While I was doing some work in my office, I was listening to a song by one of my daughter’s favorite bands, Switchfoot. It addresses a wrong viewpoint about Christians and Christianity. It speaks to the thought that Christians just sit around in their churches waiting to die so they can really live in heaven. Granted there are some Christians that are so heavenly minded they are no earthly good. Sad to say I have met people who can not stand Christianity, because they have run ins with Christians like those.
Christians that create these ideas that this life is all sorrow and sadness until we reach heaven are painting a false picture that the writer of the song is reacting to. We forget that Jesus was accused of carousing with sinners and gluttons. His first miracle was at a wedding. The disciples would try to chase children away from Him and Jesus would chide them as He enjoyed paying attention to children. As I have stated before, Jesus stated He came to give us life and life abundantly. Jesus wanted His followers to live in the present fully as well as look forward to the future finalized Kingdom.
Take some time to look over the words to this song. If you click on the title you can even listen to a video of the song.
Afterlife by Switchfoot
I've tasted fire I'm ready to come alive
I can't just shut it up and fake that I'm alright
I'm ready now, I'm not waiting for the afterlife
I'll Let it burn the way the sunlight burns my skin
The way I feel inside, the way the day begins
I'm ready now , I'm not waiting for the other side , I'm ready now, I'm ready now
Cause everyday the world is made A chance to change But I feel the same
And I wonder Why would I wait till I die to come alive?
I'm ready now I'm not waiting for the afterlife
I still believe we could live forever You and I we begin forever now
Forever now Forever
I still believe in us together You and I we're here together now
Forever now Forever now For ever now
Cause everyday the world is made A chance to change But I feel the same
And I wonder Why would I wait till I die to come alive?
I'm ready now I'm not waiting for the afterlife
Everyday A choice is made Everyday I choose my fate
And I wonder Why would I wait till I die to come alive?
Everyday I still feel the same And I wonder why would I wait till I die to come alive? I'm ready now I'm not waiting for the afterlife
I'm ready now I'm not waiting till the afterlife
The song starts out with a metaphorical thought of tasting fire which makes me think of the Story in The Book at Acts of the tongues of fire which was a testimony of the Holy Spirit of God in the early Christian believers. In Christ we come alive as energized like a fire. The song then moves into an analogy of the sunshine burning his skin; heating him up. I don’t know about you but after a few grey cloudy days I always feel more alive when the rays of sunshine break through and warm me up.
His phrase, “I still believe we could live forever “, and the name of the song shows he believes in an afterlife. Heaven that is beyond our imagination in splendor, is a reality I believe in, and the songwriter shows he believes it. I appreciate how he says, “You and I we begin forever now”. The spiritual relationship with God begins not when we die but now. We are not to sit on the sidelines through our time here, but to be active participants in enjoying the journey God has for us for our time on this planet.
I think of how in C. S. Lewis’ writings he portrayed the fleeting nature of this life as a proof of sorts, for the afterlife. This life goes by so quickly there has to be something more out there. This life is a foreshadow of what is to come in a more splendorous fashion. Sure there are many difficulties in this life and we each experience those times. Yet are we made to dwell on those and miss out on good times with family and friends, or appreciating the simple beauty of Spring flowers. “Everyday A choice is made Everyday I choose my fate”. Each day we can wake up and choose to dwell on the negative pains of life or choose to catch the Spirit’s fire and fully enjoy what God has waiting for us each day. A saying of C.S. Lewis states: "Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither” This puts the song lyrics in perspective. We do not want to have tunnel vision on just looking at life on this earth. Focusing on this life only will drag a person down. In keeping a forever focus we can look forward with anticipation to the promise of heaven. Also we can enjoy the full joy of living in our present life as well.
I have mentioned the organization Natural High before, www.naturalhigh.org They are all about helping especially young people live life to the fullest. In promoting Natural Highs they show young people you do not need drugs to enjoy life. Switchfoot in this song expresses the attitude of living a natural high life of living fully alive each day. If you have not checked out their website please do and see what they are doing to make a change in the lives of young people and then tell others, especially educators about their work.
Reflection: Are you staying the same or coming alive on your daily journey? List a few things you can do to come alive in your life!
Friday, March 16, 2012
Friday, March 9, 2012
Learning SFT in Utopia
This past weekend we watched the movie 7 Days in Utopia . We are not golfers so, I had put off seeing it thinking it just a golf movie. As I watched the story unfold, I saw several life principles at work. One primary one was for the young lead character to learn life was more than golf. The movie presents principles that can be transferred into any person’s career life and personal life balance.
The opening of the movie has Luke Chisholm exploding in anger over a disintegrating performance in a golf game. As he is recklessly driving due to his emotions he crashes through a rancher’s fence. The elderly rancher, John, comes to his rescue and requests he stay with him for 7 days to get his golf game back. There are many dynamics in the story. Does Luke really want to play golf? Or was that his dad’s dream for him? There is shown in flash backs the tensions between he and his father, who was his over demanding coach and caddy. This made me wonder if golf was really Luke’s thing or his dad’s.
Instead of just playing golf John, who was a former golfer himself, has Luke do other things that relate to golf but initially seem very strange. Just one for an example, he has him study a golf shot in a wooded area and the instead of just hitting the ball has him paint the view of hitting the ball first. So the ideas tap into creativity and that particular example was encouraging a deep level of visualizing before trying the difficult shot. John is trying to get Luke to explore his passion level for golf and to allow him to see God has a purpose for his life greater than golf. Life is more than just a job or career we need to discover our greater purpose.
I was impressed by the concept of SFT that comes up in the movie early as John is speaking about Luke’s putting. He emphasized to not think but to See, Feel, and Trust. There is a truth in that, that we in our work have to move beyond over thinking to See, which means to visualize the big picture of what you are doing, Then Feel is having confidence in the visualization process to move forward. Finally to trust is to step out and act on that confidence to complete what you are trying to do. As I watched that work out in the film; the SFT concept reminded me of Dr. Cziksentmihalyi’s Flow concept of having a sense of mastery and trust in your competence so that you are not over thinking but you are one with your work that you are doing.
The movie goes deeper into the SFT concept looking at it in a spiritual level. John tells Luke near the end of the movie to make Luke understand that he needs to find a greater purpose in life than golf. How does Luke want to be remembered after his life is over? Here John explains that he needs to See God’s face, Feel God’s presence and Trust God’s love – SFT. Looking at life from a God centered perspective it was no accident that Luke turned towards Utopia. Granted, he could have taken the other turn and gone to another town and not experienced the 7 days in Utopia. But God had a purpose for Luke to be there. In those 7 days, he had the opportunity to understand that relationships are important, reflect on his passion and conviction level for golf and reach a point of feeling the presence of God. As spiritual beings, we need to first know who God is by seeing His face and feeling His presence. Then we can learn to trust in His love and know as is stated in Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” God has good plans for us even after a terrible game or problem occurs. That is a truth and promise we can hold onto in difficult and good times.
At this point in the movie the older ex golf pro gives Luke a box. In it is a Bible, a note from John, a pencil and two pieces of paper. With the papers Luke is told to draw up two lists. One is a list of all the lies he has listened to about himself. For Luke lies such as his self worth lies in how well he does with a little white golf ball. Lies that he told himself such as his father only cared about him if he did well in golf. We each over our lifetime can fill our minds with lies about ourselves which can spiral us down in to subpar just ok existing instead of the abundant life we were created for. That list of lies he was to write was to be buried in the box as a symbol of being rid of the lies. The other sheet of paper Luke was to write down truths about himself that he was to keep as a remembrance to give him strength in his life going forward. What are truths we can write and hold onto? Truths such as God loves us, and has a greater purpose for our lives. That we each have talents, that can be used to help improve the lives of those around us. We need to focus on the truths and not the lies.
If you have not seen this movie I highly recommend it. Enjoy the story and acting. Then also think through your life as to how the SFT concept relates to your life. Think through the purpose God has for you in your living more than ok on your life journey.
Reflection: Take some time to write up a list of lies that you have are presently are telling yourself. How are these lies negatively effecting you life? Destroy the list of lies. Then also write down a list of truths about yourself. Post this truth list somewhere you can regularly see it. Also take some time to reflect on your bigger purpose in life.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Praying Along Our Life Journey
For sometime I have been slowly trudging through a book on Prayer, A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World, by Paul E. Miller. Paul is the Director of a Christian ministry SeeJesus which focuses in on interactive Bible Studies and presenting teaching workshops. Their website is seejesus.net they have free resources and resources for purchase. As a Christian I believe prayer is an important part of our life journey.
I purposely read the book in a slow manner as I wanted to think through what he was saying. His book had a completely different feel to it in that he is very open about his prayer life and admits that prayer is a difficult thing to do. He is honest about the cynicism that can come into our prayer life as we see nothing happening so why bother. The author points out that Jesus calls us to a journey of faith and prayer is a big part of that journey. We are encouraged to move beyond our cynicism and pride to embrace our neediness, “Don’t be embarrassed by how needy your heart is and how much it needs to cry out for grace. Just start praying.” So the call is to move beyond the distractions and hardships of life and step out in faith.
A couple things that stand out to me is mid way through the book he discusses “Good Asking”. He points out in James 4:2-3 the text reads “You do not have because you do not ask.” And “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” These are problems we have with prayer as if we are honest we can complain God is not doing anything in our life but we are not asking for His help. Then on the other hand sometimes of our prayers are as selfish as a child rattling of a long list of presents on Santa’s lap like God is just our errand boy. We need to strike a balance between not asking or being totally selfish. He sees the answer to both by having a prayer attitude of asking boldly and at the same time surrendering completely to God.
Miller makes a point that ,”All of Jesus’ teaching on prayer in the Gospels can be summarized with one word: ask. Jesus’ greatest concern is that our failure or reluctance to ask keeps us distant from God. God wants to give us good gifts. He loves to give." Miller backs this us by pointing us to the parables of Jesus about the persistent widow who kept pleading with the judge in the story for help. You can read the whole story in Luke 18:1-8 . He also points to the parable of the man bothering a neighbor at night for some bread for his houseguest, see Luke 11:5-8 . These thoughts from Jesus point to the fact that just like people will answer persistent asking; how much more will God answer the prayers of His people.
Another thing I enjoyed about the book is his emphasis on the power of story. This is one important aspect I believe about living more than ok is to understand that each of our stories are important. Paul Miller understands that prayer is part of the story. He shows that those who pray with no thought that God is working a story in them are often bitter, angry, aimless, cynical, controlling, hopeless, thankless, blaming. On the other hand those who are open to God’s story and seeing His story work through them in their prayer life are waiting, watching, wondering, praying, submitting, hoping, thankful and repenting. This concept of prayer as part of God’s story in us relates to near the end of the book the author brings up an idea of a prayer journal or making prayer a part of your journaling. Here are some of his thoughts on prayer journaling, “When life makes sense it becomes a journey, a spiritual adventure. Writing down the adventure as it happens gives us a feel for our place in the story God is weaving in our lives, …Many of us rush around without much conscious knowledge of the pilgrimage God is carving out for us.. So we slog through life, missing the Divine touches.” Life can not be boring and cynical if we are open to seeing God’s moments in our lives. To notice these God moments, we need to be living a life of faith and mindfully aware that He is involved in our journey. Prayer is needed in our distracting world that we wake up to every day.
Reflection: Where are you at in your prayer life with the balance between asking boldly and being submissive to God’s will in your life? Take some time to journal about the concept of prayer being part of God’s story in your life.
I purposely read the book in a slow manner as I wanted to think through what he was saying. His book had a completely different feel to it in that he is very open about his prayer life and admits that prayer is a difficult thing to do. He is honest about the cynicism that can come into our prayer life as we see nothing happening so why bother. The author points out that Jesus calls us to a journey of faith and prayer is a big part of that journey. We are encouraged to move beyond our cynicism and pride to embrace our neediness, “Don’t be embarrassed by how needy your heart is and how much it needs to cry out for grace. Just start praying.” So the call is to move beyond the distractions and hardships of life and step out in faith.
A couple things that stand out to me is mid way through the book he discusses “Good Asking”. He points out in James 4:2-3 the text reads “You do not have because you do not ask.” And “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” These are problems we have with prayer as if we are honest we can complain God is not doing anything in our life but we are not asking for His help. Then on the other hand sometimes of our prayers are as selfish as a child rattling of a long list of presents on Santa’s lap like God is just our errand boy. We need to strike a balance between not asking or being totally selfish. He sees the answer to both by having a prayer attitude of asking boldly and at the same time surrendering completely to God.
Miller makes a point that ,”All of Jesus’ teaching on prayer in the Gospels can be summarized with one word: ask. Jesus’ greatest concern is that our failure or reluctance to ask keeps us distant from God. God wants to give us good gifts. He loves to give." Miller backs this us by pointing us to the parables of Jesus about the persistent widow who kept pleading with the judge in the story for help. You can read the whole story in Luke 18:1-8 . He also points to the parable of the man bothering a neighbor at night for some bread for his houseguest, see Luke 11:5-8 . These thoughts from Jesus point to the fact that just like people will answer persistent asking; how much more will God answer the prayers of His people.
Another thing I enjoyed about the book is his emphasis on the power of story. This is one important aspect I believe about living more than ok is to understand that each of our stories are important. Paul Miller understands that prayer is part of the story. He shows that those who pray with no thought that God is working a story in them are often bitter, angry, aimless, cynical, controlling, hopeless, thankless, blaming. On the other hand those who are open to God’s story and seeing His story work through them in their prayer life are waiting, watching, wondering, praying, submitting, hoping, thankful and repenting. This concept of prayer as part of God’s story in us relates to near the end of the book the author brings up an idea of a prayer journal or making prayer a part of your journaling. Here are some of his thoughts on prayer journaling, “When life makes sense it becomes a journey, a spiritual adventure. Writing down the adventure as it happens gives us a feel for our place in the story God is weaving in our lives, …Many of us rush around without much conscious knowledge of the pilgrimage God is carving out for us.. So we slog through life, missing the Divine touches.” Life can not be boring and cynical if we are open to seeing God’s moments in our lives. To notice these God moments, we need to be living a life of faith and mindfully aware that He is involved in our journey. Prayer is needed in our distracting world that we wake up to every day.
Reflection: Where are you at in your prayer life with the balance between asking boldly and being submissive to God’s will in your life? Take some time to journal about the concept of prayer being part of God’s story in your life.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Celebrating the Creativity of Beethoven
This past Friday our family enjoyed the music of Ludwig van Beethoven’s 8th and 9th Symphonies performed by the San Antonio Symphony orchestra. Our daughter had joined some former classmates who were attending so my wife and I took the occasion to attend as well. It was a fine evening of music and a time to enjoy the creativity of the musicians and the creativity of Beethoven the composer.
The orchestra started with the Symphony number 8 which was Beethoven’s shortest symphony. During this piece I listened to all the intricate musical details of the movements and began to marvel at Beethoven’s creative mind. This sense of marvel increased during the performing of his Symphony number 9 which was his last symphonic work and his most popular through the ages up to the present. It was the first symphonic work to make use of a human chorus. The chorus joins during the 4th movement. The lyrics that were used came from the Poem “Ode To Joy”, by Friedrich Schiller and selected excerpts by Beethoven:
Ode To Joy
O friends, no more these sounds! Let us sing more cheerful songs, More full of joy!
Joy, bright spark of divinity, Daughter of Elysium, Fire-inspired we tread Thy sanctuary. Thy magic power re-unites All that custom has divided, All men become brothers, Under the sway of thy gentle wings.
Whoever has created An abiding friendship, Or has won A true and loving wife, All who can call at least one soul theirs, Join our song of praise; But those who cannot must creep tearfully Away from our circle.
All creatures drink of joy At natures breast. Just and unjust Alike taste of her gift; She gave us kisses and the fruit of the vine, A tried friend to the end. Even the worm can feel contentment, And the cherub stands before God!
Gladly, like the heavenly bodies Which He sent on their courses Through the splendor of the firmament; Thus, brothers, you should run your race, like a hero going to victory!
You millions, I embrace you. This kiss is for all the world! Brothers, above the starry canopy There must dwell a loving father.
The symphony was completed in 1824 but in his notebooks it is seen that he was working on the piece from 1811. It is also known that he had wanted to write a musical piece that incorporated Schiller’s poem since 1793 when we was 22. The poem celebrates friendships and relationships. There is Joy in strong abiding friendships that we can count on being there with us in our life journey.
Back to my marveling at the creativity of Beethoven, while looking down from the balcony of the Majestic Theater listening to his Symphony number 9. I marveled at the variety in the four movements and how all the lines of music for the different instruments came out of one mind. He had to be able to hear in his mind the differing instrumental voices and the whole of the piece so that it was not just senseless noise. That has always amazed me about composers of orchestra symphonies and choral music. How they can write out the individual parts and when it fits together there is a unified music message expressed.
Another marvel about the piece is, that it is known from history that Beethoven was losing his hearing at this time. Concerning this there is the anecdote that when he was directing the premier of this Symphony number 9 he was completely deaf. So deaf, that when the piece was over he was still directing and a singer had to turn him around to see the crowds cheering as he could not hear them. What is amazing to me about this is his spirit of resilience. He could have given up on this piece by saying, “I can’t hear anymore so my love of music is done! I have written enough music so the masses should be happy with that. Poor, poor me as I really did want to do this piece about Schiller’s poem but it is impossible now!”. Resilience does not give in to impossibilities. This is just conjecture but maybe since he had a desire since age 22 to do a musical number about Schiller’s poem that helped as a driving force of inspiration, when otherwise it would have been natural to just give up composing. Listening to the San Antonio Symphony perform the Symphony number 9 I am glad he did not give up but continued with his creativity.
Reflection: Click on the these words - Beethoven’s Symphony number 9 and listen to the short video except of the symphony. Then read over the poem lyrics that I have above that inspired his musical piece. Write down in your journal the thoughts and feelings that come to mind.
The orchestra started with the Symphony number 8 which was Beethoven’s shortest symphony. During this piece I listened to all the intricate musical details of the movements and began to marvel at Beethoven’s creative mind. This sense of marvel increased during the performing of his Symphony number 9 which was his last symphonic work and his most popular through the ages up to the present. It was the first symphonic work to make use of a human chorus. The chorus joins during the 4th movement. The lyrics that were used came from the Poem “Ode To Joy”, by Friedrich Schiller and selected excerpts by Beethoven:
Ode To Joy
O friends, no more these sounds! Let us sing more cheerful songs, More full of joy!
Joy, bright spark of divinity, Daughter of Elysium, Fire-inspired we tread Thy sanctuary. Thy magic power re-unites All that custom has divided, All men become brothers, Under the sway of thy gentle wings.
Whoever has created An abiding friendship, Or has won A true and loving wife, All who can call at least one soul theirs, Join our song of praise; But those who cannot must creep tearfully Away from our circle.
All creatures drink of joy At natures breast. Just and unjust Alike taste of her gift; She gave us kisses and the fruit of the vine, A tried friend to the end. Even the worm can feel contentment, And the cherub stands before God!
Gladly, like the heavenly bodies Which He sent on their courses Through the splendor of the firmament; Thus, brothers, you should run your race, like a hero going to victory!
You millions, I embrace you. This kiss is for all the world! Brothers, above the starry canopy There must dwell a loving father.
The symphony was completed in 1824 but in his notebooks it is seen that he was working on the piece from 1811. It is also known that he had wanted to write a musical piece that incorporated Schiller’s poem since 1793 when we was 22. The poem celebrates friendships and relationships. There is Joy in strong abiding friendships that we can count on being there with us in our life journey.
Back to my marveling at the creativity of Beethoven, while looking down from the balcony of the Majestic Theater listening to his Symphony number 9. I marveled at the variety in the four movements and how all the lines of music for the different instruments came out of one mind. He had to be able to hear in his mind the differing instrumental voices and the whole of the piece so that it was not just senseless noise. That has always amazed me about composers of orchestra symphonies and choral music. How they can write out the individual parts and when it fits together there is a unified music message expressed.
Another marvel about the piece is, that it is known from history that Beethoven was losing his hearing at this time. Concerning this there is the anecdote that when he was directing the premier of this Symphony number 9 he was completely deaf. So deaf, that when the piece was over he was still directing and a singer had to turn him around to see the crowds cheering as he could not hear them. What is amazing to me about this is his spirit of resilience. He could have given up on this piece by saying, “I can’t hear anymore so my love of music is done! I have written enough music so the masses should be happy with that. Poor, poor me as I really did want to do this piece about Schiller’s poem but it is impossible now!”. Resilience does not give in to impossibilities. This is just conjecture but maybe since he had a desire since age 22 to do a musical number about Schiller’s poem that helped as a driving force of inspiration, when otherwise it would have been natural to just give up composing. Listening to the San Antonio Symphony perform the Symphony number 9 I am glad he did not give up but continued with his creativity.
Reflection: Click on the these words - Beethoven’s Symphony number 9 and listen to the short video except of the symphony. Then read over the poem lyrics that I have above that inspired his musical piece. Write down in your journal the thoughts and feelings that come to mind.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Tapping Into Your Creative Brain
In our pursuit of Living More Than OK, which is moving beyond mere boring existence, creativity is important to build into our lives. We tend to think of creativity only in the realm of the Arts: music, painting, poetry, theater and dance. These are important and I encourage people to grow their talents in one or more of these. Yet it is important to remember that creativity has a greater impact in all areas of life. Creativity can be used in solving problems, coming up with new ways to keep relationships fresh and alive, or discovering new ways to enjoy life. It is up to each of us to choose to tap into our creative side.
This brings me to a book I highly recommend to help you tap into your creativity. The book is Your Creative Brain , by Dr. Shelley Carson, a professor and researcher at Harvard University. In the opening chapter she states, “We are all creative. Creativity is the hallmark human capacity that has allowed us to survive thus far. Our brains are wired to be creative,…” This reminds me of the words of creative writing professor, Brenda Euland, “…you are all original and talented and need to let it out of yourselves; that is to say you have the creative impulse.” We are all creative. I like how Dr. Carson mentions it is the hallmark human capacity. When I visit the zoo I do not see turtles and bears painting murals on their habitat walls. As I visit the monkey area I have never seen one typing out a new fiction novel on its laptop. Creativity is one of the things that separate us from the rest of the animal kingdom.
Dr. Carson in her book helps us to see how expansive creativity can be into all areas of our lives if we are open to tapping into what she calls the CREATES brainsets. Her hypothesis she sets forth is what I see as 7 thought patterns we have that relate to creativity in our thinking. Her seven brainsets are:
Connect – Looking for connections between items and ideas to come up with new ideas and solutions.
Reason – Making use of the information you have and analyze and organize it for problem solving.
Envision – Using your imagination to explore the possibilities and answer the “What ifs” that come to mind. This reminds me of possibility thinking.
Absorb - This is opening your mind to new ideas and experiences and savor how these new ideas can shape and form something new and creative.
Transform – Dr. Carson says of this, that it is our tapping into our negative energy and distress we may be feeling. We can then transform the pains of life to solutions for future situations. For me it is reminder that we can choose to remain bitter over pain and hurt or transform and learn to be more empathetic to others going through pain.
Evaluate - This is the critiquing phase of looking at creative ideas and seeing which is best to follow.
Stream – This relates to Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s concept of flow where creativity seems to be in oneness with our activity and thinking.
Her book goes into detail of her seven brainsets and gives practical exercises at the end of each chapter you can try out to improve your creativity. That is the important help in this book as she shows we are each wired for creativity and that we each can improve our level of creativity.
I want to just share a couple of important helps from the book to help you in your quest to improve your creativity. Then also this may encourage you to seek out this book at your local library or local bookstore. The first item is that a way to being more creative is to continue in lifelong learning. Be open to studying new topics and ideas. This helps build a broad based foundation of general knowledge for the Connect brainset. Don’t be narrowly focused in just one area. Dr. Carson provides examples of great people with broad based life experience. Benjamin Franklin was a writer, philosopher and inventor, John Grisham was a lawyer and now a writer, Leonardo Da Vinci was an inventor and an artist. I remember I had a physics teacher who brought in his cello to class and played for us students. Just recently I heard a jazz combo with a killer upright bass player. I found out his day job was that of a math teacher. So be open to adding variety to your ideas and skills.
Then also here are some of her ideas to help improve your creative mood of the absorb brainset: Make a playlist of inspirational songs that help encourage creativity, find a relaxing spot that quiets your mind, (hopefully this is a place linked to nature), Take a walk in a favorite natural setting like a park or beach, or carry a notepad or digital recorder to capture creative ideas you may have.
I hope by now if you started with a “But I am not creative” mindset you have changed your mind. This can be a first step to improve your creativity and help you in Living More Than OK.
Reflection: I want for this reflection to use one of Dr. Carson’s exercises from chapter 10.
Feelings: Describe Your Feelings
Aim of exercise: To better understand and describe your feelings. You will need a blank sheet of paper and a writing utensil. This exercise will take around 12 minutes.
Procedure: Sit in a quiet place and try to step outside your current feeling state and observe it objectively:
Write down a description of your feeling state. What emotions, moods, or affect are you feeling right now? Try to write at least 3 sentences that describe how you feel.
Now write what physical feelings you are experiencing right now. Scan your body for any area that might feel tense, painful, or constricted. Write down these physical feelings. Do you think they are related to your feelings? If so, write down how your think your current physical and emotional states are connected.
Now think about your mental state. Are you having trouble concentrating due to your feelings?
Finally think about your action tendencies. Are you feeling the urge to act in a certain way? Run away or escape, lash out at someone or something, disappear into the floor, put your arms around someone?
The goal of this exercise is to write a detailed and precise a description of your feeling state as possible. When you’ve finished, read over what you wrote. Does it adequately describe what you are feeling?
Try to do this exercise at least once a week. It will provide insight into your feelings and also develop your skills for self expression. This exercise will also help you develop emotional intelligence, a quality that will enhance your creative work.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Winning The War On Drugs By Saying Yes To Positive Addictions
Recently I heard on the news an update that the Mexican Drug War death toll is now over 47,000. That made me curious to search drug related deaths in this country. I found at drugwarfacts.org that the number of drug related deaths in the USA during 2009 were over 37,000. Those numbers sickened me when I consider that it is all so senseless. The Mexican side deaths bother me as I lived in the Border Town of Brownsville, Texas for the past 10 years. I remember speaking with university students who came across the border for classes and they spoke of the fear of the kidnappings and random shooting violence from the cartels. Those deaths relate to the insatiable appetite for drug use in this country and the growing addiction problem that accompanies it. In my opinion those who use illegal drugs and support the use have the blood of these people on their hands.
Who are these supporters of drug use? A 2008 study(1), by a Professor at University of California , Berkeley showed a 6 fold increase in the glamorizing of drug use in Rap music from the 1970’s to the 1990’s. The Drug Testing Network discusses research that show teens are bombarded in TV shows , movies , and in the lives of their favorite celebrities that drugs are harmless and fun. Then there is always the common phrase “Drugs, Sex, and Rock n Roll” coined in a song by Ian Drury, an early founder of the punk rock music scene in Great Britain that reminds us that drugs have long been a big part of that music genre. Sad to say many of these promoters of drug use have been in and out of drug rehab or have died from drug usage.
Many supporters of drug use point to the failure of the “Just Say No” campaign years ago. They say it never made that big of an impact on drug use and as we have seen with the news on the drug war in Mexico; drug use does continue to climb. The problem I believe was with emphasizing just saying “No”. That usually never works. Just ask a parent with a little child. Say “don’t touch that” and what happens is that the child touches it. I believe we could stop the Mexican Drug war and the senseless drug deaths here in the U.S. if we would encourage people to say “Yes”. Not yes to drugs but to alternatives.
Dr. William Glasser in his book Positive Addiction turns the thought of addiction upside down. He points out that the word addict is thought of in the negative context of a life destroyed by drugs or alcohol. A person is weakly dependent on the substance to cope or escape from life’s difficulties in search of happiness. In helping someone give up alcohol or drugs the drug should be replaced with something to fill the void, otherwise relapse quickly occurs. Dr. Glasser promotes, that to fully strengthen people they need to build a positive addiction in their life. Find something that they enjoy doing to bring happiness into their lives. Some of the positive addictions he points out in the book are meditation, sports, music and other art forms.
He points out from his research that “…positive addiction increases your mental strength and is the opposite of a negative addiction which seems to sap the strength from every part of your life except the area of the addiction.”(pg39). If you think about it he is so right. Drug addicts are consumed by their addiction. There is often a negative effect in their work, health, and relationships. You don’t hear of someone with a positive addiction of gardening going on a 72 hour binge of tending to their rose garden and not being able to function in their work because they enjoy planting flowers. Positive addictions help to round out our lives so as to help us function better is other areas of our lives.
Dr. Glasser’s thoughts on Positive Addiction coincides well with an organization called Natural High . If every American would go to www.naturalhigh.org and consider building a Positive Addiction into their personal life there would be no more drug war here in the U.S. The Drug Cartels in Mexico would be out of business. People would then understand they don’t have to ingest chemicals by smoking, snorting, or shooting up with needles to find happiness and relaxation in life. The personal destruction could end if we all could see that through positive personal interests such as relationships, sports, arts, nature, spirituality we can satisfy the human experiential needs for happiness and relaxation with natural highs that come from positive addictions.
Natural High was founded by Jon Sundt, who experienced the death of two of his brothers due to drug use. This life experience impacted him to make a difference to try to stop the destructive force of drugs in the lives of people. Personally, I relate to his experience, as I never tried drugs although they were readily available in the 1970’s in my high school. That is because I saw my oldest brother, Paul, struggle first with alcohol addiction and then drug addiction so thankfully it never appealed to me. Mr. Sundt started his organization that primarily targets school age children through high school. They provide testimonials of sport and music celebrities, who can be considered real role models. They share how through their personal “natural highs” they enjoy life. They also point out how their success is due to not using drugs. These testimonials show drugs are not needed to enjoy life like the lies of rappers and Hollywood media stars who try to delude teens that drugs are exciting and the best way to really experience life. To me the Natural high website can be viewed by people of all ages to gain insight into the importance of finding a positive addiction to make their life more fulfilling. For myself, my positive addictions are my Christian faith, my family, reading, playing guitar, listening to music, and enjoying nature.
Reflection: List your positive addictions that help you have a natural high in life. Take time to journal why these are important to you and how did you get started with doing these things in your life.
1. http://berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/04/01_rapmusic.shtml
Who are these supporters of drug use? A 2008 study(1), by a Professor at University of California , Berkeley showed a 6 fold increase in the glamorizing of drug use in Rap music from the 1970’s to the 1990’s. The Drug Testing Network discusses research that show teens are bombarded in TV shows , movies , and in the lives of their favorite celebrities that drugs are harmless and fun. Then there is always the common phrase “Drugs, Sex, and Rock n Roll” coined in a song by Ian Drury, an early founder of the punk rock music scene in Great Britain that reminds us that drugs have long been a big part of that music genre. Sad to say many of these promoters of drug use have been in and out of drug rehab or have died from drug usage.
Many supporters of drug use point to the failure of the “Just Say No” campaign years ago. They say it never made that big of an impact on drug use and as we have seen with the news on the drug war in Mexico; drug use does continue to climb. The problem I believe was with emphasizing just saying “No”. That usually never works. Just ask a parent with a little child. Say “don’t touch that” and what happens is that the child touches it. I believe we could stop the Mexican Drug war and the senseless drug deaths here in the U.S. if we would encourage people to say “Yes”. Not yes to drugs but to alternatives.
Dr. William Glasser in his book Positive Addiction turns the thought of addiction upside down. He points out that the word addict is thought of in the negative context of a life destroyed by drugs or alcohol. A person is weakly dependent on the substance to cope or escape from life’s difficulties in search of happiness. In helping someone give up alcohol or drugs the drug should be replaced with something to fill the void, otherwise relapse quickly occurs. Dr. Glasser promotes, that to fully strengthen people they need to build a positive addiction in their life. Find something that they enjoy doing to bring happiness into their lives. Some of the positive addictions he points out in the book are meditation, sports, music and other art forms.
He points out from his research that “…positive addiction increases your mental strength and is the opposite of a negative addiction which seems to sap the strength from every part of your life except the area of the addiction.”(pg39). If you think about it he is so right. Drug addicts are consumed by their addiction. There is often a negative effect in their work, health, and relationships. You don’t hear of someone with a positive addiction of gardening going on a 72 hour binge of tending to their rose garden and not being able to function in their work because they enjoy planting flowers. Positive addictions help to round out our lives so as to help us function better is other areas of our lives.
Dr. Glasser’s thoughts on Positive Addiction coincides well with an organization called Natural High . If every American would go to www.naturalhigh.org and consider building a Positive Addiction into their personal life there would be no more drug war here in the U.S. The Drug Cartels in Mexico would be out of business. People would then understand they don’t have to ingest chemicals by smoking, snorting, or shooting up with needles to find happiness and relaxation in life. The personal destruction could end if we all could see that through positive personal interests such as relationships, sports, arts, nature, spirituality we can satisfy the human experiential needs for happiness and relaxation with natural highs that come from positive addictions.
Natural High was founded by Jon Sundt, who experienced the death of two of his brothers due to drug use. This life experience impacted him to make a difference to try to stop the destructive force of drugs in the lives of people. Personally, I relate to his experience, as I never tried drugs although they were readily available in the 1970’s in my high school. That is because I saw my oldest brother, Paul, struggle first with alcohol addiction and then drug addiction so thankfully it never appealed to me. Mr. Sundt started his organization that primarily targets school age children through high school. They provide testimonials of sport and music celebrities, who can be considered real role models. They share how through their personal “natural highs” they enjoy life. They also point out how their success is due to not using drugs. These testimonials show drugs are not needed to enjoy life like the lies of rappers and Hollywood media stars who try to delude teens that drugs are exciting and the best way to really experience life. To me the Natural high website can be viewed by people of all ages to gain insight into the importance of finding a positive addiction to make their life more fulfilling. For myself, my positive addictions are my Christian faith, my family, reading, playing guitar, listening to music, and enjoying nature.
Reflection: List your positive addictions that help you have a natural high in life. Take time to journal why these are important to you and how did you get started with doing these things in your life.
1. http://berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/04/01_rapmusic.shtml
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Becoming A Noticer
How often do we notice what is going on around us in the world and people’s lives? At the end of the year I read a fiction book, The Noticer, by Andy Andrews . My wife heard Andy speak at a Women Of Faith conference in November. Andy Andrews has a gift of being a great story teller. In the start of this book the reader is quickly caught up in the story so it is a book that is hard to put down.
The book’s key figure, Jones, keenly shows up in a person’s life during a time of difficulty. While reading, I debated in my mind whether Jones is a figure of a Guardian Angel or Jesus as he often appears out of nowhere and disappears afterwards. Also the various ethnicities in the book perceive Jones as being of their ethnicity. The importance of the book in my viewpoint is Jones’ improving the moral character of the people he is in contact with.
A driving point of the book is that of our attitude in relating to problems that face us. Jones also emphasizes our attitudes are shaped by our perception. A common example of the power of perception is the glass half full or half empty? Our choices we make are being guided by our attitudes and perceptions. Our perceptions in our daily journey can lead to a negative cast down spirit or to a positive spiraling up outlook on life.
Jones is the “Noticer” in the book as he is a watcher of people and notices when they need help. This is a thread in the book that caught my attention as I move into the New Year. The concept relates well with living life mindfully aware. If I am a Noticer, God can use me more through each day in making me notice people He is bringing into my daily journey for the purpose of being His hands and heart to help them. We may seek to serve God by helping others but then become caught up in unaware living so we do not notice the needs that are actually around us. This is where Jones as the Noticer, can help us understand the importance of being aware of how life is playing out around us.
There was something else I relearned in the initial interaction of Jones with another lead character, who was definitely a glass half empty in his perception of life. The importance of learning from historical figures is a lesson Jones teaches the other lead character when he is young. In his initial contact with Jones, as homework the teen is handed biographies of Winston Churchill, Will Rogers, George Washington Carver. The young man’s perspective of this idea was “boring history books”, but Jones’ perspective was these were opportunities to look at adventures of great people and learn what made them great.
The young man soon found out that reading these books were interesting and not boring. So Jones gave him other biographies: Joan of Arc, Abraham Lincoln, Victor Frankl, Harry Truman, Florence Nightingale, King David, Harriet Tubman, Queen Elizabeth I, John Adams, Eleanor Roosevelt, Mark twain, Joshua Chamberlain, George Washington, Anne Frank, and Christopher Columbus. In reading these books he saw what Jones was getting at; that positive values could be learned from the lives of great people as they were people just like him. If they were great he could be great too.
Stories of people’s lives can be powerful influencers to learn from to better our own life. As I look at the list Jones recommended there are several I have read and appreciated and learned from. The list also gave me ideas of lives I want to read about in the coming year.
Being a Noticer, as seen in this book, means being open to be an active helper for lives in my sphere of life. Jones did not notice just for people-watching sake. He noticed so he could come along someone struggling in life and help change their perspective so to help them grow to be a better person.
Reflection: Try being a Noticer today. See if there is an opportunity to help a family member, friend or even a stranger during your daily journey today.At the end of the day take a few moments to journal thoughts on the experience of helping someone as to how it felt and how did you happened to notice the need to step into the other person’s struggle.
The book’s key figure, Jones, keenly shows up in a person’s life during a time of difficulty. While reading, I debated in my mind whether Jones is a figure of a Guardian Angel or Jesus as he often appears out of nowhere and disappears afterwards. Also the various ethnicities in the book perceive Jones as being of their ethnicity. The importance of the book in my viewpoint is Jones’ improving the moral character of the people he is in contact with.
A driving point of the book is that of our attitude in relating to problems that face us. Jones also emphasizes our attitudes are shaped by our perception. A common example of the power of perception is the glass half full or half empty? Our choices we make are being guided by our attitudes and perceptions. Our perceptions in our daily journey can lead to a negative cast down spirit or to a positive spiraling up outlook on life.
Jones is the “Noticer” in the book as he is a watcher of people and notices when they need help. This is a thread in the book that caught my attention as I move into the New Year. The concept relates well with living life mindfully aware. If I am a Noticer, God can use me more through each day in making me notice people He is bringing into my daily journey for the purpose of being His hands and heart to help them. We may seek to serve God by helping others but then become caught up in unaware living so we do not notice the needs that are actually around us. This is where Jones as the Noticer, can help us understand the importance of being aware of how life is playing out around us.
There was something else I relearned in the initial interaction of Jones with another lead character, who was definitely a glass half empty in his perception of life. The importance of learning from historical figures is a lesson Jones teaches the other lead character when he is young. In his initial contact with Jones, as homework the teen is handed biographies of Winston Churchill, Will Rogers, George Washington Carver. The young man’s perspective of this idea was “boring history books”, but Jones’ perspective was these were opportunities to look at adventures of great people and learn what made them great.
The young man soon found out that reading these books were interesting and not boring. So Jones gave him other biographies: Joan of Arc, Abraham Lincoln, Victor Frankl, Harry Truman, Florence Nightingale, King David, Harriet Tubman, Queen Elizabeth I, John Adams, Eleanor Roosevelt, Mark twain, Joshua Chamberlain, George Washington, Anne Frank, and Christopher Columbus. In reading these books he saw what Jones was getting at; that positive values could be learned from the lives of great people as they were people just like him. If they were great he could be great too.
Stories of people’s lives can be powerful influencers to learn from to better our own life. As I look at the list Jones recommended there are several I have read and appreciated and learned from. The list also gave me ideas of lives I want to read about in the coming year.
Being a Noticer, as seen in this book, means being open to be an active helper for lives in my sphere of life. Jones did not notice just for people-watching sake. He noticed so he could come along someone struggling in life and help change their perspective so to help them grow to be a better person.
Reflection: Try being a Noticer today. See if there is an opportunity to help a family member, friend or even a stranger during your daily journey today.At the end of the day take a few moments to journal thoughts on the experience of helping someone as to how it felt and how did you happened to notice the need to step into the other person’s struggle.
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