17 December 2023
Two-Minute Features | 24 December 2023 | 10 December 2023

Is It Time for a Reboot? Part 1 (TMF:2250)

Friday, December 22, 2023
Peace to Live By: Is It Time for a Reboot? Part 1 (TMF:2250) - Daniel Litton
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       As the flow of life goes along, it may be noticed that one particular area is lacking. Perhaps it is your church, or perhaps it is your workplace. Something just isn’t working the same for you as it used to. It could be that you’ve personally grown in your own life, and you have left behind the people you are currently around. Perhaps your spiritual growth is at a high level, and you're finding that you're just around way too much negativity. We know if we stay in that negative environment, we’re going to be miserable. Sometimes all that can be done is a reboot, and the restarting toward new things. With our families, usually we have greater control. The husband and wife can grow with each other in spiritual things, that is, if they both believe in those things. When they do, amazing things can happen. The parents also lead their children in the right direction. That all being said, there’s only so much we can do, when we are growing, to help those at our church or workplace to grow in the same direction. We can try to have a positive influence on them, but sometimes no matter how much we shine our light, the light just bounces off of them and comes back to us.

Breaking the Habit of Checking Things (TMF:2249)

Thursday, December 21, 2023
Peace to Live By: Breaking the Habit of Checking Things (TMF:2249) - Daniel Litton
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       Psychologist David D. Burns, in his book titled ‘Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy’ talks about this (see Chapter 14, pp. 360-62). He said he advises people to just refuse to check something twice. He notes that though the pressure will certainly continue to mount when something isn’t checked, if one has the endurance to pass through it, the doubt will subside after a while. And, from my personal experience, I found this to be true. I use to have the habit of checking my apartment door twice to ‘make sure’ it was locked. Now I am to the point where I can turn the key and not even check it once. I just decided one day to follow Dr. Burn’s advice, and it has worked very well for me. As bad as this is going to sound, I came to realize that I also had a problem with ‘fact checking’ people. That is, someone would tell me something, and I wouldn’t necessarily believe them at face value. I would need some verification that what they said was true. What I was coming to find over and over again, was that if I knew the person was trustworthy in general, then what they said would turn out to be true. My fact checking was pointless and in vain.

Reference:

Burns, David D. (1980, 1999). Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy. Harper Collins Publishers, New York: New York.

Using Pictures to Think About Good Things (TMF:2248)

Wednesday, December 20, 2023
Peace to Live By: Using Pictures to Think About Good Things (TMF:2248) - Daniel Litton
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       The Scriptures tell us we should be thinking about, contemplating on the good things of life. This is what keeps our minds in the right place. We all carry smartphones on us these days. Sure, we take pictures with our phones of various life events as they transpire. But one of the benefits to having a smartphone with us at all times is that we can store pictures on them—not just new ones, but old ones as well. We can fill our photo albums with good memories of the past, those beautiful vacations we have taken out West, the sandy beaches we enjoyed ourselves at, or even the historical places we’ve visited. You see, when we pull out our smartphones and look at those pictures, we can instantly transport ourselves to a different place for a moments time, even if for only five minutes, to get our minds off of what is currently going on, issues that we are perhaps facing, and instead focus on something good, something positive, a nostalgic thing. Our minds are very visual, and the visual can often do more for us than just merely reading about something. Those good images will get into our minds and float around in them for awhile.

Renaming Our Parks, Part 2 (TMF:2247)

Tuesday, December 19, 2023
Peace to Live By: Renaming Our Parks, Part 2 (TMF:2247) - Daniel Litton
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       You get to know that person well. If they are talking about the Bible, you become familiar with how they approach different topics, and it can even be fun to try to predict what they are going to say. I know sometimes I am right, but sometimes they say something I wasn’t expecting. There is always the opportunity to learn new things, and of course, to be reminded of things we’ve heard many times before. So, put your ears to better use by listening to something that will make you wiser. Invest in a nice pair of headphones if you want to, but really, you don’t even need to do that. It’s not that quality of the headphones or earbuds that really matter, it is the quality of what you are listening to. By habit-stacking, we are able to grow in our knowledge and expand our minds. Hopefully, as we do this, we find that we are not only growing closer to the Creator by observing all the he has created, but we are also becoming more acquainted with his ways by understanding new insight into various topics.

Renaming Our Parks, Part 1 (TMF:2246)

Monday, December 18, 2023
Peace to Live By: Renaming Our Parks, Part 1 (TMF:2246) - Daniel Litton
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       There is nothing like going for a nice evening walk on a sunny day that is winding down. Personally, I like to go for walks in the park at least once a week. Sometimes, if I have the time, I will go two or three times. When I walk by the trees, my feet crunching the gravel beneath me, I like to listen to sermons and audiobooks. But one practice I have personally come up with is developing that habit that when I go to one particular park, listen to a particular teacher on my headphones. That is, I have linked one park with one teacher. I know when I go to that park, I will listen to that teacher. In my own mind I have actually renamed the park with that particular teacher. There is nothing like immersing yourself in one particular teacher for a long period of time. You get to know that person well. If they are talking about the Bible, you become familiar with how they approach different topics, and it can even be fun to try to predict what they are going to say. I know sometimes I am right, but sometimes they say something I wasn’t expecting. There is always the opportunity to learn new things, and of course, to be reminded of things we’ve heard many times before.