A Labyrinthine Journey: Soon Coming in 3-D

One of the websites I keep an eye on focuses on treating anxiety, addiction, and depression. I found their article on Making New Year’s Resolutions More Managable a nice short read. (Check out the whole article)

Studies and statistics make it clear that fear, though it leads us to make grand plans for self-preservation, is often not a sufficient motivator

I would agree one hundred percent on this point. I can get moved to quickly do something by fear, but the move is only temporary and it is done without enthusiasm. Then once the threat is gone, there is no longer any energy for action. Maybe this is why so many groups and people wanting to be leaders use fear (and sustained fear) as a primary mode of being.

This should say something important to preachers and teachers in church who seem to always be focusing on the presence of evil in the world and how believers need to … (do whatever they say) … to be free. I see Christ bringing a different message.

We cannot deny that there is evil at work in the world, nor can we deny the presence of things to fear in our circumstances or even inside our own souls. Yet, Jesus came to offer hope and not fear. People who want to be leaders through fear are only interested in manipulating a certain result (and sadly usually for their own benefit) without true concern for the growth and development of the people they get to follow them.

As you can tell, I don’t even see that as true leadership. Jesus modeled true leadership as the shepherd who goes after the lost sheep, and as the mother hen seeking to protect a wayward city. His example of leadership did not back away from fear, but saw the frightening in the light of the power of light and creating Life. I cannot get too excited about all the Satan-namers, because I would rather look at the God-Living-Ones and to be one of them.

Getting back to the original idea of New Year’s Resolutions (I am never completely sure where my thoughts will go when I start), the studies show that we respond more to the invitation to life than to the flight from fear.

Doctors and self-help experts recommend a different approach: instead of focusing on the negativity entailed in giving up habits that we find familiar and enjoyable, think of the healthier, happier person who will emerge from the change. If we do not enjoy the process of improvement, we will find fewer reasons to keep it up. Modesty may also help, as grand plans are more likely to disappoint. Tempering habits may be easier than eliminating them altogether.

Time to recast my resolutions toward the Creating Light. May your new year be blessed.

One thing I have been intrigued by for a long time is photography. I don’t think I am a very good one, but I would like to be a better one. For my birthday last year, I used my gift money for a Pentax point and shoot (Optio E10). I enjoyed it for quite a while, but then found myself wanting to push it beyond what it was capable of doing. The camera is a good one, but it is totally automatic, which does not allow for some of the manual adjustments that one needs to make to be more creative with one’s photographs.

So with my Christmas gift money I am upgrading (Linda will get my old one) to one with more manual control over things like focus, shutter speed and aperture. It is on its way, but hasn’t arrived yet.

However, that is only an introduction to what I wanted to write about.

The new endeavor is to try to take a photograph a day to capture something of the days events. This is one suggestion that many people have found helpful in stretching their skills in photography. So while I am awaiting the new camera, I am starting the project. The sidebar widget will give you a window into my latest posts. I hope you will enjoy them as much as I hope to enjoy the challenge of taking them.