Tag Archive | truth

Your Mindset is Critical!

Apr24

You know that old saying; When it rains, it pours?

This is said to be a proverb meaning that misfortunes or difficult situations tend to follow each other in rapid succession or to arrive all at the same time.

Bad times, like migraines, seem to come together in clusters.

So what in the world can we do to survive these times?

I’ll let you know MY thoughts on the matter, and then, I’d love to hear YOURS!

I was reading a transcript of a conference my husband and I attended back in 2017, and came across the following quote;

“Opposition attaches itself to what you do not remove. Blessings attach themselves to what you respond to in obedience.”

Graham Cooke – Aglow International Global Conference – Richmond, VA – 2017

So what is it exactly, that I should be removing?

I firmly believe that what we allow to roll around in our heads effects the outcome of our daily lives, or at least how we respond to those things.

So. I must DECLARE WAR on the NEGATIVITY that accumulates around me.

I may not be able to erase all of that negativity, but I can surely control how I respond to it!

I can think of several ways to begin this process; but it does begin with a decision.

A quality decision that I will no longer allow the negativity of the world or my own circumstances to weigh me down.

To be certain; This can be, has been, and will be, a daily process. To keep the quality of that decision.

So here are some ideas;

  • Make that decision, old habits die hard, make that decision again!
  • Determine how much news you want to take in. Personally, my news only comes from highly trusted sources – and then only in tiny pieces. Try adding some funny videos instead.
  • Consider who you are hanging around with. – Debbie Downer? Negative Nelly? Long ago, I had to restrict my visits with a really good friend, until she got her negativity under control. Find someone who makes your heart smile.
  • What are you reading? News, news, news? Drama, drama, drama? These things have a different effect on different individuals. Find out for yourself, and if they weigh you down – Quit them! There is so much variety out there! Try something a bit more light hearted.
  • Take some quiet time for yourself – Every Day – three minutes or thirty, whatever you can get away with. Literal quiet, or an activity that calms your heart and mind.
  • Stop complaining! Yes. It is so negative. I remember telling God that if I didn’t complain, I wouldn’t have anything to say. Well then………? I had to tell myself to “Just. Stop. Talking.” Until I got it under control.
  • I find that reading the Holy Bible in my favorite version the ESV, has a super calming effect on my thought life. Life changing actually. Giving my brain positive input instead of negative. I have friends who prefer the poetry route – whatever works for you!

I am positive there are as many ways to come against negativity as there are people.

I would love it if you would share your ideas with me either in the comments or in a message. Whatever works for you.

So back to the quote; “Opposition attaches itself to what you don’t remove, blessings attach to what you respond to in obedience.” (In this case, he is describing obedience to scripture)

Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

The Holy Bible – English Standard Version – BibleGateway.com

What will you remove?

What will you add in it’s place?

How will you respond?

Your mindset is critical!

Quiet Time Musings

Mar29

This week has been a breakthrough week in my mind.

Making a quality decision  to not ignore quiet time, and to put that time to better use.

By putting it to better use in this instance means to to use that time to create my own thoughts, consider my own beliefs, understand what things I think and why.

I can always find time to read someone elses words. I’m not saying that that is wrong, certainly not, because it does help to create questions for further thinking in my mind. I’m only saying that I need to find out what I, myself think about things.

One of my favorite/best ways to get my thinking to get moving, is to read scripture. It creates many questions, and answers many as well.

The place I landed in my thinking was about space. Quiet space. Loud space. Crampy space. Spacious space.

I then looked up my favorite verses about space, and realized yet again, why I love living where I live.

I grew up in a larger city forty miles north of here. Houses. Streets. Voices. Traffic.

White houses out my window in rows. Utility poles breaking every small stretch of sky.

Someone elses noise always, always, always filling my head.

Some people, and their different personalities, thrive on just such environments. I however did not. I always wanted to be out. Some place green. Some place that I didn’t feel smothered.

My Grampas’ house was like that, but as a child, not very accessible.

Psalm 31:8b (ESV) You have set my feet in a broad place.

Then we moved here. My children called it Podunk. It isn’t really. Podunk, to me, would be much further than the few miles we travel from here to get to town.

Psalm 18:19 (ESV) He brought me out into a broad place; he rescued  me, because he delighted in me.

It is close enough to be close, and far enough to be far. Away from the hum of the city.

I knew I always wanted to be where I didn’t see only rows of white houses, and poles scratching at the sky. I just did not know how much. Nowadays, a trip to town quickly makes me want to return home.

It was very difficult to find quiet space back then, and it often involved a camping trip, or a car ride to a empty country road. Not impossible, but often difficult.

I am positive that living here, has saved my sanity. I have now spent almost exactly half of my life here; and I’m grateful. I am grateful for the overstuffed chair, that sits by the window, and looks out over a really broad space.

2 Corinthians 9:15 (ESV) Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!

Maybe to you this does not sound like a gift; Your personality prefers the hum of activity.

Psalms 139:13 -14a For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

(He knows how He made you – He will show you another way)
Maybe you are here just wondering when your gift will arrive; You’ve been waiting and praying.

Matthew 6:8…. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

(Hang on!)

Questions to consider;

  • Does my quiet time require total silence, or maybe some music or other ambient noise?
  • Do I require quiet EVERY day? Every week? More than once a day?
  • Does my quiet time involve time together, alone, with someone else?
  • Does it contain devotions? Book reading? Bible reading? Audio reading? A quiet video? Or just staring out the window – at my street, or at my space?
  • Does my quiet time release me from the stress and pressure of the daily grind?

Please feel free to leave a response in the comments. I’d love to hear from you!

 

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Enjoy some quiet. It’s Under the Hill.

29jan2017

 

 

 

 

 

The Value of Quiet

Mar27

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As much as Time as I spend thinking about and talking about the value of quiet time, I have realized that recently, circumstances, or at least my view of them, have kept me from that much needed space of quiet.

Experience has shown me that if I stay away from practicing quietude for too long, it is increasingly difficult to get back into it. Only over time does the value of it begin to appear evident again.

Without quiet, and by that I mean quality quiet, there is just no space for new thoughts, or old thoughts, and sometimes for any thoughts. A classic over thinker, my husband is curious how one can go without thinking.

Not thinking, can be restful, but over time, it becomes a trap. Not thinking, muddles our minds over time. The trap is like serious brain fog for the thinking that we should be doing.

Last week I had to make a quality decision. That decision was not to ignore my quiet time for any reason; real or imagined. My mind, needs some serious un-muddling.

Until today, the thoughts have not been filing in very quickly. Today was a breakthrough day.

For my next post I’ll share some of those thoughts, but for this one, I’d like to ask you a question, or four, about yourself.

  • Over thinker or under thinker?
  • Do you know how much quiet time do YOU require?
  • Do you allow yourself that bit of quiet to sort things out?
  • What happens when you do/don’t?

I’d love to hear your reply. Please leave your answers in the comments.

Until next time – catch up on some Quietude.