Don’t Neglect the Temple of God – Your Body!

Sleeping with catWe all need reminders from time to time. Today’s blog is one of those reminders in an area in which we are prone to become careless and often forget to do the right thing.

Always tired, heartburn, falls asleep easily, overweight, constant aches and pains, lack of concentration, have trouble reading, short tempered, easily angered, takes everything personally, etc. – you get the picture? These all could be as a result of self-neglect.

Leaders are notorious for self-neglect. Self-neglect has a major impact on our effectiveness as leaders. More importantly, you want to be a role model to those you lead as one who cares for yourself so you can give your best.

Here are some suggestions to help you take better care of yourself.

Choice – Don’t Give It Away

Choices stairs“Forces beyond your control can take away everything you possess except one thing, your freedom to choose how you will respond to the situation.” – Viktor E. Frankl

How do you respond when life treats you unfairly? What do you do when you are hurt by someone you love and trust? How do you respond when things are done to you by powers beyond your control? We all have stories of pain and disappointment. The question is how do you allow your story (or stories) of pain and disappointment to affect and shape your life?

Becoming a Wounded Healer: How to Move from Stumbling Block to Stepping Stone

Sumbling blocksWe all have been wounded. Last week I blogged on the topic, “From Stumbling Block to Stepping Stone.” We must face and deal with our wounds in order to be freed from the shame, embarrassment, and dysfunction of them. Only then is it possible to become wounded healers as we use our journey of healing to help others.

Today I want to focus on the process of facing our woundedness so we can experience the healing we need to become wounded healers.

Each of us is different in our emotional, mental and psychological make-up and those differences affect how we go about the healing process. Our wounds, even if similar, impact us in different ways.

Transforming Your Stumbling Blocks into Stepping Stones to Healing

stepping stonesMany years ago while in graduate school, I read the book The Wounded Healer, by Henri Nouwen. That book forever changed my life as I was learning to deal with the wounds of my life. I recently read a quote from that book, which reminded me once again of the importance of recognizing that we all have wounds that continue to shape our lives. Here is the quote:

Nobody escapes being wounded. We all are wounded people, whether physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually. The main question is not “How can we hide our wounds?” so we don’t have to be embarrassed, but “How can we put our woundedness in the service of others?” When our wounds cease to be a source of shame, and become a source of healing, we have become wounded healers.

Let Your Words Give Life

Words embraceI grew up hearing the saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words could never hurt me.” As I grew to adulthood and became honest with my pain in life, I had to admit that words do hurt. Words can hurt so deeply that recovery time is often much longer than the time needed for a broken bone to heal. For some of us, healing has taken most of our lives while others struggle to embrace the healing because they have been hurt so deeply.

On the other hand, words can build us up to believe in ourselves. We grow to be confident, hopeful and caring because of words spoken to us. Such words may continue to inspire us long after they are spoken. Think about the words you heard while growing up that inspired you to be the person you are today. The people who spoke those words are easy to recall.

Avoiding the Easy Road of Making Assumptions

Argument 1Has anyone ever kept you waiting for an appointment? Have you ever experienced someone cutting in front of you in traffic or at the grocery store?

What went through your mind when these things happened? If you are like many people, you reacted with anger or frustration because the person appeared to disrespect you in some way.

What would be your reaction if you found out that the person was late because they were involved an accident that injured a child? Or what if you knew that the person who cut in front of you had just received news from their doctor that they had terminal cancer?

Again, if you are like most people, you likely would have feelings of guilt for being angry or frustrated at them, and you would have greater understanding of their behavior. The reason for your change of feelings and perspective is because, in the first instance you assumed the person was being disrespectful; but when you knew the truth, you had a change of heart.

A Review: The New Rules for Love, Sex & Dating

Love, Sex DatingWhen it comes to love, sex and dating, the advice seems endless. As a matter of fact, you can find any advice that you most want to believe. Or, if you will be honest with yourself, you must admit that God’s design for love, sex and dating is still the only right and most beneficial way.

This brings me to why this week I have chosen to blog on the topic of love, sex and dating. For one thing, I believe the readership of my blog should have a clear and consistent message to offer those who would seek their advice in this area.

Secondly, I am committed to sharing great resources with you whenever I come across them. So in this week’s blog, I will share a great resource I recently found in the form of a book written by Andy Stanley founder of North Point Ministries in Atlanta, Ga. The book, The Rules for Love, Sex & Dating, has to be one of the most insightful and powerful books I have read on the topic.

Are You Always Too Tired to Be at Your Best? (Do You Know It?)

Tired menTiredness is something with which we are all too familiar.  If you ask the average person if they are tired, they would probably say yes.

Is this how we are meant to live our lives, in a constant state of tiredness? Or is it that we have not been responsible with our time management and have allowed ourselves to be over-worked?

I know there are times when tiredness is a symptom of a physical problem that needs to be checked out. I also am aware that tiredness is good when it represents having worked hard.

But the tiredness I am talking about today is what we experience due to being over-worked and over-committed. It’s that constant state of tiredness in which so many, especially those with leadership responsibilities, operate.

Give up Judgment, Add Grace

13985493623_d5f57655e2Believe it or not the Lenten season is upon us once again. It’s that time when we start thinking about what we are either going to give up or add to our lives for the next 40 days. For many, this is a time of reflection and making adjustments to their lives.

In thinking about the Lenten season two words came to mind: grace and judgment. These two words are central to this season. Because amazing grace was shown to us through the suffering and death of God’s Son Jesus, we will and can stand in the Day of Judgment and not be condemned for our sins.

I also started thinking about grace and judgment in terms of how we relate to each other and wondered how different life might be if we intentionally lived more graciously toward one another and less judgmentally.

Show a Little Kindness

KindnessWith so much anger and hostility in the world today, kindness and gentleness stand out when we see them in action around us.

I read a heartwarming news article on the Internet today about some Target employees taking the time to help a young man who came into the store to get a clip-on tie for a job interview. The store does not carry clip on ties, so the young man bought a regular tie and the employees assisted him with tying it and gave him some coaching on how to handle the interview. A customer in the store saw what was happening, took a photo, and posted it online. The story went viral. The customer who took the photo commented, “It was a very quiet simple moment, but it was very profound honestly [sic] kindness . . .  from strangers . . . in a Super Target.”

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if most of the news stories we read or saw were stories of kindness, and the ones that went viral were the stories of anger and hostility because they are so rarely seen? In reality, the heartwarming stories are not the ones that make most of the news.