Self-Control

Luke 21:19 “In your patience possess ye your souls.”

Self-control

You know, self-control, along with respect has gone clear out the window in society. People have a hard time controlling their tongue, hands and I should say, fingers because that is where most of their bravery comes in to play, tapping on their keyboards.

I had to leave a facebook group recently because the people were vicious! If someone disagrees with their thought, posts, whatever, they lash out and the herds follow suit! This was on a Vegan page or something but it is happening across the boards on many pages. I see a person disagree, then they belittle and demean that person. If a person posts a contradiction to their truth, they basically cyber-bully the person until they leave the group. This is sad.

My point in naming this post self-control is because I’d like you to try and see what you are doing to yourself by eating from the toxic buffet. You are basically bullying your own body into believing what you are sending down into your stomach is good for you.

The mere mention of the word cancer and healing remedies garners opinions, curious or otherwise, people want to know about this dastardly disease and how to ward it off, or fight it here and now. But no one likes the answer. No one has the intense self-control that it takes to ward off the disease or combat the disease. They’ll cross that bridge when they get there.

It has only been six months for me since I was diagnosed and while I’m not schooled in health and nutrition, I’ve come a long way in the knowledge of what works and what doesn’t. Yesterday I ventured into the ‘Healing The C Naturally’ group and told them of the results of my blood test. These women are all going through the exact same thing. It is a ‘closed group’ for the very reason I stated above, there are bullies out there who want to tear you down.

I was afraid to post the results last week because quite frankly I wanted to bask in the good results before someone (from the BC group) said that this was a normal result. Instead, I was met with congratulations and good job, and questions like ‘how did you get your B12 up?’ I wasn’t expecting that, I was expecting them to say it is normal to have normal results like mine so you see, my blood test results were NOT normal for patients of the dreaded C. So I may get to bask a little longer in these promising results. One person did say, "Not to poop on your party, but B12 will be high if you're taking B12 and get tested." My response, "Nothing can poop on my party, these results were more than just about B12." And a big smiley face followed.

I have the strength of Iron Man! The self-control of Super Man and the love and grace of my Almighty God. Those three things are what you need to fight off illness, wrestle with a disease, or utilize in your battle to lose weight. To become healthy you need self-discipline, you need to see that you are worth the effort to stay alive.

I sometimes hit a roadblock, basically when I go to Wall-E World not because of just food but because of the amount of ignorance in people in general; other than that my days are filled with gratitude and appreciation. When I hear people say that they could never do what I’m doing or eat what I’m eating it is only because we are a spoiled, conditioned nation of people who are happy eating unhealthily. They are happy when they look in the mirror, are pleased as punch when they go to the doctors and yet another illness has crept up on them and satisfied living the YOLO life.

If you stand naked in front of the mirror and are not happy with what you see it is time you learned self-control of the unhealthy foods going into your mouth and make yourself worth it to eat the healthy foods. I’m not standing on a high horse here, believe me; I had to give up a lot to be able to tell you this. I agree it sux that I can’t have a big old slice of pizza with all of the fixings. It hurts to not be able to just scarf down whatever food I want. BUT and this is a big but… my BUTT thanks me for the changes! (that was my attempt at a funny.)

In six months I’ve lost thirty-two pounds and if you dare say it’s because I don’t eat, you’d be lying to yourself. I eat very good, very healthy non-toxic food.  That’s the problem, people don’t WANT to eat healthily. People WANT to eat and die happy eating. I have total self-control when it comes to eating and drinking and no I didn’t always eat this way but I like to think I’ve always had self-control and that might be the reason I’ve never been overweight.

I gave up drugs and alcohol, not with any program to help me, I did it with self-control and learning to love myself more than my fixation. When people drink, they are drinking to bury something inside. They are not drinking to be casual because they just like it, they are drinking to hide something or bury something and they've yet to admit that is what they're doing.

The same goes for food; when you over indulge, pig out, or eat unhealthy food shoved in your face, you are doing that to mask pain not because you want to eat what you want, you’re lying to yourself. You might even say to yourself that you have no hidden pain, no past trauma, no regrets, nothing detrimental that inhibits your inner growth, you just like eating junk food. If that is you, then more power to you. 

You will watch pounds shed off of you like dry skin when you work on healing your inner self and watch the foods going into your mouth. Self-control, if you have none I can guarantee sickness is waiting at your door, a disease is lurking waiting to pounce, cancer is in hiding waiting to come out and play. 

Learn how to control the unhealthy fats going into your body by eating healthy fats. You don’t need to be a vegetarian, vegan or a plant based eater, you need to have self-control. The difference in a believer and nonbeliever is control. You’re controlling what goes into your mind. Why can’t people have the same control over the foods that go into their bodies? 

A mushroom

Pros and Cons

You know, there is a useful side to the Social Network, facebook. As I see Writers Digest, and many other writing pages soar and become LIKED by thousands, I wander in, seeking the benefits to which I might reap. They offer posting of your writing, critique, contests, and some even have magazines that offer publication! So that is one of the good things to come out of Facebook and all the other Social Scenes for me. Am I ragging on them too much? I’m a writer and I need the technology to advance my learning and to write my work. The computer and the internet is a part of the writers arsenal.

I seem to come down pretty hard on the Social Scene, but again, there is a marked difference in the Social aspect, and the Networking aspect. I love all the Christian pages, so much so I can get lost in them, too. Commenting and praying throughout the day, but again, it is just a means of justifying my time spent on there among friends. Maybe I’m addicted to my friends??? Well let me tell you, they have been an ironclad support system whereas my family members have been a wet leaf of support!

Every aspect of life has Pros and Cons and the Social Scene is no different:

Pros:
1. You make friends in the writing world to which you might have never had the chance to meet, and they are SUPPORTIVE, to the brink you wonder how you got through life without them!
2. You gain from knowing these people because you can brainstorm on your work.
3. You get to be a nosey busybody, and become friends with basically everyone that you know and that all your friends know.
4. You find out who really cares, sincerely, not just for the show.
5. These people via my blog and FB just might become lifetime friends who actually give a hoot!

Cons:
1. There is a non professional feel to the Social Scene, that leaves you crying out in utter disgust as you seek sanity.
2. You get used and washed up, tossed aside like a worn kleenex.
3. People want to become your ‘friends’, not because they care about you, but because, they want to know your business.
4. You make a deal with the devil that you can not take back!
5. You become an addict, no different than the drug abusers. So, you’re not harming yourself with toxins, but sometimes these sites ar toxic!
6. You’re absorbed into the sponge like atmosphere and become a social fungus.
7  You become oblivious to the harm it is doing to your psyche.
8. You justify your actions, again, just like a drug addict. “I don’t have a probelm.”
9. You’re in the maze of confusion and have found peace there.
10. Swallowed whole, your life no longer has purpose and meaning. You’re a washed up old rag, and you like it!

As I head into the New Year, I go with God. I will keep my health issues to myself and allow you all to just keep sending up prayers for me and in some way, you will know that I am okay. I can not pretend and like my way through life, I have to have something physical and real that I can hold onto even if it is for a short time.

The cons outweigh the pros of the social network for me BUT my point in all of this, is this. KNOW your limits, stay focused on what you need to do to get to your next goal you’ve set for yourself. Achieve something daily, to make up for the wasted time. And always and I mean always keep WRITING!!! That is more essential than ANY socializing scene!

Think Outside the Box

2 Sam. 22:8 Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations of heaven moved and shook, because he was wroth.
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Have you ever placed yourself so tightly in a box you feel there is no way out? You know, gotten so used to a routine that going off the beaten path might throw you off track a little?

Have you taken the same exact route to the store, gone through the store hitting all the aisles like a robot scourging the shelves in the same pattern week after week? Sometimes we need to shake off the routine and go down a dirt road that has never been explored before.

In our writing, we broach the same topics, write in the same fashion, place everything in the box with us so we feel secure knowing it is right where we want it to be. I’m here to tell you to think outside the box for a change. Write something you’d never dare write, show us, in all the splendid color, what you have to offer.

Think outside the box and shake your writing up a bit. Maybe use a new word that you’ve never used before. Try techniques unfamiliar to you and practice them every day; fulfill your writing dream by letting go of the old cardboard box. Climb out and observe the world around you, swallow up all the beauty and write about what it is you see.

Do pictures help you tell a story? Then google Picture Prompts, you’ll get a slew of new images to meander through all waiting for a tale to be told. Do word prompts help you write a story? Then again, google writing prompts. All of these venues are there for the taking. It’s like dipping into a pool of thoughts and you jump in and grab what you can and come out dripping with a new tale to be told.

Exercise your brain daily. Get out of the box and try your hand at new things. Sail off into the sunset and resurface at the sunrise. As a writer you can travel the world, wind up in different worlds, delve into the consciousness of writing and be on your way.

Whatever you do, don’t get stuck in a rut. The rut will weigh you down, keeping you grounded in one spot, you guessed it, The Box.

So what will you do today differently than you’ve done in weeks past? Are you just going to sit there, tap on the keys, go on about your day in routine fashion and wind up here in the morning to do the same thing over and over again? I hope not. I hope you put your world in a blender and shake up your habits a bit and write your heart out, embracing new things along the way.

Today, as in all days, Think Outside the Box!

Job 37:1 At this also my heart trembleth, and is moved out of his place.