Joy of Restraint

 

    You can find joy in restraint when you use it to control your negative thoughts.  It will help you from over reacting or going into a self-defeating reaction.  Negative thoughts are a poison that kill you very slowly.  If you drink the poison, then you are more likely to give it to other people too.  

    You can starve your negative thoughts.  Stop them in their path and redirect your thoughts.  It is your choice to exchange the negative thoughts for productive thoughts.  You will not defeat negativity by embracing it.  You have to starve the thoughts that lead you down that road.  

    Your mental restraint or lack there of is a habit.  That means that it can be developed or destroyed.  Learn restraint by stop venting.  Other people don't really care and it only produces negativity in them.  Venting will only make you feel better short term, but can have long term effects.  It does not address the root issue of your negativity.  If you have to vent, then do so in a journal.  Be sure to use it to find the root of the issue though.

    Fight negative thoughts as they appear.  Tell your self that they are not worth it or take ownership on why you feel negatively.  Try to give people the benefit of the doubt until you can talk to them.  Drop the negative thoughts, so you can relax and avoid damaging relationships.

    It takes self-discipline to keep a cool head.  Use a cool head to catch negativity early.  You have control over your state of mind.  You are able to solve problems, deal with life's stress, overcome your challenges, and embrace joy given by God.

Proverbs 25:25-28, 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, Galatians 5:22-23, & James 1:19-20

Joy of Reflecting

 

    Reflecting on your life can help you see your mistakes, highlights, and events more clearly.  It is a skill that can produce joy if used correctly.  Reflect on aspect while in solitude and prayer to create spiritual growth and develop wisdom.  When used correctly it can provide joy.

    Reflection is looking back at your past and glancing back to grab important life lessons to help you with current situations and better choices in the future.  Are you willing to question the choices you have made in life and how they have brought you to where you are right now?  The only reason to look back is to learn from your errors.  Do not obsess, go to self pity, or beat yourself up.  The past is over and you can't change it, but you can learn from it.

    Reflection used wisely creates a written plan of change.  It will help you from repeating the same mistakes, going on auto pilot, or becoming idle in your growth.  It will help you avoid blind spots in your life, missed opportunities for breakthrough, or being the victim of your life.  Do not wait for tragedy, crisis, or some other emotional event to reflect.  Be proactive with your life.

    A reflection journal adds accountability to your life.  It is where you can declare you will fix a problem that you see with wisdom, improvement plan, and it reduces stress.  When journaling write what you are working on yourself.  Ask God to highlight situations, relationships, and things to work on specifically.  This can help you discover joyful elements.  

    Next, record what is not working to keep from staying stagnant.  This is the area that removes joys from your life, but it needs to be honestly assessed to get back to joy.  You can't correct behaviors until you can see them as the problem.  

    Lastly journal about what you want or need to improve.  This is your feedback that leads to action.  Pray that God provides sensitivity to see a clear path to His will.  You can change or modify the plan accordingly.  It is not set in stone.  It is just meant to be a map to help you discover joy in your life.  The key is taking the time to listen to God.  

Psalm 118:22-29, Zephaniah 3:14-17, John 15:9-17, 2 Corinthians 3:16-18, Ephesians 3:14-19, & Philippians 4:4-5

Joy of Hard Work

 

    God wants you to have a joy filled life.  He wants you to enjoy the work you do.  He does not want His people just existing, spending 40+ hours a week bored at work, or emotionally defeated.  We spend way too much time of our lives working to do something we hate or does not contribute toward joy.

    Work created by God was intended to be good.  We live in the fallen world.  There will be ups and down, but work should contribute to your life more than financially.  Hard work is good for the soul.  It was never meant to be a punishment until the fall, but even then it only got harder.  Work from God was taking care of what God gave us.  Now we may just have to sweat a little more for it.

    Work is a gift that is meant to give us purpose, not bury us in more burdens.  The key is to have a Godly mindset.  Is your work your calling or do you do it just to pay your bills?  The answer to that question tells you if it is time to start reevaluating what you do and if you need to move on to something new.

    No matter where you are your job is a ministry.  Start with committing your work to God and yourself to excellence.  It will bring pleasure and satisfaction to what you do.  You have been made beautifully complex, but you can make things in your life more simple.  God loves excellence, prudence, and productivity from His people.

    Work may require an attitude adjustment to discover the joy.  It may take work to create joy at work.  Transition into work that your love or find a way to love the work you have.  It is a part of your walk with God.  It not separate.  Work like God is your boss instead of some flawed human.  Work for the glory of God instead of yourself.  

    Use this perspective to drive you to do your best work and go up and beyond the bare minimum.  Do not make your work all about the pay.  Trust that if God is your CEO that He will compensate you according to the work you do.  You first have to develop the servant heart, then you will reap the rewards.  Never stop seeking ways to grow in skill, knowledge, or wisdom.  The growth and healthy challenge will lead to joy.  

Psalm 128, Proverbs 14:23-25, 16:1-3, 20:13, 21:5, 22:29, 26:14-16, Ecclesiastes 9:9-10, 1 Corinthians 10:31-33, Ephesians 4:28-29, & Colossians 3:22-25

Joy of an Inquisitive Mind

 

    Having an inquisitive mind is a gift from God.  It means you have the ability to work through situations, make decisions, and find what you are looking for.  Your questions can lead to logic instead of panic or over reacting.  This applies to negative thoughts too.  You can train yourself to see them for what they are and restructure them to preserve your joy.

    It all starts with focusing on the positive.  Allow your positive mind frame to structure your questions.  The questions you ask can shift your mind from focusing on one thing and seeing it with a different perspective.  If you are stuck in the negative ask a simple question and see if you can change it to a positive perspective.

    Frame your questions for the mind to go to a good place instead of directly to the negative.  For an example: instead of what do you hate about your job, ask what do you like about your job.  It leads your mind to the positive instead of the negative.  You can also stop other people from asking you questions that take your mind to negative places.  If people do not bring life into your life, then keep your distance.

    You have to train your mind to focus on the positive.  The reworking starts with your questions and the inner dialog that you keep going in your mind.  As you change your mind patterns, you will notice that your moods are better and you feel better.  You have to get your mind to focus on gratitude, achievement, and loving thoughts to uphold a joyful life.

    Once you have started to train your mind to ask questions that bring a positive twist through simple questions, you can start probing deeper.  Start asking questions that really get you digging deep into your relationships and where you are right now in life.  You can write down a question every day and spend the day writing down the answer.  It will help you remember why you love the things you once loved.

    The point is to have a joy filled life with meaning.  You have the control, but do you have the inquisitive mind to format the questions to get the results that you want?  You have to power to stop the negative thoughts before they gain any power over you.  Develop your inquisitive mind to become creative, excited, and enjoy the small moments.

Proverbs 1:2-7, 3:13-18, 18:15, Ecclesiastes 2:24-26, Matthew 7:7-8, Luke 2:45-47, John 15:9-17, & James 1:5-8

Joy of Environment

 

    The environment that we are directly affects moods, thoughts, work, life, play, and prayer.  It has a direct influence on your heart, beliefs, feelings, values, culture, expectations, and behavior.  That is why we are commanded to guard our heart.  Some environments can be avoided.

    Investing in making sure God is a part a of your environment leads to a better quality of mental, emotional, and spiritual balance. If you want to improve your quality of life, then you have to improve your quality of thinking.  The best way is by protecting what you allow into your mind and heart.  Claiming responsibility over this can be hard, but it is the only way to bring about the change you desire for your life.

    Guarding your heart guards your joy.  You are very conscience of what enters your mind and what you swell on.  You have the choice to replace every negative thought with true, pure, lovely, and excellent thoughts.  You have the power to change aspects of the culture around you.  You can be a leader or follow like sheep never finding true joy.

    What you feed your mind (TV, books, social media) directly affects your character.  If you want to be like Jesus, then you have to invest more time in the Bible and prayer than you do in the world.  To maximize your joy, you must be selective on what you allow into your mind. What you feed your mind will come out of your heart seen in your actions and words.

Genesis 2:15-17, Job 38:4-7, Psalm 8:3-8, 19:1-4, 96:7-13, 104:24-31, Isaiah 44:12-17, Matthew 6:25-27, & Romans 1:18-20

Joy of Compassion

 

    Life can be challenging, inspiring, infuriating, annoying, and more.  you do not live in a bubble.  It is not always easy to hold onto your joy.  It takes compassion.  You have to get to the point where compassion is a part of who you are.  It take training for your mind to automatically go to compassion instead of judgment or anger when people act certain ways.

    Compassion is a Biblical virtue.  When we display compassion we are imitating Jesus.  Jesus said if you love me, then you will obey me like I obey my father.  Do not suppress or express your negative emotions.  Instead extend compassion to stop feeding your negative emotions.  You don't have to look for the source of their pain to know they are a source of your pain.  Your compassion is how you protect your mental and emotional health.  

    None of us deserve God's compassion, but He gives it to us freely.  The source of your pain may not deserve compassion, but giving it frees you.  It may even lead them to Jesus.  Instead of casting judgment, pray for them.  Look at who you are.  Are you really any better than them?

    You can increase your compassion by caring about people.  You care when you want to know more and become curious about their lives.  This can help you replace your negative thoughts with positive thoughts toward that person(s). 

    Another way is to remember most outburst  are conditioned responses that they have.  You are not the source, but you may be a trigger.  They need to work on themselves, you don't need to try to fix them, so don't allow them to rattle you.

    A third way to become more compassionate is realize everyone has stress and tension in their lives.  Not everyone knows how to deal with stress.  Don't shut down on them.  Instead work out your emotional muscle to become stronger and more resilient.  There will always be difficult people and you can't change them or that fact.  All you can do is protect your joy.  

Psalm 119:153-160, 145:8-13, Matthew 10:28-36, 2 Corinthians 1:3-7, Galatians 5:22-23, Ephesians 4:31-32, & Colossians 3:12-15

Enjoying God's Blessings

 

    Part of joy is how you visualize.  That means when you wake up you envision how your day will go.  It will directly impact how you handle the day's events.  If you expect it to be bad, then you only see the negative.  If you expect it to be a good day, then you see all the blessings.

    Your visualization does change as your day happens.  You can see for only the day, but also the extended future.  It may be a win in a project, graduation, marriage, having a family, getting out of debt, paying off your mortgage, retirement, or something else that motivates your direction for the future.  

    Be intentional with your imagination.  Focus it to drive you to succeed and see God's blessings along the way.  Do not allow yourself to get stuck in the past that you can't change.  Do not allow your moods to dampen what could be.  

    God designed you to have a creative mind.  Your mind has the capacity to do far more than what you allow it to do.  If you are being held back in life it is because of how you have bound your mind.  You can see just how much you allow your mind freedom by how you pray.  Are you specific?  Do you ask for things that could only happen if God opened the doors or made it happen?  Do you pray with expectation or just expecting everything to stay the same?

    You have the power to experience what you visualize.  Do not keep it vanilla.  Do not keep your mind in the status quo.  Really visualize the life that you want.  It is the only way for small changes to happen to get you to that future.  Without a vision, you will only drift through life.  You are passing up on all that life could offer you.  You are not allowing blessings to happen.  If you aren't blessed, then you can't enjoy your blessings.

    If you have never tried to visualize a good future for yourself, then start small, but don't stop building until you have a wonderful vision.  It starts with giving your most dominant thoughts focus.  If they are not thoughts that you want, then you replace them with thoughts that you do wants.  Your thoughts become goals.  Your goals will remove mental blocks to get you to the finish line.

    The next step is to feed your mind what it needs to get you to your future.  That includes what you read, watch, and listen to.  It will affect your activities.  You may have to change your daily routine.  The beginning is the hardest part, but once you get going it becomes much easier.  Pray over it every step of the way.  Tune it as needed.  If you still do not have any vision, then pray for God to put a visual in your mind that brings you joy.

Psalm 16:9-11, Jeremiah 29:10-14, John 15:9-17, 2 Corinthians 9:10-15, Philippians 4:18-20, & 1 Timothy 4:3-5