It Is What It Is

Learning to say it is what it is over what we can't control frees the resources up that we need so we can respond to that which we can do something about.

Hello everyone!

I'm only at the beginning of the second full week of the year and already I can feel the benefit of 2024's completion being what it was. In my end of year review I looked back over how I'd managed my time over the course of last year and it was interesting to see what habits formed and stuck and what didn't. Given that hindsight is such a good teacher I thought this would be a good exercise to do having not done it before.

It was a good way to keep myself accountable because if I wasn't happy with who I'd become at year end, then there was only one culprit; the choices I had made all year long. Some small. Some significant. All of them add up in the end and, as I discovered during my grief counselling last year, there is a toll to be paid for every sacrifice and it will be paid in the end. Maybe not at the time, but all checks will balance out in the grand scheme of things...

First Week Back, Fresh Look Ahead

 Hey everyone!

For many it will be the first full week back just completed and I know for me it's been one where I've decided to press into the new year with a desire to head in a new direction otherwise I'll continue going in the way that I'm going.

People talk of new year's resolutions at this time of year and, I must admit, I'm not one for them but instead prefer to reframe that idea as a goal setting exercise where I ask myself one question.

At the end of the year, what do I want to have achieved so I can look back on the year and say 'yes, this was a good year'?

Once I establish that I can then begin to look at what decisions I need to have made to ensure that happens...

Happy New Year!

Hey everyone!

I've been looking forward to writing this one as the first one of a brand new year.

First off thanks for your patience whilst I've been growing through the grieving process since losing my dad almost three years ago now. It can't last forever, the process, but it's just that; a process. I've had to readjust my priorities in that time which has, sadly, meant that the blog had to take a back seat throughout. I knew I couldn't commit to the pace and quality I prefer to put out so had to take a big step back and walk through it.

I haven't exactly been prolific in my writing this past few years and it's a desire I want to correct this year in my bid, finally, to send Off the Scale finally to one hundred episodes which has taken me so much longer than I expected it would.

But such is life sometimes...

Between Perception and Reality

Hello!

Last night I got to thinking how a lot of our problems are less about what happens to us and more about the lens through which we choose to use to view what happens to us. This can cause us to create feelings that we think are attached to these events when they really aren't. What happened to us happened to us, it didn't come with added anxiety, or worry, or fear, hate, anger etc. The events transpired exactly the way they were supposed to, even if we didn't like or appreciate the outcome.

The challenge comes in remembering that we always have the ability to choose our response in life's events. We have a response-ability. An ability to choose our response in any and every situation that takes place around us. Even in the ones we don't like or care for. They happened, they didn't bring any more emotion than we chose to add into our response.

Do the Next Thing

Well, it's the second half of the year and the height of summer!

Or one would think it is one day here in Oldham, but not the next!

Still, you got to make the most of each day as they are all like sand in an hourglass slipping through your fingers. We can state the need to make the most of every moment, but how many are actually doing it?

No, seriously.

How many conversations have you had with people who... just... seem... to be going nowhere in life? You know, they seem to be absent of ambition, of dreams for the future they want, and may even go as far as blaming everyone and everything around them for the reason they are like they are today.

But it doesn't have to be like that.

In fact, I'd argue that if it's like that today then, chances are, you're not doing enough to unfasten your eyes from off the present and onto future glories. It's easy to think that this is all there is if all there is becomes all you look at every day.

You need to dream bigger. Higher. Faster. Further. Longer.

I don't claim to have all the answers how to do this, just a conviction that if all I see today can be changed at any point by learning to focus on just one thing different then I'm going to do all I can do in order to find that one.

The law of nature is: Do the thing, and you shall have the power, but they who do not the thing have not the power. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

It all comes down to doing that next thing that will make that shift in perspective. Not the one after, or the one after.

The. Next. Thing.

If you want that change in your life, will you do what's necessary to have it?

As long as it's safe and legal do it, it's worth it, trust and believe that!

===TLP===

Life is Only What You Make of It

Hey everyone!

Two updates in a week? in two days?! Say what?!

My recent updates have been inspiring me to up my game because I have, admittedly, let it slide for long enough and there was only going to be so long that I was going to use grief as a reason little realising that the only way out is often through your circumstances. So if trying to write more is going to help elevate me even further then so be it, I'll commit the resources I can to do so.

I believe that life is only what you make of it so if you are living a life today that you are not happy with then you gotta ask yourself a question: -

What am I doing to change it? Am I doing anything? Or am I waiting for someone else to do something?

These questions, once answered, will help you paint a picture of the steps you need to take next. Never mind the bigger picture, oftentimes you only need focus on doing the next right thing to change your life...

Grow, Then Continue Growing

Hey everyone!

Well, it's the first week after another birthday and I must say that, even though I feel like my home is in the valley just now, I can still see enough of the light to know that dawn is coming. The dawning of a new day of perspective shifting as I seek to follow Peter's advice when he instructed believers to continue their growth in Christ: -

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever! Amen. 2 Peter 3:18

This is a verse that has been repeatedly coming to mind at the moment as I remember that no valley experience is ever meant to be a permanent home for me; I am always meant to be transcending all circumstances to skate over the top of them. It doesn't mean I won't feel them, just that I am not meant to wallow in them so much that they end up becoming sinking sand to pull me under...

Everything is Connected to Everything Else

Hello everyone!

I'm glad to be sat here, writing this, in my local library given that I know it's been about a month since my last update. I'm trying to return to a more regular schedule with the ideal being to return to BAU, yet that is not as possible as I would like just now.

It'll come. In time.

Meantime, I want you all to know that I haven't forgotten about you, my dear readers however many or few there are out there. It may look that way but remember that appearances are deceptive oftentimes. The way things look in one season is not necessarily correlative or indicative of how they'll show up in the next season.

That's what this is for me; a shift in seasons...

Useful Podcasts

Hello everyone!

I wanted to take some time to pass on some really useful podcasts that I have been finding incredibly useful as I have sought to increase the depth with which I move into self-development. Some of this might not be super relevant to you and if it's not you don't have to read any further. If this is something that you are interested in then, after the jump, you can see a list of some podcasts that I have been feeding upon.

This post is a strictly non-religious posts so it will not feature any church podcasts, though I could flip that around at a later date and let you know some of the ministry that I have been feeding upon.

Stay tuned...

LS039 - The Already Manifest Blessing

So we conclude that there is still a full and complete “rest” waiting for believers to experience. As we enter into God’s faith-rest life we cease from our own works, just as God celebrates His finished works and rests in them. So then we must give our all and be eager to experience this faith-rest life, so that no one falls short by following the same pattern of doubt and unbelief. Heb 4:9-11 TPT

Hello!

In days like these where it can be too easy to forget one's blessings, it is helpful to have an anchor point in scripture where we can go to be reminded of the fact that all that we need for this life has already been made available to us.

It has been my aim, ever since God redirected my focus of this blog to more spiritual matters, to hopefully give examples of this manifest blessing in my own life so that you can see the power in transparency...

LS038b - This is Not the End II: - My God Will Finish What He Started

 Hello everyone!

In this climate of pandemic we are all getting used to living in it can be easy to get frustrated by things being out of our control. I want you all to know that, though that may be true of us, the same cannot be said of our God.

God is in control and He will see us through this!

LS038a - This is Not the End

Hello everyone!

It's been a while since I posted my last lifestyle update where I try to show you why there is always another way to face your problems. Even if I'm not perfect, or right all of the time.

Back Once Again

Hi everyone!

It's been quite some time since I've been able to post on here as I've been going to through quite a rough time of it, what with losing my uncle before Christmas and a rather unexpected encounter with a friend.

But I'm back now, or at least I intend on being. I have read a fair few books since I last wrote on here and will be looking to resurrect my review series, yet without rushing into too much. I know my limits a lot better now and have been trying as hard as I can not to push them, merely to lean against them to increase personal capacity...

LS037 - Speak Life into Your Situation

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to take this opportunity to post an update, letting you all know how I am doing aside from my reviews and news content that I have been posting.

It has been a really challenging few months for me as I have been forced to step back from my blog for a while to journal my way through. A lot of the stuff I cannot actually talk about on here because there are some things that are not meant for the public eye.

I have had to re-prioritise, as well, a lot of things as I am on week three of five of a course aimed at helping you to maximise the most out of your life. This, combined with the sessions I have been doing with my work and health provider, have got me to a place where I finally feel steadier...

Stuey's News: Further Reviews Coming, Off the Scale to return & more...

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you all for your patience. Life has just become one almighty storm right now and I'm here, caught in the middle of it. Caught in the eye of the storm, as the song goes.

Luckily, my faith in God has only gotten stronger as has my conviction to see out this year committed to changing what I can and accepting what I cannot as beyond my control.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that my revamp of the blog is still on course to be completed, as are more book and film reviews, with a view to, finally, restoring Off the Scale to continue on its journey to episode 100, the final stop in the series.

It has been one heckuva journey and I am glad to be in the eye of the storm right now (but that's a story for another time) out of harm's way.

Keep your heads up because that's where the horizon is!

===TLP===

LS036 - Heart, Body & Soul

Hello everyone!

Thank you for your continued patience as I have worked through some personal stuff. It's starting to clear up my schedule now so I will, hopefully, be able to churn out more regular content in addition to my "Off the Scale" series.

As already mentioned, I have some exciting projects coming up that I'll be incorporating into this blog, having decided not to create a new one. Instead I will be focusing upon polishing this to a standard that is befitting of my blog. It's going to be a slow process so further patience will be required whilst I change things around.

But there will be no new web address to memorise for my output, at least for the foreseeable future...

LS035 - Strength of the Heart

Hello everyone!

It's been a long time since one of my lifestyle posts hasn't it? Last time I looked at how the way we often view our situations is a good indicator of the truths we are starting to believe about them.

This time, mainly because I'm feeling better than I have been of late, I want to take a look at something that's a little closer to my heart; imperfection...

Off the Scale #62 - Paul Carr's Air for Strings

Hello everyone!

This is the first week after my amazing ten part movie theme celebration. Stay tuned later in the year for the next selection of pieces where I will be looking at even more movie themes that have inspired me throughout my life.

Today, I thought I would return to a more relaxed approach to "Off the Scale" by selecting a piece I heard at the latter end of last year and was drawn to it right away.

I am of course talking about the English composer Paul Carr...

LS033 - Cero Miedo (or the Art of Living Without Fear)

Hello everyone!

Today, I'm going to be tackling a subject that many of us struggle with but very few of us might actually admit to struggling like this; fear.

Maybe just my mention of that word has sent shivers up your spine because we usually put "fear" and "change" in the same boat and I'm here to show you that this is not necessarily a bad thing to encounter in your daily living...

LS032 - Thinking is Believing

Hello everyone!

Welcome to the first devotional in quite some time. It's not been intentional as there has been a lot of personal stuff going on at the moment that I just don't want to blog about.

I'm not keeping you out of the loop for your best interests, but for my own best interests because I have come to realise that, in my life, I am clearly becoming too open a book for some people to deal with. I'll never apologise for that because it's who I am and it's what I do.

It's why I blog; what you see, is what you get.

Today, I want to look at some of the lessons I have learnt from keeping a rigorous check upon thought life...