What kind of day do you expect to have each morning?
Do you expect 24 hours filled with joy, health, peace and progress? Or do you expect to find misery, suffering, pain, and reasons to despair?
It’s a good question to ask, because you are living out your expectations.
Some people go for months and years feeling depressed and tired. Without realizing it, they start to believe that a dark day is a normal day.
Other people go for years feeling good on a regular basis expecting to be happy and healthy, and they remain so.
What are your expectations for life? Are they good? Could they be improved?
God has given us a good life to live, and through committed prayer and obedience to God’s will, we can experience an enjoyable life.
God is our Life, and God is good.
Life is not meant to be downcast and drudgery. Pain and suffering should not be accepted as normal. Joy and inspiration should be the standard.
If needed, break out of the rut of low expectations and embrace your spiritual Life which is filled with love and peace.
Living in harmony with God, health and happiness are normal. Suffering is not.
Enjoy!
Wednesday, March 8, 2006
Monday, March 6, 2006
No more bother
I asked a co-worker if he’d like to eliminate bother from his life. He replied, “Yes, I know a couple of people I’d like to eliminate right now!”
I said, “I didn’t ask if there were people you wanted eliminated. I asked if you wanted to eliminate bother!”
There’s a big difference between eliminating what we think is a bother to us, and eliminating the predisposition to being bothered in the first place.
Christian Science has taught me to take responsibility for my thinking, which means, if I feel bothered by another person’s actions, my irritation is not the other person’s fault. It’s the effect of how I’m thinking about that person.
While riding on an airplane one time, a baby near my seat started crying and giving her mother terrible fits. A passenger next to me got very mad and upset with the two. I had been in a similar situation when a young father, so had an idea of what kind of desperation the mother might have been feeling. I was not bothered, but felt compassion and prayed for the baby’s peace of mind. The child soon calmed down and remained quiet for the rest of the trip. My neighbor calmed down too.
As I thought about how the passenger next to me and I had opposite reactions to the same circumstances, I realized that it wasn’t the baby’s crying that made my neighbor mad. It was his negative attitude about it. And it didn’t help that he was thinking only about himself.
This lesson applies to all of our relationships. It’s never another person that causes us bother. It’s our view of that person’s actions that upsets us. A remedy for eliminating the bother is to look for something good to focus on and consider the other from an unselfish vantage point.
How? One way, is to get a more spiritually inspired view of the individual God created in the first place.
God is good and made each of His children good. No matter how different, and even unusual, another person may appear to us, they are just as important, significant and special as any other individual. They have an important reason to exist, and it helps to seek out that reason, value the worth, and honor the contribution they have to make. The more we love and the less we judge, the better for everyone involved.
“Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment,” John wrote.
“Righteous judgment” includes looking at others from a spiritual point of view.
The more time we pray looking for good in our neighbor, the less time we have to feel bothered by their actions.
I said, “I didn’t ask if there were people you wanted eliminated. I asked if you wanted to eliminate bother!”
There’s a big difference between eliminating what we think is a bother to us, and eliminating the predisposition to being bothered in the first place.
Christian Science has taught me to take responsibility for my thinking, which means, if I feel bothered by another person’s actions, my irritation is not the other person’s fault. It’s the effect of how I’m thinking about that person.
While riding on an airplane one time, a baby near my seat started crying and giving her mother terrible fits. A passenger next to me got very mad and upset with the two. I had been in a similar situation when a young father, so had an idea of what kind of desperation the mother might have been feeling. I was not bothered, but felt compassion and prayed for the baby’s peace of mind. The child soon calmed down and remained quiet for the rest of the trip. My neighbor calmed down too.
As I thought about how the passenger next to me and I had opposite reactions to the same circumstances, I realized that it wasn’t the baby’s crying that made my neighbor mad. It was his negative attitude about it. And it didn’t help that he was thinking only about himself.
This lesson applies to all of our relationships. It’s never another person that causes us bother. It’s our view of that person’s actions that upsets us. A remedy for eliminating the bother is to look for something good to focus on and consider the other from an unselfish vantage point.
How? One way, is to get a more spiritually inspired view of the individual God created in the first place.
God is good and made each of His children good. No matter how different, and even unusual, another person may appear to us, they are just as important, significant and special as any other individual. They have an important reason to exist, and it helps to seek out that reason, value the worth, and honor the contribution they have to make. The more we love and the less we judge, the better for everyone involved.
“Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment,” John wrote.
“Righteous judgment” includes looking at others from a spiritual point of view.
The more time we pray looking for good in our neighbor, the less time we have to feel bothered by their actions.
Saturday, March 4, 2006
What to do with downtime
Americans have more leisure time then ever, but don’t know how to use it to their advantage, the Washington Post reports in the article, “Leisure overload?”
Over the decades, workers have become more productive, wages have risen, hours worked per week have decreased and discretionary time has increased. But many feel more stressed out and anxious than ever. Why the contradiction? One might ask.
Could it be we need more spirituality-based activity in our leisure time?
Have you ever gone on a long vacation and come back home more tired than before you left? I have, and I learned from the experience that a true vacation is not getting away from a job sight or home front. It’s getting away from burdensome thoughts and perspectives.
Enduring rest doesn’t come from tanning on the beach or walking through the woods. Genuine rest comes from soaking in spiritual inspiration and gaining new spiritual insights. One can do these things while lying on the beach or walking through the forest, but without some type of spiritual improvement and regeneration, these activities have little positive effect.
Mary Baker Eddy wrote, “God rests in action….The highest and sweetest rest, even from a human standpoint, is in holy work.”
It’s easy to fill leisure time with endless ways of entertaining the material senses. But the effect of sensual over-indulgence typically leaves one feeling empty and wanting. I've found that the more fulfilling way is to fill those hours with activity that brings me closer to God and feeling more spiritually minded. The fresh inspiration we gain stays with us long after the hours seeking it have passed!
So, when you're looking for something to do with your next day off, seek out your spiritual options, and plan accordingly. The good effect from being spiritually productive will take you up a few notches in the scale of true happiness and leave you feeling genuinely rested for the effort.
Over the decades, workers have become more productive, wages have risen, hours worked per week have decreased and discretionary time has increased. But many feel more stressed out and anxious than ever. Why the contradiction? One might ask.
Could it be we need more spirituality-based activity in our leisure time?
Have you ever gone on a long vacation and come back home more tired than before you left? I have, and I learned from the experience that a true vacation is not getting away from a job sight or home front. It’s getting away from burdensome thoughts and perspectives.
Enduring rest doesn’t come from tanning on the beach or walking through the woods. Genuine rest comes from soaking in spiritual inspiration and gaining new spiritual insights. One can do these things while lying on the beach or walking through the forest, but without some type of spiritual improvement and regeneration, these activities have little positive effect.
Mary Baker Eddy wrote, “God rests in action….The highest and sweetest rest, even from a human standpoint, is in holy work.”
It’s easy to fill leisure time with endless ways of entertaining the material senses. But the effect of sensual over-indulgence typically leaves one feeling empty and wanting. I've found that the more fulfilling way is to fill those hours with activity that brings me closer to God and feeling more spiritually minded. The fresh inspiration we gain stays with us long after the hours seeking it have passed!
So, when you're looking for something to do with your next day off, seek out your spiritual options, and plan accordingly. The good effect from being spiritually productive will take you up a few notches in the scale of true happiness and leave you feeling genuinely rested for the effort.
