Beauty in your life- change your thoughts for a positive outlook
What brings a tear of joy to your eye?
I have a sensitive heart, so there are quite a few things on my list. Seeing a newborn baby, seeing or knowing an abused animal is adopted, seeing someone get their life to Christ. Are the main ones. Other are seeing acts of kindness and knowing it blessed the other person immensely, when something happens in my life that is impossible and then realizing God has done it.
We often have a hard time with change. We want others to change their ways, attitude, behavior, or opinions. We can our financial situation, or jobs or living situations to change. But the fact is that nothing has to change m, but us; our minds, and hearts. The only one who remains unchanged is God. He says “I change not.” But, we can’t live our lives without changing. If we can’t change, we can’t grow and we die. You’re the only thing that you have to make sure change, not your situation. We have no control over anyone else’s change.
Open you heart, your life, your will, and your mind. God created us in His image. He is the way to our salvation. And it starts with repentance, and becoming a new creation, we can put away our old self and grow in maturity. Being a change for God. He never changes, His job is to never change and He shouldn’t. Our job is to change. To change and grow and mature.
When I think about how I’ve changed and transformed over the years I keep coming back to the same word -Grace. Because for me I can’t explain it any other way. I know it’s a gift from God.
We have to want to change or it will never happen. It’s not someone’s job to change us. It’s a transformation that happens at a level of consciousness that we cannot influence without hard work. But it’s God’s Grace that actually makes it happen.
When you drop a rock into a still pond, the ripples spread out in every direction. The effect is felt not only when the rock fell, but circles out all around it.
Something similar happens with our thoughts and actions. The inner state of Being and thoughts of each person creates a ripple that effects everyone around them.
Have you ever walked into a room where someone is depressed or thinking negative thoughts all day? If so, you probably remember how the air feels – heavy and oppressive. On the other hand, you can probably think of times when someone’s presence immediately makes you feel calm, balanced, and clear. They probably have a positive attitude that you can pick up on.
The above could be considered a subtle ripple effect from the thoughts that each person carries. And we emanate an effect out to everyone around us, based on our inner state of being.
If you pay attention you can even feel the lingering effects of the ripple on a room, or space. If you walk into a theme park, even when it’s empty there is a lingering energy from all the noise and motion that were their before. But, if we walk into a place of prayer you will feel the exact opposite. The whole space holds a feeling of quiet calm that goes beyond silence.
The thoughts of those around us have an effect on us. When you spend time around someone who is sad, or depressed you may start to feel a little low. Come near someone who hates you, even if they don’t say a word, and you can feel the harsh impact from their thoughts. In turn spend time with negative people and you may find negative thinking slowly creeping into your state of being. Just noticing this can help us pick the kinds of thoughts and people we want to surround ourselves with.
The essence of the Ripple Effect is to realize that you carry your whole state of being with you wherever you go. So what you are emanating to others? What thoughts do you carry inside of you all the time? Thoughts of gratitude for life, and possibilities of what to create? Or thoughts that destroy yourself and others?
If the thoughts of the people inside a country are mostly steeped in hatred and violence, it will certainly come about. So what are you heading toward with your thoughts? What ripple effect are you creating for the world around you?
Why do you blog?
My main reason for starting a blog was to help people deal with some of the same struggles I’ve been through. I have had a crazy life and have learned a few things along the way. If I can help one person with the knowledge I have learned then writing 100 blog posts would be worth it,
I have been blessed to have a man of God help me along the way. That has shared his infinite knowledge with me. Many people can read the Bible and still be confused. In the past, I could open the Bible and feel it was just a bunch of gibberish. If I can understand it now. Again if I can help one person it will be well worth it.
My blog isn’t about making money, it’s about sharing information. Sharing information much more valuable. And the blessings from that are so much more.
Instead of dwelling on what’s wrong, what didn’t work out, start thinking about what God promised you. God said your latter days woe better than your former. You haven’t seen, heard, or imagined what He had in store for you.
When you stop dwelling on things you free your from (the negativity, past, present) it cleans headspace to make room for healthy growth.
I can attest that nothing good has ever come out of one of my excessive dwelling sessions. It only seems to unnecessarily blow the issue out of proportion.
Dwelling on things feels like it gives you a sense of control, that somehow this rumination process is going to help you feel better or solve the problem. But in reality you never end up feeling better or more in control. You’ll end up feeling hyper-focused on a negative situation.
Revelation
Revelation tells is the during the seven years of judgment called the Tribulation, seven angels will sound differently trumpets, which will release a series of shocking expressions of God’s wrath on the earth. The catastrophic results will lead some to repenting and finding salvation.
“So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.“ -Revelation 8:6
The First Trumpet:
Earth’s Vegetation Devastated
Hail and fire will destroy a third of all the trees and the grass will be burned (Revelation 8:7).
The Second Trumpet:
The Seas Struck
A great burning mountain of fire will be thrown into the sea. This will lead to an environmental catastrophe for all sea life. The world’s greatest tsunami will sweep the nations and a third of all the ships will be wrecked. Expect islands to split in two and one side will slide into the sea creating tsunami’s, and underwater mountains will collapse. Jesus explained the seas and the waves will roar (Luke 21;25, Revelation 8:8-9).
The Third Trumpet:
Unclean Drinking Water
An asteroid called Wormwood will strike earth creating earthquakes and rogue waves. The debris in the air will lead to an impact winter. Sunlight will be blocked, little will grow and a third of drinking water will be polluted by Wormwood. A third of a,, who drink this tainted water will die (Revelation 8:10-11).
The Forth Trumpet
The Firmament Shaken
A third of the sun will be struck, a third of the moon, and third of the stars will be darkened. The fallen angels will plummet (Revelation 8:13). Before the sounding of the fifth trumpet, an angel will cry out for the woes coming upon the earth. If people still refuse to repent during this period, the following three trumpets will be far worse (Revelation 8:14).
This isn’t global warming as some people are believing. It is predestined.
The Fifth Trumpet:
Satan’s Vengeance
This trumpet leads to Satan turning on his own and tormenting all who follow him in their rebellion against God. People will discover whom they chose to be their lord! Satan will be permitted to punish the citizens of the Anti-Christ Kingdom by scourging them for five months. Demonic locusts from the bottomless pit will be released, and the sun and the air will be darkened. Mankind will seek death and will fail to find it. All who repent and trust in the Christ during this period will be spared further agony. These new believers will be sealed by God and protected from further satanic torment (John 8:44, 10:10, 1 John 3:8, Revelation 9:1-12),
The Sixth Trumpet:
The Euphrates
This trumpet will release four angels who are bound at the Euphrates River. One-third of humanity will die because they refuse to repent of their wickedness and will be consumed by fire, smoke, and brimstone (Rever9:13-19). Remarkably, those who survive these disasters will still refuse to turn away from idolatry. They will not repent of witchcraft, drugs, addictions, sexual perversions, murders, and thefts. The breakdown of society will prove the veil of civilization is thin. Expect looting and lawlessness on a unprecedented scale (Matthew 24;12, Revelation 9:20-21).
The Seventh Trumpet
Seven Thunders
Before the seventh trumpet sounds, the Apostle John was to,d of the secret of the seven thunders. He was not permitted to share these mysteries from the angel with the little book. At this point, there shall be no further delay and the mystery of God will soon be finished (Revelation 10:1-5. 6-7).
If you know someone who’s difficult and causes a lot of conflict in your life, you may be dealing with a person who is toxic. These people an create a lot of stress and unpleasantness for you and others not to mention emotional or physical pain. I’m sure we have all met people who are toxic or been told about them.
A toxic person is anyone who’s behavior adds negativity and upset to your life. Many times people who are toxic are dealing with their own stresses and traumas. Todo this, they act in ways that don’t present then in the best light and usually others along the way. Some might even recognize family members who are toxic.
Toxicity in people isn’t considered a mental disorder. But there could be underlying mental problems that causes someone to act in toxic ways, including personality disorders.
Sometimes we tend to just accommodate toxic people, until it becomes a serious matter of mental or physical abuse or just think that’s just the way they are. I thought I would share some warning signs to watch out for if you think you’re dealing with a toxic person. Life is to short to accept toxic people into our lives. If you can help it, try and shy away from people like this.
If you’ve experienced these feelings around someone, they may be toxic. If you constantly have these emotions, you may want to change the relationship or stop the relationship entirely.
Just like there are signs you’re around a toxic person because of how the person makes you feel, there are sign seen in person themselves that highlight their toxicity.
Inconsistency
Part of being human is having ups and downs, good times, and bad times. But a toxic person is almost never consistent. Their behavior is erratic. They don’t follow through on their commitments or promises. You never know what they will do next. This inconsistency is very hard when you’re trying to be there for someone. They can be elated with you one minute, and write you off the next.
They Always Need Your Attention
Have you noticed that a person who always need something from you? Whether it’s constant phone calls, texts, or showing up at your door, they always need emotional support. And they’re probably not being supportive to you in return. They take all that you have without giving much back. They have a heightened level of self-interest, a need to showcase their own greatness to receive affirmation.
There Is Always Drama
Have you ever noticed how drama seems to follow some people? It’s likely not a coincidence. Toxic people thrive in dramatic environments. They inflame emotions and create conflict. They love stirring the pot to see what happens. People are often toxic because they’re not interested in being stable and healthy relationships.
They Don’t Respect Your Boundaries
Another sign of a toxic person is no boundaries. If you have been clear with someone time and time again about your needs, and they just can’t help themselves and disrespect them, they are toxic. Healthy relationships are based on trust and the ability to respect boundaries. Toxic people just can’t do that,
They Manipulate Others For What They Need
If your around someone and constantly feel taken advantage of, or manipulated your probably dealing with a toxic person. This means they will do anything to get what they need. This means lying, bending the truth, exaggerating, or leaving out information so that you take a certain action or have a certain opinion about them. They will do whatever it takes, even if it means hurting people.
They Abuse Substances
Another toxic behavior is the abuse of substances, like drugs and alcohol. These behaviors become toxic when the person is continually harming other people, including themselves.
Now that you know the signs of a toxic person, both in the way you feel and they act, whether they’re a family member or not. What do you do about it?
Here are a few things I’ve learned over the years. These are a few strategies to try.
Confront Them
As soon as you notice toxic behaviors, call them out on any lies or inconsistencies. Tell them you don’t appreciate how they behave. This shows them that you’re paying attention. And your giving them an opportunity to explain themselves and apologize.
Set Stricter Boundaries
How are you feeling right now?
I’m feeling antsy today. As the summer days are dwindling down and autumn will be upon us. I am antsy to do a road trip before the weather turns cold.
When I think about it, every year about this time, I get this feeling. I absolutely love summer and get anxious about the colder seasons. I in inevitably get a little depressed at this time every year.
What daily habit do you do that improves your quality of life?
The habit the improve the quality of my life is reading God’s Word and praying everyday. I do this because it gives new outlook in my life.
The Bible provides universal themes on how to deal with, stress, worry, fear, love and hope. It helps me refocus my attention onto the important things in life.
I tend to make better choices when I focus on God instead of myself it helps me maintain a healthy life giving soul.
Praying not only allows me to have fellowship with God but my mind my soul, ad my heart are transformed. Focusing on God allows Him to guide through every day and helps live in ways to bring glory to Him.
There are five qualities to becoming a good leader. They include,
If you’re considering, I’m addition in leader ship, whether employment or volunteer, he has a five qualities of a good leader. Anyone wishes to have long-term success need born leaders at the top of the organization. But what makes an affective leader? The qualities listed above are important characteristics that you need to lead any team.
Being A Decision Maker.
As in affective leader, you will have to make quality, tough decisions during your day. Be quick on your feet, with the ability to make decisions during stressful times this makes or breaks someone a good decision maker, who stands behind her actions without hesitation, makes a great leader. Having critical leadership qualities will earn your trust and respect of those who depend on you to lead them efficiently.
Being A Good Communicator
A good leader has to be able to set clear expectations, and provide effective communication. Great leaders, not only give directions, but they also use active listening and communicating with their team. Effective leaders get their opinion on valuable ideas that can improve every organization. Without clear communication skills, this environment can quickly become unproductive and disorganized.
Good leaders inspire their team with their words. They take a genuine interest in people they work with, and the work they do finding ways to inspire the workforce and get people excited to work is a great value, these leadership qualities, resultant employees who feel valued and appreciated, and are more productive.
Effective leaders have a higher expectations, and they follow through if they aren’t being met. You are keen to receive honest feedback, and constructive criticism, which can more likely improve their performance.
Being Able To Set An Example
A good leader shouldn’t expect their team to perform tasks that they wouldn’t do. The actions I am leaders set a lot of what the employees will do daily. it becomes difficult to enforce Akeem you come to work probably if the person in charge is late and shelves. Good leader, ship shapes a company’s values and goals. Without a person, setting the right example, having a positive team in the workplace could be challenging to attain. The best companies in the world how to leaders that people around in them can trust,.
Being confident without coming off as cocky. If you were back confidence in your leadership role employees will lose their faith. i’m sure you wouldn’t follow someone who seemed unsure, so you can’t expect others to follow you if you come across as insecure. Learning your job and passing along your knowledge and experience to others, will go a long way.
Talk to everyone. Good role models don’t spend all the time in their office, they talk to their employees at all levels of the company. Listen and learn from your team members and supervisors.
Be able to admit your mistakes. We all make mistakes and it’s important to own up to them if you make a mistake own it, and do what you can to make it right. Your own self awareness without will help you build rapport with others and gain respect from your superiors. Show others that you were able to step up to the flight and be accountable work on your own self development.
Being Able To Motivate Others
Picking up on positive vibes from others isn’t difficult to do. When you enter a room, people self-confidence is to magnetize to others. If you have a positive outlook and inspire others through your words, your actions it will spread throughout the company.
True leaders have a passion for expecting others around them to deliver the best results. On the other hand, they also have a knack for getting employees to perform better. It’s imperative to have the ability to interact with others to pinpoint precisely how we can achieve their organization goals.
Call Attention To Success
It’s critical for a good leader, so I rate the success of others. Individuals who are working or are you want to know if they are doing a good job. A successful leader that provides consistent positive reinforcement is beneficial for everyone. Get to know your employee strengths and weaknesses. Let others know that they are making a positive impact and play a critical role in the success of the entire team.
Strong leaders delegate effectively. Give your employees opportunity to show off their strength and develop their skills delegating and also builds trust between employees and promotes active self engagement.
Being able to have a growth mindset and allows employees to seek a better version of themselves goes a long way in them bettering themselves. The development of an effective leadership program grows good employees into great leaders.
Being a great leader can impact a group of people positively, but they should always try to improve themselves consistently. You can’t expect the best to be accomplished without trying to be the best yourself.
Does the lens through through which you view the world lay the groundwork for an optimistic or pessimistic attitude? Thinking patterns can be habitual, but with a little awareness and some time you can learn to replace negative thoughts with more positive thoughts.
This is how I changed the thought patterns and changed my life.
The nature vs nurture separation has been debated for 100s of years, but many believe they are intertwined. In other words, we are influenced by our genetic makeup as well as our environment surroundings.
But there is good news. We do have a say over which thoughts we pay attention to. It may not feel like it, because of our habitual patterns. But with some awareness and some time it’s possible to replace our negative thoughts with more positive ones.
As you can imagine negative thinking patterns can create unnecessary stress and anxiety which can lead to way to a dreary outlook on life.
Many have cognitive distortions in our thinking such as:
Thinking in terms of black or white, or in extremes. We either act in a way that we label as perfect or as a failure “I can’t believe I ate so much. I’ve completely failed my diet.“
Inaccurately concluding that one unpleasant experience will lead to a negative future filled with more of them. “I really thought I had that job. Now I’ll never get a good job.”
Exaggerating negative details of an event or overemphasizing your own imperfections and fears, making things into a much bigger deal than they actually are. “I fumbled over my words in front of all those people. They must think I’m a complete idiot.”
Believing that how you feel accurately represents the truth of your reality. “I feel so anxious and stressed out lately, which means my problems are worse than I think.”
Using should statements to motivate behavior when they ultimately leave you feeling frustrated. “I should work out after eating all that food.” “I should start eating healthier.”
There are two common thinking patterns we generally have. They are:
Continuously focusing on negative outcomes, leading to feelings of feeling stuck, anxious, or depressed.
Trying to think of a plan for every possible outcome, essentially attempting to control that which is out of our control, and effort to avoid pain or failure.
So, how do you get you out of these negative thinking patterns and replace them with more positive thoughts? Here are a few strategies.
1. Practice Mindfulness
In order to have more positive thinking patterns, we must first become more aware of our current ways of thinking. By practicing mindfulness, we can acknowledge and identify thinking patterns that have become habitual. And decide whether or not to engage them. Mindfulness creates distance between yourself and your thoughts, which allows you to view yourself as separate from them.
If we incorporate mindfulness into our day, sitting for a few minutes and gradually increase it with practice we will be able to redirect our focus.
2. Address Your Inner Critic
Our inner critic loves, convincing us, that they simply aren’t true, often making us feel pretty lousy about ourselves. Think of this voice was a separate part of you. Challenge the lies it tries to feed you. Ask yourself; Is that really true? Where is the evidence to back that up?
Another way is to thank your inner voice for its input but then tell it No. Then choose not to engage in those negative thoughts.
3. Know Your Triggers
Certain people, situation, or circumstances may set into motion more negative thoughts. So it’s important to be aware of them. Encounters with certain people or making certain decisions may cause you to become overly critical of yourself or to question your self-worth. When you become aware of your triggers, you can prepare yourself and feel more in control of your thoughts instead of falling back into old negative thinking patterns.
4. Write It Out
You all know I’m a big fan of writing every thing down, especially your feelings. Putting feelings down on paper is a great way to unload your thoughts but to learn more about them. (you can alway throw the paper away after). Often we aren’t aware of how negative our thoughts are. Negative thinking patterns become more negative over time without us even noticing. But, by writing them down, we can more easily identify the areas that require our attention. We can interrogate them once they are written on paper to see if they are accurate or have any bearing. If they are not, let them go or replace them with more positive thinking.
5. Recite Positive Affirmations
Reciting positive affirmations is a great way to pull yourself out under the negative thoughts and into the present moment. You can do this y just thinking of them or saying them out loud to yourself. These can be recites when you feel negativity creeping in or throughout the day I order to get into the habit of focusing on them.
I use the biblical ones like these:
Or you can use these:
6. Change Your Surroundings
Sometimes our thoughts and seems so loud, but the best thing we can do is change our physical surroundings. Take a walk in nature, talk to a friend. The point is to engage in something other that the negative cycle so you can come back to the negative pattern when you’re mind is clearer.
Choose an activity or a location that you will find enjoyable and you know we’ll leave you feeling better. If you need company, be sure to surround yourself with people who will encourage your positive thinking, but stay away from people who trigger you.
Negative thinking patterns, particularly when they become habitual, can be hard to break. Patterns that have been in place for years. Won’t be undone overnight so it’s essential to be compassionate and patient with yourself as you work through them.
What was the last thing you searched for online? Why were you looking for it?
I searched for freezer meal recipes. So, I could put some together and them ready on busy days. I could just put them in the slow cooker and have dinner done when my husband gets home from work.
They are also great if you want to help out a friend that’s had surgery or is sick by supplying a meal for them. Especially with winter coming there a great go to meal.
From Pity to Praise