Archive for the ‘Resolutions’ Category
Already it’s 2025! Sometimes a new year will cause us to reflect on the year just gone and consider whether we made the most of the opportunities it presented; whether we learned from the challenges; whether we progressed in some way. More likely we will be thinking ahead. Will this be the year I lose weight, exercise more, find a better job? We may even set goals for ourselves.
If we are honest, we must admit that most of our goals are personal ones aren’t they? There is nothing wrong with wanting to be a better version of ourselves in some way, but what if our goals were larger? What would the world be like if we all decided to contribute to making the world a better, more peaceful place? Traditional Christmas carols express hope for ‘peace on earth, good will toward men’. What if this desire was not just a line in a song but our personal goal?
You might ask: How can I make a difference? The world is in such a difficult state – there is poverty, and there are wars, and terrible injustices. How can I help with that, you ask? Every thought and every action contribute to the mental atmosphere of our environment. Are we contributing to a more peaceful environment in our daily interactions? Are we patient and supportive when the person behind the counter is new at their job? Are we gracious in traffic when someone inadvertently cuts us off? Are we forgiving when a waiter makes an error in our order? Are we generous to those less fortunate than ourselves? Every one of these actions contributes to your own and others’ feeling of being loved and valued. Isn’t that what we all need? Isn’t this what really makes life work right?
The Golden Rule: ‘ Treat others as you would want to be treated’, isn’t just a Christian saying. A quick Google search reveals that it is a core demand of every major religion and school of thought. The world knows that it is love that makes things work right. This time next year when we look back on 2025, let’s hope we can all say that we contributed to the peace of the world. Starting right here with our everyday actions we can do our part in building peace.
This article was contributed by Deborah Packer, a member of the Canberra Christian Science community.
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Unselfish ambition, noble life-motives, and purity, – these constituents of thought, mingling, constitute individually and collectively true happiness, strength, and permanence.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy p58)
What I most love about my country is our general lack of fanaticism – a startling contrast to recent high-profile instances of it here and elsewhere. I started thinking about this subject before the terrorism events in Paris, but those events have made dealing with fanatical thinking seem even more imperative.
A fanatic expresses excessive, irrational zeal. Far from taking an intelligent and well-informed stance on an issue, their passion and manic obsession with a cause or way of doing things colour their decision-making ability negatively.
Fanaticism about a political or religious philosophy that makes us feel superior; holding obsessively to a non-proven hypothesis; belief that there is only one way to play football and there’s a single worthy team; prejudice about what foods we should eat and the best way to cultivate them; or uncompromising belief that we only need to attend to the physical body to be healthy, are all too common habits that lead us down a slippery slope of intolerance. Fanatical beliefs are nearly always built on fear.
A red flag should go up if we find ourselves extremely sensitive about our viewpoint or hating anyone who opposes it.
Alternatively, common sense based on a positive stance, sure of a solution becoming apparent that will be good for everyone, is a better viewpoint. This demeanour is not just a good-old Aussie “she’ll be right” attitude, but grows out of a well-informed and caring approach to the world.
This is a spiritual approach that begins with ourselves – that is, feeling and accepting the love that comes from our divine source. It’s so much easier to love, when we’re feeling loved.
What will help the world through this current fermentation is our individual commitment to choosing love and understanding over hate and apathy.
I find it’s useful to ask myself: could I be a little more thoughtful and kinder with my comments? I’d have to confess that the answer is usually, “well, maybe.”
Try this scenario. If you could go back in time, would you choose to continually belittle our ancestors’ beliefs about a flat earth? Wouldn’t you instead gently nurture and point out bridges of understanding to help them comprehend the reality?
American Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad, president of the Minaret of Freedom Institute was interviewed about possible motives for the killings at the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
Married to a Christian, Mr Ahmad holds a unique perspective on cross-cultural understanding (or misunderstandings) between Muslims and non-Muslims. He pointed out, “…it is one thing to make a joke about a rich man or a powerful man who slips and falls. It is something entirely different and not funny to make a joke about your poor old grandmother slipping and falling. To the Muslim people, jokes and cartoons about the faith of an oppressed people are not funny. They hurt.”
We all know how humiliation hurts, and most of us at some time have been down the road of wanting to lash out at a perceived enemy.
So, if we can empathise, we can forgive and work towards healing our world.
Academics and experienced change-managers in the field of terrorism psychology are stepping forward this week to share with the world some common patterns for success in de-radicalising regimes and terrorists. (http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2012/0525/Are-terrorists-beyond-redemption)
Surprisingly, these don’t include retribution but active, solution-based change-management, such as recognizing the needs of jihadists; finding them vocational education, jobs and even wives; and, recognizing the importance of their social network (http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2014/11/05/the-3-step-guide-to-de-radicalizing-jihadists/)
Whether or not you have a direct hand in these compassionate measures, you can begin to make a difference in the health of our wonderfully promising world by de-radicalising your own thinking.
Utilise this good advice to start the healing movement within your own circle:
• “Hate no one; for hatred is a plague-spot that spreads its virus and kills at last…
• If you have been badly wronged, forgive and forget…
• Never return evil for evil;
• and, above all, do not fancy that you have been wronged when you have not been.” (Mary Baker Eddy)
None of us have all the answers to the world’s problems right now, but today you can at least be a law to yourself to give up any fanatical beliefs you may be harbouring. This self-regulating action is also good for your stress levels, heart, immune system and much more.
This article is by Kay Stroud. Her articles on the link between consciousness, spirituality and health appear regularly in APN print and online publications. For more information on these trends or answers to questions about Christian Science visit www.health4thinkers.com
While some of us are still dealing with the influx of visitors, festivities and sun-soaked holidays, in the back of our minds is the niggling thought that 2015 has already begun and now is the time to make our New Year’s resolutions, before it’s too late.
Some are choosing to eat healthier and exercise more. That certainly can make us feel better.
Two other resolutions that go hand-in-hand will not only increase your health but be game-changers in your life: always opt for the positive viewpoint over the negative and choose to be kinder to others.
A friend related how his acquaintance was in hospital recently, suffering from a life-threatening illness.
Things were looking pretty grim and it seemed that he was hanging on by a thread. Then his heart stopped and he ceased breathing.
At that moment, the medical staff on duty in that area of the hospital noticed that he was passing on and began to congregate around his bed …. not rushing to him with defibrillator or drip, but unexpectedly telling jokes, laughing and talking loudly and animatedly about everyday things.
They continued by his bedside including everyone in the ward in the jovial conversation until he began to regain consciousness. The man made a full recovery.
What happened? Did the nurses and doctors know that their confident and caring presence was more effective than apparatus or medication? Yes.
Something similar is at play when a teacher disregards the negative ‘label’ attached to the child and responds with love and recognition of that child’s higher nature and abilities, bringing a turnaround in attitude at school.
Or when a brick wall tumbles down between two people who haven’t spoken to each other for years as one reaches out with forgiveness.
The reasons for such changes for the better spring from (1) choosing a positive, solution-based approach, and (2) trusting our instinct to be warm and caring, despite a temptation to take an impersonal, defeatist or hard-line approach.
Lissa Rankin MD, sought-after TEDx presenter and one of the keynote speakers at the Byron Bay Uplift Festival a few weeks ago, urges us to strip back everything that isn’t really us that we’ve learned in the world of hard knocks, to find that inner pilot light or divine spark of love within.
Research results from studies on cancer recovery and remission support her claim to the beneficial effects of this practice.
Rankin also cites conclusive evidence that an essential part of any successful treatment is engaging a health practitioner who is reassuring, gentle and kind, and treats patients with compassion.
Did Jesus mean in his well-known parable, that the warmth and care that the Good Samaritan showed had as much to do with the traveller’s recovery (who was robbed and beaten by thieves) as the bandages, oil and wine provided?
Mary Baker Eddy believed so and based her scientific, healing method on this premise. An important researcher into how consciousness affects health, she discovered in her investigations and successful treatments through prayer that…
“Whatever holds human thought in line with unselfed love, receives directly the divine power” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures)
Forgetting ourselves and putting others first really FEELS divine and invariably makes us glow with happiness.
I hope your 2015 takes wings. Seems it’s sure to do so if you choose to take this two-pronged approach to a happier, healthier year ahead – adopting a positive, solution-based viewpoint, and actively and warmly caring for yourself and others.
Kay is a freelance writer focussing on the undeniable connection between our thinking and our health. She writes for metropolitan and regional news media throughout Australia and beyond, and is a regular contributor to Australia’s national forum, Online Opinion.
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