Yesterday I shared with you about a time when the Lord reminded me that I am not the vine—He is. For years I had tried to accomplish by myself what Jesus wanted to achieve through me. My desire was to impress God and earn His approval. His goal, on the other hand, was for me simply to abide.
The Holy Spirit’s job is to live the life of Christ through us. This is known by a variety of names, including the exchanged life, the Spirit-filled life, and the abiding life. All of these describe the joyful existence Paul spoke of in Galatians 2:20: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God.”
Seen from the outside, a branch does not appear to be doing anything. But that doesn’t mean that the abiding life is passive. Jesus was the perfect example of a Spirit-filled life, and He certainly didn’t sit around! He worked hard out of a reservoir of divine energy (John 8:28). All of Christ’s wisdom, knowledge, and courage was drawn from God through the Holy Spirit.
Christians bear fruit through surrender. We “take root” in the Lord by meditating on His Word, praying, and serving. We reserve nothing for ourselves to control but fully rely upon Him. That’s not passive living; it’s an abiding life.
“I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.”- C.G. Jung
How do passion and addiction differ? How are they similar? Could
our passion escalate into an addiction? Is it possible to change an
unhealthy addiction into a healthy passion?
Addiction
An addiction is a chronic dysfunction of the brain system that
involves reward, motivation, and memory. It's about the way your body
craves a substance or behaviour. This definition demonstrates how the
mind can take control of the body. Dysfunction implies that the control
is really out of control. We don’t have an addiction, an addiction has
us.
Our motivation and memory systems have been hijacked. We are no
longer in charge. The reinforcement schedule of addictive behaviour
creates its own reward scheme. We are being handed a counterfeit reward
for a dysfunctional behaviour. Meanwhile, a co-dependency is being
created each time we renew this reward. It is believed that the
self-centred qualities of an addiction are mainly about the ego and not
the task. Over time the co-dependency takes away our personal agency,
our self-discipline, and our life. Disturbingly, we can become
oblivious to this regression.
“In order to love who you are, you cannot hate the experiences that shaped you.”- Andrea Dykstra
Passion
Passionate people are compelled, perhaps even called, to do something
meaningful with their lives. There is a sense of achievement, pride
and purpose in their pursuit of life.
Passionate people take charge. They are in control of their life and
demonstrate this control through having personal agency,
self-discipline, and autonomy in their life. Rewards are still
important but not central to their drive and ambition. They are not ego
driven. They are task driven. They are all in on accomplishing goals
and creating purpose and value in their lives. Fortunately, they notice
their progress.
“You don’t follow your passion. You take it with you.”- Mike Rowe
Personal Agency
Personal agency refers to “the sense that I am the one who is causing
or generating an action” (Gallagher 2000, p. 15). A person with a sense
of personal agency perceives himself/herself as the subject influencing
his/her own actions and life circumstances (Bandura 2006; Gallagher
2000).
To develop personal agency takes time and effort. You will need to
choose what you let into your mind. This would involve your physical
environment as well as your social environment. This means choosing the
people, experiences, and really all the stimuli that you are exposed
to. You will need to learn to be very selective about who and what you
let into your mind. Try to see yourself as a learner, and that includes
paying attention to your self-observational skills as well.
Manage your emotions and your beliefs through introspection.
Impulsive behaviour is a by-product of mismanaging your emotional being.
This degree of self-discipline requires your being into reflection not
reflex. Your intuition may at times need to be cross-referenced. Make
an effort to be deliberate before you take any action. Realize that
risk is not about being impulsive but being impulsive can be a risk.
“Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are.”- Malcom Forbes
When we take charge of our personal agency, we are able to dispense
with our addictive behaviours in favour of our passion. Our needs are
altered into our wants, which is a healthier place to be. Remember,
both addiction and passion have power. However, they pull us in
opposite directions. Addiction pulls us toward dysfunction and despair,
while passion pulls us toward purpose and fulfillment. We have the
power to decide what we want. Our personal agency, which we all have
should we call upon it, will be our guide.
Bio
Dr. Bruce Wilson is a psychologist with 25 years of experience. He
enjoys sharing his ramblings with friends and colleagues. He is
currently in private practice at Mind Health Care in Geelong, Australia.
This article is solely his work.
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Most important problems that athletes and competitors struggle with
are not the result of poor practice, lack of physical work, inadequate
coaching, or lack of physical abilities. Rather, they’re the result of
poor mental conditioning.
Be honest with yourself. How much time do you dedicate each day to
mental conditioning, although great coaches and athletes will state,
without exception, that mental toughness is the biggest factor in
determining great champions, whether they be a champion in athletics,
business, or life in general.
When the heat of competition is turned up high, the individual
performer or team that falls apart most often does so because of mental
factors like runaway nervousness, intimidation, poor concentration,
negativity, lack of confidence or an inability to let go of mistakes or
bad breaks.
To realize your full potential as an athlete or performer, you have
to start training your mind as well as your body! Just as you develop
physical skills and techniques, you have to learn to develop these
sports psychology mental skills. What are these so-called mental skills?
• Staying relaxed under pressure, in what could be called "good nervous."
• Focusing on what’s important and letting go of everything else.
• Rebounding from mistakes, bad breaks and handling last minute
self-doubts and negative thinking. If you’ve done the preparation,
don’t doubt yourself. BELIEVE!
• Using visualization for upcoming performances. See it like you want it to be before it happens.
• Motivating yourself by setting personally meaningful and compelling
goals. The ability to self-motivate is probably the greatest factor
for success in any aspect of our lives. Those who look to others for
their motivation in any area of life are usually left standing on the
corner waiting for the bus. The bus will either be late, or probably,
never will come.
• Recognizing mental traps and avoiding them. Run away from negative
people. Listening to or participating in negative talk will never
benefit you and will always take away a piece of your edge.
• Developing self-confidence and a positive, go-for-it attitude. In
other words, if you’ve done the preparation, what are you waiting for?
Before accomplishing a goal, or participating in a crucial sporting
event, you wouldn’t leave your physical conditioning to chance……. why
would you leave your mental toughness conditioning to chance. How many
times have you observed the competitor that "wouldn’t give up" triumph
over the competitor with superior physical talent?
There is a wealth of great motivational/mental toughness information
out there. Go to a bookstore, find a great mentor, but take a step.
The greatest "muscle" you have is the one between your ears.
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“And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own?” (Luke 16:12).
God doesn’t promote us until we’ve proven ourselves faithful with the little things. We need to be faithful where we are and with what He has given us, and He’ll bless us with much more.
Over my life I’ve met some interesting characters. I encountered
several of them during my freshman year at Western Kentucky University.
I was living in a boarding house, and two of the individuals living
there were Chuck Gary from Central City and Bill Knight (my roommate)
from Beechcreek. A few of Chuck’s friends from Muhlenberg County would
often come over, and we would all hangout. Two of the ones I got to
know well were Denny Slinker and Jerry Young. Most of our conversations
revolved around basketball, booze, and girls.
Chuck and Denny had played basketball in high school. Chuck was a
starting guard for Central City, and Denny was a starting forward for
Muhlenberg Central. Jerry never played at the high school level, but he
knew more sports trivia than all of us combined. One particular story
Chuck related was about the time he and a basketball buddy had a big
beer blast the night before an important game. His buddy had a
fantastic game, scoring from most everywhere on the court. Chuck, on
the other hand, could hardly get up and down the court due to the
excessive amount of alcohol consumed the night before. He went up to
his friend and said, “How can you do it, I can’t even see the basket.”
The friend replied, “I see two baskets; I’m shooting between them.”
“Joe Cool” is the best way to describe Chuck. With a cigarette
dangling from the side of his mouth, he often talked about his many
sexual exploits. To hear him tell it, he had relations with numerous
women in Central City. If that were true, it would have been truly
impressive since the town was known for attractive ladies. The
reputation of the town was best summed up by a National Guard friend of
mine when we were traveling through it. He turned to me and said, “This
town has a lot of leg in it.” Chuck’s stories, however, may have been a
bit overrated as one of his friends (I forgot which one) once said,
“All those women Chuck brags about having are actually just street
walkers.”
Chuck was pretty negative about the basketball players who had
opposed him on the court. He would label them as snow birders, prima
donnas, show boaters, etc. One person for which he did not show much
respect was Billy Warren of Butler County. In high school Warren was
considered one of the better guards in western Kentucky. As a junior
and senior, he led his team to runner-up finishes in the Fourth Region.
He was awarded a scholarship to Western and was on the same team as
Clem Haskins and Dwight Smith, two of the school’s all-time greats.
Billy was expected to be the guard who would guide them to great
heights, but it was not to be. Haskins, Smith, and company did achieve
great things, but Billy Warren was not a part of it.
There were some tragic rumors about Billy. His high school team was
coached by his father who was known as a tough and fierce
disciplinarian. The rumor was that the father put an unprecedented
amount of pressure on his son. According to the way the story was told,
Billy became withdrawn and maybe even hit the bottle a bit too much.
Many questioned whether he had what it took to be a successful college
athlete. Whatever the facts, he left the Western team after his
freshman year.
One thing my buddies and I liked to do was play pool. Chuck fancied
himself an expert at billiards, and I must confess he was pretty good.
One day in 1964 when Billy Warren was still a Western Hilltopper, Chuck
and I encountered him in one of the better pool halls in Bowling Green.
We sat and watched as Billy came out on the losing end in a series of
games. Chuck saw a chance to expose Billy further and immediately
challenged him to a quarter a game. They played game after game; I’ve
forgotten how many it was. Chuck lost everyone, and eventually he quit
after running out of cash. Billy never ran the table, but he was very
methodical and efficient in the way he played. He never bragged; in
fact, I can’t remember him saying anything. All he did was win.
Afterwards, Chuck was embarrassed and at a loss to explain what just
happened. As we were leaving, he said to me, “I don’t get it; in the
earlier games he was missing easy, straight-in shots.” What Chuck
didn’t realize, but should have, is that is the way ‘the hustle’ works.
Billy Warren gained my utmost respect on that particular day.
I received a bachelor's degree in 1967 and a master's
degree in 1971 from Western Kentucky University. I taught school for 44
years. One year was spent at Fordsville High School, 17 at Ohio County
High School, and 26 at Trinity High School in Whitesville. The subjects I
taught were government, history, and English. At Trinity I also served
as coach, athletic director, and dean of students. I fancy myself a
fairly good writer, and my main interests are sports and politics.
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“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:16, 17).
We can always look into the Word of God for failproof instructions pertaining to life. When we need guidance or correction, the Word provides the answers we need to succeed.
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