FRAMED!

Frames as a masterpiece
 or a bad image?
 

It was Friday April 15th and I was driving up the 400 in Toronto, toward Highway 7 to attend the quarterly meeting of the region of the company where  I am an associate. I am in my 27th year with the organization.  One of the speakers on the agenda was Randy Taylor, a former radio host who is now an acclaimed speaker and coach.  I have been getting Randy's daily motivational emails for probably 4 years now, and I was musing to myself how consistent he is as I do not remember him ever missing one day!  I read the day's email before leaving home as I wanted to be sure I knew what he talked about just in case I had a personal conversation with him.

Randy's message for the day was titled "Lessons from a slobbering dog" and relayed a bit about the theory of Pavlov's dogs. You know the saying that you cannot teach old dogs new tricks?  This is now proven to be a lie, both with Pavlov's theory and the science of neuroplasticity.  We can unlearn habits that have been hardwired in our brain by replacing the bad or undesirable habits with the new desired ones.  The thing is though, it doesn't happen overnight - unless by divine intervention.  The saying "practice makes perfect" is perfectly true though, both for good habits and bad ones.

 This caused me to go back to a very impactful message of +Joel Osteen on the topic of "labels" and a series of blog posts I did subsequently.  We know how harmful labels are but society just love them.  We are black, white, minorities, immigrants, democrats, conservatives, right wing, left wing.  We are right leaning, left leaning, and the list goes on and on and on.  You cannot watch a news broadcast  and not hearing one label after another about the subjects of the news.  The same thing happens in the homes.  One woman I got acquainted with several years ago described her young adult son as "a lump on my couch", ouch!  You want someone to hire this young man, believe in him and give him an opportunity to become a breadwinner and all you see him as is "a lump on your couch"?

What people don't understand is that when the labels stick, people become "framed".  Once framed, it becomes a task of significant magnitude to extricate oneself, in the eyes of that person - and everyone else they've convinced to stick that person in the same frame!  It happens in homes, schools, work places and even in churches.  Yes, churches are not label free zones, and you can become "framed" there too.  Even years after beginning the life altering journey of accepting Christ as your Saviour, doing a "360" with your life, some of the people who knew you at a unfortunate juncture of your life will hold you in that frame and will not let you out!  This is what you would call "framed for life"!

This  is one of the most difficult obstacles that stand in the way of people, especially the young, and those who have had to face serious personal challenges like bad decisions that lead to character damage and hardship.  It takes strong determination to move forward and pursue dreams in spite of being labeled or held in a particular image or "frame".  It can be very frustrating - both to overcome, and also to watch.

What labels and frames do is reinforce negative past experience, feed the "little voice in your head" that beats up on you.  Randy Taylor's talk on Friday April 15th reinforces the message I have imparted in some of my previous blog posts, especially the ones on Labels, "As A Man Thinketh", and so forth.

I am here to tell you that I am not immune, I have come up against labels at different points in my life,and been "framed" in unexpected ways by the most unsuspecting folks. I can tell you it takes belief in yourself despite what anyone else thinks, faith, courage, determination and patience to overcome, break through and break out but when you do the victory is very sweet.  Sometimes you just have to tell yourself that you don't care if you die trying but you are never going to give up because you will not give the devil a.k.a. negativity (and thus all the naysayers) the victory.

Randy's message reinforced the impact of thought on our daily and but especially on our most cherished dreams and desires.  Do not let what other people think about you personally and or your dreams, in other words, how they have "framed" you stop you in your tracks.  Keep seeking, learning, and growing.  Believe you can, have faith that you will, and take the actions that are required to move you into the direction you want to go.  The rest is up to God, which takes you back to belief!

Have a super Sunday and a great week ahead.

MissSam
aapril 17, 2016.

 

As A Man Thinketh In His Heart So Is He ......So What?

Proverbs 23:7King James Version (KJV)
⁷ For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.




The miracle of the running stream.



“As he thinks, so he is; as he continues to think, so he remains.”
― James Allen, As a Man Thinketh

“A strong man cannot help a weaker unless the weaker is willing to be helped, and even then the weak man must become strong of himself; he must, by his own efforts, develop the strength which he admires in another. None but himself can alter his condition.”
― James Allen, As a Man Thinketh    


There is more and more information available on neuroscience (brain science) and the mind body connection.  I have been a believer as I discovered the connection between psychology and the scriptures since I was in my early 20's.  Over the last 15 years my interest grew and I read as much of the information that comes my way as possible. I read James Allen's book back in 1986 or 1987, still have it.

There is also an explosion of self-help material mostly on being beautiful, thin and rich!  The amazing thing about an overwhelming majority of the material being put out there is that they are based of self-effort and self-centeredness, which is selfishness.  Even the material being put out by Christians or spiritually minded people the context and or process is still focused on self-effort, which is from the out-side in not from the inside-out, deep within the reservoir of consciousness.  End result, they sell a lot of books, magazines etc. and the majority of people end up with disappointment and frustration.

After listening to a series of teachings by +Creflo Dollar on self-centeredness and how this type of personality behaviour destroys relationships I later came across a piece written by +Deepak Chopra on brain health which I found quite interesting. That evening after as I retreated to bed and replayed my take-away from the series plus Deepak's research I had an epiphany:  Thought health equals brain health; brain health equals body health. As we think so are we - mentally, emotionally, spiritually psychologically and physically!  And, by the way, financially as well!

Just stop and meditate on this for a minute.  This is ground breaking information for the population at large but in particular for the Christian.  As the saying goes "belief kills and belief cures".  This is no longer just a proverb, or old wives tale.  Scripture backed up by scientific research - what more could we ask for?  All we need to do on an individual level is to "drill down" this message so that it is activated in our life then start observing the thoughts. 

I became conscious of observing my thought several years ago and I have gotten better and better at snipping unwanted, unwelcomed thoughts.  I also get to see what is at my core in the subconscious part of my mind.  This is how I can address "my ugliness" and become a better version of myself.  When I "clean house" I allow the spirit of Jesus Crist to work in me to full my purpose for which I came.

If you embark on this journey it will uplift, heal and transform you.  But not only you but all the people around you and this is remarkable.  This saying is true, if you want to change the world, change yourself!

Have a wondrous Wednesday,

MissSam
Wednesday April 6, 2016