Brave The Wave

Author: adm785g72

  • Suicidal Thoughts Or Suicidal Attempts Have Doubled In Children and Teens

    Suicidal Thoughts Or Suicidal Attempts Have Doubled In Children and Teens

    Suicidal Thoughts Or Suicidal Attempts Doubled In Children and Teens

    (CNN)The number of children and teens in the United States who visited emergency rooms for suicidal thoughts and suicide
    attempts doubled between 2007 and 2015, according to a new analysis.

    Researchers used publicly available data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, administered by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention every year. From the 300 emergency rooms sampled, the researchers tracked the
    number of children between 5 and 18 who received a diagnosis of suicidal ideation or suicide attempts each year.
    Diagnoses of either condition increased from 580,000 in 2007 to 1.12 million in 2015, according to the study, published
    Monday in JAMA Pediatrics. The average age of a child at the time of evaluation was 13, and 43% of the visits were in
    children between 5 and 11.”The numbers are very alarming,” said Dr. Brett Burstein, the lead study author and a pediatric
    emergency room physician at Montreal Children’s Hospital of McGill University Health Centre. “It also represents a larger
    percentage of all pediatric emergency department visits. Where suicidal behavior among the pediatric population was just 2% of all visits, that’s now up to 3.5%.”

    https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/08/health/child-teen-suicide-er-study/index.html

    Why Is This Not Getting More Attention ?

    Why is this not getting more national attention?  Suicidal thoughts in children are unusual. These numbers have doubled in a span of eight years. What has changed? What is the biggest social change that has happened in that span of time?

    Personally, I can remember around 2009 and 2010 thinking it was strange that we had to talk about getting our elementary school and middle school children a cell phone. It became a must purchase. Honestly, I was forced to give in because of societal pressure. The thought of my kid being the only one in the 7th grade class without a cell phone was too horrible to bear. That is how it all started. Because the older kids got their phones the younger one has to get hers too. Of course. There is no way the youngest could be left out. And just like that.  Everyone had a phone. Everyone.

    This was a grand social experiment that wasn’t planned or wasn’t controlled. It just happened. Of course the phone companies and the cellular communications companies were ecstatic. They’ve made billions of dollars. So have all the social media giants. The Facebooks and the Instagrams and all the people who benefit personally from having huge numbers of followers.  Everyone knows who they are.

    But what about our kids?  Why are children between the age and 5 and 11 even thinking about suicide? Suicidal thoughts should be the furthest thing from their minds. Doesn’t that seem strange to you?  It does to me.

    Is Social Media Playing a Role ?

    Social media and time on social media is one huge social experiment. No one knows the long term consequences of these major changes. Personally, I can already see the changes in my own family that is reflected in our interactions.

    When a child or teenager starts thinking that suicide is an answer to a problem, that is a huge problem. Many people will just chalk it up to mental illness. The data doesn’t support that. There is no way that the incidence of depression or anxiety is going to double in the span of eight years. Something else is going on.

    I believe this is a crisis. But there isn’t a lot of news coverage about this problem. I also believe there is a solution that will be of benefit to each of us and to our families. But clearly social media is having an impact:

    “Social media has been linked to higher levels of loneliness, envy, anxiety, depression, narcissism and decreased social skills. As a Behavioral Scientist, I wonder what causes this paradox? The narratives we share and portray on social media are all positive and celebratory. It’s a hybridized digital version of “Keeping up with the Joneses”. Meaning for some, sometimes it appears everyone you know are in great relationships, taking 5-star vacations and living your dream life. However, what is shared across our social networks only broadcasts the positive aspects of our lives-the highlight reels. Since we’re only getting people’s highlight reels and comparing it to ourselves, it is natural to have reactions to what we’re watching. How does this impact relationships, dating and our love lives? I conducted in-depth interviews with men and women, ranging from ages 28-73, that are active social media users and found that:
    60% of people using social media reported that it has impacted their self-esteem in a negative way
    50% reported social media having negative effects on their relationships
    80% reported that is easier to be deceived by others through their sharing on social media

    Match reported 51% say social media has made them feel more self-conscious about their appearance. Flores further explains “research has also shown that Face book users are becoming increasingly depressed from comparing themselves to their own profile.

    Meaning that if a person’s reality does not match the digital illusion they post on their profiles, emotionally, one may feel they are not living up to the “best” form of themselves.”

    https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/social-medias-impact-on-self-esteem_us_58ade038e4b0d818c4f0a4e4

    The Focus of Family

    As members of a family, we need to focus on the family. The family is the Laboratory of Love. Our spouses and our children are gifts from God and the interactions that we have with our immediate family is how we are to learn to love. It all starts in the family. Open discussion about feeling sad or feeling depressed are a good place to start.  These things should be addressed and we as members of our families should always emphasize the family as the most important unit of support in difficulty times. From thirty years of experience working in emergency rooms and dealing with countless patients thinking about suicide or actually going through with an attempt, one of the biggest risks for repeated attempts had to do with social support at home. Family.

    If you think about social media and cell phones and distractions, those types of things take us away from what we were meant to be doing in the laboratory of love. We are meant to be loving, caring and supporting each other in deep and meaningful ways. It all starts in the Laboratory of Love. The Family.

    In my book Brave the Wave, I use the near death experience of Howard Storm and how he describes his “life review” in his book, “My Descent Into Death”,

    The angels and Jesus shared their feelings of joy with me when love was expressed, and they shared their disappointment and sadness when we hurt one another. God had put my mother, father, sisters and me together to love and support one another in our life’s journey to grow in love and spirit.…

    In my life review, I had to turn away numerous times when I saw myself treating my children in unloving ways. The most unloving thing I did was to be at times so obsessed with my concerns that I was indifferent to their needs. I’m sorry for the occasions when I was impatient or cruel to my daughter and son. The most disturbing behaviors I witnessed in my life review were the times when I cared more about my career as an artist and college professor than about their need to be loved. The emotional abandonment of my children was devastating to review.

    Emotional abandonment. That is a pretty good description of what happens to our family relationships and the relationships we have with our friends when we are focused on distractions and social media. Those relationships get relegated to the back burner. That is the exact opposite of what God had in mind.

    Look at that line, “the angels and Jesus shared their feelings of joy with me when love was expressed”.

    That is our job. We as believers are in the love business. Business should be booming. THAT is how we counteract the negative consequences of the distractions of social media and cell phones. We lead with love. We listen. We support and love one another. Each of us is the solution to the problem. When a child feels down and depressed, we as parents or siblings are the answer.

    As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. (John 15:9-12 NLT)

     

     

  • The Family Is The Laboratory of Love

    The Family Is The Laboratory of Love

    The Family Is The Laboratory of Love

    The Laboratory of Love. The family. Those closest to us. They are a gift for us.  The family is where we learn how to love. Our most important task in this life.  I study near death experiences because they are fascinating to me. They also reinforce the principles that Jesus was preaching and teaching  two thousand years ago.

    The family is the classroom of love. The laboratory of love. The sooner we realize this, the sooner we can move towards our authentic self. The self we were created to be.   Here is an excerpt from “Brave The Wave”,

    In his book (4) Life after Life, Dr. Raymond Moody reports this:

    Some of those I interviewed claim that, while they cannot adequately explain it, everything they had ever done was there in this review (what has been described as a life review), from the most insignificant to the most meaningful. Others explain that what they saw were mainly highlights of their lives. Some people characterize this as an educational effort on the part of the being of light. As they witness the display (of their life review), the beings seem to stress the importance of two things in life: learning to love other people and acquiring knowledge.[i]

    This was consistent with what I was learning about our unique purpose in this life based on our gifts and talents. What those talents are and how they’re to be used.

    The teachings of Jesus were saying essentially the exact same thing:

    As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. (John 15:9-12 NLT)

    The reality is that we’re on this planet to learn to love others. Another common question people report being asked by the “being of light” was this: “What do you have to show me that you’ve done with your life?” In Lessons from the Light, Dr. Kenneth Ring writes,

    The Light seems to be telling us, each of us, that we have a unique gift, an offering to make to the world, and that our happiness and the world’s are both served when we live in such a way as to realize that gift, which is no less than our purpose in life.[ii]

    Boom. There it is. “Our happiness and the world’s are both served.”

    [i] Moody, Life After Life, 57.

    [ii] Kenneth Ring, Lessons from the Light (Needham, MA: Moment Point Press, 2006), 50.

    Learning How to Love

    We don’t even think about it. You might say we take it for granted.  Learn how to love ?  We may say,  “we don’t have to learn how to love, it comes naturally.” Does it? Learning how to love begins in the family. The laboratory of love. Those closest to us are gifts.  We also learn how to forgive and ask for forgiveness.  We begin to learn how to serve in the laboratory of love.

    Learning to love and serve others is the focus of this life.  It all starts in the classroom of love. The laboratory of love.

    “If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing.”

    1 Corinthians 13:2 NLT

    How often do we think about learning how to love?  How often do we say, “this day, I am going to focus on loving others.”

    As Christian believers, we are in the love business. Business should be booming.

     

     

     

  • Near Death Experiences, New Life

    Near Death Experiences, New Life

    Near Neath Experiences, New Life

    Why study near death experiences ? What do they have to do with spiritual growth ?  I believe that there is a very good description of a near death experience in the bible:

    I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven- whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into paradise-whether in the body or out of the body I do not kinow, God knows- and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses- though if I should wish to boast, I would  not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me.  So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.      (2 Corinthians 12:2-7 ESV)

    That sounds like Paul was given special revelations to help with his ministry. Could these revelations be available to us? Yes, they are because we can learn a great deal about what has value in this life and what is worthless.

    When we are talking about spiritual growth and our authentic selves, we need spiritual help and guidance. Primarily we look to the Holy Spirit and the Word. This is where supernatural power lies as we are seeking guidance for our lives.

    As I have posted on this blog, there are many reasons to study NDEs, but one of the most important from own study and experience is that they are a source of spiritual guidance that we can’t find anywhere else.

    You can try psychedelic drugs or meditation or go into nature, but those experiences will not give you an idea of what happens after we die and they won’t give you an idea of what is valuable and worthwhile to pursue while we are in this life.

    Many people want to know what happens after we die,

    Why Study Near Death Experiences ? (What Happens When We Die)

     

    Many people have devoted their time, and energy and money to activities with little to no value,

    Why Study Near Death Experiences?: Because Everyone is Betting On Something

    Many people are paralyzed by fear and anxiety and their lives are controlled by fear and avoidance behavior,

    Afraid to Die, Too Scared to Live

    This is a biggie,  many people are searching for purpose or meaning in their lives.   In my book, Challenge Your Fear, Empower Your Spirit, I quote a study that shows that over 100 million Christians are still searching for meaning and purpose in their lives,

    “More than 100 million American adults who describe themselves as Christian contend that despite their commitment to God they are still searching for clarity regarding their purpose in life. Tens of millions of self-described Christians feel unfulfilled in life, admit they lack direction,and are disappointed that their faith has not produced the kind of meaning and identity they need, and question whether their life makes a difference.” George Barna, Maximum Faith[1]

    [1] Barna,George “Maximum Faith” Metainformation/SGG/WHCP; 1st edition (March 1,2011)p 10

    I belive that NDEs can help direct us towards finding purpose for our lives,

    Why Study Near Death Experiences? They Shine Light on Purpose and Meaning

    Are you interested in getting an idea what happens when we die ?   Are you looking for purpose and meaning in your life?  Are you overwhelmed with fear and anxiety ?  Do you have no passion or drive in your life ?

    If you explore the above blog posts, you will most likely get many ideas and find out things about yourself that you never knew.    The beauty of Near Death Experiences is that you can study the experience of others and it can still have a positive impact on your life without actually having the experience yourself.

    In addition, if you are studying the Word and are spending time studying biblical principles, you will recognize that many of the experiences that NDers have are consistent with the truth of the Word.

    If you want to explore this further there are book references in some of these posts that delve into that idea.

    The Eternity Problem

    One of the things that we can agree on is that if we believe in God and we believe that we are spirits who happen to have a body, then we share one huge problem. Eternity.

    Compared to our little problems related to Covid, food and fuel prices, climate change and all of our petty little troubles, when we face eternity, those little troubles become even smaller.

    This is all summed up in one of my favorite quotes when it comes to the Christianity:

    Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.   C.S. LEWIS

        If Christianity is true, then eternity is true and what we do on this earth has a direct impact on our eternity. Eternity is important because it is infinite.   Our eternity is also unique to us.

    How do we know that our eternities are unique?   Because what we believe and what we do impacts where we will spend eternity and what we will do in eternity. But these are OUR CHOICES.

    Many non-believers don’t believe in God because they can’t fathom a loving kind caring God sending us to a place of torture, pain and suffering.  They are mistaken.  God doesn’t send us anywhere.

    We choose our destiny when we embrace or ignore the sacrifice on the cross that Jesus endured for our salvation.  Hell is just the absence of everything that is God. It is total separation from God by our choice.

    God is love, so there is no love in hell. God is light, so hell is complete darkness. God is good, so there is absolutely nothing good in hell. God is life, so that means hell is eternal death. God is gracious, so that means there’s no grace in hell.

    Our Eternities are unique and what we do on this planet plays a role in how and where we spend eternity. When we accept Christ and turn our lives over to Him, we choose Heaven, but that is just the beginning of our journey.

    One thing that really caught my attention was an equation that I saw one time. It was an eye opener because it really puts our faith and our salvation in context.

    Salvation + Faith = Works
    Faith + Works = Salvation

    We can disagree on how faith and works are necessary for salvation or whether you can have salvation by faith alone, but if you look at both of these equations, works are a part of both. Deeds.  Bearing fruit. Hand to the plow. Taking action.  Whatever you believe, works or deeds play a role.

    Then He said to another man, “Follow Me.” The man replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”But Jesus told him, “Let the dead bury their own dead. You, however, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Still another said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first let me bid farewell to my family.”Then Jesus declared, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and then looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

                                                                                                              ( Luke 9:59-62 NLT)

     

    “We are healed to help others. We are blessed to be a blessing. We are saved to serve, not to sit around and wait for heaven.”

    Rick Warren

    To sum up what Jesus is telling us and what Rick Warren is saying and what these equations are telling us is that we are saved by faith for something. For what ? For good works. We have assignments. God has a plan. It is a privilege and an honor to tell others about Jesus and how he offers a deal that no one can match.

    When we accept Jesus as our personal savior,

    1. Our sins are forgiven (huge)
    2. We have a purpose for living
    3. We have a home waiting for us in heaven

     “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe in Me as well.  In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and welcome you into My presence, so that you also may be where I am.  You know the way to the place where I am going.”

     “Lord,” said Thomas, “we do not know where You are going, so how can we know the way?”

    Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.  If you had known Me, you would know My Father as well. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.”

                                                                                                              ( John 14:1-7 NLT)

    Based on the Barna research data introduced in the introduction, we know that the majority of believers ignore the second part of the deal, OUR PURPOSE.  This is bearing fruit. Taking action. Hand to the plow.  We want forgiveness and we want heaven, but we cross the bridge of purpose and pain to get there.  Purpose also protects us and provides the power we need for the journey.

    Near Death Experiences Remind Us Of Our Assignment

    The NDE can bring some valuable insight and some ideas that we haven’t even thought about as we are trying to figure out our own unique passions and gifts.  There are two unique and powerful principles outlined in this NDE that can really help us to home in on our own unique passion.  In “Lessons from the Light”, (1) this person who underwent an NDE describes what they learned from their experience:

    “One thing I (learned) was that we are ALL here to do an “assignment of love.” We don’t have to do it at all, or we can do as many as we like. It’s up to us.” Our “assignment” is programmed in at birth and it is the very thing or things we love most.”

      Look at this excerpt from “Brave The Wave”,

    There are many verses in the Bible that talk about our service and how we’re to use our time and gifts for the benefit of others. My favorite parable is the parable of the talents:

    For it [the kingdom of heaven] will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.

    He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money.

    Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, “Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.” His master said to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.”

    And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, “Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.” His master said to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.”

    He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, “Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.” But his master answered him, “You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 25:14-30 ESV)

    From this parable, it’s clear that each of us has been given a gift or talent. Here’s a description of a “talent”:

    According to the New Nave’s Topical Bible, one who possessed five talents of gold or silver was a multimillionaire by today’s standards. Some calculate the talent in the parables to be equivalent to twenty years of wages for the common worker. Other scholars estimate more conservatively, valuing the New Testament talent somewhere between $1,000 to $30,000 dollars today.[i]

    In this parable, we can assume that Jesus was making a point about the value of the gifts we’re given. He chose a large sum of money that was given to each servant. In my humble, non-biblical-scholar opinion, he’s telling us that we’re each given a valuable gift to use, and then receive a return on that investment. He wants us to use our gifts and talents in serving and helping others. We’re to bear fruit. Our gifts and talents and even our passions and interests were given for the benefit of others, not ourselves.

    From the parable, we can see that some of us have one talent, some three talents, and some five. Those who are given more have more responsibility.

    Notice how Jesus says, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you [put you in charge] over much. Enter in the joy of your master.” He’s giving us an idea of the reward waiting for us if we use our talents, money, and gifts in ways that are wise. In ways that benefit others. We’ll be put in charge of much, and we’ll celebrate with Jesus in heaven. This is an illustration of our responsibility for our unique eternity.

    [i] https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-a-talent-700699.

    This talent stuff is serious business.

     

    1. Kenneth Ring, Lessons from the Light (Needham, MA: Moment  Point Press, 2006 p. 47

     

     

     

     

  • You’re Only Powerless If You Believe You’re Powerless

    You’re Only Powerless If You Believe You’re Powerless

    You Are Only Powerless If You Believe You Are Powerless

    The key word here is believe. In my book “Brave the Wave” the focus was on what you think and what you believe and what you know. There has to be a transition from thinking to believing to knowing. You really do have access to power. The transition is what requires effort and time. Do you believe you are powerless?

    My second book is on passion, power and purpose. Who doesn’t want power? The essence and source of power comes from passion. It is a supernatural source. Our passion is a gift from God and is unique to us. In this book, I talk about what drove me to write,

    “Before we talk about supernatural power, I’d like us to look at our own unique passions. Is there anything that is burning deep inside you? Is there anything that you absolutely must do because if you don’t, you will die. Take the CAN’T NOT test. You can’t not do something or engage in some activity. That’s passion. Once discovered and developed, it can become a force in your life that drives you. Some people will say, “but I don’t have anything in my life that I am really passionate about.” Have you tried new things? I never dreamed or even thought about writing a book. I was telling my mom about all the things I had learned and had recorded in my spiritual journal and I told her, “mom, if I don’t write some of these ideas down and expand on them, my head will explode.” You see, there were no other options. Once I started, I couldn’t stop. That’s passion. Who knows if anyone will read this stuff, but at least, I’m getting it down.”

    I wrote that paragraph about a year ago. I was trying to capture the essence of passion. The book essentially wrote itself because of the nagging idea that was grating in the back of my head. How many people around me are actually engaged in passion? I’m talking about God given passion that is linked to purpose. Look around you. Look at all your family and friends and co-workers. If you have read “Brave the Wave”, you have developed some keen powers of observation.

    When we are engaged in passion, we have access to power. When you ignore your passion, you ignore your own power. Then you begin to believe you are powerless. If we link passion and power to purpose and inject discipline, we are closer to our authentic selves. The selves we were created to be.

    Passion, power, purpose

    I was just looking at a blog article from Ryan Holiday the author of the magnificent book “The Obstacle is the Way”. I highly recommend that book for people who are going through difficult circumstances. Look at what he wrote about the process of writing a book,

    Painters like painting, the saying goes, writers like having written.

    Are there exceptions to both sides of this rule? Of course. But anyone who has run the gauntlet and written a full-length book can tell you, it’s a grueling process.

    You wake up for weeks, months or years on end, and at the end of each working day you are essentially no closer to finishing than you were when you started. It’s particularly discouraging work because progress feels so elusive. Not to mention that the pages you find yourself looking at rarely match what was in your head.It’s for this reason that “wanting” to write a book is not enough. It’s not therapy. It’s not an “experience.” It’s hard f******* work.

    People who get it into their heads that they “may” have a book idea in them are not the ones who finish books. No, you write the book you HAVE to write or you will likely not write it at all. “Have” can take many forms, not just an idea you feel driven to get out. You know, Steig Larsson wrote the Dragon Tattoo series to pay for his and his wife’s retirement.

    If you honestly think you might be fine if you nixed the project and went on with your life as though the idea never occurred to you–then For The Love Of God, save yourself the anguish and do that. If, on the other hand, this idea keeps you up at night, it dominates your conversations and reading habits, if it feels like you’ll explode if you don’t get it all down, if your back is to the wall–then congratulations, it sounds like you’ve got a book in you.

    I include all this because I believe those are some good descriptors of passion.

    keeps you up at night

    dominates your conversations

    dominates your reading habits

    feels like you will explode if you don’t get it down

    For me personally, I wish I had a nickel for all the times I woke up at two in the morning and I had to get up to get some ideas down.

    Here are some other characteristics of passion that you may find useful to apply to other activities other than writing that you may or may not be engaged in.  I go into detail regarding each one in my second book on passion.

    Excitement (this tends to bring energy)

    Determination

    Positive attitude

    Perseverance

    Focus

    Resilience

    Infectious enthusiasm

    Servant’s heart

    Self-motivation

    Goal directed behavior

    These are the components of passion defined within the framework of our authentic selves. The selves we were created to be. Notice the inclusion of servant’s heart.   When I am talking about power and passion, I am talking about supernatural power that comes from our relationship with Jesus. It’s supernatural. It is awash in truth and love.

    The thing I found interesting is the word explode. I used the word explode describing my drive to write the book about passion because that is the only way to describe it. It was like a controlled fire or explosion deep inside of you. YOU MUST DO IT. If you don’t have a fire or an explosion deep inside, you are not tapping into power that is just waiting to be released. That is where the power lies. You may have to put effort into discovering that passion. I never knew that I had a passion to write until I tried it.  You are only powerless if you believe you are powerless.  You have access to power when you discover your passion. Which is a key to fulfilling your unique purpose.

    Listen to Dr Cavazos in the brand new Discover Your Authentic Self podcast !

    https://www.realmenconnect.com/podcast/episode/c5a4abaf/422-how-to-discover-your-authentic-self

     

  • Dealing With Anxiety

    Dealing With Anxiety

    Dealing With Anxiety

     

    Do you feel overwhelmed by anxiety? I was listening to something Rick Warren said this morning on a downloadable message. He said, when you put God in the center of your life you worship. When God isn’t in the center of your life, you worry. How many of us worry? I would say a lot of us.

    Two out of five Americans say they worry every day, according to a new white paper released by Liberty Mutual Insurance. Among the findings in the “Worry Less Report”: Millennials worry about money. Single people worry about housing (and money). Women generally worry more than men do and often about interpersonal relationships. The good news: Everyone worries less as they get older.

    “People have a love-hate relationship with worry,” said Michelle Newman, a professor of psychology and psychiatry at Pennsylvania State University, who was not involved in the writing of the report. “They think at some level that it helps them.”

    We know that up to sixty million Americans are on medication for anxiety or depression. Worry is a big problem. Stress, anxiety, and just dealing with day to day survival is tough. It’s easy to say that if we put Jesus in the center of our lives, our worries disappear. For me personally, it’s not that I don’t trust Jesus or that I don’t have faith, sometimes I know that he will allow trials or waves in our lives to build up our faith even more.

    We are all in the same boat. Even if my faith grows exponentially, I am still going to have concerns, trials and troubles.  I have just gone through a litany of troubles and I’m in the midst of several tough circumstances right now. That is why we’re here. To help each other.  Support each other.  Encourage each other. There are fifty nine “each other” or “one another” phrases in the New Testament.

    I believe God allows trials and troubles in some instances to bring the community together. I remember right after Hurricane Harvey watching an interview with someone who was rescuing people from their flooded out homes. In the background you could see people walking in waist deep water carrying black trash bags over their heads filled with their possessions.  The gentleman being interviewed said something that caught my attention, “if you look around, you can see a lot of water as these people are trying to escape. But there is more love around here than water.”  Boom. Ka Ching. That is what God is interested in. He wants us to grow in love and he wants us to support and love each other. So depending on our social support systems, family and friends is one place to go to when we are feeling anxious and stressed.

    The Prince of Peace

    Look at this excerpt from “Brave The Wave”,

    Let me give you a typical conversation at work that happens so often it’s mind boggling. It usually starts by my saying, “Well, Mr. Thomas, we’ve received all your results, including the CT scans and all the blood work. Everything looks really good. I’m not sure why you’re having the dizziness and the tingling-all-over feeling, but it looks like there’s nothing dangerous going on here.” The patient looks down and seems disappointed. Slowly he looks up and asks—wait for it— “Doc, do you think it could be stress?”

    Boom. There it is. Stress and anxiety.

    More than one in five American adults took medications for psychiatric disorders such as anxiety and depression in 2010, according to new research by Medco Health Solutions, Inc. Titled America’s State of Mind, the report released this November by the pharmacy benefit manager was based on its prescription medication database of 2.5 million insured Americans.[i]

    What these trends do not reveal is that those are the people who went to a doctor and got a prescription. Think about the number of people who didn’t go see a physician, but instead have a few glasses of wine in the evening or a six pack of beer to “take the edge off.”

    [i] https://www.anxiety.org/antianxiety-medication-use-soars-in-past-decade.

    When it comes to anxiety and worry, Jesus wants us to come to him. To depend and rely on him. He wants us to focus on our relationship with him. He tells that worrying about our circumstances does nothing with regard to peace.

    “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?                     (Matthew 6:25-27 NLT)

    So really we start with Jesus and then we can spend time with our friends and family. Spending time with others is a good way to help deal with a stressful situation. It helps to know that you are not alone. If we start with a quiet time with Jesus in prayer and meditation and then have lunch with friends or family, we are well on our way to decreasing our level of stress. We know that we aren’t alone. That is really helpful when it comes to dealing with anxiety.

    The Power of A Hot Bath

    I love Seth Godin. He has some great insights and ideas. He also believes in the sharing of ideas. I’m a big fan of that also. If I learn something that is helpful when you feel overwhelmed by anxiety and you are struggling with the stress  of every day life, I want to share it. I just went through a very stressful situation and I was suffering spiritual pain. The kind of hurt you feel when someone dies or when someone you love rejects you and leaves you. There was an intense pain that could only be described as spiritual.

    I’m going to recommend something that isn’t very manly, but it works. What I discovered was soaking in a hot bath tub is a great anxiety reliever.  Most of the time when we think of soaking in a hot tub and a bubble bath, we think of  women. Well, women have it right when it comes to stress relief. Here are some of the physiologic responses to a hot bath that bring serenity and peace.

    “Stress causes the muscles of the body to contract,” says Dr. Mark Khorsandi, a migraine surgeon in Houston, Texas. “A hot bath can relieve those symptoms and keep the muscles loose.” Stretching and moving in the water also provides a low-impact workout for discomfort in muscles, joints, and bones.

    This has been true for Alaina Leary, 24, who regularly takes hot baths to help manage chronic pain from living with Ehlers-Danlos, a disorder that affects the connective tissues. When she was first diagnosed at the age of 9 in 2002, she recalls feeling extremely breakable. “I was slower than other kids. I had trouble running [and] walking one foot at a time.”

    After working with different physical and occupational therapists, she began using warm baths during pain flare-ups. In the evenings, she would set aside time to ease into the tub and let her muscles relax.

    Many people who have chronic illnesses report feelings of depression and despair. Khorsandi says hot baths can provide physical comfort and contentment, and can ease the blues that are associated with chronic pain.

    https://www.healthline.com/health/chronic-pain/hot-bath-benefits-sento-furo-japanese-bathing#3

    When it comes to hot baths, the Romans were doing that 2000 years ago.

    Ancient Rome had hundreds and hundreds of bath houses. This is a steam room in Pompeii, Italy.  If you get a chance to visit Pompeii, I would do it. It’s the closest thing to traveling back in time that you can find.

    So when we are feeling overwhelmed by anxiety, start with a quiet time with Jesus. Maybe read a devotional like “Jesus Calling”. Spend time in prayer and in the Word.

    Second, spend time with friends and family. Remember that with a good social support system, its easier to deal with anxiety and stress because you know that you aren’t alone.

    Third, take a long hot bath. It will relax your muscles and help you to feel more at ease.

    We are all in this together. We are here to support and love each other. But Jesus reminds us that we are never alone. We should always remember that.

  • Those Voices Are Lying

    Those Voices Are Lying

    Those Voices Are Lying

    You may be walking around with a tape loop playing in the background of your brain. It’s a loop of comments made by people from your past. “You aren’t smart enough.”  “You aren’t good enough.”  “You will never make it.” “You don’t have the talent to do that.” Some of those loops were created by you. When those loops are telling you that you are helpless, hopeless and worthless, those are all lies. Those voices are lying.

    Coaches, teachers, parents, spouses,siblings, and friends may have created some of those loops. The comments that hurt the most or have the most impact are from those closest to you. People who you care about the most. People who you love the most cut the deepest when their comments are unkind or demeaning. They leave the deepest scars. I’ve ridden that roller coaster also, so I am well aware of this phenomenon.  Those voices are lying.

    How do we deal with these loops? We need to come to the realization that humans are human. We all say and do stupid things all the time.

    The Only Voice That Matters

    Instead of focusing on what other people say about us or the opinion of others, we can learn to focus on the opinion of Jesus. He never said anything or did anything stupid. His opinion has the most value. He never has and  never will make a mistake.  Jesus says that you have hope, you have value and you have power.  Look at this excerpt from the near death experience of Howard Storm that he describes in his book, “My Descent Into Death”,

    I felt like garbage, filthy rags in the presence of the Holy One. My friend carrying me, Jesus, my best friend, was aware of my fear and reluctance and shame. I thought to myself, “I’m scum that belongs back down in the sewer. They’ve made a terrible mistake. I don’t belong here.” For the first time, he spoke. He spoke directly to my mind in his young male voice. “We don’t make mistakes, and you do belong here.”

    When we come to recognize the value of the opinion of Jesus and we begin to see ourselves the way that he does, we come to understand that we are valuable, acceptable, lovable and forgivable.  We also have power, hope and a future. We need to put the opinions of Jesus in the foreground of our minds. We need to remember that the loops of negativity that are playing over and over in your head are straight up lies. The loops are lying to you. Those voices are lying.

    Listen instead to Jesus,

    “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”

    John 10:10 NLT

    A rich and satisfying life.  Listen to Jesus.

     

  • Seek To Be Admired? Or To Inspire.

    Seek To Be Admired? Or To Inspire.

    Seek To Be Admired? Or To Inspire.

    Do you seek to be admired or do you want to inspire? People may criticize me for the tone of my writing. It may come across as simplistic or sophomoric. The overriding goal is connection. Have you noticed when you are reading non-fiction books, sometimes the author will mention an experience or a situation that you can immediately identify with? That happens to me all the time.  If my writing is simplistic, it’s because I’m more interested in connecting, not impressing.  I want to be inspired when I read a book.  I hope to inspire when I write or develop an idea.

    Writing is about communication. It’s about expressing ideas that have value.  Here is an idea that I believe has value because of what is going on in the world today. Just yesterday I heard a unique idea. It was from Lady Gaga. It’s the first time I heard it and I scoured the internet and could not find it anywhere.  She said,  “Frankly, I believe that social media is the toilet of the internet.”

    What do you think about that comment? Is that true?

    Look at what Selena Gomez said about socal media. Keep in mind that she has 150 million followers. ”

    “Gomez said too much screen time on Instagram made her “kind of depressed looking at these people who look beautiful and amazing, and it would just get me down a lot, so I just think taking breaks is really important.”

    https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2019/05/15/selena-gomez-calls-social-media-dangerous-terrible-youth/3685625002/

    Look at these two pictures. Think about how they make you feel.   Do they make you happy? Do you feel good about yourself and your own situation?   Are you thinking to yourself, “Oh, seeing these people with money and relaxing and enjoying themselves really made my day! I can now go back to work in my cubicle and deal with customers and be loving and patient and joyful !!!” Are you inspired?

    We know that the internet is inundated with pictures and selfies and click bait, but do those pictures inspire people?  Do they inspire us to be better ? To do better?  It’s pretty easy to see the effort energy and time being devoted to inspire envy in others or to impress other people.  It’s everywhere.  Social media?  If it’s really the toilet of the internet, are we swimming in it?

    We have become a nation of entertainers. “Look at me!”.  Think about the number of pictures where people are essentially saying, “look at me !!  I bet you want to be me.”  You may be saying, “those things are harmless. People are just sharing. It’s no big deal.” Really ?

    The Downside of Social Media

    I think we need to be careful with spending time trying to impress or inspire envy. When we envy, we covet.  We want or desire what others have. The exact opposite of what lies within the authentic self. We are also insulting God when we envy. It’s kind of similar to  saying that he made a mistake with what he gave us.  That’s exactly what lies in the “false or socially conditioned self.”

    There are some very concerning statistics that are just coming to the forfront of social science and that is the rate of suicide.  The number of people committing suicide is increasing across ALL age groups.  These numbers are real and we should all be concerned about them. Especially if you have children.  Look at this excerpt from my second book on passion and power,

    If we take a step back and observe the phenomenon of social media, we need to look at how this is affecting our society and our children. We know that the incidence of suicide has been rising over the past twenty years and many people are speculating as to the cause. 

    https://www.thehealthscience.com/articles/cdc-suicide-rates-rising-across-us

    “Between 1999 and 2016, the suicide rate increased among all age groups younger than 75 years,” said Anne Schuchat, MD, principal deputy director of the CDC, who led a media briefing on the topic Thursday. The rates have gone up more than 30% in half of all states since 1999, she says. More than half of those who died by suicide did not have a diagnosed mental health condition, the researchers found. But most did have life problems. “Those who died by suicide were somewhat more likely to struggle with relationship problems or loss, other life stresses, or deal with impending crises,” Schuchat says. “But these issues were [found] in all, with or without a mental health condition.”

    Looking at recent societal trends and the impact that social media has on our youth and in today’s society, it is easy to see how people can become anxious or depressed. If we are spending more and more time on social media, then we can infer that we spend less time developing healthy and meaningful relationships in a real and personal way.

    Connectivity in “real life” is what I am talking about. Real conversation and sharing. Being actively involved in a deep and meaningful way with friends and family. Sharing struggles, triumphs, tragedies and trials. That is how Jesus intended for us to live.

    It seems that there is more effort and energy expended in seeking to have superficial or artificial interactions with people who, if we are being honest with ourselves, we don’t even know. If you spend a lot of time following celebrities, ask yourself “Did I get invited to their wedding?” We need to ask ourselves, “what is the value of knowing every detail of the lives of an athlete, rapper, internet celebrity or reality television star?” What is the value of knowing the details of anyone else’s life other than the people closest to you?

    If our whole reason for existence is learning how to love, how is that helpful? How many people do you follow on instagram or twitter or any other social media platform? What are you getting out of that interaction? It really isn’t an interaction, it’s more of a performance. They are posting videos or pictures and you are consuming or watching them. Are you able to share your deepest hurts or fears or concerns with a celebrity or a famous social media person? Is it a two-way street or is it only one way?

    The Danger Is Real

    https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/social-medias-impact-on-self-esteem_us_58ade038e4b0d818c4f0a4e4

    “Social media has been linked to higher levels of loneliness, envy, anxiety, depression, narcissism and decreased social skills. As a Behavioral Scientist, I wonder what causes this paradox? The narratives we share and portray on social media are all positive and celebratory. It’s a hybridized digital version of “Keeping up with the Joneses”. Meaning for some, sometimes it appears everyone you know are in great relationships, taking 5-star vacations and living your dream life. However, what is shared across our social networks only broadcasts the positive aspects of our lives-the highlight reels. Since we’re only getting people’s highlight reels and comparing it to ourselves, it is natural to have reactions to what we’re watching. How does this impact relationships, dating and our love lives? I conducted in-depth interviews with men and women, ranging from ages 28-73, that are active social media users and found that:
    60% of people using social media reported that it has impacted their self-esteem in a negative way
    50% reported social media having negative effects on their relationships
    80% reported that is easier to be deceived by others through their sharing on social media

    Match reported 51% say social media has made them feel more self-conscious about their appearance. Flores further explains “research has also shown that Face book users are becoming increasingly depressed from comparing themselves to their own profile.

    Meaning that if a person’s reality does not match the digital illusion they post on their profiles, emotionally, one may feel they are not living up to the “best” form of themselves.”

    Where is Our Authentic Self?

    There is that “best” version of ourselves idea floating around again. I believe that there is an objective idea of our authentic self. It is the idea that God had in mind when he created us. In order to find authenticity, we need to move towards our role model. Jesus. True authenticity is found in our relationship with him.

    If we are working to get people to envy us, we are firmly in the land of pride.  We want to avoid pride like the plague. Pride kills relationships.  Pride kills love.

    When we are prideful, we are focusing on us, not others. It’s the exact opposite of love. When we focus on love, by it’s very nature we are focusing on others. Look at your latest argument with a spouse or a child or a sibling. If you look closely, most likely there is pride, immaturity or selfishness involved. Ask yourself, “was I being immature?” “Was I being selfish or prideful?” Start with you. Our most natural instinct is to find the fault and pin the blame on someone else.

    Pride kills the classroom or laboratory of love.

    Relationships and love are the essence of authenticity. If we seek to help instead of impress,  that brings or yields value. Fruit.  It means that my time and my effort were not wasted because the focus is on someone else. It’s the exact opposite of pride.

     

     

     

  • Who Or What We Reject Matters

    Who Or What We Reject Matters

    Who Or What We Reject Matters

    We are free to choose to reject whatever we want. Sometimes we  reject activities or pursuits that are valuable. We just don’t think they have value or we can’t see the value. That has more to do with knowledge and vision. It can also come down to need. We don’t see a need.

    If we look at our faith life, when people reject or ignore spiritual pursuits, they don’t see a need.  They can’t see the value. If we see a need or we see value in pursuing spiritual growth and clarity, our behavior reflects that.

    We know that when people value something or some activity, they devote time to it and they spend money on it.  We can easily look at our own lives and look at where we’re spending our time and money.   Those are the ideas or activities that we have chosen to accept and embrace.  We value those activities or else we wouldn’t be spending what most people consider to be their most precious assets. Time and money. This is part of self-evaluation.  Honesty is required.   Sometimes brutal honesty. What do you value the most? What are you spending the most time on? Is there value there ? What are you choosing to reject ?

    Where is Your Value ?

    If you look at the picture above, this is clearly a relationship. Relationships have value. What if Jesus was the one pleading with you to come to him?  The most important relationships that we have are the ones we have with God and Jesus. They hold our eternity and the nature of our eternity in their hands. If we believe that statement, then we can agree that there isn’t anything more important than that.

    “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.”

    (12:21 NLT)

    I just came across a statement by C.S. Lewis. It’s absolutely brilliant because it breaks things down to their essentials.

    “Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.”

    We all get caught up in a lifestyle that makes our faith moderately important. If it was infinitely important our lives would reflect that.

    Where does value originate ? How do you decide what is valuable in your life ? Many times we make decisions about value with ourselves in the middle of those decisions. How is this activity going to help me or my family? How am I going to benefit from spending time working on this project?

    Really we are just bouncing in this life from accepting or rejecting activities or pursuits at all times.  Look at this verse in Luke 10:16,

    “Whoever listens to you, listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me, rejects Him who sent me.”

    We choose to accept or reject someone or something every day.  To me it’s about consistency. Whatever we consistently reject over the course of years is what influences this life and the next. It determines our destiny. What we consistently choose to accept and embrace over the course of years is what has the most impact on this life and our eternity.

    We Need To Choose To Reject Wisely

    Choosing the right way is really choosing the HARD way. It is hard to put ME second and think of others first.

     “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. “ But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”   

    ( Matthew 7:13-14 NIV)

    In “Brave the Wave”, there is an idea that OUR eternity is OUR responsibility. OUR choices and OUR rejections are both OUR responsibility. Jesus is telling us in the above verse from Luke that what we choose to reject is just as important as what we choose to accept, if not more important.

     

     

     

     

  • Our Hope Is Different

    Our Hope Is Different

    Our Hope Is Different

    I have talked about how difficult the life of a believer is, but there are definitely many advantages. We have HOPE. I’m not talking about wishful thinking. I’m talking about the HOPE of the bible. Elpis. Confidence. Trust. Eager Expectation. Our hope is different.

    Look at this excerpt from Brave the Wave,

    I’ve come across people in my life who have little or zero faith. I’ve seen the look in their eyes at the death of a loved one. One thing’s missing. Hope. Not the hope of wishful thinking, but the hope of the Bible.

    Biblical hope is conveyed by the Greek word elpis, meaning “confidence” or “trust.” Our hope is to be more like eager expectation. I’ve seen this kind of hope in people of faith when they’re nearing death. Sometimes they’re eagerly awaiting it, almost like they’re in line for a ride at Disneyland. Excitement and eager expectation. Smiling and waiting. They have total confidence in the beauty and wonder of the place that Jesus has prepared. They believe Jesus when he says,

    “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.”

    After saying that, Jesus was asked (by the disciple Thomas), “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Here’s the answer from Jesus:

    I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him. (John 14:1-7 ESV)

    We either believe Jesus about heaven or we don’t. We either believe this promise or we don’t.

    Living with Hope

    We should live with biblical hope. Our hope is different. It is the hope of eager expectation.

    So yeah the hard road and the narrow road are difficult, but we have access to hope. We have access to power, clarity and vision.

    When we think about hope, as believers we have faith and trust. We have “eager expectation”.

    Think about going on vacation with your family. Maybe you are going on a cruise. Maybe you are taking a flight. You have been waiting for the week off from work so you can relax and spend time with your family and just sit back and enjoy yourself.  If you have ever been on a cruise, the one thing that is funny to me is the smile on everyone’s face when they are going through the check in process. Everyone is happy and laughing and joking. Including me. Why?  Are they hoping to get on board? The hope that we have grown up with and we are used to is more of a “wishful thinking”.  “I hope I win the lotto.”  It’s wishful thinking.

    As believers, we have the hope of “eager expectation.”  Just like when we are checking in for the cruise, we are eager and we fully expect to board the ship.  We are never in doubt that we will board the ship. When we have faith and trust in Jesus, we fully expect to see Jesus and check out the place he has “prepared” for us.  That is the HOPE of the believer. It’s different.

    Anxiety, Hope Or Joy ?

    If we think about our stress and our anxiety, most of the time we are anxious or uncomfortable about something coming in the future. We are afraid of an outcome or some other circumstance that exists only in our minds.  We think of all the possible bad outcomes that can occur.  This interferes with our Joy.  Our hope is different.

    How do we live with hope? Where is that elusive joy? Peace? It’s nowhere to be found. The answer is in our relationship with Jesus. He is the answer to all of these. Hope. Joy. Peace. All of them come from a relationship with Jesus.

    “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”   (John 10:10 NLT)

    “I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!”     (John 15:11 NLT)

    We should ask ourselves. Do I have a rich and satisfying life? Why not?  Is my joy overflowing? Do I have joy?

     

     

     

  • Drifter, Spinner or Dabbler ?

    Drifter, Spinner or Dabbler ?

    Why are we so tired all the time ?  Why don’t we have any energy?  Why are there so many energy drinks on the market ?  I believe that the answer has to do with passion.  Here is an excerpt from my second book in the authentic self series.

     

       Think about being on a rubber raft in the middle of the Pacific ocean. You are the only survivor after the ship you were on capsized in a storm. You are out on the ocean and you have access to food rations and water. If you have no motor or paddle, you are just drifting and helpless. You are at the mercy of ocean currents and waves. You have no sail, no motor, no paddle, no compass, and no knowledge of how to navigate by the stars. That could be a description of how you are living your life at this very moment in time. Drifting. No guidance. No power. No direction. I’ve been there before. 

    Where would you start if you had the choice to acquire all of these? You may be the person in the raft who has a compass and you know the direction that you need to be headed, but you have no sail or no motor. No power. No energy. Or if you do, you can’t sustain it for very long. You paddle a little bit and you try to head in a particular direction, but you lose your drive or energy, so you give up.

    You may be a dabbler. Paddle a little bit, take a break. The definition of dabble is to “take part in an activity in a casual or superficial way.” If you think about being stranded in a rubber dinghy on the ocean, if you dabble, you die. If we don’t take our passion or our purpose seriously, we will tend to dabble. You may be a dabbler. I’ve been there also.   

       What if we have a huge motor and plenty of power, but we have no compass or rudder? We may start off going in a one direction, but without a compass or a rudder, over time we could just be navigating in circles. We are spending huge amounts of time, energy and effort, but we aren’t really making any progress at all. I’ve been there also.  I’ve had plenty of energy, but I was wasting it on activities, projects or pursuits that had very little to no value whatsoever. That is kind of like puttering around in circles, but getting nowhere.

    The thing that is the most interesting or disturbing, depending on how you look at it, is that I didn’t have any idea that I was wasting my time, energy and money. That is being in the raft going in circles and being completely unaware that you are.  If the power or the energy is unfocused and not heading toward any one point, that power is wasted. Not only is it wasted, but it leaves you prone to exhaustion and frustration.  There is no fulfillment, no satisfaction, no peace and no joy. This is what I call the spinning phase of my life.   It’s like being in a four-wheel drive truck.  You have plenty of gas and a big engine.  You are flooring the gas pedal but you aren’t getting anywhere. You are in very deep mud.  You’re spinning your tires, but not only are you not going anywhere, you’re sinking deeper and deeper into the mud. Spinning your wheels for the sake of spinning your wheels. Lots of noise. No movement. You may be a spinner.

    I believe our energy comes from passion. The thing that we were created to do. The thing that we “can’t not” do.  When we combine passion with purpose, we have power, guidance, and focus. Those in combination make it much more likely that we can reach our goals and fulfill our purpose.  We discover  our authentic self when we are engaged in our passion moving towards completion of our purpose. We are living and striving towards the pursuits, purpose and goal that God had in mind when he thought us up and designed us. We are exactly where we are supposed to be.