Messy matters, especially if your life circumstances are in disarray. There is something about order that helps settle down racing thoughts and emotional clutter. Decisions are easier. It also makes life-function run smoother. When things are orderly we can receive unexpected guests without embarrassment and we are prepared for spontaneous activities without harried or guilty reactions.

Take 15 minutes and tackle one messy place in your surrounding. It might be your desk, your nightstand, your kitchen counters, your closet, your purse, etc. Later do it again in another congested area. By the end of the day your measurable improvements will make you feel way better than a hot fudge sundae with whipping cream.

Tidy takes the tangle out of your brains so you can process important matters.

Yes to Jesus! Yes to life!

Life is a teeter-tauter balance between yes’s and no’s. We won’t get it right every time but when we do it’s exhilarating.

Think of the last time your yes or your no was well-placed. Didn’t that feel good?

“Yes” is like opening a door or a window or a lock…in your mind and heart.

It’s permission granted. It’s an embracing. It’s opportunity.

Air-out your attitudes, your dreams, your potential, etc, say “yes.”

When Luci Swindoll told me one of her favorite inventions was the alphabet I knew we would always be friends. I love words. I’m a bonafide verbiage collector. I love small words like gnu, descriptive words like dollop, and filler words like thingamajigs and whatchamacallits.

There’s something magical about lining up letters and finding the very thing you want to say. So imagine the jolt I got when a couple of my friends showed up at a conference sporting, “On Voice Rest” badges. “What does that mean,” I puzzled. They rolled their eyes and pointed at the confusing script. “On Voice Rest,” I squawked. Still befuddled I asked, “but does that mean you’re actually not going to talk?” They nodded. I was almost silenced, but then I rallied and decided I could talk for all three of us. So I was chatting away when one of them got up walked over to me and pulled from her pocket a backup badge and pinned it on my collar. Harrumph.

C’mon, not talk? Think. About. It.

I read once about a movie actor who fasted from words on Wednesdays. He said it added such a flurry of creative energy to his work and it helped him be more word sensitive when he did speak.

Secretly, I admired his choice but I have yet to duplicate it. I have however remained silent on two hour flights only to get off and magpie anyone within a 10 foot perimeter. It’s like the accrued word count within me had percolated in my silence until when I disembarked I erupted into a volley of caffeinated chat.

I do have a propensity to go on-and-on. I know that. It’s like I have no edit button. When in truth I know it’s a matter of changing gears (slowing my pace) and installing a conscious (Holy Spirit) awareness of my need to at least minimize my word count.

Voice rest has multiple benefits.

• Those who have grown weary of our deluge are relieved.
• We listen more closely, (because we are not busy crafting our response).
• Our new discipline will spill over into other frayed areas of our life.
• People’s trust in us grows.
• And our center stills. We feel less frantic and surprisingly, more heard.

So what about a wordless Wednesday or having a mute button installed for Monday mornings? Or being silent long enough to hear what God’s curriculum is for us?

Think about it. I am.

“Silence is the sleep that nourishes wisdom.” Francis Bacon

This post was inspired by the Luminous Project. Luminous is a creative spiritual event in Nashville May 1-3, 2013. To find out more, check out www.luminousproject.com. You can use the promo code ‘BRINGitHERE’ to get 35% off the registration price.

Signs of maturity.

Learn ways to take care of YOU…like speaking kindly to and about yourself. Mental tapes are powerful. Practice kind internal words like; “I see how hard you’re trying. Keep up the good work. Tomorrow’s another day.”

Give yourself permission to rest. A twenty minute nap will rejuvenate your body and your attitude. Read a book that builds your courage and renews your hope.Take a class that expands your focus and horizon. Bible Study. Exercise. Poetry. Drawing. Painting. Writing. Make a leap. Do it today. Sign up.

You are important.

Feelings

What is your favorite feeling? I mean are you addicted to your anger? Do your words have an edge? Do you apologize too often? Are you fearful? Sometimes its easier to identify emotions in others. What was your dad’s most predictable emotional reaction to life in general? Your mom’s? Your siblings? Now back to you. Who are you most like in your first family? We are habitual people. What emotional habits do you think you absorbed in your childhood? Good news: change if needed is a choice.
Feelings matter.

Pity’s Party

I threw so many pity parties I should have owned stock in Hallmark. What a royal waste of time. Besides pity is so, uh, well, pitiful. It’s not attractive, productive, or helpful. I had to give up my poor-me mental agenda and teach myself a new theme song. Personal dignity is built on a healthy inner life…”Speaking to ourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in (y)our heart to the Lord.” (Eph 5:18)

Strike up the band!

Knee knocking.

As a former agoraphobic I kept waiting to feel brave before I made important steps in my recovery. It took years before I realized courage came as a result of facing something that frightened me, even while I was quivering. Life is scary…and precious. We don’t want to sit on the sidelines incapacitated by the intimidation of our emotional reactions. I love this quote of an obvious seasoned sage, “Courage is fear that has said its prayers.” You can will yourself to take the next step.

Forward march.

It liberates. It protects. It boundaries.

We forget we have options and sometimes we have to be reminded. Just because we said “yes” in the past doesn’t mean we can’t change our minds.  If we say “yes” when we should say “no,” we set ourselves up for resentment and often exhaustion. Not a healthy place to live. People can’t repeatedly take advantage of us without our permission.

So wiggle into those grown-up pantaloons and say “yes” to “no.”  Appropriate no’s will help renew your dignity, your vitality, and your integrity.

Feeling emotionally tipsy? Remember our will is stronger than our feelings…we can choose to act and talk differently then we feel. Honest.

Our feelings will eventually lineup with our choices. Honest.

Things that will help cranky:

• Before encountering earth aliens strengthen your mind with good, true, pure, just, and lovely thoughts.
• Limit your word count. Save them for a day when you’re safer for public interaction. It feels really good to hold onto what didn’t need to be said.
• Relax your muscles with deep breaths and remind yourself this too will pass (because it will). You may have to do this a dozen times in a day.
• Smile. It’s a kind way to conduct ourselves and muscles have memory and a smile reminds our brains and emotions that friendly lives just down the street from joy.