall” and driving ourselves into the psychological imbalance of always seeing ourselves as victims.

It is sometimes surprising how little control we have over other people—even in our families, our own flesh-and-blood children we have reared from birth. Parents are often shocked by their children’s behavior, especially of their teenagers, whom they thought they had trained well. Many parents have discovered that merely telling their children what they can or cannot do—accompanied by warnings of dire punishment—is not enough to control their behavior when the children find themselves under the pressure of a situation.

Perhaps the supreme irony is when we realize how little control we exercise over ourselves. We find ourselves enslaved, even addicted, to habits created and engraved on our character over years of practice. This discovery can be a devastating, humbling blow to the ego. It often occurs after an intense study of Almighty God’s standard of thinking, speaking and behaving in contrast to the fashion of the world we have willingly and, in many cases, thoughtlessly followed. Once, there was no fear of God before our eyes, but when He begins to come into focus in our mind’s eye, and we care what He thinks about us, then we begin to be concerned about controlling ourselves.

Self-control is the ninth and last of the fruits of the Spirit listed by Paul in Galatians 5:22-23. Though it is listed last, there can be no doubt about its importance to Christian living. Can a Christian be uncontrolled in his manner of life and still be a Christian? Hardly! Sons of God, as exemplified by Jesus Christ and the apostles, are models of lives controlled under the guiding hand of God without relinquishing their free moral agency. “http://www.cgg.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Library.sr/CT/PERSONAL/k/230/Fruit-Spirit-Self-Control.htm”

And how does the Spirit produce this fruit of self-control in us? By instructing us in the superior preciousness of grace, and enabling us to see and savor (that is, “trust”) all that God is for us in Jesus. “The grace of God has appeared . . . instructing us to deny . . . worldly desires . . . in the present age” (Titus 2:11–12). When we really see and believe what God is for us by grace through Jesus Christ, the power of wrong desires is broken. Therefore the fight for self-control is a fight of faith. “Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called” (1 Timothy 6:12).

In this life, no one achieves all the fruit of the Spirit equally. Some speculate that Paul might have lost control of his temper when he had a “sharp disagreement” with Barnabas over whether to invite John Mark to join them for another missionary journey (Acts 15:36–41). In regard to gaining perfection in this life, he wrote to the Philippian believers, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me” (Philippians 3:12).

The Spirit of Christ who works in our hearts to help us live above sinful practices, as well as the offering of loving counsel by Christian brothers and sisters, enables the fruit of self-control to grow for the glory of God. As a result, we can model God’s values, demonstrate in our behaviors His power to aid us daily, and more effectively share His love for others.

Little wonder that human relationships become the battleground for demonstrating the level of Christian graces and self-control. After all, Jesus himself said: “By this all men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another” (John 13:35).