You shall be called… the restorer of paths to live in. – Isaiah 58:12
There is a much better and more effective way to apply your positive attitude in a way that will actually yield results. Things do not happen because of a feeling, they happen because you know the rules and are willing to apply some hard work.
With all the Positive Mental Attitude (PMA) talk floating around the self-deception trap has never been easier to fall into. While a positive attitude is very important in pursuing your dreams, there is a point when it turns evil.
To be completely candid, I have always been more of a geek than a jock. Sure, I played hide & seek and the occasional football, but while some of the other kids were playing sports, jumping hurdles or running up and down the mall, I was taking electronics apart (much to my Mother’s horror), studying eschatology or standing in Radio Shack learning to program a computer.
Honestly, and with apologies to my health-minded friends, I have often found the zealousness of health nuts to be a little over the top. Okay, to be totally honest, I thought they were a little weird. That was until…
In 1955, psychologists Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham devised a technique called the Johari Window. It’s purpose is to help people better understand themselves and their relationship with others. It has been tweaked a lot over the years by Psychologists and Life Coaches, but the principles are still the same. The diagram helps explain the model.
Okay, I admit it. Sometimes I post stuff on Facebook just to see how it will play out in “likes” and “shares.”
It is fascinating to me that I can post two bible verses – without commentary – seconds apart from each other and one will get dozens of “likes” while the other is largely ignored. I have even discovered a fairly proven – though not scientific – formula for predicting what will be “liked” and what will not. For example, here are two Bible verses from the same version of the Bible:
God is always tougher on leaders than He is on everyone else. The Apostle James warned his readers that they shouldn’t be too eager to be teachers, as God judges us more strictly. In the the book of Micah we read, “…Listen, you leaders of Israel! You are supposed to know right from wrong, but you are the very ones who hate good and love evil. You skin my people alive and tear the flesh from their bones…” It goes on, but I’m sure you get the point. It is a lot of responsibility being a leader.
That being said, we need God-centered leaders more than ever. Irish statesman, author and philosopher Edmund Burke famously stated hundreds of years ago, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
From the Board Rooms of New York advertising agencies to school locker rooms, it is clear that we are all searching for true and lasting love. Billions of dollars, yen, sterling and other currencies trade hands every year in hopes that a product or service will somehow be the key to this elusive and priceless heart-cry.
In the process of this search, we have all been sold a bill of goods. The actors who portray perfect couples on television and movies, are often some of the worst at achieving lasting love. All too often, their home lives are a train wreck, plagued with unfaithfulness, abuse, divorce and brokenness. Their children often grow up confused and unloved – repeating the same mistakes in another generation.
Even after all these years, there is a clear image in my mind of the Nuclear Radiation symbol that adorned the stairwell of my elementary school. I vividly remember the drills where we were told to get under our desks or to walk quickly to the fall-out shelter in the basement of the building.
During the cold-war, these events were the norm for children all across America. We lived under a very real threat that the Soviet Union or one of its allies could launch nuclear missiles at any time. Growing up a little over one-hundred miles south-west of the nation’s capital and less than two-hundred miles north-west of the largest Navel Station in the world, made us very aware of our potential as collateral damage in a nuclear exchange.
I have been astonished and saddened by the level of unadulterated vitriol and hate that is being spewed group against group in our country. As I have watched the decline of civil society over the past several decades, I have been increasingly concerned about a coming civil war.
No, I’m not referring to another North against South, nor do I believe it will necessarily end up as a conventional conflict. I am more concerned with clashes between races, religious groups and political ideologies. I am concerned that warfare might be gang and gorilla style, with riots, murders, rapes, theft and the like. More than physical bombs, I have been concerned about the destruction of personal economies, freedom of speech and the inviolability of our personal thoughts and moral convictions.
I’ve been thinking a great deal lately about the “debates” going in our world. Unfortunately, it increasingly appears less about enlightened and reasoned conversations that make us all better, and more about personal pride and unyielding rants. While there should be encouragement from leadership to keep the discussion civil, it seems that more-often-than-not, leaders appear to be fueling the rage. I believe some do this for personal advantage while others are simply too immature to play well with others.
Continue reading “10 Ways to Express Yourself Without Being a Jerk”
As Greece dances in the streets, the world teeters on the brink of financial and political collapse. Irresponsible and narcissistic impulses have seemingly seized control of the nations financial system and correspondingly our world economy.
I watched in horrified amazement this week as the people of Greece celebrated their recent electoral decision to stick their collective tongues out at their creditors. In some ways they are like little Oliver Twist holding out their beggar hands saying, “Please sir, may I have some more.” The biggest difference is that the people of Greece are not saying “please.”