A Happy Hobby

10 minutes ago, I was a little down in the dumps, blue in the face, not punching my full weight. You know, sad, tired, annoyed. All those negative things that hit you sometimes and leave you crawling on the floor, wondering if you would ever be able to get up again. But that was 10 minutes ago. Now, I'm quite all right. What happened in the ten minutes? I wrote.

Everyone has a hobby that lifts them up, I suspect. Take for example Molly. She loves to draw. Today wasn't really a good day for her so you see her with a frown and wrinkles attacking her face. You suggest that she draw something. First, she shakes her head fervently. But as you point out the beautiful sky and all the inspiration surrounding her, you see a tendril of a smile beginning to form at the edge of her lips. Which slowly turns into a smirk and then an ashamed smile, which is a smile nonetheless. It is actually quite amazing to see a smile born. I encourage you to try and coax one out of someone sometime.

Anyway, for Molly drawing was her "happy hobby". I'm sure all of you could name one thing that lend you the power to get up from the dumps and to stand up again. If you don't, it is always a good idea to remember that this "happy hobby" is only meant for yourself. If others don't like it, it doesn't matter! Sometimes it is good to be selfish and keep your masterpieces to yourself, especially when others just can't see through your lens.

I also just wanted to add that God is good, because I felt like it, and sometimes we so often focus on what he made and ourselves, we forget that he is there behind everything we do, everything we touch, everything we hear. Loving us, and sustaining us. Isn't he just amazing?

Letting the real you out

I had to write a memoir for the first time. A whole page, anything I wanted, something I would look back on and think, "That was so me back then...". I wrote random thoughts that were in my head. Looking back, it was totally me.

We work so hard to be someone we aren't, and sometimes we cover ourself with so many lies, we don't know who we are really underneath. A little burst of random thought, uncensored by the barrier of lies, onto a piece of paper, something readable, keeps you sane.

Try it now. See what your real self is like.

It is also useful in your core beliefs too. Write down what you feel about God. Sometimes our mind is filled with doubts or worries about what we believe in. They crowd around us, hemming us into a corner, not letting us talk back.

I wrote, God is good! He has forgiven me! He loves me! He cares for me! It pulled me back to the reality of the amazingness of God's love. I feel like shouting for joy! Go God! I don't have to make it sound good, he knows what I mean.

Doing this is a good foothold in the midst of a sinking faith. Remember what God has done for you, and try and get that through your barrier of lies. Hopefully, that might free you from your chains.

Smiling through life - Part 2

Last week I talked about how we should all put a smile on our face, and just by simply doing that, life will seem to get better. This is a part 2 to that post, because during that week, I noticed that smiling is good when you do it, but you have to stop smiling sometime. And for me, it meant all the happiness which came with the smile just slipped away.

How can I be more joyful, all the time? How can I see the lighter side of things, even when all seems to be dark as night? Thinking about these questions, many thoughts came into my mind which I'd like to share with you.

We are imperfect beings. As humans, we are emotionally unstable, we can will ourself to be happy for a short period of time, probably less than a day, but somewhere there, some part of grief or depression sneaks in, threatening to ruin our day. Never will be able to stay happy for a long amount of time.

After we understand this problem, what can we do about it? Nothing! But luckily we have someone who has done something for us. In our sadness we can always have the hope of a better time, when God makes the earth and heaven new again.

Still, we seem to forget this amazing hope, especially when we are too unhappy. The good thing is though, not everyone is sad at the same time. This is where encouragement comes in. By encouraging others, we can keep them hopeful, keep them looking forward, and not looking at their present state. This is probably one of the most powerful things we as humans can do. Not make them happy, but make them look to where they can find true happiness.

One more point, the difference between joy and happiness. To you, they might be synonymous, meaning the same thing, but they are quite different. The big difference is, happiness comes and go, but joy is much longer lasting. It is the core of your being that is joyful, and more your emotions that are happy. As I said before, we are emotionally unstable, but joy seeps deeper inside than that. I hope you can understand that and be joyful, even when you might not be happy.

Please read the page "Feeling down?" for some more ways to keep seeing the bright sides in life, and I hope that you can continue to be encouraged, and also pass your encouragement to others. May God fill your life with joy, as you continue to live for him.

Sadness only lasts for a week

Today's post might be a little controversial, but I am going to talk about sadness. What I want to say is that, sadness only really lasts for less than a week. Please read on, and comment if you have any objections to what I say.

I thought about this topic, because yesterday for me was quite distressing. I felt sad, and just wanted to disappear from this world. It felt like I had a huge weight on my shoulders, and it was pushing me down into the ground. I couldn't look up and see anything good in the world anymore. However, when I woke up after a good night's sleep, everything seemed ok again. I was still sad a little bit, but not in despair, and I could see the good things in life again.

Some people might think that my day must not have been that bad, or I wouldn't have had a good night's sleep! But even the people with really bad days, like someone who found out a family member had died, or someone with depression, I think can still see the good things in life after a while. I am not saying that people like that will not be in grief of their loss after only one week, but I think they can still smile when they see some of the good things in life, not totally rejecting them.

Some things I think could bring someone to smile even if they were in grief are such things as the beauty of nature, the strength of some of their friendships, and most importantly, the love and care of God. Even though they might be in despair, these things give them hope, and can make them look forward to the better future.

As I thought about trying to get some hope in a time of despair, I came up with the idea of setting up a page with photos that give hope, or encouragement. I hope that they might encourage you whenever you are in the dumps, and you can be hopeful about the future, where you will get better. Here is a photo, just to show you what it will be like.

Thanks for reading this post! I hope that you were encouraged to think about sadness and depression. Please comment if you liked it, or not, so I know who I am writing to!

treebytheriver