Jonathots Daily Blog
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We Should Learn from Difficulty
1. The problems are never personal
2. But the solutions need to be
3. And the gratitude—gloriously creative
1 Thing You Can Do to Escape Distractions
Don’t talk about what needs to be done—do something
As you read this, you might conclude that this statement is so practical that it sounds common, and therefore could be considered just drivel.
But if you take a candid look at the flow of our present national conversation, you will discover that we have replaced taking action with a series of debates and dare I say, Town Halls, where we discuss all the life out of every idea, until it’s pronounced dead on arrival.
Yes, we’ve begun to believe that thinking, wishing, praying and conversing is equivalent to doing something.
How about a powerful piece of advice?
No problem is solvable—that’s why we’ve dubbed it a problem.
If we sit around and discuss our impasses and struggles, we will only grow more cynical and therefore, open the door to a stubborn spirit telling us we’ve done enough.
For instance, if the dilemma in the world is starvation, then find one family in your community which needs groceries and take over a few every week.
Discussing world poverty will provide no relief for the pangs of hunger.
But if you move out on what you have, there will be one family who benefits because you did something.
Likewise, if you believe that millennials are spending too much time on social media, then simply offer a millennial the opportunity to join into something other than download and scan.
Stop stumbling over the problem and start studying the elements that cause it.
Pick one problem and do something to address it.
You can yell all you want about gun violence or insist on the need for gun control, but it’s much more intelligent to take a group of kids at your church or in your neighborhood and present the pros and cons of what a gun is and what a gun can do.
The first step to removing yourself from being a clown is to take off the makeup.
If you look like everybody else, then you are everybody else.
So don’t discuss what the problems are. Instead, do something.
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1 Thing You Can Do This Week to Relieve Depression
Place Your Problems in Perspective
If you don’t do this, your daily difficulties will line up, each insisting it is more important than the other. Pretty soon, all you’ll be able to hear are your problems screaming for attention.
I like to use the number system, starting with 5 and going down to 1. Let me show you:
5 is a situation that requires immediate attention.
4 is one that can be set aside for the afternoon.
3 can wait until tomorrow
2 is in no big rush—seems to be no hurry
1 is one of those bugaboos that might just work itself out without your interference
If you don’t assign numbers to your trials, they will all start seeming to be “1’s,” until suddenly you fear them as “5’s.”
Each day has just enough time to handle the necessary aggravation.
There you go—that’s it.
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1 Thing You Can Do This Week To Smooth Out the Wrinkles in Your Life
Fix the next thing
Although we may insist that problems come in piles, what they actually do is accumulate because they are avoided or feared. Then we suddenly find ourselves with a heapin’ helpin’ of horror.
Intimidation sets in.
Intimidation brings a friend. That comrade is worry.
Worry takes twice as much brain power as reasoning and planning.
Why?
Worry demands that you remember something from the past that you think is going to happen in the present and makes you wonder if it will play out in the future. It’s exhausting.
Reasoning, on the other hand, suggests that you take what you know and apply it to the ongoing situation.
When you start fixing the next thing, you find that you not only are repairing things, but also eliminating the overwhelming sensation of being drug down by your insistent problems. Rather, you’re enlightened by them and given the opportunity, through them, to prove your prowess.
Fix the next thing.
Keep your other problems waiting.
After all, some of them deserve to be snubbed.
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Three Ways to Remain Interesting… October 2, 2014
Jonathots Daily Blog
(2368)
- Causer
- Teller
- Complainer
We are inundated with people who select one of these three profiles as their contribution and involvement in handling problems.
For after all, some people cause problems. All of us occasionally find ourselves in that position.
Then there are those who think they’re very intelligent by telling people where problems exist, without offering any solution.
Then there’s the complainers. They want utopia and are prepared to sass and fuss their way to get it.
Well, you can see the dilemma. Even though all three of these offerings are common, they are also universally disliked. Yes–we are all guilty of doing things that we cannot tolerate in others.
No one likes anyone who causes problems. Likewise, it’s aggravating to be around people who tell us about problems and offer no solution. And certainly, we want to run out of the room screaming when we hear people complaining.
So how can we remain interesting so that human beings actually want to be around us instead of avoiding us?
1. Be a solver.
Please understand, your solution doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to be a willingness to go for resolution instead of maintaining fearful reservations.
2. Be a calmer.
I’ve never seen anything accomplished through strife or vanity. Yes, the correct response to a stormy situation is, “Peace, be still.”
Never be in a hurry and never worry. It is a winning combination.
3. And finally, be a listener.
Even though the human tendency is to have 80% interest in ourselves and 20% in others, you can gain great viability simply by dropping your interest in yourself to 60% and your involvement with others to 40%. I often refer to this as “the second question.” For instance, if somebody tells you he’s going on vacation to the Blue Ridge Mountains, bump up your stock by inquiring, “Sounds great! Why the Blue Ridge Mountains?” Then give him a chance to talk and yourself to listen.
You can continue to be a causer, a teller and a complainer when it comes to the normal trials and tribulation of everyday life, but people will soon lose interest in you. If you want to stay on the front burner of notice and appreciation. the best way to do that is to be a solver, a calmer and a listener.
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Jesonian: Belly-Aching … May 4, 2014
Jonathots Daily Blog
(2222)
He said, “Everybody understands the problems. There’s no need to keep talking about them. We should stop belly-aching.”
He is a minister of the Gospel.
Over the years he has convinced himself that he prefers the “more positive” teachings of Jesus of Nazareth and wishes to focus on them in order to build a congregation of believers who think good thoughts and don’t generate any negative energy toward the world around them.
Here’s the problem: injustice will never leave as long as it’s making a profit. So it’s up to the prophets to chase injustice away through pointing out its hypocrisy and deceit.
Even though Jesus is portrayed by many churches as a combination of Gandhi and a hippie attending Woodstock, the young Nazarene actually has quite an edge.
Especially as he reached the end of his Earth journey, he began to spout off profusely against the excesses of religion, the selfishness of systems and the indifference of leadership.
There are three chapters in a row–Matthew 23, 24 and 25–where he exhibits his own form of belly-aching. Because you see, belly-aching occurs when you consume something that doesn’t agree with you, and is only relieved when you dispel the thing with which you do not agree.
Understanding that most of you may not want to read the three chapters, if you will allow me, I’ll summarize:
In Matthew 23, Jesus viciously attacks the scribes, Pharisees and lawyers who used their position to extort wealth while doing nothing to relieve the burdens of the people around them. He claims that they cared more for their traditions than they did for the human beings placed in their charge.
So because of their iniquity, in Matthew 24 he informs them that the Romans would come and dismantle their entire hierarchy and destroy their city.
To further reiterate the necessity for repentance, he tells a series of parables in Matthew 25 about a Judgement Day in which God, our Father and Creator, will expect us to deliver evidence of our faith and victory during our human escapade.
The three chapters are full of complaint, warnings, admonitions and some downright insults.
We forgive this belly-aching because the prophesy came true and we understand that the message Jesus preached survives today. To determine whether we are just purveyors of doom and gloom or messengers of hope, we have to keep three things in mind:
1. Never do anything to hurt people, but also do not permit anything to happen that is hurting people.
2. Never offer a warning without giving an olive branch of hope. Nothing is over until God says it is.
3. Always note progress–even if it’s a little–and appreciate it when you see movement toward sanity.
So am I a belly-acher?
If I run across ideas which historically have been proven to be foolish, and I see injustice which is cheating people out of the value of their human lives, or if I come across greed which is suffocating the life out of the needy, I will speak out, using every bit of cleverness, comedy and even cunning that I can muster.
Because without doing this, we become part of a third clump … the ones who stood by and watched the oppressor oppress the helpless.
The producers of jonathots would humbly request a yearly subscription donation of $10 for this wonderful, inspirational opportunity
Click here to get info on the “Gospel According to Common Sense” Tour
Please contact Jonathan’s agent, Jackie Barnett, at (615) 481-1474, for information about scheduling SpiriTed in 2014.
Jesonian: EARTH 101 … April 13, 2014
Jonathots Daily Blog
(2202)
The search for a world without problems is a decision to stumble down a back alley of disaster.
Yes. Trying to avoid difficulty is the best way to obtain more.
Life has problems.
These trying situations keep life lively. Living must be lively or we end up bored and cease to grow.
So let us understand: God does not have a will–not in the sense of a pre-determined plan of action which He adheres to without revision.
Free will eradicates heavenly “big plans.”
God has a way: a way of working, breathing, loving, sharing and expanding. It is expressed clearly in the actions of Nature.
Learn the style of God’s earth, and your problems begin to submit to the ways of the Creator.
EARTH 101
1. What needs to be done?
Don’t be afraid. Don’t over think. Look at it honestly: what is needed?
2. What can I do?
Don’t exaggerate. Don’t promote. Don’t explain. Don’t complain. Just produce a practical list of your abilities.
3. Is it enough?
Sometimes your ability is enough. Sometimes it’s doggone close. Sometimes other folks see you trying and offer help. Sometimes time changes the circumstances.
4. Can I work with less?
Is there a way to be creative? Can I share the responsibility with others? Does it all have to happen now? Can I make a start of it by handling a portion of the problem?
After you have finished this EARTH 101, the struggle that remains following this analysis is your true need. Your lack. The starting line of your faith.
And very simply, my dear friend, the Good Book says that this need is what God promises to supply.
The producers of jonathots would humbly request a yearly subscription donation of $10 for this wonderful, inspirational opportunity
Click here to get info on the “Gospel According to Common Sense” Tour
Please contact Jonathan’s agent, Jackie Barnett, at (615) 481-1474, for information about scheduling SpiriTed in 2014.
