In everyone’s life journey we face turning points where we need to make a choice. That choice always involves a risk to some level as we do not know the actual consequences to our choice. We can speculate and strategize but bottom line we do not know exactly what will happen until we take the risk to choose. Even not choosing is a risk as we may miss out on great opportunities or relationship developments by not choosing.
Part of risk taking is getting to the point where we take a leap of faith. We then dive into the water of our choice and experience the results of our choice. As I was thinking about the risks that are involved in our choosing process the song “Dive” by Steven Curtis Chapman. Take a few moments to watch the video and soak in the ideas found in the lyrics.
Dive by Steven Curtis Chapman (click on the title to see the video)
long-awaited rains have fallen hard upon the thirsty ground
and carved their way to where the wild and rushing river can be found
And like the rains I have been carried here to where the river flows, yeah
My heart is racin' and my knees are weak as I walk to the edge
I know there is no turning back once my feet have left the ledge
And in the rush I hear a voice, it's telling me it's time to
Take the leap of faith So here I go
I'm diving in I'm going deep In over my head I wanna be
Caught in the rush Lost in the flow In over my head I wanna go
The river's deep The river's wide The river's water is alive
So sink or swim I'm diving in I'm diving in
There is a supernatural power in this mighty river's flow
It can bring the dead to life, and it can fill an empty soul
And give a heart the only thing worth livin' and worth dyin' for, yeah
But we will never know the awesome power of the grace of God
Until we let ourselves get swept away into this holy flood
So if you'll take my hand, we'll close our eyes and count to three
And take the leap of faith Come on let's go
It is interesting to me that this song came to mind as in my one Psychology course this week I have been doing readings in Existential Psychologists Victor Frankl and Rollo May books. Their thoughts revolved around in our human journeys they state we seek meaning and through our personal beliefs we create significance by our choices. The song in its context is looking at risk in the spiritual life. Hearing the voice of God and diving in to follow His calling. The analogy of water relates well to the spiritual life. In the Old Testament the children of Israel pass through the Red Sea. In the New Testament Jesus speaks of rivers of living waters. From my Christian worldview the life of faith is a risk. To me the risk is worth it as Diving in provides meaning and purpose in understanding grace and the faith walk with God.
In the sense of looking at these lyrics from the general standpoint of risk the concepts can relate to any risks we face at turning points in our lives. When we are at a turning point in our life the feelings about our environment are like in a barren thirsty ground. The choices we face in those times are a risk that gives us that weak in the knees sense like is described at the song’s beginning. It is at that point we need to use our reason and weigh out the choice we need to make. I know the song speaks of the “leap of faith” but we have been created as reasoning beings so the risk options should be weighed first. Then the dive occurs when we make the choice. Our choice is the leap of faith as we fully can not calculate what the consequences will fully be. Our choices bring meaning to the next direction in our life journey. Whether spiritual or non-spiritual a picture of flowing down a river is an effective metaphor of our life experience after major choices in our lives. Often initially we feel like life is floating by as a rushing stream. Are you ready to dive into life?
Reflection:
Reflect over a turning point in your life. What was the risk or risks facing you lat the time? What choices did you make? How was the river ride at that point in your life? Moving into this New Year are there major choices to make? Have you considered diving deeper into the spiritual realm of life?
Monday, January 21, 2013
Friday, January 18, 2013
Television, Groucho Marx and Reading
While I was working on putting together a newsletter for an association I belong to, I needed a quote on reading. I came across this one by Groucho Marx, “I find television very educating. Ever time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.” I relate well with the comment as I have never seen much educational value in the television and would much rather read a good book than stare at what my mother always called the boob tube. Dr. Harold Bloom in his book, How To Read and Why, said this to the issue, “A childhood largely spent watching television yields to an adolescence with a computer, and the university receives a student unlikely to welcome the suggestions that we must endure our going hence even as our going hither: ripeness is all. Reading falls apart, and much of the self scatters with it.” (pg. 23).
I have seen this in the College environment as fewer students can be found reading in the lounge areas. Instead they are staring numbly at their phones or ipads. When I can steal a glance on their screens it is most of the time of videos or movies. Which is why I am glad Dr. Bloom brought up the computer as for High School and College students they get much of the media watching on the computer and now ipads. How does staring at these screens for hours help anyone develop stronger thinking skills or creativity? With the constant barrage of videos and movies the mind is mostly passive. They do not think through what they are seeing as there is not enough time to think as the images come too fast. So for the most part, this activity does not build critical thinkers. The students will even say they are not thinking just watching as they want to chill out. Where is the creativity of the mind as well? The videos and television spoon feed the creativity as there is nothing for the imagination to work with. All the creativity is given. In a book the mind is actively seeking meaning of what the author is saying. In a story the reader is encouraged to expand the mind and see the mountain scenery, what the space alien looks like, or the chase scene looks like. So reading builds creativity skills where the television promotes a mediocre mind at the best.
In a culture that does not encourage reading just mind numbing media watching we then wonder then why college students complain about having to read textbooks. Society wonders why these college graduates can not communicate professionally after they graduate when all they know how to do is stare at images on little squares of plastic? Of course it is not just young people as our culture is degrading away from being readers, and instead near all constantly are found to be mind numbingly staring at the cell phone. It is affecting all ages. Recently our family was at a restaurant and there was an older couple with most likely their older son in the next booth. All three had cell phones out either blankly staring at them or their thumbs were wildly moving texting. We all three just looked at each other shaking our heads in unbelief. Food was the only thing that could pull them from their little squares of plastic. What does the future hold with this activity increasing? As a Counselor -- possibly steady work in working with people with communication disorders. I would rather see people growing in their minds and self being, which is one by product of a society that encourages reading.
I am not totally against television -- there are some beneficial shows. There is also a point to the issue that for some a mind numbing show can be a stress reliever. My concern is do you need 3-4 hours of that kind of stress relief during the evening? Do you then need in every free moment to stare at one of your favorite shows or videos over and over again on your cell phone? Do you need that much passive input in to your mind without actively thinking? One news radio I was listening to in the car during a commute was mentioning back during the Party Conventions for the Presidential race more people were watching a show called Honey Boo-boo than the conventions. Here we were at a crossroads as a country economically and other struggles, and people wanted to watch a show called Honey Boo-boo? To me that is a sad state of affairs. My wife and I just once watched the show to see what people were so excited about and we quickly turned it off in disgust after 10 minutes. It goes back to critical thinking of what are people feeding into their minds? What we feed into our minds has an effect. I believe even more so for the passive media watchers there is an effect unconsciously. If it doesn’t why would companies spend millions for 30 second commercials?
This brings me full circle back to Groucho Marx’s comment at the beginning. How are you using your free time? What are you feeding your mind with? I am not saying do away with all media watching but to build your mind and personal creativity add some reading in to the mix. I will end with another quote by Dr. Harold Bloom, “Ultimately we read – as Bacon, Johnson, and Emerson agree – in order to strengthen the self, and to learn its authentic interests.”
Reflection: What are you reading as you start your New Year? Go to your local library and look through the topics you enjoy and find a few new books you wish to read this year. If you commute try listening to audio books as you drive.
I have seen this in the College environment as fewer students can be found reading in the lounge areas. Instead they are staring numbly at their phones or ipads. When I can steal a glance on their screens it is most of the time of videos or movies. Which is why I am glad Dr. Bloom brought up the computer as for High School and College students they get much of the media watching on the computer and now ipads. How does staring at these screens for hours help anyone develop stronger thinking skills or creativity? With the constant barrage of videos and movies the mind is mostly passive. They do not think through what they are seeing as there is not enough time to think as the images come too fast. So for the most part, this activity does not build critical thinkers. The students will even say they are not thinking just watching as they want to chill out. Where is the creativity of the mind as well? The videos and television spoon feed the creativity as there is nothing for the imagination to work with. All the creativity is given. In a book the mind is actively seeking meaning of what the author is saying. In a story the reader is encouraged to expand the mind and see the mountain scenery, what the space alien looks like, or the chase scene looks like. So reading builds creativity skills where the television promotes a mediocre mind at the best.
In a culture that does not encourage reading just mind numbing media watching we then wonder then why college students complain about having to read textbooks. Society wonders why these college graduates can not communicate professionally after they graduate when all they know how to do is stare at images on little squares of plastic? Of course it is not just young people as our culture is degrading away from being readers, and instead near all constantly are found to be mind numbingly staring at the cell phone. It is affecting all ages. Recently our family was at a restaurant and there was an older couple with most likely their older son in the next booth. All three had cell phones out either blankly staring at them or their thumbs were wildly moving texting. We all three just looked at each other shaking our heads in unbelief. Food was the only thing that could pull them from their little squares of plastic. What does the future hold with this activity increasing? As a Counselor -- possibly steady work in working with people with communication disorders. I would rather see people growing in their minds and self being, which is one by product of a society that encourages reading.
I am not totally against television -- there are some beneficial shows. There is also a point to the issue that for some a mind numbing show can be a stress reliever. My concern is do you need 3-4 hours of that kind of stress relief during the evening? Do you then need in every free moment to stare at one of your favorite shows or videos over and over again on your cell phone? Do you need that much passive input in to your mind without actively thinking? One news radio I was listening to in the car during a commute was mentioning back during the Party Conventions for the Presidential race more people were watching a show called Honey Boo-boo than the conventions. Here we were at a crossroads as a country economically and other struggles, and people wanted to watch a show called Honey Boo-boo? To me that is a sad state of affairs. My wife and I just once watched the show to see what people were so excited about and we quickly turned it off in disgust after 10 minutes. It goes back to critical thinking of what are people feeding into their minds? What we feed into our minds has an effect. I believe even more so for the passive media watchers there is an effect unconsciously. If it doesn’t why would companies spend millions for 30 second commercials?
This brings me full circle back to Groucho Marx’s comment at the beginning. How are you using your free time? What are you feeding your mind with? I am not saying do away with all media watching but to build your mind and personal creativity add some reading in to the mix. I will end with another quote by Dr. Harold Bloom, “Ultimately we read – as Bacon, Johnson, and Emerson agree – in order to strengthen the self, and to learn its authentic interests.”
Reflection: What are you reading as you start your New Year? Go to your local library and look through the topics you enjoy and find a few new books you wish to read this year. If you commute try listening to audio books as you drive.
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Creating Your Happiness Road
Life is a journey and our power to choose helps to create the pathway. We can either trudge along stress-fully with a woe is me attitude that makes it seem like the road is rocky and painful. Or we can glide along a happy trail attitude where we may still have rocks along the way but life is smoother as we make wise positive choices.
This second mindset of happiness choices is a focus of a book of short essays by Tal Ben-Shahar PhD. He is one of the leaders of the Positive Psychology movement. I will always count it a privilege to have heard his lectures on Positive Psychology through a University of Pennsylvania Continuing Education online program a few years ago. His new book I am reading at the start of this new year is Choose The Life You Want: 101 Ways to Create Your Own Road to Happiness. It is a grouping of 101 thought provoking essays for living a better happier life.
In the very beginning he reminds the reader that in each of our moments we have a choice to make. Each of our choices have consequences. He states, “what we choose to do and how we choose to think directly impact how we feel.” When we are faced with difficulties we can choose to think that life is against us and continue in a negative life is a grey cloud pathway for understand rain falls on everyone and use the difficulty as a turning point to move in a positive direction. Some of the topics he touches on are: making a difference, forgiveness, focus on your strengths, look at difficulty as a challenge, appreciate good things, patience and success. In the tiny book there are 101 ideas on helping you have a happier life.
His title reminded me of an old Roy Rogers and Dale Evans song, Happy Trails. Here are the lyrics:
Happy trails to you, until we meet again.
Happy trails to you, keep smilin' until then.
Who cares about the clouds when we're together?
Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather.
Happy trails to you, 'till we meet again.
Some trails are happy ones,
Others are blue.
It's the way you ride the trail that counts,
Here's a happy one for you.
Happy trails to you, until we meet again.
Happy trails to you, keep smilin' until then.
Who cares about the clouds when we're together?
Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather.
Happy trails to you, 'till we meet again.
The lines that stood out to me were: “Some trails are happy ones, Others are blue. It's the way you ride the trail that counts, Here's a happy one for you.” This speaks to what Dr. Ben-Shahar is trying to get at in his book. Positive Psychology does not rule out the Blue days that some our way. But how are you riding the trail? Even on the blue days you can have a song in your heart or in other words work on positive choices that help the ride go more smoothly.
Pick up a copy of this book for yourself or encourage your local library to add it to their collection so you can start creating your happiness road in this New Year.
Reflection: What kind of road are you traveling presently in your life journey? What are three things you can do to make your road a little happier?
This second mindset of happiness choices is a focus of a book of short essays by Tal Ben-Shahar PhD. He is one of the leaders of the Positive Psychology movement. I will always count it a privilege to have heard his lectures on Positive Psychology through a University of Pennsylvania Continuing Education online program a few years ago. His new book I am reading at the start of this new year is Choose The Life You Want: 101 Ways to Create Your Own Road to Happiness. It is a grouping of 101 thought provoking essays for living a better happier life.
In the very beginning he reminds the reader that in each of our moments we have a choice to make. Each of our choices have consequences. He states, “what we choose to do and how we choose to think directly impact how we feel.” When we are faced with difficulties we can choose to think that life is against us and continue in a negative life is a grey cloud pathway for understand rain falls on everyone and use the difficulty as a turning point to move in a positive direction. Some of the topics he touches on are: making a difference, forgiveness, focus on your strengths, look at difficulty as a challenge, appreciate good things, patience and success. In the tiny book there are 101 ideas on helping you have a happier life.
His title reminded me of an old Roy Rogers and Dale Evans song, Happy Trails. Here are the lyrics:
Happy trails to you, until we meet again.
Happy trails to you, keep smilin' until then.
Who cares about the clouds when we're together?
Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather.
Happy trails to you, 'till we meet again.
Some trails are happy ones,
Others are blue.
It's the way you ride the trail that counts,
Here's a happy one for you.
Happy trails to you, until we meet again.
Happy trails to you, keep smilin' until then.
Who cares about the clouds when we're together?
Just sing a song and bring the sunny weather.
Happy trails to you, 'till we meet again.
The lines that stood out to me were: “Some trails are happy ones, Others are blue. It's the way you ride the trail that counts, Here's a happy one for you.” This speaks to what Dr. Ben-Shahar is trying to get at in his book. Positive Psychology does not rule out the Blue days that some our way. But how are you riding the trail? Even on the blue days you can have a song in your heart or in other words work on positive choices that help the ride go more smoothly.
Pick up a copy of this book for yourself or encourage your local library to add it to their collection so you can start creating your happiness road in this New Year.
Reflection: What kind of road are you traveling presently in your life journey? What are three things you can do to make your road a little happier?
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Running After Your Dream
I always like to start the New Year looking at dreams I have had in the previous year and looking at new dreams I want to move towards in the new year. I am a believer in dreams as they are a motivator in living a more than ok life. Writer, Sara Henderson had this to say about dreams, “Always live your life with one dream to fulfill. No matter how many of your dreams you have realized in the past, always have a dream to go. Because when you stop dreaming, life becomes a mundane existence.” So how do you wish to start the New Year? Just existing or Living More Than OK?
I want to look at running after our dreams by reflecting over a song by Tom Petty, “Runnin Down A Dream”. If we are a dreamer we need to be active in following the dream process. We can’t sit passively waiting for life to happen to us, otherwise we will find time passing us by. Take a few minutes to look over the lyrics and listen to the embedded video
"Runnin' Down A Dream" by Tom Petty (click on the title to hear the song’s video)
It was a beautiful day, the sun beat down
I had the radio on, I was drivin'
Trees flew by, me and Del were singin' little Runaway
I was flyin'
Yeah runnin' down a dream
That never would come to me
Workin' on a mystery, goin' wherever it leads
Runnin' down a dream
I felt so good like anything was possible
I hit cruise control and rubbed my eyes
The last three days the rain was un-stoppable
It was always cold, no sunshine
Yeah runnin' down a dream
That never would come to me
Workin' on a mystery, goin' wherever it leads
Runnin' down a dream
I rolled on as the sky grew dark
I put the pedal down to make some time
There's something good waitin' down this road
I'm pickin' up whatever's mine
Yeah runnin' down a dream
That never would come to me
Workin' on a mystery, goin' wherever it leads
Runnin' down a dream
The beginning of the song gives a picture of someone driving down the highway with the radio blaring and he is singing along with the old 1960’s song “Runaway” by Del Shannon. I don’t know if you are a singer in the car. I can relate to this picture as many times when I am driving by myself I am singing to the music I have on. Often back in my college days of driving between Chicago and Ohio I would also use this time to think about life and plans I had and this appears to be happening in the story of this song.
Back to the idea of our dreams, the chorus states, “runnin down a dream that never would come to me”, goes to the thought that we must be active in the process. The dream will never come to us -- we need to work on it for it to come to fruition. A passive person who is not involved with life will not see their dreams fulfilled. We have to put the pedal down and start moving for what we want out of life. We need to create a goal out of the dream and make plans on how to achieve it.
The song also says “workin on a mystery, goin’ wherever it leads.” To me this relates to how sometimes our dreams change by events and Divine Intervention. Life is a mystery at times and if we are in step with God as we travel it we can marvel at the mystery and go with the flow of life. Sometimes that mysterious flow moves us right into our dream as we envisioned it. Sometimes there are the 3 days of rain and the dark skies mentioned in the song. In those times if we let go and let God lead; the dream result turns out better than we could ever imagine.
I like the attitude seen in the line, “There’s something good waitin’ down this road”. We need to start the year with a positive attitude that God will have good things in store in this year’s journey. It is easy to be negative by looking at the news of the troubles in our country and world. But the negativity of the news will only shut you down with passivity from runnin towards your dreams.
Reflection: Write down a new dream you want to run towards this year. Maybe take a drive and sing along with a song and a new dream may pop into your head that way. Also keep an open mind to God’s mysteries He may have in store this year on your life journey.
I want to look at running after our dreams by reflecting over a song by Tom Petty, “Runnin Down A Dream”. If we are a dreamer we need to be active in following the dream process. We can’t sit passively waiting for life to happen to us, otherwise we will find time passing us by. Take a few minutes to look over the lyrics and listen to the embedded video
"Runnin' Down A Dream" by Tom Petty (click on the title to hear the song’s video)
It was a beautiful day, the sun beat down
I had the radio on, I was drivin'
Trees flew by, me and Del were singin' little Runaway
I was flyin'
Yeah runnin' down a dream
That never would come to me
Workin' on a mystery, goin' wherever it leads
Runnin' down a dream
I felt so good like anything was possible
I hit cruise control and rubbed my eyes
The last three days the rain was un-stoppable
It was always cold, no sunshine
Yeah runnin' down a dream
That never would come to me
Workin' on a mystery, goin' wherever it leads
Runnin' down a dream
I rolled on as the sky grew dark
I put the pedal down to make some time
There's something good waitin' down this road
I'm pickin' up whatever's mine
Yeah runnin' down a dream
That never would come to me
Workin' on a mystery, goin' wherever it leads
Runnin' down a dream
The beginning of the song gives a picture of someone driving down the highway with the radio blaring and he is singing along with the old 1960’s song “Runaway” by Del Shannon. I don’t know if you are a singer in the car. I can relate to this picture as many times when I am driving by myself I am singing to the music I have on. Often back in my college days of driving between Chicago and Ohio I would also use this time to think about life and plans I had and this appears to be happening in the story of this song.
Back to the idea of our dreams, the chorus states, “runnin down a dream that never would come to me”, goes to the thought that we must be active in the process. The dream will never come to us -- we need to work on it for it to come to fruition. A passive person who is not involved with life will not see their dreams fulfilled. We have to put the pedal down and start moving for what we want out of life. We need to create a goal out of the dream and make plans on how to achieve it.
The song also says “workin on a mystery, goin’ wherever it leads.” To me this relates to how sometimes our dreams change by events and Divine Intervention. Life is a mystery at times and if we are in step with God as we travel it we can marvel at the mystery and go with the flow of life. Sometimes that mysterious flow moves us right into our dream as we envisioned it. Sometimes there are the 3 days of rain and the dark skies mentioned in the song. In those times if we let go and let God lead; the dream result turns out better than we could ever imagine.
I like the attitude seen in the line, “There’s something good waitin’ down this road”. We need to start the year with a positive attitude that God will have good things in store in this year’s journey. It is easy to be negative by looking at the news of the troubles in our country and world. But the negativity of the news will only shut you down with passivity from runnin towards your dreams.
Reflection: Write down a new dream you want to run towards this year. Maybe take a drive and sing along with a song and a new dream may pop into your head that way. Also keep an open mind to God’s mysteries He may have in store this year on your life journey.
Monday, December 24, 2012
Building Christmas Memories
One way to counter stress during the Holiday Season is to build memories from the different activities you do through the time period. It can be family traditions or new holiday activities you try out. Keep a mindset of enjoying the Christmas Season instead of worrying over whether everything will be picture perfect. The Holiday issues of magazine Christmas scenes are perfect because they have a full film crew to make the scene perfect. So unless you have the money to hire a complete decorating crew don’t stress out if something winds up out of place.
We experienced a new Christmas activity at the middle of December when we enjoyed a jazz concert called The Gospel According to Jazz Christmas with Kirk Whalum, Keiko Matsui and Amber Bullock at Austin’s One World Theater. We went because of
Keiko Matsui, our favorite jazz pianist. She is so magical at the keyboards so I thought who better to hear doing Christmas music. We had never heard Kirk Whalum and I was surprised to hear he was the Sax player for Whitney Houston. He is an amazing saxophonist, but more so his sincere Christian faith came across to make the Christmas carols so much more from the heart and felt real. The best part of the concert for me was a rousing jazz rendition of Do You Hear What I Hear, where Kirk directed the audience singing in parts while the band jammed in the background. Having a music background it was funny hearing some of the audience who could not pick up on the syncopation. Kirk Whalum mentioned this was the first time for this concert series so they would be back in Austin next year. This is definitely a Christmas concert we will want to repeat next year.
On the concert front, we also attended the Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s concert of The Lost Christmas Eve in San Antonio’s AT & T center. We had experienced them last Christmas and were so amazed at their musical artistry we wanted to hear them again. Even though most of the music was familiar just hearing the talented musicians and the compelling story of the Miracle of Hope and Change in the lives of people at Christmas was well worth hearing them again. I also appreciated hearing how wherever the troupe goes they donate some of the proceeds of their concert to a local charity.
Another important activity this Christmas was a Christmas program sponsored by a group my wife has been involved with this Fall. They are a group of Christians that work with youth in a nearby low income project neighborhood. They tutor the children, play games and teach Bible stories to them one night a week. They had the children do a program for their parents about the true meaning of Christmas -- the Bible’s Christmas story. Each child who came received a decorated shoe box filled with small toys and goodies. It was a wonderful feeling to see the children who do not have much appreciate their Christmas boxes and they put on a simple and clear presentation of the Bible story of Christ’s birth.
As I write this we are looking forward to our Church’s Candlelight Christmas Eve service this evening. That is always a time to reflect and build new memories of what Christmas means to me. There are numerous other ways to build Christmas memories for some it is baking cookies to give to others, (and of course do taste testing as they come out of the oven). Sending out Christmas letters it a warm way to connect with family and friends once a year, ( and I mean an actual old fashioned letter not a short tweet). Other activities are to look for local school and church Christmas concerts to enjoy the music of the Season. I am not a big shopper but I know that is something some people just love -- being out in the hustle and bustle of the stores trying to find the best buy. Other people enjoy watching their favorite Christmas movies every Christmas as a tradition. I remember when my mother was still living and I would be home from Chicago to visit her in Ohio, one of her favorite activities was to have me drive her around to look at Christmas lights.
The key is find those Holiday activities you enjoy and when you are feeling the stress; de-stress by switching over to the activities you enjoy. Enjoying the Christmas season and building memories for the future is more important and rewarding than being stressed over everything having to be perfect.
Reflection: List your three favorite Holiday activities. Is there anything new this year you enjoyed that is a new memory for this year’s Christmas Season? Write about it in your journal.
We experienced a new Christmas activity at the middle of December when we enjoyed a jazz concert called The Gospel According to Jazz Christmas with Kirk Whalum, Keiko Matsui and Amber Bullock at Austin’s One World Theater. We went because of
Keiko Matsui, our favorite jazz pianist. She is so magical at the keyboards so I thought who better to hear doing Christmas music. We had never heard Kirk Whalum and I was surprised to hear he was the Sax player for Whitney Houston. He is an amazing saxophonist, but more so his sincere Christian faith came across to make the Christmas carols so much more from the heart and felt real. The best part of the concert for me was a rousing jazz rendition of Do You Hear What I Hear, where Kirk directed the audience singing in parts while the band jammed in the background. Having a music background it was funny hearing some of the audience who could not pick up on the syncopation. Kirk Whalum mentioned this was the first time for this concert series so they would be back in Austin next year. This is definitely a Christmas concert we will want to repeat next year.
On the concert front, we also attended the Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s concert of The Lost Christmas Eve in San Antonio’s AT & T center. We had experienced them last Christmas and were so amazed at their musical artistry we wanted to hear them again. Even though most of the music was familiar just hearing the talented musicians and the compelling story of the Miracle of Hope and Change in the lives of people at Christmas was well worth hearing them again. I also appreciated hearing how wherever the troupe goes they donate some of the proceeds of their concert to a local charity.
Another important activity this Christmas was a Christmas program sponsored by a group my wife has been involved with this Fall. They are a group of Christians that work with youth in a nearby low income project neighborhood. They tutor the children, play games and teach Bible stories to them one night a week. They had the children do a program for their parents about the true meaning of Christmas -- the Bible’s Christmas story. Each child who came received a decorated shoe box filled with small toys and goodies. It was a wonderful feeling to see the children who do not have much appreciate their Christmas boxes and they put on a simple and clear presentation of the Bible story of Christ’s birth.
As I write this we are looking forward to our Church’s Candlelight Christmas Eve service this evening. That is always a time to reflect and build new memories of what Christmas means to me. There are numerous other ways to build Christmas memories for some it is baking cookies to give to others, (and of course do taste testing as they come out of the oven). Sending out Christmas letters it a warm way to connect with family and friends once a year, ( and I mean an actual old fashioned letter not a short tweet). Other activities are to look for local school and church Christmas concerts to enjoy the music of the Season. I am not a big shopper but I know that is something some people just love -- being out in the hustle and bustle of the stores trying to find the best buy. Other people enjoy watching their favorite Christmas movies every Christmas as a tradition. I remember when my mother was still living and I would be home from Chicago to visit her in Ohio, one of her favorite activities was to have me drive her around to look at Christmas lights.
The key is find those Holiday activities you enjoy and when you are feeling the stress; de-stress by switching over to the activities you enjoy. Enjoying the Christmas season and building memories for the future is more important and rewarding than being stressed over everything having to be perfect.
Reflection: List your three favorite Holiday activities. Is there anything new this year you enjoyed that is a new memory for this year’s Christmas Season? Write about it in your journal.
Friday, December 14, 2012
Give The Gift Of Creativity and Critical Thinking
Being the Bookhead I am, at the beginning of December I was reading through the December 2nd New York Times Book Review section. Their focus from the cover was Holiday Books meaning giving the gift of books at Christmastime. They had book lists for all ages and books on a variety of topics such as cooking and music. Then later in the month I purchased the December issue of The American Spectator and they had a special highlighted section of Christmas books. This was their annual holiday book gift suggestions from writers that work with the magazine. Looking at these reminded me the importance of books as gifts at Christmas.
In giving a book at Christmas you are helping to build up the creative side of young children and adults. Reading good fiction books makes the reader create the scenes and pictures of action and scenery in their minds. This helps to promote the strengthening of the imagination. The creativity that is built up through reading can then be transferred to other areas of life to add value to their total life experience.
Another skill area you will be building up in giving a book for a gift is critical thinking. Whether it be fiction or nonfiction book the mind is actively engaged in reading gathering and interpreting the meaning from the author. So it is forcing the reader’s mind to be active in looking for meaning or questioning what is being read. Those are key building blocks in strengthening critical thinking skills. By improving critical thinking skills you are helping improve the gift receiver’s future as good thinking promotes better living.
So in giving a book you are not just giving an object to someone to be forgotten but giving the gift of an improved literate mind. It is a gift that keeps giving by improving creativity and critical thinking in those you give books to. I look back on my life and some of my favorite books were gifts from someone important in my life.
You may wonder what kind of book to purchase for someone. If they are a solid booklover, ask them who are their favorite authors or favorite literary style. Or if you know their main interests go to a local bookstore and ask a worker for ideas based on their interests. You can explore other book ideas by looking at suggested books lists by searching for holiday books lists on the internet search engines of Google or Bing. Each year in our Christmas letter to friends I always mention a couple book recommendations each year and this year two books that impressed me were: Hearing God by Dallas Willard and Flourish by Dr. Martin Seligman. So I am recommending them this Christmas.
I have also noticed bookstores are helping in literacy programs during this time of year. I was at a Barnes & Noble store recently where they had books a person could purchase and give to a San Antonio literacy group that was giving the books to young children. Donating to a cause like that is important as you never know how the book you donate to young children may change and improve a life.
Don’t leave yourself out on this Holiday book searching as each of us can improve our creativity and critical thinking skills by reading. Treat yourself to a book on a topic you enjoy or a fiction story that sounds interesting to you. I know of no better way to end the year than by reading a good book. Of course that is why my daughter calls me Mr. Bookhead!
Reflection: Think about giving a book to a family member or friend this Christmas and don’t forget about giving to yourself!
In giving a book at Christmas you are helping to build up the creative side of young children and adults. Reading good fiction books makes the reader create the scenes and pictures of action and scenery in their minds. This helps to promote the strengthening of the imagination. The creativity that is built up through reading can then be transferred to other areas of life to add value to their total life experience.
Another skill area you will be building up in giving a book for a gift is critical thinking. Whether it be fiction or nonfiction book the mind is actively engaged in reading gathering and interpreting the meaning from the author. So it is forcing the reader’s mind to be active in looking for meaning or questioning what is being read. Those are key building blocks in strengthening critical thinking skills. By improving critical thinking skills you are helping improve the gift receiver’s future as good thinking promotes better living.
So in giving a book you are not just giving an object to someone to be forgotten but giving the gift of an improved literate mind. It is a gift that keeps giving by improving creativity and critical thinking in those you give books to. I look back on my life and some of my favorite books were gifts from someone important in my life.
You may wonder what kind of book to purchase for someone. If they are a solid booklover, ask them who are their favorite authors or favorite literary style. Or if you know their main interests go to a local bookstore and ask a worker for ideas based on their interests. You can explore other book ideas by looking at suggested books lists by searching for holiday books lists on the internet search engines of Google or Bing. Each year in our Christmas letter to friends I always mention a couple book recommendations each year and this year two books that impressed me were: Hearing God by Dallas Willard and Flourish by Dr. Martin Seligman. So I am recommending them this Christmas.
I have also noticed bookstores are helping in literacy programs during this time of year. I was at a Barnes & Noble store recently where they had books a person could purchase and give to a San Antonio literacy group that was giving the books to young children. Donating to a cause like that is important as you never know how the book you donate to young children may change and improve a life.
Don’t leave yourself out on this Holiday book searching as each of us can improve our creativity and critical thinking skills by reading. Treat yourself to a book on a topic you enjoy or a fiction story that sounds interesting to you. I know of no better way to end the year than by reading a good book. Of course that is why my daughter calls me Mr. Bookhead!
Reflection: Think about giving a book to a family member or friend this Christmas and don’t forget about giving to yourself!
Monday, December 3, 2012
The God Behind Coincidences
Have you ever had the experience where you find yourself saying, “My what a coincidence we meet as I was just thinking of you yesterday.” Or you take a new direction in your life and after the fact you remember you chose the direction based on a detail that occurred outside of your control. We think of those events as coincidence or happenstance. What a coincidence. Recently I heard on the Mike Huckabee show an interview with a man named Squire Rushnell. My mind perked up when he started talking about his new book Divine Alignments and God winks -- a new way to look at coincidences in our lives.
After hearing him I saw in a bookstore a book he mentioned and other books he had written. The one that caught my attention was When God Winks. I picked it up and it is a short book so it did not take long to read. The information reminded me of Dr. John Krumboltz’s book Luck Is No Accident, which considers our choices in response to happenstances that come into our life experiences. We all have coincidences that pop into our life and the key is how we respond.
At the beginning of his book he lists definitions of key terms. Coincidence “is a sequence of events that although accidental seems to have been planned or arranged”, from the American Heritage Dictionary. A Wink “is to give a signal or express a message”. He took that definition from the American Heritage Dictionary. So he created the term God Wink stating that it is a “personal signal or message, directly from a higher power, usually, but not always, in the form of a coincidence” . In the book the author poses a sensible question in that if the term coincidence has a sense of the event being planned or arranged then who does the planning. He states that most people respond that God does the arranging. It is not a proof that there is a God but it makes sense that considering the probabilities of some of the things that happen to us there is some sort of a God guiding our life events.
The book looks at a variety of examples of God Winks in various life situations. Squire Rushnell also shows how we can react to the God Winks. We should not just float along the river of life letting life happenstance events affect us. Life is not to be lived passively as that turns us into victims of fate. Instead with the coincidences or as Mr. Rushnell calls them God Winks, we make a choice to respond actively to these life events. After the choice is made we receive the consequence of our response. That consequence can be either good or bad based on whether we critically thought through our response or just impulsively responded.
The author gives us a series of questions to explore and discover the God Winks that are in our lives. Here are just a few of the questions listed to help you start exploring your God Winks:
1. Did something surprising happen to you in your past?
2. Did some new person come into your life?
3. Did you experience a death of someone close to you? Did this open up a new path for you?
4. What is the biggest break you have ever received in your career journey?
5. Did you have a rebirth in a spiritual manner or in another manner such as giving up drugs or alcohol?
His reminder to think through questions reminded me of Dr. Tal Ben Shahar’s lectures on Positive Psychology where Dr. Shahar mentioned our questions we ask ourselves can help us create new realities for our daily lives. Those questions can help in exploring the various God Winks that have affected us and then we can look deeper into them and think through the choices we made in response. In exploring God Winks in my life the most of them that I have clearly noticed have often been in church worship times where the minister is preaching and I have this feeling like, “ how did he know that about me? That is just what I needed to hear.” I am not paranoid at those times but thinking about it those points in the Pastor's message may be a God Wink reminding me what I need to work on from the message. Another God wink that comes to mind is from my career positions that have focused on helping students in their career portion of their lives relates to a Professor at UTB in Brownsville I had as a student. I had professor for Career Counseling that encouraged us to be involved with Professional Associations. So I became involved with the National Career Development Association as a student and the state association in Texas. I would not have joined that association if I had not had that Professor. I believe this also helped me see the importance of career in people’s lives. What it just chance I had a Professor that encouraged such activities? I do not think so.
When God Winks is a book that acts as a helpful reflective exercise to help us be more aware of what is going on in our lives. The more we see God work in our lives the more our lives can make sense out of happenstance items that drop into our life journey. This awareness can help us in understanding our purpose in a deeper fashion as well. You may want to look further into the author’s ideas by looking at his facts page of his website -- http://www.whengodwinks.com/faqs/
Reflection: Try to remember and write down three God Winks in your life. Ponder over them and write down how these affected your life at the time and events further along your life journey.
After hearing him I saw in a bookstore a book he mentioned and other books he had written. The one that caught my attention was When God Winks. I picked it up and it is a short book so it did not take long to read. The information reminded me of Dr. John Krumboltz’s book Luck Is No Accident, which considers our choices in response to happenstances that come into our life experiences. We all have coincidences that pop into our life and the key is how we respond.
At the beginning of his book he lists definitions of key terms. Coincidence “is a sequence of events that although accidental seems to have been planned or arranged”, from the American Heritage Dictionary. A Wink “is to give a signal or express a message”. He took that definition from the American Heritage Dictionary. So he created the term God Wink stating that it is a “personal signal or message, directly from a higher power, usually, but not always, in the form of a coincidence” . In the book the author poses a sensible question in that if the term coincidence has a sense of the event being planned or arranged then who does the planning. He states that most people respond that God does the arranging. It is not a proof that there is a God but it makes sense that considering the probabilities of some of the things that happen to us there is some sort of a God guiding our life events.
The book looks at a variety of examples of God Winks in various life situations. Squire Rushnell also shows how we can react to the God Winks. We should not just float along the river of life letting life happenstance events affect us. Life is not to be lived passively as that turns us into victims of fate. Instead with the coincidences or as Mr. Rushnell calls them God Winks, we make a choice to respond actively to these life events. After the choice is made we receive the consequence of our response. That consequence can be either good or bad based on whether we critically thought through our response or just impulsively responded.
The author gives us a series of questions to explore and discover the God Winks that are in our lives. Here are just a few of the questions listed to help you start exploring your God Winks:
1. Did something surprising happen to you in your past?
2. Did some new person come into your life?
3. Did you experience a death of someone close to you? Did this open up a new path for you?
4. What is the biggest break you have ever received in your career journey?
5. Did you have a rebirth in a spiritual manner or in another manner such as giving up drugs or alcohol?
His reminder to think through questions reminded me of Dr. Tal Ben Shahar’s lectures on Positive Psychology where Dr. Shahar mentioned our questions we ask ourselves can help us create new realities for our daily lives. Those questions can help in exploring the various God Winks that have affected us and then we can look deeper into them and think through the choices we made in response. In exploring God Winks in my life the most of them that I have clearly noticed have often been in church worship times where the minister is preaching and I have this feeling like, “ how did he know that about me? That is just what I needed to hear.” I am not paranoid at those times but thinking about it those points in the Pastor's message may be a God Wink reminding me what I need to work on from the message. Another God wink that comes to mind is from my career positions that have focused on helping students in their career portion of their lives relates to a Professor at UTB in Brownsville I had as a student. I had professor for Career Counseling that encouraged us to be involved with Professional Associations. So I became involved with the National Career Development Association as a student and the state association in Texas. I would not have joined that association if I had not had that Professor. I believe this also helped me see the importance of career in people’s lives. What it just chance I had a Professor that encouraged such activities? I do not think so.
When God Winks is a book that acts as a helpful reflective exercise to help us be more aware of what is going on in our lives. The more we see God work in our lives the more our lives can make sense out of happenstance items that drop into our life journey. This awareness can help us in understanding our purpose in a deeper fashion as well. You may want to look further into the author’s ideas by looking at his facts page of his website -- http://www.whengodwinks.com/faqs/
Reflection: Try to remember and write down three God Winks in your life. Ponder over them and write down how these affected your life at the time and events further along your life journey.
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