Skip to main content

Cure for the Common Pity Party


I have compiled a list of helpful ways to get yourself out of that self-focused rut we all fall into on occasion. Tried and tested by yours truly.

  1. Clean the house. Take out all those negative emotions on the floor, the bathroom, and the stack of dirty dishes. Then look at them sparkle and be glad again. I recommend listening to upbeat music.
  2. Ask someone how their day was - not so they'll return the favour and you can rant about your crappy life, but to genuinely listen to somebody else.
  3. Choose a person and bless them. Give something away, bake cookies, find someone on the street and give them a $5 bill.
  4. Go to the gym. Kind of like cleaning the house, except no shiny floors. Just sweat and some killer tunes dancing around your head.
  5. Watch a WWII movie. Or any genocide-based movie. All of a sudden, your life seems like a bed of roses. No one is killing your entire people group.
  6. Remind yourself of this verse, then do it. "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." (Philippians 4:10)

Comments

  1. atta girl!
    saweet job on the verse (:

    ReplyDelete
  2. Haha! This post popped upon my 'blogs you are following' thing and I was like 'OMG, where did this random blogger get my photo from?' and then I realized 'she's not random, she's Beth!'

    I'm really enjoying the blog, btw!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks, Beth...I needed that posting quite badly when I first read it and purposely made myself come back to read it again today. It's excellent advice.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The ROM, The Earth & Procreation

Disclaimer: This post is intended to generate discussion and a sharing of many opinions. It is NOT intended to judge or condemn anyone's life choices. I had an unexpected moment at the ROM last month. C and I were listening to a presentation for kids on wildlife conservation (or rather, I was listening, and C was eagerly anticipating what live animal would come out next), when a statement caught my attention and still hasn't let go. For most of history, the earth could provide enough resources for the earth's human population. But today, our population is growing rapidly, increasing by 250 000 people every day... Forty years from now, it will require 2 Earths to provide sustainably for our survival as a human species. But we only have 1 Earth. 250 000 people. Every day. That is roughly twice the size of my hometown. In one day. So I did a little math. (First, I rounded down to 200 000, just in case the figures were inflated or failed to account for some sort o...

The Trip to Tanzania (don't read this post)

I think a bunch (most) of you know that I am going to Tanzania for a month this summer. If this is a new fact to you, or if this is a fact you don't particularly care about, or if you have any other reason at all, please feel free to skip this post. Because this is a post in which I ask for help. And I don't really like asking for help. I'm happier to have you skip this post and feel free of any sense of obligation or guilt than to read this post and then wonder if I'm secretly judging you for not helping me (I won't be). The only reason I'm writing this post is because multiple people asked me if I would be writing a support letter, and could they support my trip to Tanzania. The answer, in the typical sense, is no - I cannot get you charitable receipts in exchange for money given to a "sending organization," and I have no plans to send glowing prayer reports of the great "ministry work" I do while I'm gone. But the actual answer is ...

Simone Weil: On "Forms of the Implicit Love of God"

Simone Weil time again! One of the essays in Waiting for God  is entitled "Forms of the Implicit Love of God." Her main argument is that before a soul has "direct contact" with God, there are three types of love that are implicitly  the love of God, though they seem to have a different explicit  object. That is, in loving X, you are really loving Y. (in this case, Y = God). As for the X of the equation, she lists: Love of neighbor  Love of the beauty of the world  Love of religious practices  and a special sidebar to Friendship “Each has the virtue of a sacrament,” she writes. Each of these loves is something to be respected, honoured, and understood both symbolically and concretely. On each page of this essay, I found myself underlining profound, challenging, and thought-provoking words. There's so much to consider that I've gone back several times, mulling it over and wondering how my life would look if I truly believed even half of these thi...