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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Good News and Better News… September 11th, 2017

 Jonathots Daily Blog

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For the first time in a ten-year stint of writing this column–every single day–yesterday I missed posting.

It wasn’t because I was lazy (though I’m quite acquainted with lethargy.)

It certainly wasn’t because I ran out of ideas. My mind dances its way to the next folly and adventure.

It was because of Hurricane Irma.

Everyone will have a story about the storm, but I will tell you. this is one atmospheric disturbance that absolutely despised Internet. She was like an old grandma walking into your room, finding out that once again you were checking out naughty websites, and it was her duty to unplug you.

So I gave in.

There’s the thought. At what point do we give in? At what juncture does “inconvenience” become “impossible?”

Is there a station in our lives when we’re just being bratty and don’t want to do anything, or is Mother Nature literally “shuttin’ down the show?”

I know there are people who are critical of our generation. I’m sure it goes back to prehistoric times, when the grandparents of the present cave-dwellers complained that their children no longer liked to scrawl pictures on the walls.

Yet, I don’t think the folks living on Earth right now are bad people. With all the cosmic clowns dancing across the Big Top of the present circus, we still have not found anyone as rotten as Attila the Hun or Adolph Hitler.

It is a time to rejoice–not because everything is good, but rather, because the tragedies and disasters that have made their way into our lives have not crumpled us.

We have not given up.

We bought sandbags, purchased too many supplies and hunkered down–to survive the best punch that nature could give us.

We are pretty amazing, in our awkward and redundant way.

So I stopped being a fussy big-butt yesterday and allowed myself to just be another creature of nature, learning to submit to the climate that the heavenly Father had provided.

After all, there’s no such thing as a pleasant complainer and no one has ever given a reward to the “righteous bitcher.”

So the good news is that with the grace of God, a little help from our friends, and the support of the Great Cloud, I will post this to you today.

And the better news is, trials remind us of how good a fan feels.

 

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Twenty-eight Years Later… April 24, 2014

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In my calendar of life, 1986 was a year that arrived, determined to leave its mark and remembrance.

I was in my sixth year of being a paternal care-giver to my twelve-year-old son, who had been struck by a car in the summer of 1980, leaving him in a persistent vegetative state.

• State–no change.
• Vegetative–present but uncertain response.
• Persistent–no end in sight.

I also discovered that my wife was pregnant with our fourth child. It dawned on me that in short months I would be traveling on the road around the country speaking and sharing my heart with an entourage of a sixteen-year-old, a ten-year-old, a disabled child, a recuperating wife and new-born baby.

Honestly, I just chose not to deal with it.

It was in the month of June that Joshua, my “special” child, suddenly contracted pneumonia and died.

My new baby was born two months earlier than expected, in a hospital in Peoria, Illinois, and shortly after that, a promise given to us to use a house for the holiday season was removed one hour before we arrived to occupy and be a celebrating family.

We were stunned by it all.

We ended up in Lexington, Missouri, in motel rooms, feverishly attempting to generate yuletide cheer.

But 1986 was not yet satisfied with all its provided turmoil. On Christmas Day, my wife slipped and broke her ankle, side-lining her for two months, while I took the two older fellows back on the good ole’ gospel trail.

Tonight I return to Lexington, Missouri, for the first time in twenty-eight years.

I have good news for these delightful human travelers: I can tell them of a certainty that we, as people, can not only survive, but prosper in our trials.

It’s not that there’s a silver lining to every cloud or a new dawning after the blackest night.

It’s just that sometimes, each one of us needs to know what we have inside of us–or we assume we are empty.

The trial of your faith worketh patience. And patience intends on doing a perfect work–showing us that struggle is the only thing we all share in common.

I am of a belief that this realization should be a valuable contribution … to my Missouri friends.

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.

G-11: Mad, Sad, Glad … February 14, 2014

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• We feel safe.
• We made it.
• The thunder rolled, the winds blew by and the rain ceased.

We’re standing on dry land, having escaped another near-disaster, feeling no repercussions whatsoever from the disruption–just grateful to be alive.

Little do we know that this is the most dangerous juncture in life. It is when we accidentally carry the anxiety of the previous encounter into the future, without realizing that the residue is hanging from us.

Yes, we are still mad: “It ain’t right.”

Or maybe sad: “It ain’t fair.”

But the once-confident spirit that propelled us into deeper and deeper adventures of faith is now making us cautious. We accept this new profile under the guise of being “well-seasoned,” But actually, we are not the same.

We have lost a bit of the joy that makes us the people we are, and when we realize it, we become defensive, insisting that nothing has changed.

What is the countenance of the average person you see on the street, when they don’t realize they’re being observed? A mad frown? A sad droop? Or maybe a blending of the two?

If maturity depresses us, then what is the purpose of growing older?

How can we overcome the extra destruction done by the storms of life which inflict unseen damage to our foundation? We gotta be honest: just because we’re standing on dry land does not mean we have escaped being drenched in worry.

We want to reach glad. We want to escape the sensation of “it ain’t right” and “it ain’t fair,” to arrive at a jubilant feeling of good cheer: “It ain’t gonna kill me.”

Sometimes we think projecting a brave front is a sign of our willingness to avoid doubt. But actually, acknowledging that the trials and tribulations that came our way did impact us but were unable to destroy us is the best way to escape the madness and the sadness.

For after all, mad people are cocked and ready to strike out at others, who unwittingly trigger aggravating memories.

And sad people are ill-prepared to enter into new relationships which certainly will require a bit of adjustment and forgiveness.

It isn’t just about surviving–it’s about surviving and candidly admitting how amazing and miraculous it was to be rescued. And then, to have the sense of humor to progress, keeping an eye on our motives, and healing our wounds instead of hiding them.

I am glad. This does not mean that everything is all right. It does not mean that I was saved from all the ravages of my temptations without any casualties. It means I lived. And in living, I am open to the dual process of inner healing and outer expressions of creativity.

Beware–being placed in the lifeboat is miraculous.

But it does not mean you will avoid horrible memories of the sinking vessel and fleeting trepidations to sail again.

The producers of jonathots would humbly request a yearly subscription donation of $10 for this wonderful, inspirational opportunity

Click for details on the SpirTed 2014 presentation

Please contact Jonathan’s agent, Jackie Barnett, at (615) 481-1474, for information about scheduling SpiriTed in 2014.

click to hear music from Spirited 2014

The problem is not the problem … February 7, 2012

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From Miami, Florida

Once you give it a name, you start the game.

That’s right. At least 80% of our success is determined by our perception of what is set before us. So if you decide to name your child “Hitler,” you have pre-conditioned the public to receive your offspring as something that he may not be, but is stuck with because of the name. And if you call every situation that comes your way a problem, you have warned yourself, others, God and the universe that you are anticipating a struggle instead of prepared for a solution.

Some people might be offended by this concept or even think it’s a little silly. After all, what is the actual difference between using one word over another in any given circumstance? Well, it’s the difference between your loved one receiving a “thank you” from you and only getting a grunt. Jesus was right–by our words we are justified and by our words we are condemned. Until we grow up enough to cease and desist from viewing every cumbersome obstacle in our lives as a problem instead of just our daily bread of crustiness, we will send out a beacon of desperation and frustration which not only lends itself to wasting time instead of working on solutions, but also is one of the most unattractive vibes you can communicate to your fellow-humans.

Of the great turn-ons in life, exasperation lies somewhere near the bottom. Yet for some reason or another, we languish in the luxury of worry, we fester in our own fussiness and we question whether there is going to be enough of something-or-another to get us through to the next way-station of possibility.

The problem is not the problem. The problem with society is me–and dare I include you? We are spoiled rotten by the notion that fun is to be free of entanglements. We are overly cared for by a God who perhaps has provided TOO much for our comfort and not enough for our ongoing discovery. It makes us brats. So we come out of daily events calling them problems, wringing our hands, sighing and communicating our desperation.

I think somewhere deep in our hearts, we believe we can scare trials and tribulations into avoiding us by displaying enough bad attitude. Unfortunately, these vices are tricksters; they LOVE to attack people who are grouchy. You can imagine if you were a trial, how frustrating it would be to come up with a really big package of aggravation, and then to have your hopes for turning someone into a grump doused by their sense of good cheer. It would be enough to make you want to go down the road and bother someone else.

Exactly.

Am I saying that people who complain actually end up having more problems than people who don’t? Absolutely. And how does that happen, you may ask? It’s really quite simple. When the next set of opportunities comes on the scene, the complainer is still fretting over the last batch of bullies. So not only is there a new dilemma, but also an old dilemma that has not been adequately dealt with. Double-trouble.

So why ARE there situations which some people call problems? Because God in His mercy would love to see our planet running smoothly by the use of intelligence and effort instead of bad attitudes and laziness. To bring this to the forefront demands that each one of us join in a common lottery of activities which we either view as our daily situation or as our overwhelming problem.

This is the quandary in our country. We seem to think we will scare away our economic trials with bad attitude and lazy, over-done solutions. Meanwhile, the recession just sits there and laughs at us. It will take intelligence and effort for us to come out of this situation. Until we push forward some intelligent people and actually get behind those bright bulbs with some energy of our own, we will continue to linger in bad attitudes and laziness.

What is intelligence? It has two parts: (1) “I will not freak out.” (2) “God has never deserted me–why should now be different?”

What is effort? (1)  “What do I have?” (2) “How can I get more with what I have?”

Therein lies the secret, my friends. This twenty-four-hour period will afford you many situations. If you refuse to freak out, and believe that God has been faithful in the past and has not changed His occupation, while taking an inventory of what you have and finding a way to use that to get more– honestly, you’re ten feet tall and bullet-proof. But if you have a bad attitude (“why do things have to be so difficult?”) and you’re lazy (“I’m still tired from yesterday’s stuff!”) you will compile a series of box-cars of unresolved conflict, which will link up to become an insurmountable train, furiously careening its way down the tracks towards you.

The problem is not the problem. Life consists of situations which, if addressed with intelligence and effort, more or less just vanish in the wind. But if I choose to have a bad attitude and sprout laziness, those “problems” are given over to the care of my worry and frustration.  Is it possible to relearn this? It is not only possible, it is the only way to truly be passable.

So what is today’s situation? Stop calling it a problem and bring some intelligence and effort–and then see if the stain of adversity isn’t wiped clean.

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Jonathan wrote the gospel/blues anthem, Spent This Time, in 1985, in Guaymas, Mexico. Take a listen:

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To see books written by Jonathan, click the link below! You can peruse and order if you like!

http://www.janethan.com/tour_store.htm