Susan U. Neal's Blog, page 8

How to Keep Hope Alive

As we recover from the pandemic, how do we take care of our mental health, maintain a healthy lifestyle, and keep hope alive? Have you wondered how to keep hope alive amidst personal, national, and mounting global concerns? Some people are optimistic by nature, but most of us must be intentional about cultivating hope in ... Read more

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How to Create a Healthy Lifestyle — From Fiction to Nonfiction

As fiction writer I learn things about the real world during my research journey. One book’s research led me to steps for healthy living, secrets to create a healthy lifestyle, and a knowledge of blue zones. My journey begins when I enrolled in a healthy eating class at church, the instructor William Zahler, author of  ... Read more

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Do You Know These Gluten-Free Secrets for a Healthier Mindset?

Do you look for opportunities to improve your mindset as well as the health of your body? Our physical, emotional, and mental well-being are intertwined, so any improvements we make in one area will benefit the other areas. Renewing our minds to develop healthier mindsets is a life-long journey. Learning about gluten and its effects ... Read more

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How Friendships Contribute to Healthy Living

Most of us know cultivating a healthy lifestyle means incorporating exercise, better food choices, and caring for our mental health. But now we are learning that having close friendships can also contribute to healthy living. So how does this work? How can friendship affect our health? Read on to learn how friendships contribute to healthy ... Read more

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Ten Ways to Live Free from Fear

Get rid of anxiety, stop the worry, and live free from fear —that might be a wish list for all. My friend shares this sentiment. “I’m sick of it, sick,” she said. “I’m over the bad news. I can’t take all the crazy mess that gets worse every day. When will it stop?” Stop? Yes, ... Read more

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How to Incorporate Healthy Choices into a Crazy Life

You’ve read the articles. You know — the ones that tell you to get up early and exercise before your day starts? Or the ones that advise you to spend time doing food prep to make sure you have healthy food choices at your fingertips. It’s all part of living a healthy lifestyle, a goal ... Read more

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Connect Your Head to Your Body

How your head and body connect Connect your head to your body — it’s figurative but just as critical as keeping them literally connected. Although you may rarely think of it, your physical and mental well-being are linked. Good mental health has a positive effect on your physical health and vice versa. Maintaining positive mental ... Read more

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How to Keep Yourself from Becoming Overwhelmed

Are you tired of becoming overwhelmed? What would it take for you to live more often in serenity and less often becoming overwhelmed? It’s a common greeting — “How are you?” You can almost predict the response. “Busy. Keeping busy.” Imagine saying, “Well, rested, and focused.” Overwhelm is a choice. Perhaps more insidious, it distracts ... Read more

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A Calm Life is a Strong Life

Almost 13 years ago to the day, I flew over 6,000 miles to learn one valuable lesson: a calm life is a strong life.

“And I saw that all toil and achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. Fools fold their hands and ruin themselves. Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.”

-Ecclesiastes 4:6, NIV

A Calm Life is a Strong Life

It was a beautiful, sunny day where the wind was whirling with crisp whispers. I sat down on a carpet of soft, green grass, surrounded by the Bernese Alps. I had to take it all in. Just sixteen days earlier, my husband had surprised me with a 30-day trip to Europe to celebrate twenty-five years of marriage.

Thirty days.

With absolutely no warning, I had to shift an entire month filled with responsibilities and urgent matters. Most women would be overwhelmed with joy, but I found myself overwhelmed with anxiety. What about all my commitments and responsibilities at church? If I don’t attend the summer trainings, I won’t be able to teach or lead any of the women’s events. I must be at that training.

 

At that time in my life, missing out on anything seemed like messing up on everything.

“I can’t go away for that long,” I said. “What on earth were you thinking?”

My inner panic completely overtook the beauty of my husband’s most generous gift.

“I don’t know,” my husband smiled. “Something overwhelmed me, and I clicked, ‘yes,’ and here we are. It’s twenty-five years. That needs to be celebrated.”

My twenty-something twins were sitting at the table, watching this unfold.

“Mom, you could say, ‘thank you,’” my son spoke. “Really?”

His twin sister sat quietly.

When Nature Invites into a Calm Life

“Women need solitude in order to find again the true essence of themselves.”
-Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Gift from the Sea

With the fresh memory of that conversation in mind, I brushed my hand over the verdant blades of grass, praying softly to God. As I did, I felt something nestled deep in the grass. I pulled it out and held it up to my face. It was a small snail.

As I admired the variegated hues of brown and studied the spiral pattern on its shell, I thought of its simplicity. It reminded me of the beautiful Tiger Moon Shells collected from Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

I turned it round and round and thought of its quiet existence. I couldn’t help but wonder if it was waiting there for me.

For some odd reason, I placed it on the palm of my left hand, reached for my phone, and snapped a simple photo. It spoke to a deep place in my languished soul. I think you have more to say, I thought. Let’s tuck you away and take you home. I have a special place for you on my desk. I want to remember this sacred moment.

In that sacred moment, I recalled the words of my daily devotion, written by the wise Oswald Chambers in his classic, My Utmost for His Highest. They fell on my heart, yet left me hungering to understand why. “Jesus Christ calls service,” he writes, “what we are to Him, not what we do for Him. It is like a corn of wheat, which falls into the ground and dies, but presently it will spring up and alter the whole landscape.”

Alter the Whole Landscape

Little did I know Chamber’s words would become so literal in my life. It seemed my husband’s surprise gift held an even deeper gift. One that I would keep unwrapping.

God was altering the entire landscape of my inner life, inviting me to grasp what it truly means to be a human being, not a human doing.

First and foremost, this trip showed me I don’t want to live the next twenty-five years of my life in the same way as the last twenty-five years. Oh, don’t get me wrong, they have been blessed beyond measure, but the dominant characteristic of these years is my constant state of “over” doing. I concluded I am moving out of “The Land of Over”:

OverdoOvercommitOver scheduleOver-the-top goal setting (unreasonable goals)Overeat (binge-eating sweets at night, which typically leads to Candida and Candida infection in my body)Overspend on the un-necessities (is this a word?)Overachieve (ouch! this one hurts the most)Over exercise (yes, it’s all about healthy living and a healthy balance)Over analyze (sometimes we must accept the facts/accept in faith)Overstep boundaries (know when to speak/not to speak)A Hyper Life is an Imbalanced Life

Over, in the Greek, means, “hyper.”

Taking that one step further, we see that hyper means, “seriously or obsessively concerned.”

All in all, it just means, “a bit much; a bit out of balance.”

As I held that little snail in the palm of my hand, my eyes were opened to this truth: a hyper life is an imbalanced life.

I come by this personality quirk quite honestly. I was born with a God-given capacity to achieve (we all are) but somewhere along the journey of my life, something clicked inside of me to take residence in “The Land of Over.” That click became the rhythm by which I paced my life.

This drive to do more, be more and have more, diminished my capacity for tranquility.

The great travesty of this imbalanced rhythm is that it played out in very good things. Excelling, at all costs, is what America is all about. In truth, it plays a similar role within the life of the church, as well.

Perhaps I just needed a change of scenery to see my own unhealthy, imbalanced lifestyle.

This break from the rapid routine which I lovingly called my life was a much needed wake up call.

I blame only myself. I claim full responsibility.

[image error] Moving Out Day in the Land of Over

When I returned home, I “happened” upon a powerful word in the book of Ecclesiastes.

It reads, “Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.”

For a long time, I wrestled with fifteen words. I asked, “Wait a minute, Lord, isn’t one handful a cop-out if I am capable of two handfuls? I want to be found faithful stewarding the talents you have given me.”

And then, I heard his still small voice say, “My daughter, a calm life is a strong life.”

Today, step outside for a few moments.

Maybe stand barefoot in a patch of lush, verdant grass.

Hold out your two hands before you.

Look at them with tender care.

Consider and meditate on Ecclesiastes 4:6.

Speak this breath prayer aloud:

Lord, may I learn that a calm life is a strong life.

Help me release toil and chasing after the wind. Amen.

Author Bio

Janell Rardon, aka Professional Heartlifter, is the author of Stronger Every Day: 9 Tools for an Emotionally Healthy You,” and is the host of “Today’s Heartlift with Janell,” a podcast dedicated to integrating faith and mental health. Be sure to grab your free resources and goodies at www.janellrardon.com.

 

 

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10 Books to Read That Will Make You Think

Books are one of the most powerful ways to introduce yourself to ideas and develop your mind. Most importantly, books make you think. Here are 10 books to read that will help you cultivate your reasoning skills and supply you with more knowledge.

Non-Fiction Books1. The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

Have you ever wondered why people do what they do? Why do they always buy a certain brand of toothpaste or take the same route home from work? This book answers those questions and dives deep into why habits exist and how they are formed. The marketing industry has discovered that understanding habits allows you to get inside people’s heads. In fact, there are scientific ways to predict what people want or even what they will do in the future. This book will teach you about human nature and even about yourself. Get ready to have your mind blown as you get a little peek inside other people’s minds.

2. A M essage to Garcia by Elbert Hubbard

Elbert Hubbard, a small-town newspaper publisher, wrote this little book one evening in less than an hour. The next morning, he printed it without a title as a filler for a blank page in the town’s magazine. To his shock, orders started flooding in for his article, and it soon had over 40 million reprints. Since then, A Message to Garcia has sold over a hundred million copies, been translated into every major language, and become the basis for two films. So, who even is Garcia and what’s all the fuss about this little book? Although most people have never heard of this general who served in the Crimean War, the lessons that can be learned from his life are invaluable. You won’t forget this story of an ordinary, but truly outstanding man.

3. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Do you want to improve your communication skills and learn how to interact well with others? Do you want people to respect and listen to you? If you answered yes to any of those questions, this book is for you. How to Win Friends and Influence People will teach you the basic principles for interacting well with those around you and becoming a leader. It offers excellent advice on how to treat others with consideration and tips on how to make those around you feel valued and appreciated.

4. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

While many have heard of Anne Frank, a young Jewish girl who wrote about her experiences during the Holocaust, few have read her story. While this book gives insight into what really happened during WWII, it also presents a powerful perspective on value and humanity. This book shows Anne’s struggle with identity as she is subjected to many unimaginable pressures and hardships. This book will make rethink how you view life and those around you.

5. How the Might y Fall by Jim Collins

Have you ever wondered what makes people successful? Why do some companies thrive while others, even popular ones, decline? This book dives deep into the essence of what makes or breaks businesses and how to avoid decay. But it also goes beyond just businesses and explores what it takes to be a successful leader in any area of life.

Fiction Books

Stories are one of the most powerful methods of communication. They can make you laugh, cry, or think. Here are a few fictional works that you will want to read again and again.

6. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

Love a mystery? This book will keep you on your toes. A worldwide bestseller, it sold over 100 million copies. The adventure begins when eight people receive an unexpected invitation to a small island off the coast of Devon. Although the hosts have not yet arrived, they have left specific instructions for their guests and, oddly enough, an old rhyme. However, disaster strikes as the guests die one by one. But coincidence isn’t enough to explain the deaths, and the guests must face the reality that there is a murderer among them. Unable to get off the island, the remaining guests seek to solve the mystery and as they do, they unravel dark secrets from the past. It’s a race for time. Will they be able to solve the mystery before the last of them is killed? In this story, Agatha Christy masterfully weaves together a suspense-filled plot full of twists and turns. This book will make you question everything you thought you knew.

7. 1984 by George Orwell

Have you ever heard the phrase “Big Brother” or the idea that the government is always watching? We have this book to thank for that. Written in 1949, it predicted what the world would come to in just a few short years. And it isn’t a pretty picture. Bleak, isolated, and cold, George Orwell presents a society that has lost its moral foundations and personalities. People no longer have the freedom to act or think for themselves, and the Thought Police force everyone to conform to a certain standard. While it may seem extreme, 1984 warns readers of the danger of totalitarianism and the threat of complete government control.

8. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice is a classic love story with charming characters and an engaging plot. Although some claim that a work written in the 1800s must be outdated, its universal themes appeal to every audience and continue to capture the attention of modern readers. This book shows how people can overcome societal norms and their own preconceptions to find true love and happiness. It will make you rethink how you view those around you. Filled with charm and wit, this book has all the characteristics of a true classic.

9. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Written at a time when society’s expectations shaped how people thought and acted, this novel challenged what most considered to be acceptable and revolutionized the core beliefs of that time. Gothic elements are woven throughout it, as well as mystery, suspense, and intrigue. It offers an in-depth look at some challenges faced by people of previous generations so we can make better choices for the future.

10. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Have you ever wondered what the future will look like? If genetic modification and machines replace natural processes, how would society respond? Written by a man with in-depth insight into both culture and human nature, this book shows how life could change in an advanced, technologically driven world…

If you want to discover more exciting books but don’t know where to start, check out some of these other book ideas . . .

Top 12 Books to Read in 202116 Best-Selling Books to Read in 202010 Best Audiobooks to Listen to in 2020Holiday Gift Guide for Book Lovers

 

About the Author

Ryleigh Wood is an avid reader and a student majoring in Professional Writing. She loves discovering new books and constantly challenging her mind with fresh ideas and perspectives.

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