ClydeStyle

Tag: state of mind

  • 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.

  • If only it were that easy

    Christianity suffers from unbelief. There are many who profess a relationship with God outwardly but in their hearts they have not surrendered. Have you ever heard phrases like, “I’m just trusting in the Lord”; “God knows my heart”; “I’m not religious, I’m spiritual!”? These used to be the words of the religious, but have now become as empty in meaning as the hearts of the sayer is from God.

    Strong words. I know, but it just seems like a person who loved the Lord in their heart would want to be pleasing to him. God expects that his people will practice loving each other, help people in need and worship him with their lives. Now you don’t have to go to a church to do those things, but going to church has its purpose.

    Allow me to be religious for a moment — in the book of Acts, chapter 2:42-47 Luke, the physician, writes that after baptism the new believers continued in the apostles teaching and fellowshipped together daily. He spoke of them being glad together and having singleness of heart. And it was in this backdrop that the Lord added to the church daily. You see, God expects for his people to form a community of believers that would then go into various other communities and consume them. The church is designed to function like a kingdom. And that kingdom would fulfill the prophecy from Daniel 2:44.

    It’s hard to build the relationship that would glorify God when the system he established is not being utilized. Now I am fully aware that some institutions of religion are so blended with tradition that it doesn’t look like anything God created but none the less, there is a mandate to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together.

    The problem here is much like funerals these days — everyone goes to heaven. I’ve never seen a funeral where the expectation was that the dead would be tormented. No matter what lifestyle was lived, we ignore bible mandates and decide that death for everyone means we are all heaven bound.

    Not only is that not true but it is a pretty good reason why as a society we are so callus about God. Let us live lives that serve a creator who is worthy of our worship. Let’s honor him in our comings and goings because it is because of him that we move and live and have our very being!

  • We are nothing but animals…

    We can learn a lot from animals.

    As an employer, one of the questions I always ask applicants is that if they were an animal, which one would they be?

    It’s always interesting to hear the answers that I get.

    I have had market research interviewers say they would be sharks…

    I’ve had hospice sales people say they would choose to be dogs…

    And I’ve had clergy say they would be lions…

    You can actually learn much about a person by how they answer this question.

    Can you imagine that your daughter is dating a boy who says he is most like a wolf? Or how about an octopus? Or even a butterfly?

    All of these species mean something to this equation. All of them give a snapshot of who the person believes they are.

    In therapy, we learn how to turn a pussycat into a panther simply by giving him confidence. We learn to empower a victim who feels trapped like a rat.

    And we learn to tame the toughest tiger by controlling his anger.

    We do this through teaching the subjects the power of the mind. A person’s state of mind is the most powerful tool on this planet.

    It’s his state of mind that makes a firefighter run into a burning building to save someone. Their state of mind makes Olympians out of ordinary athletes. But it can also turn a victim into a killer or a heterosexual man gay.

    Buddha said:

    “We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.”

    Choose your animal wisely and be the best one you can be.