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Some thoughts on developing the grit, toughness, resilience, and fighting spirit necessary to endure and push through when under pressure and pushed to the limit. --------------------------------------------- Attributions : "Lulerain" from the album "Lost in the Right Direction" by Etherwood. "A Song of Ascent (Reprise)" from the album "A Song of Ascent (Deluxe)&...

A brief look into a key element related to what it takes to bring about transformation. "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." (Romans 12:2) "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." (Proverbs 4:23) "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right,...

We're all trying to do a little better, improve some things, and help ourselves to do that, aren't we? That's good. Keep moving forward, upping your game, and course-correcting as needed. But there's one self-help hack that is a can't miss, results-guaranteed method that you can start right away and it doesn't require anything more than being open and willing to try it. ___...

The Japanese art form known as kintsugi (金継ぎ), which translates to "golden repair" and is also referred to as the "art of precious scars," takes a broken object and repairs it with a precious metal such as gold, silver, platinum, or lacquer dusted with powdered gold to bind the broken pieces in a way that increases its value by preserving and even highlighting its imperfect...

Today more than ever there seems to be a pervasive and almost unrelenting call for total devotion to self. Who I am, what I am, what is my life's purpose and meaning flows from within me. Where I fit into the grand scheme of things (who has the right to say what that is?) is up to me and how I feel about things. This strikes at the very core of our concept of being what/who we are. What is a h...

"Trigger results that optimize outcomes." Whether it is nutrition, exercise, sleep hygiene, stress reduction, or any other aspect well-being to be addressed, the strategies used should be designed to produce a result that leads to the best possible outcome. What can I do to cause the effect that optimizes my hoped-for outcome? What am I doing right now in some of the most important areas...

When it comes to dealing with our flaws and frailties that can lead to or result in compulsive overconsumption, shame can be a tricky concept. Shame can provide the impetus to stop the behavior but also the means for perpetuating it. How do we reconcile this paradox? Let's start with a look at shame. What is it? The psychological literature today identifies it as an emotion distinct from guilt. Th...

Here's something interesting to ponder: Research by experts in the field of neuroscience reveal that our behavior can act as a catalyst for various neurotransmitters that manage emotions, overall mindset, and how we respond to stress. One behavior in particular is worth noting since putting it into practice triggers the release of the wellness hormones dopamine and serotonin, and reduces levels of...

Trials, tribulations, difficulties, and problems—life’s stressors. We all must deal with challenging situations and people, which includes that person in the mirror. However, another way to look at it is that the amount of stress we feel has more to do with how we relate to our challenges and problems than it does with the actual problems themselves. In other words, how much of a problem do we mak...

Making it part of your weekly routine to observe a brief period of a self-imposed fast from working or even thinking hard - allowing yourself to be bored for a time and not resisting it - can have a rather surprising effect. When you make that decision and just let things go for a while, feelings of boredom can be replaced with a heightened state of inner peace and relaxation. Yes, this will requi...

Instead of spending so much energy "sweating the small stuff" and losing touch with the wonder and beauty all around us, be strategic to apply your focus tending to your physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being to better enable you to then help others tend to theirs in certain ways. You'll then find that you are becoming a kinder, more tranquil peacemaker in all aspects of your life. You're w...

Flipping the script on the poem "Pretty Ugly" by Abdullah Shoaib. I'm very ugly  So don't try to convince me that  I am a very beautiful person  Because at the end of the day  I hate myself in every single way  And I'm not going to lie to myself by saying  There is beauty inside of me that matters  So rest assured I will remind myself  That I am a worthless,...

James 3:13-18  "Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such 'wisdom' does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you...

The church is not a group of people that merely thinks up ideas; the church is to be a declarative statement of what God has revealed through the teachings of Jesus Christ and the apostles as recorded in the Bible. What is true about God's nature and our nature, and that sin is a moral issue that stands between us and God, are established by God himself. The church as a group of people joining tog...

The primary evidence a Christian can present to the world that the teachings and truth claims of Jesus Christ and the apostles are true is in demonstrating the kind of love he exemplified, described, and called for in his teachings. The Bible teaches explicitly that being right in the vertical relationship is expressed in our horizontal relationships; there is a necessary link. How best to apply t...

The total system of unified Christian teaching states that I have been created by an infinite yet personal God, created truly outside of himself. So I know who I am in my being, which is a person bearing the image of God, and therefore my existence is validated on a deeply personal level as opposed to chance or randomness. And when it comes to perhaps the greatest of fears, which for most is the c...

Having looked into our thought lives in part 9, we will now examine what Christianity has to say in regard to the various psychological challenges we all experience from time to time. This involves addressing some rather complex concepts that may sound a bit technical or even foreign to most hearing these ideas for the first time. However, the payoff is a deeper understanding of the unparalleled e...

True spirituality always begins within the thought-world. The internal is central and first. The spiritual battle is always fought in the world of our thoughts, which is why living the Christian life necessarily involves actively and intentionally setting your mind on and making every effort to live out the teachings laid out in the Bible. __________________________________________________________...

Thus far in the series we've been considering freedom from sin's power to hold us down and keep us in bondage to things and attitudes that harm us. Now we're turning to consider the question of freedom in the present life from the results of sin's bondage. And this is where we come into very sharp conflict with modern intellectual thinking, and we'll see what Christian teaching has to say to...

Christianity teaches that the answer to humanity's fundamental problem is that the central relationship that makes all other relationships most meaningful is that of the Creator and the creature, which is restored when I accept Jesus Christ as Savior and then approach life following his teachings and example. When this happens, I am to be in my appointed position, in the proper place and in a pers...

The Christian concept of salvation isn't just about past events, including Christ's death on the cross and when I accepted him as Savior, and a future destiny on into eternity, but how life is to be lived in the here and now. It is engaging life in all dimensions by faith in God and being strengthened by him to live moment by moment as one following the teachings and example of Jesus and the apost...

The message of Jesus Christ (the gospel) includes the call to live in the reality of the supernatural. Holding to the right beliefs in terms of theology and doctrine is important, but it is not an end in itself. There is to be an experiential reality, moment by moment. And the glory of the experiential is that we can do it with all the intellectual doors and windows wide open. We aren't just after...

Having concluded in part 3 that the Lord tells us to live as though we had died, gone to heaven, seen the truth there, and then come back to this world, he is not asking us to act on just some psychological motivation, but on what really is, what is ultimately real. Therefore I am to live now by faith, grounded in three space-time realities: what has occurred, such as Christ's death and resurrecti...

We have up till now highlighted the important negative aspects of the Christian life: rejected, slain. Now we turn our attention toward the positive, without which the other two cannot represent a true, balanced spirituality: raised. ____________________ Attributions: Schaeffer, Francis A. (1971).True Spirituality: How to Live for Jesus Moment by Moment. Tyndale House. "Hope" and "Dawn" by Kazukii...

Practicing the willingness to say no to ourselves and to things in order that the command to love God and men may have real meaning is a tremendous challenge for us due to our fallen nature. We all experience the natural inclination to focus on ourselves and what we want, and not to deny ourselves. Since the fall of humanity, we are inclined to do everything we canto put ourselves at the center of...