Friday Favourites

Mom’s Night Out
Ok so I saw Mom’s Night Out for a 2nd time this week. And I cried and sobbed even MORE than the first time i saw this movie!! I loved this movie and apparently it touched me in a very tender spot! I’m not even normally a crier. And both times I was the only one in my group of friends bawling.

Is there anyone else out there that just wept during this movie??!!  I even wept during this scene:

 

Crowder and Gaither??!!
Found this gem on Google Play (now available in Canada!)
And it gave me goosebumps!! My childhood and present in one awesome song!!

 

My Compassion student sent me one of my favourite verses!!

 

Something to smile about in Moncton – it’s been a long, difficult week for Canadians, and seeing the sea of red made us proud and this made us smile a little bit.

 

and finally, this from Ann Voskamp – You will carry me safe to shore

Compassion! The antidote to self-pity

There is nothing like someone else’s tragedy to bring some perspective to our woes.

Ever notice how you can be thinking you are having the worst day on the planet and the you find out someone just discovered they had cancer and suddenly PERSPECTIVE gives you a whole new outlook on your own measly problems?

When we make a habit of empathizing and feeling and doing acts of compassion, we can better keep a wider, world-view perspective. A broader prospective will always drive away self-pity.

I love the Compassion organization and we have some sponsored children. Yes we have their pictures on our fridge. But we also write to them regularly and pray for them everyday. My Compassion child Abraham lost his father a couple of years ago. So as a family we pray for Abraham who has no father. And when we receive their prayer requests we pray for them. But you know what is even cooler than that?! They pray for us! They always tell us that their whole family prays for us! Now that is a blessing.

When a child in Haiti who lived in a tent that he was allergic to for 2 years after the earthquake is praying for you to be blessed, you are blessed. When you young lady in Peru write that she is thankful for the rainy season to be over because their are many leaks in their roof and she is praying that God will bless me (in my 2 story suburban home), you are humbled, and you tend not to lose perspective about your blessings.

So whenever the ‘woe is me’ song goes through your head, do something for someone else. Even a shirt email, note or phone call is all it takes.

Psalm 111:4 He has made His wonderful works to be remembered; the Lord is gracious, merciful, and full of loving compassion.

Compassion as the antidote to self-pity is part of my strategy for Maintaining Good Mental Health

Fighting the Blues – Maintaining Good Mental Health

(This is the 3rd post in a series about mental health, the 1st was Fighting the Blues – Knowing Your Warning Signs, and the 2nd was Fighting the Blues – How to Get Healthier – Mentally)

Staying mentally healthy can be just as difficult as getting mentally healthy. It’s like trying not to gain weight after a successful diet program. You must be vigilant.

Sometimes life throws you a curve ball, so you are aware you are going to have to take care mentally. Other times, feeling down seems to sneak up on you, and it feels illogical because there isn’t actually anything wrong.

Here are a few things I have learned, and need to remind myself frequently, to maintain good mental health.

1. Find your passion and life and go after it – Go after, seek, fight for the things that bring you life, things that are life-giving for you, the things that you are passionate about, the things that make you feel. For me, this is my family and quizzing.

The antidote to apathy is passion.

2. Help someone else, BUT, be careful not to get dragged down into someone else’s negative world. Sometimes it is easier to help someone who is not part of your everyday ‘real life’. For example, I write to a bunch of Compassion kids, mostly teens from all over the globe. I love to encourage them and feel good when I have written them short notes of encouragement.

The anti-dote to self-pity is compassion

3. Physical and spiritual health go hand in hand with mental health, you need to keep those aspects in your life healthy as well. Go for a short walk, listen to Daily Audio Bible podcast, read a Psalm etc. This is where you find hope.

The anti-dote to despair is hope.

4. Choose your friends carefully – this is part of setting boundaries and sticking to them. You can be kind to everyone around you without being friends with everyone. Choose to be with people who build you up and who have a positive spirit about them. Know when you need to retreat away from people to rest, but also know when you need to be around people, to be fed and built up.

The anti-dote to negativity is JOY!

5. Be grateful – I’m going to quote Ann Voskamp again – but you need to CHOOSE to be grateful, EVERY DAY, ALL DAY. Everyone can find 3 things to be grateful for everyday. You have control over the thoughts in your head, and your thought life drives your feelings, which drives your emotional state. So redirect the negative thoughts and replace them with a grateful thought.

The anti-dote to resentment is gratefulness.

6. Choose grace – don’t be so hard on yourself. Just because someone says or thinks something negative about you, doesn’t mean it’s true. Just because someone blames you for something, doesn’t mean it’s your fault. Choose to accept responsibility for your actions, if required and move on. You have a Heavenly Father who knows you intimately, He already knows all your faults and weakness, yet loves you overwhelmingly. He is the only one I need to please.

The anti-dote to perfectionism is grace.

Psalm 139:1-3 He Knows our Thoughts
139 O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.

2 Corinthians 10 Take Every Thought Captive
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,