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Haters gonna hate

haters

Social media is a brilliant way to express yourself and to connect with others on a certain level.

It is no where near as good as a coffee and a good chat.

As a mum of a toddler, who lives a good hour and some from our main city, it creates a great outlet and community for me to journey with.

The only problem is the haters.

You know them.

Every time you post something, you can feel them roll their cyber eyes and you get ready for their tirade.

Haters gonna hate.

Doesn’t matter what you endeavour to do, there is always going to be someone who has something critical to say.

A good dose of honest feedback from a friend who has your interest at heart is very different but the people who criticise and hate on people to make themselves feel somewhat more superior are just plain mean.

Mean hearted people who need to get a life.

Theodore Roosavelt wrote this speech over a hundred years ago and it still brings wisdom to our today.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Are you struggling to create because of criticism?

Do you have a arch enemy who is sole bent on bringing you down?

Get in the arena.

If you have left the arena because someone hated on you, get back in again.

In an amazing speech recently by Tim Minchin when he received a honorary doctorate at UWA recently. He said this about haters…

Define Yourself By What You Love
I’ve found myself doing this thing a bit recently, where, if someone asks me what sort of music I like, I say “well I don’t listen to the radio because pop lyrics annoy me”. Or if someone asks me what food I like, I say “I think truffle oil is overused and slightly obnoxious”. And I see it all the time online, people whose idea of being part of a subculture is to hate Coldplay or football or feminists or the Liberal Party. We have tendency to define ourselves in opposition to stuff; as a comedian, I make a living out of it. But try to also express your passion for things you love. Be demonstrative and generous in your praise of those you admire. Send thank-you cards and give standing ovations. Be pro-stuff, not just anti-stuff.

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Victory comes when we have a go, whether it is outstanding or not, the fact you have jumped in the arena is the main thing.

Just have a go.

Start that business you have longed for,

Start that blog you have had an inkling for,

Quit your job and do what you have thought about doing over and over again.

Step up

Step out

Live despite the haters and their gangs.

A

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Goodness

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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.

Our minds are so powerful. This scripture from Philippians in the bible implores us to fill our minds with thoughts that are good.

How often are we drawn to the negative though?

How often do we think about the worst case scenario rather than the best?

How often do we worry and think about all the things that could go wrong, rather than what could go right?

Positive thinking is not just a self help, new age trend, it has been around for thousands of years.

The differences between new age thinking and that of the bible however, is that new ageism implores us to empty our minds however scripture tells us to fill our minds with goodness.

Think on loveliness.

Think on what has gone right in your life rather than what is about to go wrong.

The reason why emptying our minds doesn’t work is because our minds are more powerful than any computer ever made.

To override the system operating our brains, we need to fight the original programming with new and more powerful content.

Ever tried to stop thinking about something?

Ever felt so overwhelmed at the strength of your mind?

It is impossible to think about nothing, if you are thinking about nothing you are still thinking about something.

So why not reprogram?

Reprogram with pure, noble, good, inspiring, commanding, helpful, loving, decent, brilliant, encouraging thoughts.

Replace
Meditate
Renew

20131007-200531.jpgEmpty your mind?

Impossible.

Reengineer?

Possible.

The stability and strength of your mind will always alter what you creatively produce from it.

Be mindful this spring.

Love

Me

 

 

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other worldliness

My Mum often comments that Max has a frown sometimes.

Not a frown as such but a quizzical look that he is deeply thinking about something.

I know what he’s doing, because he is part me, part my husband and part divine.

I know what he is doing, because I am often doing the same thing.

Thinking.

Dreaming.

Imagining.

An other worldliness comes upon him and he is completely lost in his own or something eternals presence.

Ever since he was a baby, whenever we have gone into a sacred space. Whether a church or a gymnasium that is used regularly to worship in, he would stare off and point to the rafters.

I am sure that he saw angels.

I am sure he saw things, that we as adults in our more mature and logical minds have lost the capacity to see.

Other worldliness.

A space of contemplation.

Space.

I think our DVD plasma rich worlds, take up the time and space to imagine, pray, meditate and dream.

Our children need more time to themselves.

Developing a healthy understanding of the possibilities beyond.

Another world.

An eternal one.

With golden places and beautiful deep longings.

Amanda
otherness

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God is a designer

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Some days I get to a point where I feel like I cannot come up with another idea.

No more.

I’m done.

I’m tired, I am parched, I have seen too much, done too little with my ideas and I feel overwhelmed.

A consumer generation has convinced my heart that there is no new idea under the sun.

Then I walk, twenty metres out my front door, at about 5.25pm at the moment and watch the sun go down.

The pelicans fly back to their island home in formation.

The penguins flurry.

The seals huff.

Everyone gets ready for the night to settle and peace to reign again once more.

Every sunset is different.

There is never one that is exactly the same.

It doesn’t matter how many times I have watched it, I am still bedazzled at the colours, the quiet, the potential and the beauty.

You don’t need to be at the beach to experience its call.

You could be sitting in traffic on the freeway and watch its colours pique and declare the presence of one greater.

There are millions however that don’t see the designers artwork that is fleeting.

dirt-pathLook up and look beyond.

Allow inspiration to arise again.

There are new ideas, there are new opportunities, the creator of the whole universe avails them to us every evening and then again in the morning tide.

He is a designer

He is a creator

He is unique and we are created in his indelible image

Amanda

 

 

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phone free

IMG_6375I am realising quickly how damaging living my life through my phone is.

Just a few weeks ago, I was driving home from church, Maximus was asleep in the car, it was 7-something o clock.

My car was dark except for my headlights and a text message beeped through.

The darkness of the car shone the light of my phone even more brightly and I was so tempted to pick up my phone and check the message.

I quickly looked down and decided against picking my phone up and when I lifted my head up again, there was a man standing in the middle of the road.

He wasn’t running across the road to escape my car, I mean standing dead centre in front of my car, pointing straight at me, all most beaconing me to run him down.

I screamed, I prayed, I swerved, I stopped.

My car was truly millimetres away from hitting this man front on.

My heart galloped and I prayed that God would restore his soul. It was clear that he was trying to take his own life.

What impacted me mostly though was the what ifs?

What if I had have looked and replied to that text message?

What if I hadn’t stopped my car in time?

What if?

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Mobile phones, from the moment they have been invented have been a part of my life. My dad bought one of the very first bricks, we had a satellite phone and I had my own mobile from when I was a teenager till now. It has not been until the last few months that I have realised how addicted to my phone I am.

As a novice mum, there are many moments that I feel increasingly isolated and the only thing that takes me out of the food plastered across the floor, the cartoons that sing in the distance, is the call of instagram and facebook to connect me with a instant reality.

My mum the other day challenged me, I dare you to go phone free for a day a week. I think she has seen my increased use of its pull and although I have explored this concept on here before, its an ongoing issue that I have to contend with.

I am doing productive things on my phone, I am building pictures, I am building community, but can I put it down and intentionally focus on the people that are in my present.

I have come up with a kind of plan.

Whenever I have my husband home on weekends etc, I go phone free.

Whenever I am in a social setting I go phone free.

During the week when I am with Max by myself, I try to limit my time and put the phone in another part of the house for moments at a time.

In the car I connect my phone and play music and also put it on flight mode, so that I can’t use my phone for other purposes.

It is a major temptation and discipline for me to put my smartphone in its right place. I direct its control over my life, it doesn’t dictate to me.

Take time to be phone free, sometime this week, you will quickly see whether you have formed an unhealthy addiction or not.

I wrote also about phubbing here: if you want to read more about this dialogue in my life at the moment.

All my love

Amanda

 

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