Happy Saturday!

The opening paragraph of the Wikipedia entry for recreation says:

Recreation or fun is the expenditure of time in a manner designed for therapeutic refreshment of one's body or mind. While leisure is more likely a form of entertainment or rest, recreation is active for the participant but in a refreshing and diverting manner. As people in the world's wealthier regions lead increasingly sedentary life styles, the need for recreation has increased.

After a busy, stressful, frustrating, or disappointing week, we need recreation! I love the words, "therapeutic refreshment" in that description. Are you missing therapeutic refreshment in your life? If so, how long will you last without it before something breaks? I'm still trying to apply what I have learned from 'breakdowns' to my way of life. To that end, I'm working on incorporating recreation and even leisure into my weekly schedule.

What better day than Saturday for this? Yeah, I know some of you all work Saturdays, so just substitute your day off. I hope that didn't sound insultingly simplistic, but if I didn't write that, somebody would comment, "I don't have Saturdays off". We all need a day (or at least a significant chunk of one) to refresh. As the snippet above also says, there are physical reasons for this. I can personally attest to the difference higher levels of fitness make in one's overall sense of well-being.

So, get up and get outside. Yeah, I know it is probably raining or cold. Put on a coat! :) I'm going to get back to something I enjoy recreationally!

Have fun, and have a great Saturday!

Perfectionism

I wonder if this is a problem for me. Perfectionism, that is.

I found the following on this website.

To overcome perfectionism one needs to:

* accept self as a human being
* accept that the ``ideal'' is only a guideline or goal to be worked toward, not to be achieved 100%
* develop a sense of patience and to reduce the need to ``get it done yesterday''
* recognize that the human condition is one of failings, weakness, deviations, imperfections, and mistakes; it is acceptable to be human
* enjoy success and achievement with a healthy self-pride, and eliminate the need for self deprecation or false humility
* learn to enjoy success without the need to second guess your ability to sustain the achievement
* reward yourself for your progress, to reinforce your efforts to change even when progress is slight or doesn't meet up to your idealistic expectations
* love yourself; to believe that you deserve good things
* let go of rigid, moralistic judgments of your performance and to develop an open, compassionate understanding for the hard times, obstacles, and temptations
* be open to the idea that you will be successful in your efforts to change, even if you are not ``first,'' ``the best,'' ``the model,'' ``the star pupil,'' `` the exemplar,'' `` the finest''
* realize that the important thing is to be going in a positive direction

Overall, these points are challenging to me in different ways. If you have time, go to the introduction page for "Tools For Personal Growth". Take a look at the directory of issues, and if any of the issues is a challenge for you read the article.

We can all use some form of healing, and I sincerely hope that you will find some today!

So, You Wanna BS?

I spend a fair amount of time, BS-ing. I have to say that my BS-ing has improved incalculably since I started using Logos. The folks over there at LBS are just about to launch Logos for the Mac. I'm pretty excited about that as I have been using a Mac for a few months now. I participated in alpha and beta testing of Logos for Mac, and while it is not as fully featured as the Windows version, it is still very good!

So, go over there to their website and check it out, they're waiting for you!

If you don't have any use for a Mac version, check out the Windows version!

Nostalgic

Back in the day, this is what we listened to:



Say what you will, I still like it! Call me sentimental, call me a child of time forgotten, call me Dave, whatever!

Tonight, I have been thinking a lot about the place I was born and raised (for the most part). South East Alaska has to be one of the most virgin (yes, that is the best adjective) places on this planet! Despite the fact that the cruise lines are there throughout the 'nice' weather months, she is still pure as the driven snow. Wouldn't it be awesome to be back there at that time where you were happiest? Maybe high school in your home town was not it, but it sure seems like it when you are 36 and looking back! On the other hand, I married my high school sweetheart, and I can go 'back' any time.

Categories

Apparently, there are three types of folks you encounter when you are hanging out and sharing of your thoughts, struggles, and concerns:

Listeners - simply listen without responding in an obviously discernible manner
Fixers - offer their best guess or prescription for what you should do
Distracters - like being with you, they just don't feel comfortable with intimacy and will 'change the subject'

Is this true? If so, which is the best one?

Don't Shout Me Down...Please

I'm making a concerted effort to change the way that I come across to people. Being critical, cynical, and pessimistic seem to come to me quite effortlessly. Isn't that a lovely combination? Who wants to be around that? This is all part of some deep thought and soul searching over what it means to be an effective leader. The 'christianese' for this is being a good 'shepherd'. So, in this process of thought and reflection, it occurred to me that I don't encourage enough. I actually have made the mistake of falling into a pattern of being a different kind of leader, pastor, father, husband, and friend. This dead guy offered some good advice on the matter:

“Correction does much, but encouragement does more.” - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I guess this is a not uncommon behavioral response by many in my types of roles. But, does that make it right? I guess the question could be asked, "how is it working for you Dave?" Well, not as well as I would hope. Certainly, there is a place for correction when another is in error. If you walk out into traffic, it is totally appropriate for me to grab you by the arm or shirt collar and yank you back. In circumstances where danger or harm is not imminent, it doesn't seem appropriate to respond in this way (whether literally or figuratively).

If I were to theorize as to what is at the heart of this kind of response (beating people into submission (figuratively) so they will depart from their error and do what is right), I would say it is arrogance. Maybe not the pompous, boisterous kind, but certainly the subtle, insidious kind. When we see others who have not figured out the truth that we have discovered (there again is a big assumption - that we are right about what is true), we feel some need to make them understand. This is not a wrongheaded way of thinking, I believe it is often rooted in genuine concern. I certainly do want to see people learn how to live the best they can, and be doing this through continuous growth.

So, back to that dead German guy. I feel like encouragement needs to be used in every circumstance save the 'imminent danger' situation. Another dead guy said this:

There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. - Proverbs 12:18

I think there are a few types of healing words that we can identify: affirmation, consolation, praise, and exhortation. There are undoubtedly many other categories that one could identify, but I'm starting with these. I want to encourage people by recognizing what they are doing that they need to be affirmed in. How disheartening it is that the world seems to take so much each of us does for granted! I want to encourage people by consoling them in their failures, losses, and setbacks. Sometimes we just need to be lifted up from the relentless beat-down that life can seem to be when success, victory, or progress are but a distant memory. I want to encourage people by praising them for excellence. I'm a dreamer who envisions a world could be if we all lived and loved to our potential. If I want to see that materialize to any significant degree, I need to do my part to reward these efforts. After all, who can truly sacrifice without feeling like something will make it all worth while? I want to encourage people by exhorting them to do what they are capable of. I find it so energizing when a friend comes alongside me and reminds me of how much more I'm capable of. I don't want to settle for a mediocre, colorless life, I want life and life to the full!

Yeah, there it is. That is what is on my mind these days.

Response

Well, in the last 24 hours or so, it seems that a lot of us have shared thoughts on the election. We all have our opinions, and many have responded in pretty dramatic ways. Some of us jubilant, some worried, some could care less...

I had my own cocktail of mixed feelings. Then, I have been thinking about how my ongoing response to all of this should look. As has become the norm when I'm formulating a position on anything, I consulted the scripture to see what that says. There I found what I thought to be a helpful text.

...every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. - Matthew 7:17-20

The placement of this here snippet of divine wisdom is helpful as well, it follows those well known words, "judge not, that you not be judged". There certainly is more to this whole thing than what I have shared, but it is a good place to start in contextualizing everything.

Let's see what kind of fruit is produced by the incoming government and assess the outgoing on the same basis. Make sense?

Check This Out!

It appears that someone wrote Senator Gordon Smith a letter telling him why he won't be re-elected:

"As Promised"

I sure hope that Republicans are sent a message today!