Thoughtful Guy: The Simple Woman's Daybook

If you would like to join in and post your own Daybook, please head on over to visit Peggy at The Simple Woman's Daybook

For Today:  Wednesday, April 10, 2019

Note: 

I had to make the executive decision to no longer accept anonymous comments on the blog.  In the past several months, my blog has been spammed excessively with fake anonymous comments.  This needed to stop. 

Looking outside my window …   After having mid 70 degree weather for the past few days, it's snowing and we are now under a blizzard warning.

I am thinking... 

• ...about accountability.  In all the analysis and research on personality types I've read, I understand that I require outward accountability for ultimate success.  I absolutely loathe that about myself.  Almost seems unfair to be the type of person who needs community, but is frequently placed in isolating circumstances.  Although I don't like it, I'm making the conscious decision to embrace this part of my psyche by discovering and creating some outside accountability.  There are too many places where I feel stuck.  Having some help will be a big step towards getting unstuck.
• ... about leadership.  I was introduced to the concepts of leadership 19 years ago when I attended a leadership conference lead by John C. Maxwell.  He simply defined leadership as influence and implied that everyone should be a leader.  He also claimed that leadership wasn't about a position, but about having and impact on another person.  Since then, I've read books, watched videos, attended seminars, taken test after test, and had meetings with various leaders.  After all these years of study and working on it, I've come to determine that I'm NOT a leader.  I don't have to be the big cheese and have my name in lights; I just want to help others who are leaders reach their goals.  My gift isn't leadership; my personality doesn't even accommodate it.  I'm an ESFJ on the Myers-Briggs, an Obliger on Gretchen Rubin's Four Tendencies Model, a Golden Retriever on the animal personality scale, plus another plethora of personality labels (Type B, Melancholy, #2 on the Enneagram...blah, blah, blah).  My gift is the ministry of helps.  Yes, teaching is also one of my spiritual gifts, but even that is a part of helps.  Again, this is something I need to embrace about myself rather than reject it or see it as a lesser gift.  I'll continue to partake of leadership and personal development materials.  However, they will be filtered through the lens of helps--how I can be a better helper; not how to try to be something I'm not.
• ...about recovery.  I'm finishing up my eleventh year of recovery and I've discovered that I still have a way to go.  I thought I was done digging into my past, but as long as past pain still wreaks havoc with present reality, I still need recovery.  After all, recovery isn't needed if there's nothing to recover from.  I'm ready to be well and whole. 
• ... about meditation.  Now, don't worry, I'm not getting into the weird meditation that asks you to empty your mind and do the direct opposite of biblical meditation.  I'm talking about productive, Bible-based meditation.  I feel the need to learn and implement a consistent practice because I have way more anxiety than is healthy or necessary.  It's getting so bad that I'm starting to have physical affects from it.  The problem is, I have a very difficult time sitting still and quiet.  I've tried a guided Scripture meditation several times and failed miserably.  I even tried it while soaking in the tub and still couldn't settle.  I had no idea that there were viable meditative practices that involve movement.  After all, God just instructs us to meditate on His Word;  He didn't say we had to be still while we did it.  Two things I want to try are writing meditation and scriptural stretching/yoga meditation.  We'll see how it goes.

I am thankful...  

• ...for the gentleman who let me know one of my taillights was out.
• ...for the guy at Advanced Auto Parts who replaced the bulb for me when I couldn't figure out how to do it myself.  Sorry, YouTube can't fix everything.
• ... for new friends and reconnecting with old ones.
• ... for grocery store flowers.
• ... for my local library.
• ... for Pilot G2 Bold pens.

From the Workshop...

Wheels on the Bus Cuddle Quilt:  I never get tired of making these.

From Auntie's Test Kitchen:  I completed letter J in my A-Z challenge since the last Daybook.

I am reading...

• The Word in the Wilderness by Malcolm Guite
• Self Matters by Dr. Phillip C. McGraw
• Courage and Calling by Gordon T. Smith
• Jesus, the Open Door by Kenneth Hagin, Sr.

Books I've finished since my last Daybook: 

• The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron.
• Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown.
• Dad is Fat by Jim Gaffigan.
• Outer Order, Inner Calm by Gretchen Rubin.
• The Journey That Saved Curious George by Louise Borden.

Favorite quote(s) of the week:

Rhett - "...I recently upped the douche factor in my life..."

Link - "I didn't know you had any more margin."
Ear Biscuits, 03/17/19

"I've never seen my family tree, and I think this is because someone chopped it down and built a bar with it." - Jim Gaffigan, Dad is Fat, p. 227

"The glory of God is the human person fully alive." - Irenaeus, quoted in Courage and Calling by Gordon T. Smith, p. 19

"I believe in every trial, there is a gain God wants us to receive.  But that requires us to trust Him at levels we might not have before.  It requires us to open our hearts to new ways of looking at our circumstances.  It requires us to pass through the pain knowing an even stronger faith is on the other side." - Christine Caine, Unshakeable, p. 42.

“Accepting oneself does not preclude an attempt to become better.” - Flannery O'Connor, quoted by Gretchen Rubin, Outer Order, Inner Calm, p. 131.

I am looking forward to... 

• This weekend, I'm going to visit a friend in Grand Junction, Colorado.
• Being off for Good Friday and celebrating Easter.
• My upcoming summer stay-cation in May and celebrating my 47th birthday.

My Mythical Year: Part two of my "I Do Science" Mythical Merit Badge is here.

And Now For Something Totally Different:

Five Minute Friday Word of the Week:  I know I haven't posted a Five Minute Friday word in a while.  However, the prompts lately have taken my mind and keyboard to sad places that, quite frankly, I didn't want to go.  I want to focus more on the positive, rather than the prompt pointing out what I'm not or I don't have.  Maybe something better will pop up soon...or not.