In a previous post I confessed to struggling big time with life. Here’s when I would tell you this is the FIRST time ever in my human life that this has happened to me, but…I’m not that type of human.
Like most of us I ebb and flow through the ups and downs life has to offer. Depending on the season, the amount of stress or how I got to said point the ebbs can be much longer than the flows.
What do you do if you’re in that situation?
Do you run out and ask for a lot of advice?
I used to until I realized that I hardly take any advice thrown in my direction and here’s why. First, it seems silly to me to take advice that doesn’t directly correspond to my situation. We are all too unique in our backgrounds and makeup to truthfully say, “I’ve been there”. Sure, some hints and tips never really hurt but chances are you didn’t have my childhood, you don’t have my DNA makeup and my current situation is probably MUCH different from yours. Now…If you tell me that you are living with an eight-year-old nudist and a six-year-old clothist I might lend a listening ear.
Secondly, I practice yoga. With that practice I have come to know that the higher power is within all of us. We have the answers we seek, if we would only quite our minds and slow down enough to listen.
I know some of you probably go to the social media sites and look at your favorite, “Happy”, “Got it together” people and see what they’re doing to pull you from whatever funk you’ve found yourself in and if you do that, I can honestly say that you’re fucked.
Comparison is the thief of joy, my friends, and whether you’ll admit it or not social media has us comparing ourselves with others.
After that lengthy intro we can get to my yesterday.
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I have a certain self-care routine that is put in place when I’m feeling a little funked.
It always starts with gratitude. Being thankful for where you’re at in your journey, even if it’s just for the fact you were able to open your eyes this morning is HUGE.
I believe we were given two PRICELESS gifts, right from the get-go. Your breath (which we tend to hold on to in stressful situations) and gratitude. When we use these gifts efficiently we can rise from a slump.
There are more steps to this process, but I don’t want this post to turn into a novel…I do have a point :I
Another place I like to turn to is the bible. Because I work on Sunday mornings, I haven’t regularly attended a church service in what feels like forever. Yes, I am aware there are different service times, but there is a certain Pastor I like to listen to and he’s on Sunday mornings. He has this AMAZING way of reading the bible and directly relating it to the present. We are encouraged to bring our own bibles to the service and read the word it’s self. No reprints, no changing or distorting the word, but reading the actual word itself and I love it. I especially like it because I’m a tree hugger and this church isn’t spending buckets of money on books they will hopefully recycle at the end of the year.
That being said, I’ve picked up my bible and started reading again. I’m about half way through. It’s taken me a while to get there. Sometimes I’ll read everyday and other times it’s by my bedside for months untouched.
Anyway, I’ve been seeing a lot of these bible journals on Pinterest. (Insert cat emoji with the heart eyes here). They are SO beautiful. No only is it reading the bible, it’s taking pieces of it and creating art. What a great way to allow the words to saturate our soul!
So…
I went to Amazon and I bought a bible. It arrived on Saturday and it’s just not what I expected. Upon further inspection it’s a keeper but it’s not originally what I thought it would be, which is why my men and I went to the book store yesterday. I just can’t get into this online shopping thing.
Directly after school we headed to the nearest Barnes and Noble which happens to be on the inside of a mall. I swear when we walked in my men could smell Cinnabon and needed and after school snack because they were starving. We ditched the book store for a quick snack and some unnecessary crap from a quarter machine.
While we were in the food court, I couldn’t believe the people at the mall on a Monday. But secondly, I couldn’t believe how many phones and devices were holding humans hostage.
I’m talking about all shapes, sizes, ages, races all being held hostage by some sort of electronic.
My little men and I were sitting at a table in the center of zombie land with people running into tables because they couldn’t peel their eyes off their phones while they were WALKING! The closest any human came to another was at the charging stations and probably only because they HAD to.
We don’t have to worry about a Zombie infection breakout…WE’RE ALREADY BECOMING THEM!!!
I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before, but being in the service industry I can’t tell you how many families I’ve seen come through the doors each with their own device and they don’t talk to one another. If they do that in public, what’s their home life like?
You can have your billion Facebook friends, I’d trade those in any day for my REAL LIFE friends.
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Here’s some honest truth, that might cost me some friends….
If you’re over at my house, turn off your phone. I don’t want my raw self being filmed for your snapchat story. I live my life out loud enough. When I’m at home, I’m making intimate connections; ones the WORLD needs.
‘”Hi, how are you” is not exactly an “in-depth” discussion. It might be normal for you but if this is the essence of our communication, our relationships will stall on a superficial plateau. In reality, only when honest feelings and emotions are shared can REAL people be known, loved and helped.’ ~Life Application Study Bible
When I am my vulnerable self and let my shields down I’m doing it to forge a deeper connection with you, not to have it entertain others. I am offended by some actions of others this weekend.
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Last night, as we were getting ready for bed, I read some of a bible verse to my husband, one that stuck out to me and I told him about our trip to the mall. It reminded him of this video he saw on YouTube.
As I share this video with you, (https://youtu.be/nKd2QVrQVIM) I encourage you to not be a Zombie. Make meaningful connections to the people around you. The people you meet on your journey are there to teach you lessons to help you, not for entertainment value of others.
Find a way outside into nature instead of the self-sabotaging way of media these days.
Always remember, the answers you seek are already within, if you just spend sometime listening.
Much love,
Jes xoxo