Getting Through the Day, Revisited ........... 4/28/12

      Good morning everyone,

       I'm leaving the following post with you. I penned it May 31st, last year. I hope it provides new helpful options you might want to consider when going through a challenging day.

      Here it is: 

           The following spiritual disciplines help us get through the day, especially those days that present challenges and stress.

1.  Meditation.

    This spiritual exercise slows us down, a good thing. It lets us get away from the frenetic white noise of busyness. Meditation enables us to still our minds and wrap them around the events transpiring in our day, week or month. Seeking God's will in the midst of all that confronts us, is what we try to do. Praying for God's grace to carry out His will, not ours, is the next step.  Spirituality is humbling.
Yet, nothing is as satisfying as our enjoying a deep relationship with a loving, kind, gracious God. For those who may not know He is loving, forgiving and kind, I have two words for you: He is.

If we are going in the wrong direction, it doesn't help to run the opposite way, if we are on the wrong bus. Meditation allows us to reconsider what we're doing.  We're pausing, getting our bearings. We are not allowing the tyranny of the urgent to overrule the less urgent but more important parts of our lives.

Phone calls can seem urgent. We can permit them to consume our time. We tend to them instead of letting them go to voicemail, just because we hear the ring. I find taking time to invest in my needs first, provides me with the spiritual armor I need to hand the pressures of the day.

2. Prayer.

    "Prayer is," as Victor Hugo said, "no matter what position our body is in, our soul is on its knees."  This means we can pray while driving and keep our eyes open. (A good thing.) We are as strong spiritually as we are in our prayer. If we are weak here, we will be weak spiritually.

3.  Palms Down Exercise. I share this technique with my clients, those I mentor and friends.

     Try sitting, with our forearms resting on our thighs, our hands extended beyond our knees, facing downwards. Releasing to God whatever concerns us, is our focus.  It goes something like this:

         God, I release to you my worries, my anxiety, my pain, be it mental, physical, emotional or in any other form. I give to you my past history and the pain it contains.  Father, I release my resentments, fears, and doubts to You. You can do for me what I can't do for myself.  I turn these issues over into your loving care.

4.  Palms Up Exercise.  It looks like this:

        Dear God, I receive from You your power, strength, perseverance, poise, peace and prosperity. I receive the emotional safety, tranquility, hope, and harmony that you alone provide. I receive the joy, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control you offer. I receive the fantastic community, fellowship and celebration of life I enjoy with my family,  loved ones and friends.

    You get the idea. We give thanks for knowing a God greater than ourselves. He can restores us when we're frazzled. The sanity and serenity we seek is available, when we draw closer to Him.

5.  Reading Inspiring Literature
      It  helps us grow.  I believe in God. But, I've found that helpful literature is also a power greater than myself. Our best thinking and actions brought us the problems that face us today. We're more likely to encounter frustration, anger, anxiety and resentment, when we're not exercising restorative principles above those weak areas in our personality. Principles make it possible for us to respond to the challenges we face, including anger, being overwhelmed, etc.

     Literature gives perspective. Reading material that helps us expand beyond our old methods of coping makes us wiser. When this is the case, that literature is a power greater than ourselves.

6.  Friends.
     Our  needs are God's way of extruding us into relationship with emotionally healthy others.  Character discernment allows us to invite others into our life who help us be a better persons because of their presence in our lives. Though not perfect, these friends are "good enough" in  their own character that the net effect of their presence in my life is positive.  They are accepting, honest, and present, and they help me to bear good fruit in my life.  (These comments are adapted from Drs. Henry Cloud's and John Townsend's,book, Safe People.)
     Calling a friend when we are at wit's end is a sanity saver. It's good remembering that "two are better than one, for they have a rich reward for their labor."   Ecclesiastes 4:9

7. Gratitudes.
     I have a hard copy of my gratitudes. I use one of those marbled, spreckly composition books with a black spine. I keep my daily record of thanks in it. I try writing at least three.  At last count I have over 41,000 gratitudes in the several notebooks I've filled up. They help change the direction of my thinking.

The optimist sees the opportunity in every problem. The pessimist sees the problem in every opportunity. It is only the optimist who soars and it is the pessimist who will try to clip his wings, to prevent him from flying.

      There are several other things I do that help me to get through the day.  I'll have to share them later. Please let me know your thoughts, I value them. Please do so, even if it's months after this post was written. If you do, I'll respond, I promise. Today's subject is a great topic to bring up at any time.