Today Is National Prayer Day.

Even if you do not follow God. I’m sure we agree this World is in a bad place.

Let your gentleness be evident all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Every election season brings a certain degree of anxiety or uneasiness. The national elections of 2020 or {5781} are bringing out, what seems to me, a greater level of anxiety and anger than most elections cycles.

There are a number of choices being made. Some develop a posture of being above it all. Jesus is my king and I’m not lowering myself into the conflict. Certainly, we need to have a Godly worldview that recognizes the temporary nations of nations, elections, and culture itself in the light of eternity. Taking the path the Jesus Himself did not withdraw from culture or even the politics of His day. He waded into some of the most controversial issues that decides Israel in His day, while at the same time, insisting the His kingdom was not of this world.

There’s another extreme that is also very prevalent. It happens when followers of Jesus forget that the advance of the Kingdom of Christ is not dependent upon who is president of the United States is. Ignoring that can cause us to become combative, angry, and overemphasize the importance of this or any election. In this posture, we forget that those in another political party or backing a different candidate are not our enemies. We can find ourselves demonizing others and forgetting the law of love.

In the midst of a divisive, tense and angry time, how she we live in this political world?

Take a look at the Apostle Paul for a clear, powerful direction. To the Philippians and us. Paul gives instruction: Let your gentleness be evident to all.

What a contrast this is to what is currently taking place. Gentleness, Piece, and Prayer. That how we approach an election season. And I believe that Paul even shows us how to do that. In the midst of his commands he says, he says The Lord is near. We often immediately rush into the second coming when we read this. But I’m not sure that’s what Paul is saying. The Lord is near. He is close. He is right beside you. We can’t live without this gentleness, His Peace. Pray today and always for our leaders. We are in a time of choice.

I believe God is giving us a window of time, but that time is soon over. We need to vote the Bible when we are voting. The people in this world have decided who is best. But I vote the Bible Gods laws are there for a reason. They are good and pure. They have never failed me yet and I don’t expect that they will fail me again.

Pray for gentleness, and peace for the nation’s today.

Trusting Your Intuition

Your intuition is a feeling within your body that only you experience. Because the feeling is so personal, no one else can weigh in to tell you if you’re in touch with your gut instinct or not. You alone can make the call. Trusting your intuition is the ultimate act of trusting yourself.

Intuition is your immediate understanding of something. There is no need to think it over or get another option- you just know.

Listening to your intuition helps us avoid unhealthy relationships and situations. In your life, many people will have ideas about what best for you. Some have good intentions, and some are coming from a place of deceitful, harmful, selfish intent. It’s sometimes hard to tell which category someone talks into. Set aside all the external opinions a d trust the advice from your own intuition, it will guide you to what is truly best for you.

The process of trusting your gut is not as simple as it seems. We have habits and circumstances that can pull us unconsciously in the opposite direction. But, our intuition is deeply instinctual that even if we’ve been out of touch with it for our entire lives, it still there inside of us waiting for us to summon it’s wisdom. But, if you ignore it when it comes up it can become dim and you make poor choices.

What Gets In The Way

Your intuition is like your own star, but there are many obstructors that act as clouds dimming its light. Once you are aware of them, you will do better to catch yourself when you’re headed in the wrong direction for the wrong reasons so you can take appropriate steps to realign with your intuition.

Overthinking

Is one for the biggest interfere of intuition. Intuition is defined as; the ability to understand something instinctively, without the need for conscious reasoning. Putting excessive thought into every decision and walking through every scenario and outcome can lead you away from your gut instinct, especially when you’re overthinking in order to rationalize or justify something. In these cases, your thought process is not flowing freely but a specific agenda to build a case for something you’ve already made up your mind about. Overthinking generates you to become overwhelmed and confused, leaving you without a clear direction. It is sometimes called analysis paralysis. No matter the process in can lead you to the same place-out of touch with your gut instinct.

Shoulds

Should’s often enter the picture when you’re overthinking and other times when you’re outwardly focused. Like if you wonder, will someone else like me if I do this? In these instances, you’re thinking about your behavior in a lens colored by the rules preferences and expectations that someone else has rather than looking inwardly and allowing your own thoughts and needs to guide your behavior. Should’s shift the focus away from you and distance you from your intuition.

Prejudices and Unconscious Bias

Even though these are in some ways the opposite of overthinking, they have similar effects on intuition. As opposed to overthinking a d over-analysis, prejudices and unconscious bias operate from quick judgments that the brain automatically makes on past experiences, stereotypes, and background instead of based on actual experience, neither of these allows you space for you to tap into the nature of intuition.

A Loved One’s Or Authority Figure’s Needs/ Wants/ Opinion/ Advice.

Often the person who has the greatest power to cloud your gut instinct is a loved one or authority figure whose love or approval you wish to win over like a parent, partner, teacher, or couch.

When You Want Something Badly

When you’re really hungry for something. Whether love acceptance, social status, or something else, your strong desire to fill that gaping need can cause you to overlook or ignore any red flags along the way. Being focused on satisfying a need you deem worthy of almost any cost leaves little opportunity to acknowledge or follow your intuition. Here’s an example: I enjoy playing bingo and being with friends, but this overrides my intuition because while I enjoy playing bingo do much, I am really awful at it. This causes me to waste money and I feel horrible afterward, my intuition tells me, not to play. My love for the game can override my intuition. And I sometimes do it anyway. If I would have listened to my gut, I could have met with friends and played bingo for free, and had a good time. My gut instinct is add odds with something closely aligned with this need.

Previous Trauma/Abuse In Childhood

Perhaps the most complex and powerful of all culprits is having experienced abuse as a child. Because childhood abuse can leave a lasting g I pact on a person that remains even in adulthood. Growing up experiencing physical, emotional, psychological, or sexual abuse can cause children to district their experience and blame themselves. Since trusting your intuition is the same as trusting yourself, tapping into this gut instinct can be a struggle. For many years as an adult I didn’t trust myself. The experiences I lived through as a child caused that.

But there are ways to cultivate your Intuition. Here are some ways:

Slow down and clear your mind, when you’re living in a cloudy haze and rushing around whether physically or mentally you miss information. Slowing down and clearing your mind helps you better recognize and process the information you receive.

Notice sensations in your body. Intuition is grounded within sensations inside the body, so learning to recognize what’s going o. Within your body, what you’re feeling is key to developing your intuition.

Focus on you. Ask yourself What do I really need here? What’s important for me? This is one of those times when it should be all about you. Give yourself full permission to do so. If you find yourself focusing on other people and their needs notice and purposefully return your attention back to being curious about what you need and want. Because that is where you will find your intuition concentrating on these needs help you more easily pave the pathway there.

Take action, the feeling of intuition is like an ocean current navigating you toward a purposeful life. Once you discover it. You still need to jump in a boat and set sail in order to attain its full value. After you answer the question What do I need right now? Do something to give yourself what you need. It might be a tiny step, but size doesn’t matter here. Small steps can be beneficial at first to gradually build trust with your intuitive self who you may be meeting for the first time,

Focus On what You Need, Not What You Want

We all want to be happy, but the more we focus on what we don’t have, the more we feel deprived. You can not feel fulfilled while you focus on what you lack. If you want to be happy, be grateful for what you have.

Studies reveal that levels of wealth or possession do not increase happiness. It really just makes you want more.

Once you have what you actually need. Set in terms of how your happiness level will be impacted. Other factors then become more central to you sense of happiness or fulfilment.

While it is good to have a decent salary, to have a high amount in your bank account is emotionally short-sighted.

The key to happiness is the fulfillment of our needs, not our wants is what makes us happy. We need to drive for balance in our lives. Beyond meeting our level of need, the extra effort in that area can be excessive, distracting, and even stressful. Pursuing extra wealth when we are lacking in family connection reflects an imbalance, and is less emotionally rewarding than less wealth but better relationships.

In our world, today people tend to have lots of possessions and bills than they need to be happy. The idea of having a boat, a motorcycle, four-wheelers, four vehicles would be nice, but the payments, the bills to pay for them all, let alone the upkeep is staggering. Only causing them to have to work more hours, be stressed out, and spending less time with the people who really matter in their lives. It’s all about possession and money.

What any one person experiences as being enough in any area and how that might look or what form that may take in any one’s personal life, is what makes us individual.

We would gain clarity on what we really need in each area, and separate than what we think we want.

Our natural tendency with something that is rewarding is to want more and more. The cost of pursuing more will neglect things.

I have a friend who has a nice big house but, that house is so full of possessions you cannot see the floor. For the clothing, movies, shelves pile with everything to the very top. She can’t even enjoy her nice big house because she can’t get around all her stuff. She has had multiple surgeries from falling and breaking her bones.

She has filled her life with so much stuff that she doesn’t even know what she has, and hasn’t used in years.

All the things you think you need, but just want. Can be a waste of money. That clutter your life and make you unhappy.

So be mindful of your natural human tendency to want more of a good thing that hinders us. This can confuse us and lead us off course. Such impulses are useful when resources are scarce and we need to strive to survive. There is a limit when it comes to meeting our needs, and that what we need to keep in mind when pursuing happiness in our lives.

Handling Change

Changes are a part of life whether planned or not. And we must make choices for changes to have a positive impact on our lives.

Changes Are Seldon Easy

Many are so addicted to the status quo, to resisting change of any type. That when Big changes like changing jobs, getting married, someone we love passes away we let it destroy or lives.

How much better it would be if we focus on moving ahead instead of dredging up the past. Yes, to some degree it is necessary to grieve what has been lost. But at some point, we begin to sabotage ourselves and the people in our life. It took me years to get to the point where I realized and accepted. I kept dredging up the past- my childhood, the loss of wrong decisions, the loss of my father.

I grieved my father’s death for six years. Why did he have to die, was a question I could not answer.

Once we reach the point of loosening our grip on what was already gone, only then we can move forward and only then we are done being crazy.

Resisting changes that have already or will soon happen will not help us navigate our way through the new normal. You’ve probably heard it said the only sure things in life are death and taxes, I would add change to that list. Change is inevitable.

Change is so hard. Even small changes- like changing your hairstyle can be difficult. The big changes the ones that fill us with excitement, fear, dread, pain, or longing. Those changes whether good or bad, all always hard to accept and adjust to.

Some Things Never Change

While we as humans experience change in our lives over and over, there are some things that never change. These anchors can help us to be strong when the winds of change blow.

God Himself Never Changes

God never changes. Hebrews 13:8 says He is the same yesterday and today and forever. Malachi 3:6 says For I, the Lord, do not change. God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change His mind. He will never speak and not act not promise and not fulfill.

God’s purpose for our lives never change. 2 Peter:3-9 lays out God’s chief concern regarding our lived and eternity. God wants us to repent for our sins and have faith in Him this is his desire for every person. However, he will not overrule anyone’s free will to endure that happens. He is deeply grieved over every person who chooses their own way instead of the only way of life. For those who have chosen to follow Jesus. His purposes include so much more. In Jeremiah 29:11 God’s word says For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. In the context of ”future and hope may include hardship and tears but it ends in rejoicing. John 16:33 says In this world you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world.

Set some goals in your life, whether it is every hour, every day, every month and then every year. So often in life during those times of change life seems too overwhelming. Focus on your goals what needs to be done today, this morning, this hour. Take it one step at a time. Don’t push yourself to have it all figured out. When big changes happen like you get fired from your job and decide to go to a different church. Or if getting a divorce don’t change jobs even if you hate it. During times of big change, we don’t always think clearly or rationally.

Remember there are always consequences to your actions.

As difficult as life can be, take time to have fun.

God is a foundation on which we must stand. He is the Anchor for our soul. He is something to stand on. Or your foundations will be shake.

Overcoming Worry

One of the defining sin of our culture is worry. Sometimes we called it anxiety, fear, or stressed out. There are many ways to deal with worry. We either distract ourselves with entertainment. Some seek counseling and more than ever people are using prescribed medicine. So I resort to alcohol or illegal drugs. To deal with worry.

There is a better way to deal with worry and fear. The Bible gives us a prescription for overcoming worry. Of course, it does. It’s healthy and it’s costs nothing just your time. In Matthew 6:25, Jesus commanded us not to worry about the needs of this life. Jesus said for reasons I say to you, do not be worried about your life as to what you will eat or drink, not for the body, as to what you will put on. Is life not more than food, and the body more than clothing?

Worrying is nothing more than fear. Fear and trust are opposites. Trusting God is the antidote to fear and worry. In Matthew 6:30 Jesus put His finger on the root issue He said You of little faith, you can trust your Father. He will take care of you. When a person repents of their sin and puts their faith and trust in God. He becomes their Father. A Father takes care of his children. Get to know your Heavenly Father.

My life was never going so good, as it did before when I let God come into my life.

You can trust God because he has given us life. He feeds all living things. Look at the birds of the air, they do not plant, not harvest not gather into barns, and yet God feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they. How much more valuable are you than a bird. Jesus did not die on the cross for the birds. Jesus became one of us (a human being) to bear our sin on the cross.

Birds work hard, the average bird eats an eighth of their body weight every day. We must work hard also but ultimately God will provide for his people.

Jesus said: And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to their life? Jesus said that the Father has given us life. The Father sustains our lives and the Father determines the length of our lives.

I like Psalm 91. In verse 7 it says: A thousand may fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not approach you. My religious beliefs teach me that I am as safe on the battlefield as I am on my bed. The Lord has already appointed the day of my death so I need not worry about that. I live my life and prepare myself so I will always be ready to meet my Lord when death does overtake me. I am confident that I will go to heaven. So when the time comes I know where I will go.

How Well Do You Know Yourself?

Science tends to see us as introverts. Ambiverts or extroverts are based on how compatible we are around people. Typing our bodies as endomorphs, mesomorphs, or ectomorphs based on how easily we gain or lose weight. There are even the adjectives like creative, intelligent, and active based on what we enjoy or what other say we are.

Whether you’re familiar with labels. They help us zoom in on specific aspects of ourselves, blurring out all other aspects. The body, however, cannot and does not create such decides. Your mother and body are one and, along with your lifestyle, determine your personality, preferences, a d health.

If you were to tie back all the labels, everything you are, to a single anchor that would be your metabolic personality also called your mind-body constitution, functional energy pool. That’s all you need to know or understand your health.

Your Metabolic Personality.

When you think of what you’re made of, you’re probably thinking genes, cells and DNA, the building blocks that decide, how strong your muscles and bones are or what state of mind is which health conditions you are genetically predisposed to. You’re right, but that’s only one part of the story.

There a whole other part the explains why you’re you. Like, what drives your natural tendencies like cravings or even how you mate your socks sweating too much or feeling hungry all the time or waking up in the middle of the night, even which health conditions you are prone to beyond inheritance. This goes beyond your basic DNA code and forms you essence. This defines your metabolic personality.

There are three types of functional energies, each one coming with their own predetermined set of tendencies.

Energy of movement- light and quick

Energy of accumulation- Slow and Steady

Energy of transformation-Intense

All of us have all three energies, but most of us gravitate toward one or two of them. Sometimes in rare cases all three. This mix is the metabolic personality you were born with.

Everything you have an inclination toward and the way your body chooses to function is a reflection of your own unique energy mix. You will have certain quirks about you, you will like doing things a certain way, you will have specific interests, sadness and pet peeves, you will react to happiness, sadness and stress in a certain way, you will have your own thought processes. It’s what make you, unique- one of a kind.

The metabolic personality you were born with is your happy, balanced state. Stay true to who you are and you’ll be your healthiest self. It will just feel right. Fight or ignore your natural tendencies and the imbalanced you will feel- the not great feeling. The imbalances accumulate and eventually lead to disease.

Your metabolic personality is not as rigid as your DNA blueprint.

It can be influenced and so can be balanced.

You inherit certain traits from your parents, like your hair, of predisposition to diabetes. But if you look closer you’ll notice that you inherit certain likes or dislikes such as the taste in music or a distaste for olives. If you look even closer you’ll find that you develop some of these traits on our own, through your own, experiences and habits. Like if you were lived in Hungaria for a year you probably are a lot of gulosh than you did growing up and may even start craving it.

How you interact with your environment- your lifestyle – and, for that matter, your parent’s lifestyle before you were conceived, plays a role in determining who you are. Not meaning only an emotional, intellectual, or behavioral, leave, it’s more physical that that coming down to how your body functions and how healthy you feel.

Even though you are inclined to do things that pacify you’re metabolic personality, when imbalanced, you may end up doing things that aggravate it instead and this amplifies your negative tendencies.

Between what we are born with, what our parents taught us and what we experience in our lives we need to find a balance that assures a happy, healthy life.

We are our own unique self no doubt about it.

No two people see the world exactly alike, and different temperaments will often apply the same principle, recognized by both different. Even one and the same person won’t always maintain the same views and judgements: earlier convictions must give way to later ones.

Washington State

Letting Yourself Go

To let yourself go doesn’t mean to get rid of. To let go means to let be. When we let be with compassion, things come and go on their own.

Holding onto pain doesn’t fix anything. Replaying the past over and over again doesn’t change it, and wishing things were different doesn’t make it so. All you can do in some cases is except whatever it is you’re holding on to and let it go. That’s how everything changes. You have go to let go of what is hurting you, even if it feels impossible. Deciding to hold on to the past will hold you back from creating a strong sense of self- a self that that isn’t defined by your past, but rather by who you want to become. Our body’s painful feelings can feel comfortable, especially if they’re all you know. Some people have trouble letting go of they’re pain or other unpleasant emotions about they’re past because they think those feelings are part of they’re identity. In some ways, they may not know who they are without their pain. This can make it impossible for them to let go.

If you find it too hard to let go of the past, here are some ideas that might help.

Understand that the relationships you thought you’d have are going to be different than the ones you actually have.

We must accept the person we are in this moment and the way other people are. As time goes on, we continue to learn that things don’t always go as planned- actually they pretty much never do. And that’s okay: if you become aware of yourself and your part of relationships, they will improve, however, you may also have to accept facts about certain people in your life. Practice gratitude, appreciation, and trust in the process.

Don’t be invested in the outcome when it comes to dealing with people, because it often leads to disappointment.

Have you ever heard the quote ”Do everything with a good heart and expect nothing in return.

Expectations have a way of keeping us stuck because they lead us to fear certain outcomes. There are no guarantees in life, and there’s nothing we can really do to get the outcomes we desire when dealing with others. When our expectations or needs aren’t met, we need to respond rationally and appropriately. Sometimes this means setting respectful boundaries, and other times it means letting go.

Don’t live in chains when you have the key. We live with self-limiting beliefs that we let define who we are.

At Church yesterday morning. The Pastor taught on being the leader of your own life.

We think ”I could never do that! or ” I could never make that happen! If you truly believe that, you will never accomplish your goals. There will be many people who tell you that you can’t do it, you’ll never accomplish your goals. Open up your mind, and believe in yourself you can don’t. It’s up to you to prove them wrong.

Let go of the idea that you can control other’s actions. We really only have control over ourselves a d how we act.

You can’t change another person, So don’t waste your time and energy trying.

I tried to change my husband’s behavior for years, so he would live me the way I thought he should. When I let this action go, and stopped trying to control his actions. Things began to get better. No, things are not perfect but, I learned to be happy with his good qualities and let the others go.

I think this is the biggest part that pushes people to hold onto unhelpful behaviors, like the need to please. We think if I do everything for everyone, they’ll never be mad at me, or they won’t treat me like that anymore. Wrong!

Only Worry about what you think of yourself.

Free yourself from being controlled by what other people thing Start a list and prioritize how you feel about yourself.

Happiness is when you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.

Mahatma Gandhi

You can’t live by your values if your living for the approval of others

Leave room for mistakes.

Have you ever made a mistake or say something stupid? It’s okay. Use the experience to learn. It doesn’t make you stupid to say something wrong or silly, it makes you human, and sometimes even funny.

Accept the things you can not change

Stop wishing things could be the way they once were. Bring yourself into the present moment. This is where life happens. You can not change the past, you can only make decisions today to help how your future turns out.

Don’t take life too seriously

This will allow you to relax and enjoy life’s journey. Laugh with a day myself all the time.

Do what scares you.

Fear holds us back from doing a lot of things because it closes our minds to possibilities for our future end locks us into our comfort zone. Most fears fill us with doubts and what-ifs that imprison us. The more you get out of your comfort zone, the more fear will subside. In life do what scares you, and you’ll grow and succeed.

I often think of this scripture 2 Timothy 1:7: for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and sound mind. When I fear something in my life. But, the Bible also says in Mathew 4:7, you must not test the Lord. Meaning that if you act foolish, like overuse drugs or drive irrationally. There are consequences for your actions. Use wisdom in your life. You are the leader of your life.