ClydeStyle

Category: Progress

  • Convenience is killing us

    What is the cost of convenience these days? It seems like the better we are technologically, the worse off we get.

    Artificial Intelligence says the phrase “convenience is killing us” means that our constant pursuit of easy and readily available options, often in the form of processed foods, fast services, and readily accessible technology, is negatively impacting our health, environment, and overall well-being by encouraging laziness, poor dietary choices, and a lack of meaningful engagement with our surroundings; essentially, prioritizing immediate comfort over long-term health and sustainability.

    It has always been this way. For example, in the 1700s, we would have a wood-burning stove and a fireplace, and between the two, the family would be gathered together in one room to stay warm. The kids would be lying on the floor near the fireplace. Mama would be in her rocking chair knitting, and Papa would be smoking his pipe and reading to the family from the “good book,” and there would be good, stimulating discussion and togetherness.

    In 1830, a Scottish inventor created the thermostat, and with it, heat could be dispersed throughout all the rooms in the house with a controlled temperature and there was no need to gather together at the end of the day. By the 1900s, everyone was separated in their own rooms doing their own things. So much for togetherness.

    If you ask a person in their 90s about the way things were, you would discover that to them, it seems like we as a country are in one big hurry for nothing. Everything is fast and in a hurray. We want things now. No waiting! Patience is gone.

    And in our haste, we settled for less quality. In addition, we have sacrificed our health, created social isolation, lacked physical activity, created a negative environmental impact, and created mental health concerns. Is it really worth it?

  • I can’t spend the rest of my life in my dad’s clothes

    So, on the eve of Easter, there will be preparations for a huge celebration across Christian areas of the world regarding the Resurrection.

    Easter morphed into the holiday that remembers the death, burial, and resurrection of the Christ, although it didn’t start that way. However, for many who have surrendered their lives to Jesus Christ, righteousness has been bestowed upon you due to obedience. That’s right, the Bible is clear that believing in the gospel and being baptized for the remission of sins puts you in a right standing with God.

    Further, he has forgiven your sins and begins the process of transforming your mind. This process is like putting on your father’s clothes as a kid. When God makes us righteous, it is like wearing clothes that are 8 times your size. The idea is that, from this point, we’re supposed to grow.

    That huge garment we were given should eventually fit if we do the work. The goal is to be able to honor God at every turn of your life. In your decisions, in relationships, at your job, and in your family, God must get glory.

    The problem is that there are people who have been made righteous years ago and still have not begun to grow. The way they think, act, make decisions, spend money, help people, or study their bible fall behind the person’s desire to serve self.

    That was not God’s plan. Some folks will have a lot of explaining to do on judgment day. So for this Easter, allow self examination to be of the utmost importance to you. Think about your lifestyle and see if changes are warranted based on scripture. That would be the best way to celebrate the holiday this year!

  • Grieving doesn’t have to ruin Christmas

    Every year, without fail, some family is dealing with the loss of a loved one, and it is their first holiday season without the deceased.

    It hurts. There is a serious sense of loss, confusion, anxiety, and sadness. The world has moved on where these families are stuck in time… grieving.

    The following are some real solutions to how to handle this difficult time. Tradition is very powerful, and in our subconscious, we want to make this time of the year as normal as possible. But we don’t have to. The acknowledgment that your family is experiencing one of life’s difficulties is therapeutic. In times like these, we should listen to our bodies. The body will let you know what it can handle.

    1) Cancel Christmas! Treat Santa like you do when you don’t want to participate in trick or treat festivities. You just simply turn your porch light off! Don’t even put up a tree. Christmas will be over before you know it. This gives you the time to reflect and put some things in perspective.

    2) Embrace the alone time and quietness. You have full permission to cry and be alone — there is nothing wrong with that. Especially if you use the time wisely. You always need time to plan and think about your path forward. There may need to be changes made. This is the time to do it! It’s like you’re hibernating until the new year!

    3) Huddle up! This is where you gather together in one place the remaining people who serve a major purpose in your life and you spend the holiday in memory and in celebration of who you lost. This is the private time where each person let’s the other know how important they are, and you can Christmas as a time to express it!

    4) Get out! It’s time to take that special trip you have been wanting to take. Traveling can be very therapeutic, especially if you go to a place that does not celebrate the holidays as we do. This will allow you to retool, relax, and grieve peacefully.

    5) Create and memorial or ritual. This is something you create to honor your loved one. You might plant a tree, create a new ritual, and spend time with specific people. The point is two things: to establish a memorial and bond with close friends.

    Whatever you choose to do, listen to your body. Make sure you eat, get rest, and don’t be afraid to be sad.

  • Columbus Day should be put out of its misery

    We welcome October with a plea to the government to put an end to the big lie surrounding Columbus Day. Everyone already knows how far the truth was stretched to cover up the evil that this day represents.

    Even if some turn a blind eye to the offense of this federal holiday, others have already begun to replace the celebratory part of the holiday with something called Native American Day or Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

    Originally, Columbus was credited as the discoverer of America despite the fact that millions of people were already here. Columbus made four expeditions to the Caribbean and South America enslaving and decimating populations paving the way for European colonization.

    The White House made a proclamation last year to the holiday, and sadly, it gave the true history of the holiday. In speaking about Italian-Americans, it says, “Things have not always been easy; prejudice and violence often stalled the promise of equal opportunity.  In fact, Columbus Day was created by President Harrison in 1892 in response to the anti-Italian motivated lynching of 11 Italian Americans in New Orleans in 1891.  During World War II, Italian Americans were even targeted as enemy aliens.  But the hard work, dedication to community, and leadership of Italian Americans in every industry make our country stronger, more prosperous, and more vibrant.  The Italian American community is also a cornerstone of our Nation’s close and enduring relationship with Italy — a vital NATO Ally and European Union partner.”

    Now, I agree with these sentiments regarding Italians, and there are other cultures that contribute to many positive things in America. However, I can make a powerful argument that African-American contributions far exceed the others, and despite having Republicans and Democrats make promises of change, Black people have continued to struggle.

    Columbus Day is a slap in the face. It needs to be a part of some museum where we put our troubled past away forever. I love the idea of celebrating the originals. And paying homage to the true innovative beings that dared to follow scientific theories to get to the New World.

    It is as if you can’t believe anything that was told to us in “American history.” With so many lies, it makes you wonder what else they are hiding.

  • A thing that can’t happen

    I’m not sure if this will be a new series or not, but there are certain things that just can’t happen. It needs to happen, but by the way we are as a country, it would cause an even greater divide if it did.

    I’m specifically talking about a scientific discovery of longevity. Imagine the level of greed and covetousness that would ensue if we discovered a way to extend life by hundreds of years. I’m talking about a new life expectancy of 250 years.

    I would imagine that our biased country would want to decide who is worthy of this. It would not be something that everyone could experience. I’m not even sure what the price tag would be, but definitely, anyone lower than wealthy would not have access.

    There would be billionaires trying to corner the market on this gift. As the African proverb states: “When the elephants rumble, the grass suffers.” We are the grass.

    Imagine some of the world’s dictators living longer: Kim Jong Un, Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump,Joe Biden, and Xi Jinping all live another 160 plus years. Would the world be a bitter place if that happened?

    Longevity would give us more time to be greedy and selfish. If it were available to everyone, then it would give the poor and downtrodden another 200-plus years of poverty, stress, sickness, and depression. Giving the world more time would not at all help the poor — it would extend their already horrible sentence.

    It would do us no good to imagine the world as a better place because more time would increase the intensity of who we are today — and it’s not a pretty sight!

  • No rest for the guilty

    Guilt is the fact of having committed a specified or implied offense or crime. The feelings surrounding this fact are what bothers us the most. It’s not just the uneasy feeling but there is a definite sense of darkness that seems to follow you when you’re guilty.

    It’s always been hard to accept when we are wrong. No one enjoys it. It proves that we missed something or that we are not as smart as we thought we were. It places doubt on the future and makes you hesitant to go forward.

    Some of us get so down that we feel we ought to be punished. We even go to great lengths to ensure our punishment. One of the hardest things in life is to forgive self.

    I used to manage hospices and I recall on several occasions where I had to convince a patient not to attempt to punish themselves. There were folks who were dying of cancer and upon understanding that they were terminal and were gonna die, they wanted to refuse pain medication in an attempt to punish themselves for past sins.

    Guilt is the reality that we are human. It proves we’re not perfect and gives us an opportunity to mature. Guilt provides another chance to make good on life and react to the learning curve. We should embrace our guilt and learn from it. Guilt should not be in control but should serve as a guide or teacher to it’s participants.

    Allow guilt to do it’s job and be thankful. If you are able to realize your wrongdoing you are already much better off.

  • Getting your God complex under control

    We all have this inner God complex. It’s where we get some of our best ideas, it’s where our compassion grows, it’s where forgiveness begins and it’s where our unconditional love comes from. With this complex, when things are going well, we achieve and flourish in various areas. We create, lead, influence, edify and develop ideas. When things are at their worst, we tend to lack forgiveness for ourselves.

    We being to accept blame, sometimes too much blame because in our complex we think we should have known, seen, anticipated, figured out or controlled people, places and things — and that’s impossible.

    The feeling is amplified when other people are injured by our actions. It happens. What should take place is that we should release all negativity, deal with the facts and be reflective about moving forward. Learn the lessons and forgive yourself. We need to begin to see the truth about these ill- feelings.

    God doesn’t want us punishing ourselves because something fell through the cracks or we proved that we are not perfect. I started out calling it a God complex because when something happens some of us will take full responsibility as if we were God and could control everything.

    Nobody is perfect. Most people who dare to lead want to do their best. It doesn’t always happen like that and you need to forgive yourself. Now! And move forward a better person!

  • Tell your anxiety to get in line

    Living in Western civilization means to live with anxiety and to have something to constantly worry about. It seems that most of what we worry about has to do with things we cannot control. That tends to drive us crazy. We lose time, sleep, energy and creative time worrying.

    With such busy schedules I discovered this life hack that tends to work well for me. It seems so simple but for me it was really effective. I scheduled my time to worry. I mean I literally had it on my calendar. Once it’s scheduled I direct my brain to stop worrying until that time. When you focus on this you actually stop worrying. What this allows you to do is focus on solutions and be productive in other areas that you do control.

    Pretty neat, huh? Then you literally get a natural high from all the things you accomplished when you focus. And here is the best part — when your scheduled time to worry comes up, you will be hard pressed to find something to worry about. Most of the time the problem takes care of itself. If not, all you have to do is reschedule your worry time.

    Now with every accomplishment you have to give yourself credit for it. Celebrate a successful day in some creative way. There is nothing wrong with slowing your pace to congratulate yourself. You mind will conform to this if you focus. This idea works because all we are really trying to do is be productive. We want to be able to do meaningful things that allow us to grow and develop a sense of pride in our living. Successful people have learned how to manage their anxiety and you can to.

    Make sure you focus on what matters most and then you make sure you are physically able to hand your load and then give yourself a fighting chance. Get plenty of sleep, eat healthy, enjoy daily exercise and drink plenty of water. You will feel that stress melt away. Trust.

  • Rate yourself

    Rate yourself

    If there was a rating system for human beings, what type of human would you be? I mean would you seek to get high scores? Would you act any different than you do today?

    It seems that it does not matter to some people how others see them. I wonder if there were a system and within that system you had to score a certain amount of points. Imagine if each year everyone had to score a certain amount of points for “doing good”. I mean you scored points when you helped people, or when you were kind or when you sacrificed for others or if you made your community better. Imagine if this was the case and those who failed to score enough points had to spend the following year in jail??

    I wonder would there be people in prison if this were the case? Or what if things like greed, envy, lies, anger and hurting people took points away?

    Imagine if your kindness was your currency? Who then would be rich?

    It is sad that in America we have such a morality issue and we don’t seem to know what is right anymore. Or we just don’t care because the consequences aren’t stiff enough.

    The things that are important and matter are not our biggest things. Covetousness seems to be and unless something drastically changes, we will ultimately cause our own country to fall.

  • Too much wind for ya??

    Too much wind for ya??

    It has been a while since I expounded on God’s word so I would like to share Matt. 14:23-33.

    In this passage of scripture, Jesus was with a multitude and once he sent them away he went up on the mountain to pray alone. By the time he had finished it was getting late and the ship where his disciples were was in the midst of the sea being tossed around about by the waves and the wind.

    Jesus comes toward them walking on the sea (yes, he was actually walking on the sea as if there was a makeshift walkway) and his disciples saw him and were afraid as they thought he was a ghost. The savior calls out to them to let them know it was him.

    Astonished, Peter was the brave soul to take it a step forward when he asked for proof that it was in fact Jesus. His proof was that Jesus would allow for him to walk on water and meet him. The creator granted Peter’s request and here is where we get the meat for this story.

    Verse 30 says that the wind was boisterous. That means it was loud and forceful, but this is something the text says Peter saw, not heard. Peter first saw Jesus walking on water and he was afraid. He also “saw” the wind boisterous and was afraid.

    Which do you think scared him the most?

    The assumption here is that when he saw Jesus and realized that it truly was him, he wanted to do what Jesus was doing. And he actually did walk on water.

    But the wind’s actions were accompanied by force and it stood in opposition of what Peter wanted to do, Peter backed down because he felt he was no match for the wind. He knew that the force of the wind was far greater than he was. When he began to sink he cried for Jesus to save him and immediately the text says He did but asked Peter why did he doubt.

    The lesson: The wind represents everything that is against us here from trials and tribulations to sin. Jesus is still Jesus in this lesson and Peter represents us. Jesus did not save Peter because they were good friends. In fact, any of the disciples could have done what Peter did. Peter just happened to be the one bold enough to ask. The assumption is that if you asked the question, the answer should have produced faith. In other words, Peter said Lord if it is you, then let me come to you. By the fact that Peter was able to come meant that it was in fact Jesus and now your faith will be made perfect in your work (walking on water).

    Am I going too fast?

    Faith without works is dead. Peter’s question was answered and he began through the work to demonstrate his faith, but the wind (trial) was too much. And even though Peter did nothing to earn his salvation, Jesus saved him anyhow. Why? Because he is God and that’s the business he is in.

    Dear reader, do you believe that God will save you? Have you come to him in obedience to his will and allowed your faith to grow through your works?

    Or is there just too much wind???