Do you feel scattered, as if you were being pulled in a million different directions? Do you have a tendency to say YES to everything and everyone, thinking that all these activities are helping you to attain a richer spiritual life? Then, you might just be a victim of “focus creep.”
Keri Wyatt Kent of Kyria offers three spiritual practices that helped her to gain a more “sane-paced, God-focused life.” Read how you can avoid “focus creep” this year…
By AbbyA
January 2011. The Daily Grind continues. The Master Plan does not. In other words, the Daily Grind will rock on. But the Master Plan won’t kick off unless you plan for it. Think not about the categorical boxes or time lines that tell you where you are. Dig up the good stuff that seems far off. Are you a talented CPA but used to dream about basketball? Are you working 9-5 in a cubicle but design beautiful wedding cakes? Are you changing diapers while thinking up a book on nutrition? Wherever that dream went, find it, grab it. Make it a Master Plan.
Think Big. Start Light. Grab a bound notebook and give it a date – – January 2011. Jot down locations where you can start up your sport’s league. Think about who would allow you to design their wedding cake. Start collecting articles on the kid’s food revolution. Add to it every week, every night, every month. Once you have a handful of entries, write an outline of surfacing themes, tag your guiding principles and put action to the Master Plan.
Be clear, the Daily Grind is loud and the Master Plan is quiet. The Daily Grind will Eat your Notebook in your Exhaustion. It will Hide your Notebook in its Busyness. The Daily Grind will Soak up your Dream like a Coffee Filter. Dreams lost look like deflated balls. Smooshed cakes. Sluggish days devoid of backseat lightning to keep you moving.
Daily Grind keeps the world spinning round. But it doesn’t set the spin in motion. The Master Plan is the origination of the momentum. It is the Steady Hand that gives you the dream. It is the Voice of the Spirit that says you are capable and called to do one thing, but you were made to dream and do another. Daily Grind and Dreams are Counterparts. Both sides were drawn into Time. Both Counterparts were Crafted into you. No doubt, you can Occupy yourself Full Time with the Daily Grind. But, without the Master Plan, the who you are will suffer loss in the long term.
The Even Greater Loss will be to the stale lives of those to whom you were meant to deliver your dream. Someone who really needed to be part of something will not have a league to join. Someone won’t have the chance to know you as a cake designer. Someone won’t be enriched by your book bound wisdom. If you already have lost a few Dreams, know that the Master Plan covers all sides. The Master Plan will lead someone else’s ripe dream into the life of someone in need. And, the Master Plan will give you yet another dream to construct into reality. So, pick up your Notebook, your Cake, your Ball and your Book and venture into your Master Plan. January 2011.
By JMathis
Relevant Magazine just posted a great article on how to actually make New Year’s Resolutions that are not…well, boring. How many times have you tried starting a new fitness plan on January 1st, only to be stuffing your face with Twinkies by January 3rd? Check out this article by Rachel Held Evans.
For those of you unfamiliar with the writings of Rachel Held Evans, I really encoura
ge you to pick up a copy of her bestselling book, Evolving in Monkey Town. This is a beautifully written memoir that honestly recounts Rachel’s personal struggle with doubting her faith in God. So many of us, including myself, are wrestling with spiritual and intellectual doubt as to long-standing beliefs instilled in us by the church, family or our culture. Many of us are trained to shut up about our doubts, lest we appear to be heretical or traitorous to others in the religious community.
It takes a great writer like Rachel to give us the courage to openly ask why we believe in Jesus Christ, as in many ways, this process of questioning is what will help us to better embrace a deeper, personal and more mature faith in Christ.
I remember my first time vividly. It was my freshman year of high school, and I was in Mrs. Sloane’s English class. Not typically one who was tempted to cheat, I had to forcibly suppress my desire to peek a glance at my neighboring classmate’s paper to see what she had written. Sweat drops beaded around my temple as I blankly stared at the pristine white sheet of paper entitled, “My New Year’s Resolution.” It was written in my signature, calligraphic cursive handwriting. But the handwriting, which had once won me penmanship awards in the 1st, 2nd, and 4th grades now mocked me, challenging me to think and write down a list of resolutions that could improve or change my habits or (gasp!) even maybe my life! I glanced around the room, noting each of my classmates were rapidly scribbling away like seasoned novelists. I glanced worriedly at Mrs. Sloane who stood at the front of the class, forearms resting on the wooden podium as she closely monitored the class like we were inmates at a federal prison. Perhaps it was the “deer in headlights” look in my eyes that finally broke her stoic silence, but a smile broke out over her severe countenance. Smiling reassuredly at us, she addressed the class: “Don’t let this assignment intimidate you. I’m not grading you on what you write down, unless it’s something extremely silly and I know you’re not taking the assignment seriously. You can write down anything you want…just think of even small things you would like to change/improve in your daily habits…exercising more…watching less television…turning your homework in on time,” she added pointedly looking at one of my less studious counterparts. “ Just remember to be specific…”
My head reared up and I sat up in my chair. Really? That was it?! Watching less t.v. counted as a New Year’s resolution? Relief flooded through me. I could think of several things like that! I quickly jotted several items on my list and then flipped my paper over, clasping my hands over it protectively as I patiently waited for the rest of my classmates to finish their lists. My eyes darted from one desk to another, noting that several students were still working on their lists. This wasn’t a novel, for goodness sake…it was a list! Everyone could make a list! I crossed my hands over my chest confidently. This was undoubtedly the easiest assignment Mrs. Sloane had given us, and I was guaranteed an “A.” Two weeks later I had managed to break every one of my New Year’s resolutions.
And so began my love/hate relationship with writing and keeping New Year’s resolutions. By the time I reached college though, I had all but abandonded writing them. My freshman year, I was so idealistic that I wrote goals that were not realistic, given my current financial situation, such as traveling to Europe. My sophomore year I was so overwhelmed by exams, finals, etc., that I had completely forgotten about them. My junior year I had evolved beyond the need for writing any (I blame that one on my Existential philosophy classes), and my senior year, I was once again so overwhelmed with final exams that I, again, had completely forgot about them.
Then my mid-20s came. There was just something about the end of the year that not only begged for celebration but for self-reflection and self improvement, and so post-college, I returned to the yearly ritual of writing resolutions down each year. Although I had “failed” at keeping them, like a masochist, I, along with the rest of the country, participated in this national ritual. Perhaps, it was my own stubbornness, but I was determined that one of these years, I would actually be successful at keeping them…at least one of them. But as the cycle began again, a new yearly ritual began…seeing how long would I last before breaking one of them? It became a bit of a joke and a challenge between me and my friends to see which one of us could last the longest. But soon the challenge switched to see which one of us would be the first to break it.
Somehow and somewhere in the midst of that endless cycle, I finally had an epiphany in my late 20s. Who said that one day of deterring from my goals was a sign of complete failure? As the old adage goes, if you fall of the horse, get right back on…
And with that realization, came another…who needed to wait until the end of the year to make a New Year’s resolution? Every day was a new opportunity to make a fresh start. Each day is a chance to change/transform myself into the person I aspire to be.
A few years ago, a song came out, sung by Natasha Bedingfield, reminding me that each day of my life was a blank slate, a fresh page for which to start writing the script to my life. I share those lyrics with you:
Unwritten.
I am unwritten, can’t read my mind, I’m undefined
I’m just beginning, the pen’s in my hand, ending unplanned
I break tradition, sometimes my tries, are outside the lines
We’ve been conditioned to not make mistakes, but I can’t live that way
Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find
Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your innovations
Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten
FemmeFuel 