A Daily Lift by Hilary Harper-Wilcoxen
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In this short podcast Hilary tells how one New Year’s resolution has changed the way she prays and her relationship with God.
Archive for the ‘Resolutions’ Category
My Best Resolution Leave a comment
From New Year’s Resolutions to Daily Resolve Leave a comment
A Daily Lift by Tony Lobl
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In this short podcast Tony talks about how a daily resolve to leave materiality behind proves more effective than the annual New Year’s resolutions.
True Happiness Leave a comment
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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)
Help to heal our world; conquer fanaticism 1 comment
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
Make a Game-Changing New Year’s Resolution Leave a comment
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.
This article by Kay Stroud was published on 32 APN news sites, including these dailies: Rockhampton Morning Bulletin, Sunshine Coast Daily, Bundaberg News Mail, Tweed Daily News, Toowoomba Chronicle, Mackay Daily Mercury, Fraser Coast Chronicle, Coffs Coast Advocate, Clarence Valley Examiner, Lismore Northern Star, Gladstone Observer, Gympie Times, Ipswich Queensland Times, Warwick Daily News.
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.
Detox your mind. It’s good for your health Leave a comment
Detoxing one’s body it seems, has become as popular as visiting a health spa to be massaged, mud-packed or steamed. Yet cleansing the body inside and out, is not all we can do to be healthier. It can also be beneficial to detox your mind. Such action is good for your health – both mental and physical.
From time-to-time negative feelings, when unchecked, can build up to alarming levels of distress in thinking. Without a good clean out, unhealthy emotions such as hurt and anger can fester away, spoiling a person’s good nature, destroying their peace of mind, and damaging their wellbeing.
Flush out corrosive feelings
There’s an ancient story about a woman who was forced to leave her home and country. Filled with resentment at this incident in her life, she was unable to mentally move forward and looked back in anger. In so doing, she turned herself into a “pillar of salt” – she became permanently embittered by what she perceived as the wrong done to her.
TIP:
● Avoid the mistake of harbouring destructive feelings such as resentment and estrangement.
● When showering, don’t just think about keeping the body externally clean. Look within.
● Use a mental-loofah to scrub and exfoliate dead-end thinking.
● Gently wash away any build-up of disappointment or bitterness.
● Rinse off unhappy thoughts about the past.
● Allow calming, comforting, reassuring, and peace-encouraging ideas to flow into thinking.
Cleanse wounded feelings.
Soaking one’s thinking in past insults or hurtful comments is not health-giving. Imagine how freeing it would feel if the memory of unkind words or deeds were erased from thinking.
TIP:
● If someone has personally said or done something mean, rather than rehearsing the unkindness, mentally pull the plug on it. Let unpleasant memories flow down the drain – right out of thinking.
● Dwell on good things that have taken place – a spontaneous hug from a child, a kindness received.
● Embrace this advice. “Fix your thoughts on what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”
● “Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thoughts.” (Science and Health, p. 261, Mary Baker Eddy)
Purify thinking
It’s long been considered that hatred is toxic. So too are harsh thoughts and acidic attitudes, holding a grudge, or seeking revenge. These eat away at the fabric of one’s thinking and good health. That’s why it’s helpful to detox the mind.
TIP:
● Hatred requires feeding to flourish so starve it of nourishment.
● Snuff out the desire for revenge – to verbally or physically retaliate. Refuse to give it oxygen, or breath.
● Filter out unwholesome emotions and attitudes.
● Pour into thinking the health-bringing, health-sustaining qualities of love, forgiveness, mercy, and kindness.
● Make time to meditate, purify and regenerate thinking. It’s good for your health.
This article, Detox your mind. It’s good for your health, by Beverly Goldsmith was originally published on her blog site, Spirituality and Health Connect . Beverly is a Melbourne-based health writer who provides a diversity of health content on how spirituality and thought affect health.
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