Quick post, quick thinking

A small thought that leads to an action is better than a big thought that leads to nothing.

I just want to challenge and encourage you to think of easy, quick ways you can serve, encourage, makes someone's day. You never know, that might be exactly what they needed.

From me to you, I hope you have a nice week, and that by reading this short burst of thought you have had a chance to reflect on your life. 

treebytheriver

Compared to what?

I love comparing myself to others. I have a better computer, house, bike, (insert something here), than you! Saying these things to my friends or enemies gives me a boost in self-esteem. I have something you don't have, I can do something you can't. Only later do I realise that it is only a fake boost, my mind is deceived into thinking I am a better person than them.

Usually however, when I compare myself with others I get more bad results than good ones. They can play guitar, sing, blog, write, design, much better than me. Down goes my self esteem, down goes my attitude. To me, it seems like I am mediocre at lots of things, and have nothing that I am really good at. Unlike others, who are very good at everything!

When I compare myself with others, I usually start worrying. Why am I not good at anything? Why am I so impressed with things that aren't even good compared to others? Spiraling down the worried road, soon finds me at the bottom. Not wanting to do anything, knowing that someone will be better at it anyway. Not a good place to be...

Despite of all this moaning, there is a solution. It is in the title of this post, which is "Compared to what?". You might feel bad compared to others, but in God's eyes you are precious. That just throws your peers' opinion out the window! God, the creator of the universe, the most powerful being, the king of everything, thinks you are precious.

Remember that, and no matter how bad you might feel, how unskilled you might think you are, you can still be joyful, relishing in the fact that their opinion means nothing, compared to that of God's.

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.

Smiling through life

Here's a quote. It takes seventeen muscles to smile and forty-three to frown. But I used to add an extension of my own. "It takes seventeen muscle to smile and forty-three to frown, but it takes none if you are emotionless."

It kind of showed my mindset didn't it. Back then I thought being expressionless was better than putting a smile on your face. It kept me from having to explain why I was happy, and I could blend in with the crowd, who all went around with no expression. Only until recently have I begun to change my idea of what expression I should wear on my face.

This post is titled "smiling through life", because that is what I decided to do. Whenever I was just doing nothing, or just had no expression on my face I would smile. I practiced at home looking outside for awhile. When I didn't smile the scenery was just normal to me, but when I smiled everything seemed to gain a happy tinge to it. The scenery was nice now!

It became kind of like a game. "What smiling will do to what I am seeing". The long walk to the train station became a nice, relaxing walk, giving me time to think, the dishes became an act of servitude I was sure my mum would appreciate. It was actually quite fun!

Another thing I noticed was that even if you felt down, or just couldn't see any light in the world, by smiling something good would pop into your head. Like right now, I wasn't actually thinking much, and was worried about all the work I had to do, but then I smiled and I remembered all of my readers I have who actually want to hear what I have to say, and how lucky I am to have them. It seems so simple, even to me, but everyone time I did it, it lifted by day up.

So, what expression have you been wearing lately? Try smiling, right now! Tell me how it changed you view on things around you. Be a light in the dark world. Be different to others. Keep on smiling because it is a God given gift we too often take granted of.

Controlled by what?

As I was sleepily writing this post as I was about to go to bed, it seemed I was controlled by sleepiness. I couldn't think properly, couldn't listen, became grumpy, and just wanted to go to my room and go to sleep. It felt like my longing for sleep was controlling most of my actions. This made me think, what other things am I controlled by?

It is interesting to see people try and break free of all control. They rebel against authority, they rebel against their parents, they rebel against the warning signs of their own body even! Interestingly enough though, they still manage to be controlled by something or another. Such as a person who gets drunk. They rebel against life by being in such a stupor they cannot understand anything going on, but they now are controlled by the numbing effects of alcohol, which might seem a better alternative than life, until they wake up with a splitting headache and feel sick.

A human that rejects all control probably has no brain! Simply put, our brain controls our muscles, so they would not be able to move, breathe, or beat their heart. They would die in a few seconds, and then they would be controlled by death! Running away from one just leads to another! But not just physically, we are always controlled. Emotions influence our thoughts, society leaves it's mark on our decisions, and sin creeps up on us, so that we end up having a tiny say in what we do, with usually other things governing our actions. 

However, usually when we are controlled, we benefit from the control too. A leader builds up his country, benefiting it, our brain coordinates out body, so we can grow, repair and live. What I am saying is, what about society and sin? Do these benefit us in anyway?

Many people complain about the society we live in, some people even choosing to leave it completely through suicide, rather than trying to stand the pain of living. Sin is also a big destructive force. All too often after a big fight or argument, we end up feeling worse about ourselves, even if we maybe won the argument.

How can we stop sin from creeping up to us though? How do we stop ourselves from snapping at every wrong someone does to us, or being selfish, or being unforgiving. How do we run away from this control that doesn't benefit us at all? The only thing that works is to find an alternative form of control. That is God.

Many people say they do not want to be controlled by God, but if they aren't, they are controlled by sin instead! If I were to choose, I would definitely choose God for sure.

I don't care

I don't care about what you say, I don't care about what happens next, I don't care that I have something better to do, I just DON'T CARE.

I thought it was a good mindset to have. Not to care about anything, just to live my life without caring what others think, being able to do what I want because no one could make me care less. Wouldn't that be the perfect life?

At first I thought so too. My enemies' insults were passed away with a simple "I don't care what you think" cut down. I chose what happened in my life and made sure no one even thought of giving me advice because I just didn't care. I could stop a argument by saying "I don't care", and stop listening. All these things I did for a while, with great success. I got to live my life hassle free! Doing what I wanted, without the annoyance of caring about what others thought.

Luckily, I noticed soon enough that the way I was headed was just a down hill slippery slope. If I didn't care what others thought, I would have to live my life with no advice. Choosing my own paths in life might be fun for awhile, but it is hard to choose the right one if you haven't looked at all the options by asking other people! Also, sometimes, when having an argument with someone, you might actually be in the wrong (I know, hard to believe!). If you didn't care about what others thought, you would be stuck with the wrong idea forever, eventually making a fool out of yourself, or something even worse.

It is a hard habit to get out of, not caring. But it is possible to work through. I am starting today, just by listening to others, and understanding their point of view. I hope that I will not fall into the trap of not caring again, however criticising or annoying another persons views may be. God always cares for other people and their opinions, and I should too.

treebytheriver

I won the award again!

Hello everyone,

I have again won the "Versatile blogger award", thanks to Carmen, of http://catstuff-carment.blogspot.com Last time I won this award, I did not send it off to others as I should have, but this time, I have seen enough good blogs to share this award with. But first, I need to say 7 things about myself. This is a good time to get to know the tree!!

1. I love making songs, but can never write lyrics. I hope to write a song about a tree by the river soon.
2. I write my blog in a special place reserved for writing, and I like being stinking hot while I write it... Somehow makes me get my  ideas out better
3. I am very forgetful, so sometimes I have a great post idea in my head, but it never reaches the computer.
4. I love my readers, and commenters very much! Without you, I would have stopped blogging ages ago. Thank you!
5. I am very awkward about my blog to my friends. It feels weird for them to read something I wrote, as though it is important stuff! (It is on the internet, it must be important!)
6. I actually made a website first, and then made a blog to support it,  but now the website has not been updated for months, and this blog is more important.
7. I kept. changing my blog theme. From "Talking about the untalked things" to "Deep, thoughtful, encouraging, fun", and then finally "Living as a tree with God at my side". I appreciate feedback on anything you might want me to change.

Now, I have to award this blog to seven other people, so here goes.

1. Stephanie at Diary of a creative teen
2. Biohazard at My confusion theory
3. CityGirlChic at Live, Love, Laugh
4. Ella at Single Parent Faith
5. Thom at To Gyre and Gambol
6. Taylor at Penned By Taylor
7. Vic, Lindsay, and Ashley at For The Love Of Blogs

These are very good blogs in my opinion, so please go check them out!

To all those people above, the rules of the award are to say 7  things about yourself, and share the award with 7 other people. Share the love people!