Worldview – Page 3 – Andrea Arthur Owan

19 New Year Prayers for Yourself

Little did I know when I planned this week’s topic that I would find myself in profound need of it!

Last Monday, just as I was walking out the door (literally) to drive to Phoenix to attend a 3-day Critical Incident Stress Management program for first responders and chaplains, I tore the outside meniscus in my right knee. At least that’s what the Physicians Assistant thought I did, although I’m unconvinced that’s the only thing I tore.

Anyway, much pain, an icy pack of corn, and two hours later, I was all crutched and braced up and driving up to Phoenix. I know; I’m a stubborn masochist. But the seminar was wonderful, and it was good to escape the distractions of unfinished work at home and be stimulated by learning (one of my favorite things to do).

The swelling subsided a bit, I did get to the point where I could put some weight on it, and I snagged a front-row chair where I could spread out and prop my leg up on a crutch. Sleeping was a bit more challenging, though, since moving around caused pain.

So I definitely felt the need for prayer! I needed a MRI as fast as they could get approval and schedule it (I had it very late last Friday afternoon), and a doctor’s read of it. (As I write this, I’m still awaiting that.)

So, with my big toe bone spur removal still in recovery mode, and this new injury added to that, my year is shaping up to be much different than the one I envisioned. Thankfully, we hadn’t made any specific plans (which is unusual), and most of my next several months is wide open and free to deal with it all.

But I really want this knee to heal well, so I can return to Spain to walk more of the Camino and visit my aunt and two uncles this summer and maybe do some hiking around Big Bear, Northern California, and Oregon. Those goals will require a delicate dance between my medical providers and me—in treatment, rehabilitation, patient adherence, and my old body’s healing response. I’ll need to be vigilant and rein in my tendency to overdo and push.

And I’ll need to be praying focused prayers, rather than just looking at the entire event pragmatically.

New Year prayers—

You may have already thought of many things you can bring before God in prayer, specifically for this new year; you may have already received specific prayer requests—like the young girl at my former church that was hit by a car after getting of the school bus this past week and is still unconscious; and a dear, older friend in the hospital for heart problems. And another friend’s sister-in-law who fell and hit her head on New Year’s Eve and never regained consciousness. Her husband had to make the decision last Monday to remove life support. Now the family is confronting profound, unexpected grief after the shock.

A lot of things have already gone very, very wrong in this New Year, and, so far, it’s been pretty rough for many people. And you likely feel a burden on your heart to pray for them.

Praying for yourself—

Truly, there is much to pray for.

But what about more general prayers, the ones we should probably be praying all of the time?

These would be personal prayers specifically for us, the ones that draw us closer to God, that delve us into seeking His heart, knowing Him better, being more like Him, preparing ourselves for the tough, ugly parts of life that get slung our way. The tough, ugly events that get slung in the way of friends and others.

Below you’ll find some ideas for self-prayer. I’ve developed them from Gospel for Asia founder K.P. Yohannan’s praying for yourself material. Hopefully some of them will touch your heart.

You could pray for:

mercy that you may endure, no matter what the year brings your way;
grace to be an encouragement to others;
strength to stand for God’s truth and justice in your home, your workplace and the public forum;
an extra measure of love so you can demonstrate God’s love and give hope to those around you;
help in seeing and loving people as God sees and loves them;
help in being an encourager to those despondent in spirit or frightened by the world’s precarious state;
help with believing in others’ potential;
help in living with an open heart and hand—in being generous as our Heavenly Father is generous to ALL;
help in loving others when no one else will;
help in knowing how to take care of yourself;
help in extending grace to others, as God has extended His grace to you;
help in believing in the seemingly impossible;
help in expecting God to show up and do great things;
help in deepening your prayer life in order to have a better relationship with the Father;
help in removing any unbelief or a jaded, cynical spirit;
help in self-discipline and holy living;
help with trust that God will meet your every need this year;
help in being obedient to God’s call and direction in your life;
help in developing a more thankful, worshipful heart, in all things.

These are just a few ideas. Nineteen of them to be exact. I’m sure you can add to the list.

I invite you to re-write them in prayer form, personalize them, use them as daily devotionals, or focus on the ones you know you really need help with.

NEXT WEEK we’ll explore the impact on your life of praying the Scriptures. And I’ll give you an example of what I’m specifically doing this month in that area.

Until then, don’t neglect to pray for yourself as you pray for others. Your relationship with the Father, and depth of it, depends upon it!

Blessings,

Andrea

“Certainly there was an Eden….We all long for it, and we are constantly glimpsing it.” —J.R.R. Tolkien

The Choice: How to Forgive Others and Yourself and Enjoy Freedom!

Did you get any nonfiction books for Christmas? You know, the ones you (or the giver) thought may improve your life in 2019?

If you didn’t get any literary gifts (a standard and favorite present in our family), and you aren’t primed with any for the new year, may I recommend one to you?

If you’re a lover of memoirs, a WWII history buff, or a studier of the Holocaust, you’ll delight in this read.

If you’re looking for a book that will inspire you to greater heights, show you how to forgive the atrocities of your past, help you understand yourself and your pain, and encourage you to never give up hope, this is one you’ll want to read!

The Choice: Embrace the Possible is Dr. Edith Eva Eager’s memoir, the story of a girl who dreamed, had her dreams destroyed, survived Auschwitz against all odds, and learned how to heal herself. And in that process, she learned how to help others heal.

Her parents are killed, the feared, notorious and deadly Dr. Josef Mengele “forces Edie to dance for his amusement and her survival.”

As the back cover blurb says,

“Edie spent decades struggling with flashbacks and survivor’s guilt, determined to stay silent and hide from the past. She raised a family and studied and practiced psychology. Thirty-five years after the war ended, she returned to Auschwitz and was finally able to heal and forgive the one person she’d been unable to forgive—herself.

“In The Choice, Edie weaves her remarkable personal journey with the moving stories of those she has helped heal. She explores how e can be imprisoned in our own minds and shows us how to find the key to freedom. A wise, compassionate, and life-changing book, The Choice will provide hope and comfort to generations of readers.”

The Choice is brutally honest and revelatory. It’s a poignant coming-of-age story that will touch women and men and adolescents. It’s a story of pain, forgiveness, hard choices, undying love, and reconciliation.

I was drawn to the book for several reasons, one of which is its Holocaust story, something I started studying in high school. My father was part of the military group that liberated Dachau in Germany. I’ve seen pictures of the horrors he encountered there, although he could never bring himself to the point of being able to describe them to me.

I’ve dog-eared numerous pages in this book that’s filled with psychological insights that gave me “ah ha” moments and a better understanding of grieving loss of a dream or a person.

In her introduction, Dr. Eger says,

“If you asked me for the most common diagnosis among the people I treat, I wouldn’t say depression or post-traumatic stress disorder, although these conditions are all too common among those I’ve known, loved, and guided to freedom. No, I would say hunger. We are hungry. We are hungry for approval, attention, affection. We are hungry for the freedom to embrace life and to really know and be ourselves.”

Could that be on your “wish list” for your life in this New Year and beyond?

The freedom to embrace life and to really know and be yourself?

Maybe you’re on the continuum and have made great headway toward harnessing and enjoying freedom. Maybe you don’t know how to gain it and need a kick start.

If you find yourself in either of these situations, I encourage you to add this book to your 2019 reading list, sooner rather than later!

Until next Friday (and next year!),

think about how you can embrace life and really be free!

Blessings,

Andrea

May you prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers (3 John 2).

I receive no monetary benefit from recommending this book or the sale of it.

How Gratitude Affects Physical and Mental Health

If you decided to keep a gratitude journal once a week for 10 weeks, how do you suppose that might affect your gratitude levels? What about writing a gratitude or thank you letter to someone?

Researchers are finding that gratitude and gratitude activities are having significant effects on physical fitness, self-esteem, heart patients, the chronically ill, depressed and suicidal patients, and with relationships and in the workplace.

Gratitude is a prescription for a healthy heart—

A 1995 study found that participating patients that experienced appreciation had improvements in heart rate variability, a function associated with good heart health.

More grateful people also report better physical health. They tend to:

engage in healthy activities
seek help for their health issues
sleep better and longer

Heart and heart attack patients who have higher levels of gratitude do better in sleep, have less fatigue, enjoy lower levels of cell inflammation, and greater improvements in emotional well-being.

Higher optimism and gratitude have also been associated with higher adherence to following medical recommendations.

Chronic pain patients and those with chronic illnesses like arthritis or inflammatory bowel syndrome tend to experience less depression and anxiety and enjoy better sleep when they have higher levels of gratitude.

And gratitude may actually prevent chronic illness from occurring.

Gratitude interventions—

In 2003, Emmons and McCullough found that the participants they had in the study record 5 things they were grateful for (“counting blessings” or “gratitude journaling”) every week for 10 weeks reported a lot more time exercising ad noted fewer physical complains than the participants assigned to write down 5 hassles or 5 daily events.

Gratitude may improve sleep!

Research indicates keeping a gratitude journal improves your sleep.

Maybe doing a gratitude check before bed primes your brain and body chemicals for a peaceful, restful night.

Gratitude journals may also improve cardiac health.

Grateful people tend to enjoy life more and have greater feelings of well-being.

Gratitude and materialism—

A few studies suggest that more grateful people are less materialistic, which may be because they’re more satisfied with their lives.

But one study showed that people who were both materialistic and high in gratitude did not have lower life satisfaction. They were just happy, grateful materialists!

Gratitude and avoiding burnout—

Studies indicate that gratitude may help employees and athletes avoid burnout; but burnout may dampen feelings of gratitude.

More reasons to start counting your blessings—

We need to really take this blessing counting seriously, as more studies have found that being grateful and demonstrating gratitude in some way had the following effects:

improved people’s life satisfaction
improved
alleviated depression symptoms in the severely depressed
increased optimism
increased happiness
decreased body dissatisfaction in women!
an increase of trust and positive emotions during a financial transaction

Pull out those thank you cards and start writing!

The research showing the multitude of benefits from thank you card writing is impressive. People who do it show higher levels of gratitude. And actually reading the letter to the recipient may really crank up the happiness scoreboard AND decrease depression.

In numerous studies, writing thank you notes and letters had a significant effect on the writer’s feelings of gratitude and resulting life satisfaction and happiness.

Be grateful to broaden your mind—

It also turns out that gratitude tends to increase your creativity, especially when thinking about an activity that will benefit others.

And gratitude can enhance social bonds and friendships.

And the list goes on and on!

Gratefulness can cause people to:

play more
be creative
push their limits
increase their psychological and social resources
cancel out negative thoughts
increase and improve coping mechanisms
re-cast negative events in a positive light
put effort into positive behaviors, which in turn leads to self-improvement behavior
improve their relatedness (being and feeling connected)
improve their feelings of autonomy (and being empowered and in control)
improve their feelings of competence
decrease their stress levels or perception of stress
decrease their depression
decrease their anxiety
experience fewer suicidal thoughts and attempts at suicide
have a decreased fear of death
be able to respond better to traumatic life events
show more humility
have more wisdom
enjoy pro-social behavior
increase their sense of purpose in life
increase their sense of satisfaction in school
improve their relationships
foster more and better relationships
improve workplace atmosphere and relationships

With all of these amazing benefits associated with attitudes of gratitude and gratefulness, and demonstrating gratitude through behavior and thank you card writing, why would you put off putting them into practice? Of try to make it a habit, or a fundamental, frequent practice in your life?

It just appears that gratitude makes you an all-around better, happier and probably more productive and engaging person. Someone other people gravitate toward and want to be with and like.

So as we say goodbye to the official gratitude month of November, and look forward to one of the days on the calendar we should be most grateful for, let’s try to put some of these gratitude-building activities into practice.

Preparing our grateful hearts for the One who loves us most!

Until next week, when we’ll start looking at just how much He does love us and the power of love,

Keep making entries into that gratitude journal, or maybe ask for a special one for Christmas!

For more in-depth study on gratitude research, see Greater Good Science Center’s gratitude white paper.

Blessings,

Andrea

May you prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers (3 John 2).

Thank You Light by Morvanic Lee on unsplash

Black Friday OptOut(side)

It’s Black Friday.

‘Tis the season to stand in line for hours and go nuts at the malls.

Did I need to tell you that?

What do you plan to spend the day doing?

Shopping? Eating leftover turkey, stuffing, potatoes and pie?

How about an alternative option. One that has health and wellness and saving money written all over it?

Skip Black Friday shopping and do some playing outside!

Yup. Get out in the great outdoors for some creation viewing and inhaling!

Breathe fresh air.

Break a sweat.

Sunbathe.

Go canoeing or kayaking. Hike. Run. Grab a bunch of friends and play soccer in the park. How about Frisbee with your dog? Riding a bike along a bike path. Going to the dog park. Enjoying a café con Leche al fresco with a friend.

Take a stand and rebel against the same old, against the world’s marketing giants.

Source of my rebellion—

The Camino. That’s what did it. And this is yet another example of how that journey changed me.

I haven’t done the Black Friday shopping bit for years, but I have perused the websites online, the ones that tease me to get in on the cyber action three days early, so I can be a savvy shopper. So I can feel good about the bargain I scored.

On The Camino I rejected news, marketing and teasers. I focused on my purpose and spiritual journey.

I spent most of my day outside in the caressing sunshine and sweet smelling (or sometimes dust-cloaked) air and realized how much I missed being outside. How good it made me feel physically, (there are extreme health benefits that come from being outside), emotionally and spiritually, untethered from my computer and household work.

Let’s go back to the spiritual benefits—

Isn’t that what we kicked off yesterday? Christmas? The most celebrated spiritual season of the year?

So why not focus on it? Why lose yourself in the shopping hype and drain your bank account? Why drive around endlessly looking for a parking spot at the mall?

Be a trendsetter. A rebel.

Choose to OptOutside!

Join REI as they celebrate their Day in. Day out. Celebrated on Black Friday when they’re closed for business, to encourage outdoor recreation.

Four years ago they had the gumption to change their status quo business model and decided to close their doors, and still pay their employees! On Black Friday.

Imagine. Some conscientious capitalism.

As they say on their dedicated website:

“It’s about the routines—the ones we need and the ones we need to rethink.”

So how about joining them in the rethinking.

For more on the benefits of going outside, head to their special website.

And spread the word!

#optoutside

NEXT WEEK:

What does depression look like? Could you recognize it in a co-worker or loved one?

In this season of making merry, we need to remember that for some it is the most profoundly depressing time of year. We can’t assume that our friends, fellow churchgoers, and co-workers are doing okay in this area just because they’re showing up and participating and getting the job done.

Next week I’m going to give you a great info graphic, courtesy of my friends and professional psychologists at BetterHelp.

It will give some great information on identifying functional depression and tips on the getting the help functional depressants need.

Until then,

Blessings,

Andrea

May you prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers (3 John 2).

First photo by Dieter de Vroomen on unsplash

Second photo by Sabina Ciesielska on unsplash

The Science of Gratitude

I have a family member who seems to focus on all the negatives in her life. If she doesn’t have a “big fat problem” to deal with, there doesn’t seem to be anything to focus on, no life purpose. While we occasionally hear her voice words of gratitude, they’re few and far between, and they usually have to do with people being useful to her, rather than “no good to me.”

It’s exhausting emotionally, spiritually and physically, so our time spent with her is limited. She doesn’t see herself as a negative person, but that’s how the rest of the family defines her. Void of a lot of gratitude.

What’s behind being grateful?

Just why do some people seem more naturally grateful than others? Can it be learned through practice? Is there a genetic component to it? What are the best ways to encourage, practice, and develop it? Is it an emotion? Virtue? Behavior?

These are some of the many questions we’ll be exploring together on Meditation Mondays as we approach Thanksgiving here in the United States. We’ll be preparing our hearts for that day, and carrying thankfulness into 2019 with us. And, hopefully, throughout the remainder of our lives.

So let’s get started today with some basics.

Gratitude as a research topic—

Scientists are studying gratefulness, and they’re learning some fascinating things about it. But before they started gratefulness research—a relatively new area in psychology and neuroscience—they had to develop some working definitions. Robert Emmons—considered by some as the world’s leading scientific expert on gratitude—and Michael McCullough whittled gratitude down to 2 definitions, so it could be scientifically studied and quantified. Those definitions are:

“Recognizing one has obtained a positive outcome (from something), and;
Recognizing that there is an external source for the positive outcome.”

They understand that people can possess gratitude for something outside of themselves, something, or someone, like God, fate, nature, etc., as the benefactors.

Some scientists then go on to break gratitude down into 3 categories:

An “affective trait”—are you innately more prone to be grateful as part of your personality?
A mood—Does your overall gratitude level alter throughout the day?
An emotion—Where you experience a temporary spike in gratitude as a result of something positive or beneficial being given to you.

Gratitude and brain science—

Scientists have uncovered areas our brains that express or experience gratitude. And some studies claim to have located possible gratitude genes.

Are there biological roots of gratitude? Why do some people seem naturally inclined to experience and express it? Are their ways you can foster “feelings and expressions of gratitude?”

Some researchers look at gratitude on an evolution spectrum: gratitude and helping one another out strengthens community bonds.

“Feeling” gratitude—

I think most people would say they “feel happy” when they experience gratitude, as though happiness and gratitude go hand-in-glove with one another. But evidently we experience gratitude in different ways and depending upon what kind of personality we have, what our cognitive function or awareness is, and what gender we are. Yes, females and males differ on the gratitude spectrum!

Other ingredients need to be considered too. Like:

Where were you born and where did you grow up; and who were your parents?
Social and cultural mores you grew up or live in.
The religion you learned or follow.
The kind of parenting styles you exposed to.

Benefits—

Scientists have uncovered a multitude of benefits for the grateful.

Grateful people demonstrate greater happiness and life satisfaction.
Grateful people experience less materialism.
Grateful people enjoy both physical and psychological benefits.
Grateful people exhibit a greater resiliency to traumatic events.
Gratefulness may promote the development of other traits we consider virtues, like: patience, humility and wisdom. (Although I would argue that no matter how grateful you are, you cannot enjoy real wisdom without first acknowledging God. More on that in a later post.)

And gratitude appears to inspire people to generosity, kindness and helpfulness. It shores up relationships and may improve work environments by promoting positive attitudes and behavior.

In the following weeks, we’ll dig deeper into all of these and discover how to be grateful people, or more grateful than we already are. To pass it on and encourage and promote the behavior in others.

Until then, I’d encourage you to watch the following 4-minute YouTube video in which University of California—Davis professor, Robert Emmons, reveals 4 encouraging benefits in his presentation: “What Good is Gratitude?”

For more information on gratitude, go to the University of California—Berkeley’s: Greater Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life. They have a wonderful online magazine called Great Good Magazine: Science-Based Insights for a Meaningful Life.

Blessings,

Andrea

May you prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers (3 John 2).